Navigating Mindful Eating While Managing Type 1 Diabetes

Amy Stone [00:00:04]:
Claire Ketchum, welcome to the art of imperfect adulting.

Claire Ketchum [00:00:07]:
Thank you so much for having me. I’m glad to be here.

Amy Stone [00:00:10]:
Yay. Are you ready for a fun chat?

Claire Ketchum [00:00:12]:
I absolutely am.

Amy Stone [00:00:14]:
That’s fantastic. All right, so before we get into the really interesting stuff, the stuff that we’re here to talk about today, I have two easy peasy warmup questions. First, if you can share with the audience what part of the world you call home.

Claire Ketchum [00:00:27]:
I live in the northeast corner of Connecticut.

Amy Stone [00:00:32]:
Nice. Very good. You’re having fall and winter there. I live in Miami, Florida, where we are not.

Claire Ketchum [00:00:38]:
Well, it’s taken us a long time to get to fall. We had a very, very warm fall, and it finally feels like winter. So, yeah, there you go.

Amy Stone [00:00:47]:
There you go.

Claire Ketchum [00:00:48]:
We kind of missed the fall season a little bit, but yeah, we like the seasons up here for sure.

Amy Stone [00:00:53]:
That is beautiful. All right, next easy peasy question so that we can know more about as a person. Share with us as little or as much as you want about your family.

Claire Ketchum [00:01:04]:
Okay, so we live at a junior boarding school in Connecticut. And so both my children were born on this campus and could walk out the door. And there was a playground and football fields and a ice hockey rink and all of that growing up. And so we, my husband and I still live here. My kids are now 22 and 25. Feels really weird to say I have a 25, but I do.

Amy Stone [00:01:33]:
There you go. So tell me, what is a junior boarding school?

Claire Ketchum [00:01:39]:
So a junior boarding school starts. Well, we have a day part that.

Amy Stone [00:01:45]:
Goes from K. Okay.

Claire Ketchum [00:01:46]:
Day part, That’s K through 5. Our boarding starts in fifth grade, but the bulk of our borders are eighth and ninth graders. And then they go on to secondary school from here.

Amy Stone [00:01:56]:
Okay.

Claire Ketchum [00:01:57]:
Lots of kids come for different reasons. You know, the day students are just coming here, you know, for private school experience. But the borders, you know, some of them are international and some of them, you know, maybe live in an area in the country that doesn’t have a great school or we also have a big learning skills department. And so some kids who have learning challenges, it’s a good fit for them because they can get the academic support they need. So lots of different.

Amy Stone [00:02:19]:
And the junior is like, junior high. Like, so you’re not like a high school?

Claire Ketchum [00:02:24]:
No, we are middle school.

Amy Stone [00:02:25]:
Oh, you’re in ninth grade. Okay, so then.

Claire Ketchum [00:02:28]:
Which is weird. People who don’t know boarding schools think that’s super weird. They’re like, well, how can they get into high school? I said, because boarding schools almost double their class from 9th to 10th grade. Just in general. It’s just. I don’t really know why, but that’s because I think if they’re. If they’re here for ninth grade, then they can be leaders in ninth grade versus PNs in ninth grade.

Amy Stone [00:02:50]:
Yeah.

Claire Ketchum [00:02:51]:
And so they get all this experience being leaders, and then they go to secondary school as the 10th graders, and they’re just stronger candidates. Um, so a lot of kids come to get into better high schools also.

Amy Stone [00:03:02]:
Oh, very nice. Okay. I learned something today.

Claire Ketchum [00:03:05]:
It’s a very little straight, but people who know nothing about it find it interesting. Um, I’ve just lived here my whole life, so my whole. Just what we know.

Amy Stone [00:03:16]:
No, well, right. And that’s the thing, like what you’re comfortable with and what you know is very familiar, but it’s not something that other people don’t know. In Florida, we have a lot of schools that are day schools who also offer a pocket of boarding for transitional people, international people. Like all the things you were talking about. All the things you were talking about. So it can be anything. It can be a kid who is. We also have some specialty schools a little bit north of me that cater to, like, tennis, like kids who have big dreams of tennis and stuff like that. They’ve got schedules. They’ve got schedules that don’t work with the traditional school. Anyway, we’re off topic. We are off topic today. We’re going to talk about food. We’re going to talk about diets. We’re going to talk about health. Does that sound right?

Claire Ketchum [00:03:58]:
Yeah, absolutely.

Amy Stone [00:03:59]:
All right, let’s do it. So I love to talk to my guests about choices and changes and decisions and pivots. Can you give us. I’m going to back you up and rewind the tape a little bit. Give us an idea of what your own personal eating and nutrition ideas were before some of these shifts happen, like when maybe you were a teenager or a young adult.

Claire Ketchum [00:04:19]:
So I was grow. I grew up in a household where we ate, you know, dessert to. Till it was gone. And that’s just how we were raised. We all ate, like, if there were cookies, if they made it to the end of the day, that was surprising. Like, all gone. And so that was normal to me. And so I use food. And I didn’t know this at the time, but I was using food. So every time I felt uncomfortable or I was stressed out, I would always turn to mostly candy to sort of soothe that I didn’t know it at the time, but soothe that stress and those uncomfortable feelings. And to handle that. And that was really not a big deal when I was in high school because I was playing sports and I had a pretty good metabolism and I was okay. And then I went to college and I gained a lot of weight, which a lot of people do. And so then I sort of, you know, I. As a teenage girl, you’re kind of always sucked up into diet culture, even if you don’t need to be, you just kind of are. So I’ve always sort of, you know, done Jane Fonda and gone on diets, but not really, you know, in high school, but in college, I actually need to just start losing weight. And that was a. 20 years of just trying to lose weight with really no sustainable results. And that was sort of where I was for a long, long time.

Amy Stone [00:05:36]:
Yeah, no, it’s not uncommon. There’s. In the. In the health and fitness space that is like, sort of like a. There’s lots of things. But one of the stunning things that people talk about is that if you survey young girls, it’s very young when the ideas about restricting and minimizing your body size begin to enter in. Like, it’s hard to escape. And even if you’re in the sport, the sport world, the. There’s. There’s still a lot of stuff that’s out there about that. So I think that your story, then, if I get it right and I’m going to let you tell it, has a couple of parts where you made some decisions. One is that you were going through a personal journey of shifting to mindful eating on your own. And then the next spot or wave of this story is that one of your children was diagnosed with, I think, type 1 diabetes, correct?

Claire Ketchum [00:06:29]:
Yes.

Amy Stone [00:06:29]:
Yeah, yeah. So how old was your daughter when she was diagnosed?

Claire Ketchum [00:06:33]:
She was nine.

Amy Stone [00:06:34]:
Not young. Okay. And she. Was she sick? She was pretty. She was not well, when you found out?

Claire Ketchum [00:06:40]:
No, no, she. We had no idea. We just, you know, looking back, she literally had every single symptom of type 1 diabetic. Right.

Amy Stone [00:06:50]:
Because people get real sick. Right? People get real sick usually.

Claire Ketchum [00:06:53]:
Yeah. Yes. And so our whole family had a stomach bug. And so we. It was just sort of had gone through everybody and she had gotten. At first, and we were all fine, and she was still not okay. And so. But she really liked being sick. She liked to stay home. So I was kind of.

Amy Stone [00:07:11]:
I was like, what do you mean? No? Okay, now I get it.

Claire Ketchum [00:07:14]:
Like, she liked to stay home. Like, she definitely milked being sick as a, you know, as a child.

Amy Stone [00:07:19]:
Yeah.

Claire Ketchum [00:07:20]:
So I was like, you’re fine, just you need to eat something. And I forced her to eat a granola bar and then she threw it up and then she was like in the bathtub and she looked, she looked really, really sick. And so my husband took her to the doctor and it’s pretty easy to diagnose, so unreadable right off the chart.

Amy Stone [00:07:41]:
Okay, well, that was probably a very scary thing. So there’s a couple different kinds of diabetes, and I think a lot of people do know the difference. But to clarify, type 1 diabetes is, is the one where your organ that produces insulin is shutting down. Like, this is not something that we just normally modify with, you know, it’s not connected necessarily to obesity or anything like that.

Claire Ketchum [00:08:08]:
No, no, it’s just, you know, your body slowly kills off the cells that make insulin and so you’re not able to get the sugar out of your blood. And so your blood sugar just will be high unless you giving yourself insulin artificially. And so there’s really nothing you can do about that. And that was really infuriating to me because all of a sudden we had to, you know, I was, you know, I was eating mindfully and everything was great. And I had been able to give up dieting and I felt so much better. I felt like I was being such a better role model for my children, not just constantly being on a diet and talking about it all the time. And I just felt like this threw a whole wrench in that. Because when she was diagnosed, we had to give her long lasting insulin in the morning based on what she was going to eat at lunch. So she had to decide what she wanted for lunch in the morning, and then she had to eat it whether she was hungry or not. And if it wasn’t food, then she had to take more insulin. So it was just like the opposite of mindful eating. And we were, you know, when we were trying to figure it all out, we would set timers. So we would have her take her insulin and set a timer. Okay, it’s time to eat. Like, it was like very. We were weighing her food and counting our food. And it was like it was just the opposite of mindful eating. And I was mad.

Amy Stone [00:09:27]:
So let’s back up a little bit and talk about the concept of mindful eating. Like so. Because that’s, that is exactly where I wanted to go. Because these two things are like almost on, in application, like, and how your day would unfold. They really sound very different. Right. So what was, what was mindful eating in your world and how it was applying in your life and how it was changing. You mentioned some of the things that changed when you started doing it. But take us through, like, that process and what it was.

Claire Ketchum [00:09:56]:
So the biggest concept of. Of mindful eating, there was lots of different things, but you’re. They’re basically, you are waiting to eat until you’re hungry, which was a completely foreign concept to me. The end. Then if you actually start eating when you’re hungry, and then you eat in a calm environment without all these distractions, and all you’re actually doing is eating, you’re not on your phone, you’re not watching television. You’re just eating, then you can pay attention to your. To your hunger and fullness cues. And so you can. Your natural. Your body’s natural cues. And so you can realize when you are full and stop eating versus just automatically eating it because it’s on your plate or automatically getting seconds, because you always do. And so it just helps you actually eat the right amount of food for your body without having to worry about what you’re actually eating specifically.

Amy Stone [00:10:53]:
And how did you discover mindful eating?

Claire Ketchum [00:10:56]:
Oprah, of course.

Amy Stone [00:10:58]:
Oh, nice. All right. Very good. Okay.

Claire Ketchum [00:11:00]:
Yeah, I was watching Oprah, which I always did, and she had Janine Roth on, and Janine Roth was on promoting her book called Woman, Food and God. And so that was my first introduction to mindful eating. And the book is fabulous. But it didn’t actually have a lot of application. Like, there wasn’t a lot of strategies. And so I did go down the rabbit hole a little bit more with mindful eating and just learned really more how to do it. But when my daughter was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes, all of a sudden, you know, this sort of process where I was able to, you know, maintain my weight without having to worry about it or even think about what I was eating. And that. It was just. I was so free of that. And then when she was diagnosed, I was back to gaining weight and I couldn’t eat mindfully anymore. And I. And, you know, obviously now I know it’s because I was in a highly stressed state all the time.

Amy Stone [00:11:56]:
Very, very highly stressed. Because let’s. Let’s talk about this a little bit. Which this is. I’m going to free form this. This was not on my list. She. Your daughter was sick. This is an illness. And so your stress level went through the roof. And the stakes are different when you’re talking about controlling and moderating somebody’s food intake and their diet through 24 hours a day, when you’re talking about, like, hey, I’d love to fit into a smaller dress size, or I’d love to feel better about myself. And, hey, you could end up in the hospital, this small person who, you know, like, that’s a different conversation.

Claire Ketchum [00:12:30]:
Yeah.

Amy Stone [00:12:31]:
Different stress level. So you’ve got a couple things going on. One is the mind like the whipsaw. Is that what I mean? Whiplash, like the mental whiplash, which is like I’m in this very intuitive, mindful state where I’m managing my own stuff, learning to trust my body, listen to these things, and then implementing what is arguably the most researched way to feed somebody and testing blood sugar and looking for cues and measuring the food and setting the timers. That’s a huge whiplash on a lot of different levels. And then she’s young, so you’re doing it for her in the beginning, trying to figure it out, but she’s the one who is facing the consequences and feeling the penalty. That’s a lot of pressure. Yeah, that’s a lot of pressure. Okay. So then we’re adding in this concept of enormous stress for you. And stress. When we’re under stress, our body does weird things with what we put in it.

Claire Ketchum [00:13:34]:
Yes. And that’s also a really. You know, and I think that was a combination of. What led me to figuring out why I couldn’t eat mindfully anymore is because a type 1 diabetic could take the same amount of insulin and eat exactly the same amount of food and have completely different results from Wednesday to Thursday. Because there are so many things that impact your blood sugar that have nothing to do with what you’re actually eating. So that could be. It’s humid out. You know, it could be she’s under a lot of stress. It could be that she exercised more than she did. She was, you know, she was only 9, so she was still out running around, playing, you know, and then, you know, there’s things like somebody can exercise and that usually. And that pushes sugar out of your blood.

Amy Stone [00:14:23]:
Right.

Claire Ketchum [00:14:24]:
But sometimes that happens in a delayed response, which is fun. So that means she could go. She could test. Be totally normal when she went to bed and go low in the middle of the night. And so that. That was the biggest concern for us was that she was going to go low in the middle of the night and go into a coma.

Amy Stone [00:14:42]:
So she’s. Is she 21 or 25?

Claire Ketchum [00:14:44]:
She’s 22.

Amy Stone [00:14:45]:
She’s 22. So this is before. Because today, if this had happened today, you would have the option of the. What do we call them continuous glucose trackers?

Claire Ketchum [00:14:56]:
Correct.

Amy Stone [00:14:57]:
Yeah. But this is before.

Claire Ketchum [00:14:59]:
Yes. So she, when she was diagnosed, you had to do insulin shots for six months.

Amy Stone [00:15:06]:
Okay.

Claire Ketchum [00:15:07]:
You were not allowed to go on an insulin pump.

Amy Stone [00:15:10]:
Okay.

Claire Ketchum [00:15:11]:
So you actually had to do math every single time she ate. Like, you had to sit there and be like, okay, this is how many carbs you’re going to eat. And so this is how much insulin you’re going to get. And you had, you had the mom. Like we had to do that math. It was like I was, I don’t know people. So. Yeah.

Amy Stone [00:15:26]:
And also she’s nine. So if you, when you ask a nine year old how they feel, they don’t, they’re not able to, they don’t have the words yet, you know, to tell them. Tell. You know, it’s like, you know, where do you feel it? I don’t know. What does it feel like? I don’t know.

Claire Ketchum [00:15:40]:
She just wanted to go play with her friends, not have anything to do with it. For sure.

Amy Stone [00:15:46]:
I’m with her. I’m with her. I would have felt the same way.

Claire Ketchum [00:15:49]:
I’m with her too. Like, I, I mean, so now she is. So when she was in, right before she went to college, which was a huge, huge blessing, they came out with a. So now the constant glucose monitor and her pump speak to each other.

Amy Stone [00:16:06]:
I know my magic.

Claire Ketchum [00:16:07]:
It is like it is. I mean, it can still not work. So there are still days where, you know, she has scary lows. She has scary highs. But basically, um, if, if her dex, we use a Dexcom. So if her blood sugar starts going up, her pump will give her more insulin and if she starts going down, it will turn off her pump and stop giving her insulin. Um, the only thing it can’t do is if she’s going low, like it can’t give her sugar. She actually has to, she has to eat.

Amy Stone [00:16:38]:
Yeah.

Claire Ketchum [00:16:38]:
How to eat and drink juice. Um, so it’s a lot, lot easier and a lot less stressful. And she can eat mindfully because when you’re giving insulin shots, you can either give one unit or two units. So you have to really be as close as possible so that you’re not going too high or too low. But with a pump, you can give 1.1 units of insulin. And the long lasting insulin you give in the morning with a pump, you just get that fairly steady all day long. And so you don’t have to give, do any. She doesn’t do any shots anymore.

Amy Stone [00:17:18]:
So that is, so that is spectacular and wonderful. And one of the things like, so you, she’s 22, you started this journey when you were nine. I have not gone through this as a parent. I’ve watched friends manage it. And one of the things I want to throw out to the people that are listening is that it’s clear from listening to the story. You can still see it in your face, you can hear it in your voice. When you talk about the initial stress that you were under those first, I don’t know how long it was. But then when you’re talking about how your adult child is managing it now, you’re more relaxed and you’re through it. And so for the people who are going through a phase of this in, in their families and in their lives or watching people they know, I think that’s really, I think that’s really. I don’t know if I would use the word optimistic or inspiring. Like this is something you can work through and come out on the other side knowing a lot of stuff you never maybe didn’t want to know beforehand. But it’s a, your life is, is smoother now and you guys have, have really thrived now through the process.

Claire Ketchum [00:18:22]:
And the other part that’s really important that I don’t know if a lot of people talk about is that, you know, a teenager doesn’t have their whole prefrontal cortex develop yet.

Amy Stone [00:18:34]:
They do not. My children are all walking examples. Each one of them, each walking examples. You can like see it developing. Yes.

Claire Ketchum [00:18:41]:
And for those of you who don’t know, that’s the decision making part of the brain. So when you are asking a 10 year old to manage their blood sugar because they’re ruining their eyesight, right? They’re high all the time. They don’t care.

Amy Stone [00:18:58]:
They don’t even, they can’t even comprehend it. Right? That’s like you ask a teenager why they did something that as an adult, you look at and you’re like, what in the world were you thinking? And the thing that’s so hard to see as an adult about that is they literally were not thinking about that thing. They can’t understand it. That’s not the way the brain works yet. That’s when you want to grab them and wring their little necks, but. And just keep them alive.

Claire Ketchum [00:19:20]:
And you have adults. No, no, just like teachers and adults in her life judging her.

Amy Stone [00:19:29]:
Right? And I am, I am, I am.

Claire Ketchum [00:19:31]:
Like, they’re like, how could you not do it? I was like, I don’t know. Has your kid ever forgotten to brush her teeth?

Amy Stone [00:19:35]:
Like oh, yeah, yeah.

Claire Ketchum [00:19:36]:
Like, what are you talking about? She’s a child. Of course she’s going to forget stuff. So that was hard as, like, for my husband and I to deal with because she was very judged. And then of course, we felt very judged. You know, we just take it. Just like, could you try to protect her from all of that?

Amy Stone [00:19:53]:
Yes.

Claire Ketchum [00:19:54]:
Like, be as normal as possible. But that’s a really hard part of it. So you can see, like, all of these things are going on for me and I’m still. And so. But I feel out of control. Right. So I’m. Because my life is. Was blown up. And so I decide to. That I’m going to become a health coach, because that’s a problem.

Amy Stone [00:20:18]:
So. All right, so then let’s. So I’m going to touch on what you said there because it’s important for people who are younger than us to hear the pressure from other adults on, like, that comes from judgment of how you’re making decisions for kids when they’re actually the ones making the decision. It’s not even you. Is a super weird thing about the modern parenting world. I don’t understand it. I can’t understand. But it doesn’t feel good. I will say that. And learning to go through it is a big thing. Okay, so you decide yourself you’re going to become a health coach. How did that. What would. Like. Without, like. Without, like self. You know, without. Why. What were your thoughts? What were you thinking?

Claire Ketchum [00:20:55]:
Well, it was. They were pretty faulty. I mean, basically, this was very early on when she was first diagnosed, and I was doing all this research trying to find a way for her not to have to do insulin shots because I didn’t know that that really wasn’t possible. Was convinced that there was a way and that doctors just didn’t know. And they were like, I don’t know. I just was.

Amy Stone [00:21:17]:
I think that’s. I think that’s fair. I’m looking for a solution. I want this. I don’t want her to have this. Yeah.

Claire Ketchum [00:21:22]:
Shots every day. And I did find something when. Because when you’re first diagnosed, you’re still. You still produce a little bit of insulin response. You still secrete a little bit of insulin at the beginning. So I was able to. I found this little cup, and you could put water in it and she could drink it, and she could eat like 12 goldfish and drink that instead of taking insulin and her blood sugar would stay stable. So. Yeah.

Amy Stone [00:21:51]:
I mean, you’re trying everything.

Claire Ketchum [00:21:52]:
Only thing I found.

Amy Stone [00:21:54]:
All right.

Claire Ketchum [00:21:56]:
But anyway, so I Decided to become a health coach. It didn’t. Obviously there was no answers in it, but I learned a ton about food. Our whole family was eating better. And you know, when you have a child who can’t processed carbs, like, obviously she still needs to eat carbohydrates, but she’s going to eat a lot less. You know, like, we’re not doing waffles and pancakes and syrup and orange juice on a. Like, that’s just way too many carbs for her body to, like, process all at the same time. So we stopped drinking juice, you know, things like that. So. But I learned a lot about being healthy, but I was still trying to manage my own weight, and I. So I was eating really great, but I still wasn’t eating mindfully anymore, and I was still, like, unhappy with my weight again. And that’s what. What pivoted me to get to start. Just keep on looking for answers. I was like, why can I not do this? Why can’t I eat mindfully? Or what is wrong with me if.

Amy Stone [00:22:48]:
I’m so smart, why can’t I do it?

Claire Ketchum [00:22:51]:
Yeah, it was so.

Amy Stone [00:22:52]:
I know all these things. They’re not working. Yes. Nobody else has ever felt that way in their entire life, Claire, except for every single person that’s ever been alive. All the time, every day. So, yeah, like, so. Yeah, that’s. That’s really interesting. And so these are two stories that are running parallel in your family. One is your daughter’s eating, and I do before I ask the next question. So you were managing this because some people, some households will do a shift where they have a special diet for certain people who have specific needs, and other people will modify the entire house. So were you guys, like, all sort of like, adopting the glucose friendly diet plan because you had a kid who was not eating very many carbohydrates or was she eating a modified diet and the rest of you were having donuts? We.

Claire Ketchum [00:23:42]:
Well, we did things like we stopped drinking juice, and everyone did. I was like, juice is how you get out of a diabetic low, because when you see how fast your blood sugar spikes, you’re like, no one should be drinking juice. Right.

Amy Stone [00:23:56]:
And to be specific, we’re talking about fruit heavy juices. We’re not talking about, like, celery juice.

Claire Ketchum [00:24:02]:
Correct, Correct. I’m talking. We drank a lot of orange juice. Apple juice.

Amy Stone [00:24:05]:
Orange juice and apple juice. Those are the things. That’s right, right?

Claire Ketchum [00:24:08]:
No, definitely not. I don’t. I’ve never had celery juice, so. No. And I don’t think my 9 year old was not asking for celery juice.

Amy Stone [00:24:16]:
So totally, totally hilarious story. I, I like, I do smoothies and juices. And when one of my kids went to middle school, in middle school science class, the teacher was making green juices as an example. It was a nutrition thing. And they were talking about the differences between fruits and. And vegetables. Well, when I make a green juice, it has kiwi and it’s. And pineapple in it. They’re sweet, right? So it may also have kale and other things in it, but I won’t drink a side straight kale juice my own self. So, like, they have those things. So the teacher said to the classroom, they were like, is there anybody brave enough to try this green juice? And my kid who was like, was like, my mom makes these all the time. I’ll do that. And so they raise their hand and they take a big gulp of what is like spinach and kale and, you know, just veggies. And she braves it through. And I get note from the teacher and he’s like, she was a really good sport. And I was like, what did she say? And he said, he said, my mom makes better tasting green juices than you. And that, like, I bet I do, as mine are full of fruit. Um, but yeah, so the. Okay, so no more juices. What else?

Claire Ketchum [00:25:29]:
So we, so we measured all her food so that we could count the carbs properly. And so we did that for our son. And actually our nephew was living with us at the time as well. Well, and so he got to be part of it as well. And so all of a sudden, like, so I would only let them have one bowl of cereal, which is only 3, 4 of a cup.

Amy Stone [00:25:50]:
Right. That’s the great thing if you measure out your cells.

Claire Ketchum [00:25:52]:
So then I would make eggs and I would cut up apples. So I was just serving them a more balanced breakfast because when you know what that looks like. And plus, I was, you know, I had gone to hell. I had done the education, so I really knew more about how food was. I only ate vegetables at dinner. I never ate vegetables in a smoothie or at, you know, at lunch before I did this, went to school with her. So we all sort of shifted that. But there was never, there’s never a concept that, like a type 1 diet, diabetic can’t have anything.

Amy Stone [00:26:28]:
Right?

Claire Ketchum [00:26:29]:
What concept is that? You need to take the insulin for it. Because there’s nothing like with a type 2 diabetic if you actually decrease the amount of carbs you’re taking. Your body can become better. You’re just not using your, your body isn’t using the insulin properly. You become. So you’re losing the sensitivity so you can eat better and you become more insulin. Your, your insulin sensitivity comes back and so you’re better, you’re able to come down. Whereas the type 1 diabetic, it doesn’t matter.

Amy Stone [00:26:58]:
Right. And to be.

Claire Ketchum [00:26:59]:
No difference.

Amy Stone [00:27:00]:
Yeah.

Claire Ketchum [00:27:01]:
You just have to, you know, so we, that’s why we did the timer thing. So like, if she was. So we would do, like, we would still do waffles, but we would always make eggs with them. So she had a little bit of fat protein to not spike her as much. And we would measure her syrup so she only got 4 tablespoons because that’s 55. Carbs. Carbs. And then she would, and then we would give her insulin and we would set the timer so that she was going low. So she was going into a diabetic low when she started to eat. Because that’s how quickly it spikes you.

Amy Stone [00:27:34]:
Yeah. No, and to be like, to just throw this into context because people are doing these glucose monitoring things just for personal health. You’ve got somebody who’s a type 1 diabetic. Their body is not doing this. It’s totally managed outside of the body. So you’re doing those things. And then when you’ve got a normal body or a body who’s on the pancreas, maybe you’ve got type two or one of the other things that we’re looking at with insulin sensitivity or something like that, that’s completely different because your body involved in it. And there’s a million different categories that. Of things that can happen. Caffeine, heat, temperature, effort, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And I am of the belief that we are still learning how this works in the human body, to be honest. Like, I mean, we know a lot, but like. And we do the best we can. But if you, if there’s anything that convinces you that doctors don’t quite have hormones figured out, it is, you know, pregnancy, puberty, menopause, they just don’t quite know yet. They’re still learning. They know a lot, but they’re still learning. All right. So anyway, so you’re a health coach, you’re doing these things, you’re managing this, you’re doing all this stuff. At what point do you start helping other people as, as a coach and doing, doing those kind of things?

Claire Ketchum [00:28:50]:
So I went back to school and took an. I got another certification and that’s when I learned about. And this was more of learning, like the emotional reasons. Okay, why we don’t do, like the psychological. I guess the psychological reasons why we don’t do what we say we want to do. And that’s where I was introduced to this concept of how stress impacts our decision. And so I sort of formulated this idea called the chronic stress loop, where you have some sort of stressor. So for me was like, obviously my daughter being diagnosed and all the things that came along with that were a big stressor for me. And then you’re going, so you have these thoughts that go through your head, like, I’m a terrible mother. I can’t do this. Like, that just makes you feel worse. And then you have these default habits that you have used your whole life to soothe yourself. And so what, I am sneaking candy so that my daughter can’t see me because she can’t have candy, because it would spike her. Because I eat like Mikey Mike and Ikes and gummy bears and things like that. Like, that’s my candy. And she could absolutely not eat those unless she was on a diabetic low. Then they’re perfect. But so I would eat them secretly so she wouldn’t see me, which is like. Like feels terrible. And then. And so I was just. Saw this and I was like, this is what people need to know. They need to know that it’s all of these stressors in their life and it doesn’t have to be a big one. Like, you know, like a lifelong diagnosis. It could just be like, I had a bad day, I spilled coffee on my shirt today. Like it was just like, things could be anything. And then you have these sabotaging thoughts that’s like, oh, well, you should just have a little bit of cookie. Like it’s okay. Like it’s. You deserve it. You’re, you know, you spill coffee on yourself, like, whatever. Like you just. Your brain can make up all these excuses about why you should do something. And then if your default way to handle that stress as it escalates is to eat, you’re going to do it no matter what. And so that. And then you have the unwanted mess manifestation. For me, it was starting to gain weight again and feeling out of control and then. And that stressed me out. And that just keeps you stuck and you just keep on going around and around in this cycle. And so at the time, I was teaching and I worked one on one with kids with learning disabilities. And so I was trying to, you know, I had a lot of kids who had ADD and anxiety and things like that. So I was trying to help them, you know, de stress and like, so that they could study better. Because if you’re stressed out, you know, that’s spiking your blood sugar, which is not good if you’re trying to study, like, because you’re, you’ve had a lot of blood sugar in your brain. You’re, you know, you’re not able to focus as well. So I was trying to teach my students about it and they were not interested in this information.

Amy Stone [00:31:39]:
Tell me how the stress causes my body to release sugar so that I can run from the, you know, run from the throat.

Claire Ketchum [00:31:46]:
Whatever reason, these teenagers did not care. I know this is all shocking to you, but stunning. So anyway, so I had. And then, so I was just in unofficially, like coaching my unwilling students. I, I did have one boy who stopped drinking Gatorade in my class and started bringing water. So that was, I felt like that was a big one. And. But then there was a, There was a student on campus and he was a type 1 diabetic. And I kept on hearing like, oh my gosh, his number, he’s. His butcher is. Was 500. And I was like, oh my God, like, freaking out.

Amy Stone [00:32:25]:
And so to give it. Wait, so 500 sounds like a high number, but give the listeners who don’t know what the numbers are, the range that we’re, if you are, that we’re shooting for, what is a normal range for. For a person?

Claire Ketchum [00:32:37]:
So a non diabetic is like 70 to 70 to 100.

Amy Stone [00:32:41]:
So 70 to 100 and so. And diabetics might be different, but so this kid was weighing it at 500. So that gives people a scale for knowing how, how alarming your blood sugar.

Claire Ketchum [00:32:50]:
Is like over a hundred. I think it’s like a hundred. You’re pre diabetic. I think you’re. If your blood Sugar goes around one, that’s when you wake up 120. I mean, obviously your blood sugar is going to go up and down when you eat, right? But, you know, your body’s a little bit better at managing it, right? But I just wanted to get dangerous. So when your blood sugar is high, your blood actually gets like, really, really sharp. And so it can’t get into like, your eyes, your fingers, your heart, like, and that’s what. Where all this damage comes. So. And he was a border. So like, I was like, these, like these parents are doing enough. I was like, so upset. I was like, this is stressing me out. It’s like, I can’t So I approached the head of the school and I said, you know, I don’t have. I’m not qualified, but. Except that I’m a mom, and this is stressing me out. I’m a health coach. So I guess, like, could count this as, like, something that may be impressive, but can I call these parents and just ask if they want my help and I’ll just offer my services? Like, this is what I’m thinking. And they can pay me to help them do this? And what do you think? And he was like, anything? Yes, do it. And so I did that and I helped him and I got his blood, like, I got his, like, average blood sugars down by a significant amount in, like, in. In six weeks. So it was really, really beneficial. And then the health center started just referring all these people to me.

Amy Stone [00:34:14]:
That is like, the dream of, like, any service provider. You find one client, and then they, yeah, good for Joe. That is fantastic.

Claire Ketchum [00:34:22]:
So it was obviously not all type one. They were all different things, but they’re like, oh, would you work with this kid or would you work with this? So that I started getting. And so I got to the point where it’s like, I have full teaching load, and then I’m also coaching, like, four kids. I said, this is a lot. And so that’s when I decided to take the leap. And because I was like, if I weighing which one I’m having more fun with, you know, I’ve been studying learning disabilities and ADD and things like that for a really long time. I said, but I’m more passionate about helping kids understand why they’re not able to do what they want they want to do. And so whatever. Whatever I was helping that kid do. And I said, but it’s because of this chronic stress loop. And if I could really work with teens and help them understand that, like, their life would be so much better because they’re going to be grow into adults who already have this information versus figuring it out when they’re 40 like I did. So I just decided to leave my teaching job, which, I mean, I still live on the campus. I’m still around the teenagers all the time. And so that is sort of where how I transition out of teaching them academics to teaching them this. So I don’t consider myself a teacher. I just teach different things now.

Amy Stone [00:35:38]:
All right, very good. All right, I’ve really enjoyed this conversation. In a minute, we’re going to do the final questions. Yay. But I want to give you a chance to tell people a little bit more about what we were just talking about, which is what you do, how they can find you online to connect with you. And you do have a special offer for the audience, which is the Balanced Body blueprint. So the link for that, you can talk about that if you want. The link for that will be in the show notes and also in the email that comes from you to the list listeners.

Claire Ketchum [00:36:05]:
Great. Yeah. So what I do is I help. So the Balanced body blueprint is really for something for, you know, a mom or a dad, whichever. Most, most times the moms who take the health things on in a family. But every once in a while there is a dad who’s into it as well. But it’s really, if you download the blueprint, what it does is it walks you through the five types of healthy habit shifts that your teen can make to help them stay out of the chronic stress loop. And I, I did work with teens with all sorts of issues, but I sort of narrowed it down to the teen to just this concept of wanting to stay at a feel good weight and have a positive body image. And so it’s more focused on that. But it really would benefit any teen to do it. But that is sort of, because that was sort of my journey was that if I had had these skills, if I had had all of these different ways to keep my stress levels, you know, down versus just my only strategy was eating candy. Like, just imagine how like trajectory of my life would have been different. And so that is why I’m passionate about helping parents help their teens do that. And so they can work through the blueprint. And then if they’re, you know, sometimes teens just listen to other people more than their parents. And that’s just how it is. And I, because I was like, I remember first time I learned that I was, you know, when I first, first started teaching and a mom was like telling me what about what their son did at home? And I was like, my angel. I’m like, what are you talking about? I was like, what do you mean he acts like that for you? I like, he’s perfect in my classroom. She was like, yeah, lucky you. I’m like, well. She’s like, well, I’m glad he’s polite for you because he’s a terrible at home. I was like, oh, interesting. So that was my first introduction to, to teens. And so sometimes it’s just helpful to have, have somebody else work with your teen instead of you. So that’s also an opportunity if, you know, if a parent feels like, you know, I’m, you Know, I’m just a little bit concerned about my child’s relationship with food. And I want it to. I want to help them have the skills to not respond to stress with eating. Then that would be something they could look into as well.

Amy Stone [00:38:23]:
Very, very nice. All right. I think that everybody who. Anybody’s listening, who’s been through the parenting of the teens was nodding their head as you were describing that every once in a while, they don’t want to take advice from the people they live with.

Claire Ketchum [00:38:37]:
Every once in a while. Just very rarely.

Amy Stone [00:38:40]:
Very rarely. All right, so now I’m going to ask you to close this out. I’m going to ask you three questions. These are like rapid fire. The idea is that you will just, you know, just for fun, try and answer them with, you know, two to three, two to three words. Not a big deal. All right, very good. Which do you prefer most for entertainment? Books. Movies or music?

Claire Ketchum [00:39:03]:
Books.

Amy Stone [00:39:04]:
Books. Very nice. Okay. I suppose for a teacher, I would. That would. That would have been my guess for somebody’s energy. Okay. Anyway, what is a favorite trip or vacation that you’ve taken in your whole life?

Claire Ketchum [00:39:17]:
We did a big trip to Italy with, with my kids because my son was supposed to go to Copenhagen in 2020 and didn’t get to go. So we did like a makeup trip.

Amy Stone [00:39:30]:
With them and they did all of Italy or one. Or one part of it. There’s a lot.

Claire Ketchum [00:39:35]:
We just went to Rome and the Amalfi coast, so.

Amy Stone [00:39:37]:
Ah, gorgeous. It was gorgeous. All right. That’s a very, very cool trip. We also had a lockdown recovery trip, so I think many people have that. All right, so if you won the lottery, like the big, big, big, big prize, not like the $5 at a free ticket. What is the. What is the first thing that you’d buy for yourself? And here’s the thing that the fine print, it has to be for you, not for somebody else.

Claire Ketchum [00:40:03]:
Oh, well, I don’t know. Probably because I’ve just been Googling it. I would, I love, like, these infrared saunas.

Amy Stone [00:40:13]:
Okay.

Claire Ketchum [00:40:13]:
Yeah. Especially in winter healing. And I’ve just read so much about how good they are for you. There’s super expensive and I would love to have one.

Amy Stone [00:40:23]:
All right, so you get an infrared sauna.

Claire Ketchum [00:40:25]:
All my family would like it. So it’s hard to say.

Amy Stone [00:40:28]:
Nobody can be that’s for you. If you’re the one that’s shopping for it and you would enjoy it, would you do it just like by itself or would it be a part of, like, a home spa situation with, like, a Swiss shower and, like, all the things.

Claire Ketchum [00:40:37]:
Oh, yeah, well, that would be. Yeah. I mean, my first answer would be a bigger house, but that would definitely be for my whole family also.

Amy Stone [00:40:45]:
All right. I was just. I was. It’s like. It’s like, you know, just want the little spa off to the side, like, in the garage.

Claire Ketchum [00:40:51]:
I’ll go for it. Yeah.

Amy Stone [00:40:52]:
Yeah. Home spa, just for you. No strangers. Absolutely.

Claire Ketchum [00:40:56]:
No. My whole. My whole business is based about reducing stress. So you can know that I love all these toys, but that’s one that I’ve at. Someday. Someday. Someday it’ll be mine for sure. No. Even if I don’t win the lottery, it’s going to happen.

Amy Stone [00:41:09]:
Very good. Very good. All right, that’s it. Claire Ketchum, thank you so much for being a guest today.

Claire Ketchum [00:41:16]:
Thank you so much for having me. It was fun talking to you and getting to know you a little bit.