#673 Robin Arzon

May 2, 2022Scott Benner

Robin Arzon has type 1 diabetes.

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Scott Benner 0:00
Hello friends, and welcome to episode 673 of the Juicebox Podcast

you have been asking for ever for me to get Robin ORS on on the podcast. And today he or she is Robin is here to talk about a lot. I asked her a ton of questions of my own questions from you the listeners, and she's gonna tell us a little bit about what she's doing with today's sponsor. Jeeva. Glucagon, if after she's done talking, you're super interested. Head to G voc glucagon.com. Forward slash Robin orizon. US dollars on I'll just spell for you Robins with an eye. So it's our OB i NARZON. Robin Arsan G voc glucagon.com forward slash Robin Arsan. Anyway, huge thanks to G vote for helping me get Robin on the show. I hope you enjoy it. While you're listening. Please remember that nothing you hear on the Juicebox Podcast should be considered advice, medical or otherwise, always consult a physician before making any changes to your health care plan are becoming bold with insulin. At some point during the show, you're going to hear me talk about an article that I wrote about Robin many years ago. If you're interested in it. I'm going to post it in the private Facebook group later. You can find it there Juicebox Podcast type one diabetes on Facebook. This show is sponsored today by the glucagon that my daughter carries. G voc hypo Penn Find out more at G voc glucagon.com. Forward slash juicebox. If you're a US citizen who has type one diabetes, or is the caregiver of someone with type one, you can spend fewer than 10 minutes filling out a survey at T one D exchange.org. Forward slash juice box. This survey will ask you incredibly simple questions about your life with diabetes. It is completely HIPAA compliant 100% Anonymous, and we'll help people living with type one. It also supports the Juicebox Podcast when you complete the survey, T one D exchange.org. Forward slash juicebox. So I'm going to jump right in because I know our time is limited. And usually there'd be some light chitchat where we get comfortable. But we'll skip over that. No problem. I'm gonna go with my first question. I know you know, because everybody who's involved in getting you on the show today told you but prior to that, do you remember me? You shouldn't but do you?

Robin Arzon 2:38
I'll be honest, I don't I don't recall our initial conversation. But my team did update me that we had spoken before.

Scott Benner 2:46
But of course would understand that you didn't. But I just it was crazy. Prior to the podcast, even starting at the very beginning of 2015. I got a note from an associate. And they said would you would you interview this person? For me? I think it was for the pod or something back then. And and there were like I said, Sure. What's the balance? It always uses on the pod and she's gonna be a lawyer, but she's like a marathon runner now or something like that. And I was like, Yeah, sure. So. So we have this long conversation, and we're talking about everything. And in the middle of it, you just, you know, started picking through your life a little bit. And you told that, you know, story, which I'm sure you've had to tell a million times since then, about when you were in college. And, and the the problem you had in that bar, and I was just like, oh my gosh, this is incredible. And then you and I only ever spoke once more. And we were talking and you said it was you were saying thank you and whatnot. And then you were like, Hey, I gotta go. I think I'm getting a book deal. And then that was it. And then I've watched your life, like explode over the years. And I feel like I know you win. Obviously I do not. So

Robin Arzon 3:58
that's amazing. Wow. So you you really have witnessed quite a few moments.

Scott Benner 4:03
I just, I just feel like I've been I feel like a proud parent. And no one knows I'm part of the part of the family. That's I guess what I want to really dig in and start by asking you like from that moment, like back there and like since like 2015 Right, early 2015 How did you go from a girl who thought she was going to be a lawyer and decided to run marathons, etc. To where you are now like what path way did you take? It couldn't have been?

Robin Arzon 4:32
Oh, gosh. Lots of pathways, I guess. You know, there's no there's no one bright path. Success is often very circuitous and windy. And I think I really aligned myself with what feels like a yes, you know, I really own my note to protect my yeses and, you know, really develop partnerships that feel in alignment With how I live my life, whether that's with peloton or with evoke, so that g vocal 10. So that really, I guess is the answer to your question. I don't know if you were looking for something more specific, but I oftentimes really go on intuition.

Scott Benner 5:15
No, I appreciate I appreciate that as a as a great answer. So you just sort of do what seems right to you, and ignore the things that seem wrong. And that's how much yeah, I mean, that that had to be I mean, for people who don't know, like, going all the way back to that point, like, you were like, you were a student, you were focused on being an attorney. And then just one day, we're like, No, instead, I'm going to do this. And were you interviewing people at one point in the very beginning?

Robin Arzon 5:44
Interviewing like, something like that? Oh, well, what initially, when I left my law firm, when I stopped practicing law, I, at that time, had a blog. And so I was interviewing athletes and Olympians many of whom are now my friends for that for that blog. So yeah, I loosely, I would say call it an interview, but it certainly wasn't, you know, any Pulitzer Prize winning journalist.

Scott Benner 6:09
It's just fantastic. I mean, the I remember, it's clear as day talking to you back then, that the leap from I mean, you were just about graduated from your undergrad, right? Or you had graduated?

Robin Arzon 6:19
No, I would have graduated. Yeah, I, I practice law for eight years.

Scott Benner 6:24
Yeah. It's just It's, I mean, I'm saying this is it's insane to have accomplished something like that. And then just said, Oh, I'm gonna sit this over here on the shelf and try something completely different. That begins with a blog and interviewing people talking into your iPhone or whatever. It's just Yeah, right. Do you look back and ever think, wow, that person was like, how do you see yourself in hindsight? Do you see yourself as brave or, like, as you're older, and you're a mom, now? Do you think, God if my kid does that I'm gonna be so sad?

Robin Arzon 6:54
No, I don't think I would be upset. I sure, there are lots of moments of bravery. But I think, you know, I, in what I do every day, I like to normalize the everyday superhero. You know, I joke that I have a superhero toolkit. And, you know, part of that involves trusting oneself and being brave. And I know, you know, part of what we're going to talk about today is my partnership with Jeeva, hypo Penn, and that's in my superhero toolkit now, right. And as an athlete, and as someone living with type one, I want to feel prepared, I want to feel ready. And I want to, I want to optimize opera opportunities for bravery. So yes, I do think there were lots of moments, you know, where I had an opportunity for bravery when I was leaving law, certainly as an athlete living with type one. And now it's both with passion and preparedness that I that I navigate the next. The next adventure is, whatever whatever they may be.

Scott Benner 8:03
It's interesting that you bring it up, because I have questions here from listeners of the show. And it's mostly about that they they're, they're just hungry to know how you can do such an intense exercise with type one, they want to know all kinds of stuff, which I'll ask you about in a second. But the one thing I want to tell you is that of a really robust Facebook group, like 25,000 people in it, and so I went in there, and I just sort of said this, there's just this morning, like, Hey, I'm going to talk to Robin today. Do you have questions and hundreds of questions flowing, but along with them? Were pictures of children riding bikes, you know, dressed in leotards and notes from their parents and notes from their parents. Please tell Robin how much she means to our family. Like I'm not kidding you dozens of them. I mean, if I read if I read you every one of the little stories that people sent me, that's what we would do for the next 45 minutes. And so, I guess, let's start with that. Let's start with their kind of nuts and bolts questions because people want to know, like, what your regimen is like before you ride people with type one experience, you know, loads while they're exercising or sometimes highs from adrenaline weightlifting of course impacts differently they want to know everything they want to know what you eat before you get on the bike. How come they don't see you looking at your blood sugar during that ride because they can't make it through without looking and and all that stuff. So what's your prep like for for a ride?

Robin Arzon 9:35
It really depends on what my training schedule has been that day. Before I teach at peloton I normally have done my own lifting, running or cycling depending on what what the classes that I'm teaching. So for example, today, I ran in the morning and I didn't just drink water beforehand. And then towards the end of my run, my blood sugar started dipping a little bit, so I have half my smoothie. Then I went to the gym, I did an hour of weightlifting, and some metabolic conditioning. Again, just water throughout towards the end of the metabolic conditioning, my blood sugar was dipping a little bit. So I finished the rest of my smoothie that I went to the studio I taught to cycling, one cycling class and one arms class. And it's whether I eat like half a banana or a little bit of juice, or usually I'll plan my meals around my training. So for example, this morning, when I drink my smoothie, I didn't take any insulin from my smoothie, I just literally use that sugar during my training. And I timed when I was going to be drinking that smoothies based on what my blood sugar was doing. And then my blood sugar was pretty even heading into my cycling class. And then after my cycling class, I had a banana because I saw that my blood sugar was dipping throughout the classes. I mean, I know my body, I know how to listen to my body, I can vary with pretty good accuracy tell within a range or at the very least whether I'm low, average normal, quote unquote normal, or are trending high, I really am very that in tune with my body. So yeah, for 3530 or 45 minute class, I really don't feel the need to look at my well my data

Scott Benner 11:26
people I don't know if this is a reference, you're gonna know. But you're you're you're closer to my age than not. So maybe you will people watch you like they're studying. There's a brooder films that I have. I have notes here about I don't see her look at her watch. People have theories that you have your blood sugar in front of you behind a camera where you can look up and see it but they can't see it. It's fascinating to the to think about how they're wondering because I think you're accomplishing something that they they haven't been able to accomplish yet, which is take this ride without needing sugar adoring it or being worried about your blood sugar. And they're just trying to imagine how you're doing it's really great of you to share this. So do you see something different? When your strength training? Do you need insulin for that?

Robin Arzon 12:13
Yeah, so I so for strength training, I almost always will have my normal insulin on board. And if I see myself going low, then I'll just plan again, like I have a smoothie that I drink every single morning and I just literally drink it when if and when I'm starting to trend a little bit lower. Sometimes depending on like I'm going really heavy like this morning, I did a pretty heavy five by five that adrenaline is going. And so I'm pretty I was pretty actually even throughout up until the very end because because of that adrenaline, right? And when I'm doing more cardio based things, then you know that my, my, the chances of me going lower or higher. My chance of me going lower are more likely. But yeah, for things that that really pump up adrenaline. I'm mindful of that. And when I'm doing sometimes on Sundays, I'll do like two hour lifting sessions. And during that second hour, I almost always need to give myself a little bit of extra insulin to accommodate for the adrenaline.

Scott Benner 13:17
Can I ask you? I don't know if you share this stuff with people. But are you you're wearing a pump and a glucose monitor? I imagine. Yeah. And I looped them. Oh, you're looping? Oh, very cool. My daughter lives. Okay, so you're I'm gonna guess you're using Omnipod and Dexcom? I am Yes. Cool. So. So does the loop do a lot of the work? Do you find the algorithm? Is it helping? Like when you look back at it later? Are you seeing it giving insulin or cutting away? Or are your settings kind of rock solid? Where it just sort of rides the way you have it set up?

Robin Arzon 13:51
It definitely helps. Yeah, I would say that the algorithm is advantageous for sure. And my settings are pretty dialed in. And I really adapt my settings based on what I'm going to be doing. You know, so I know how my body is going to react. And you know, for for example, for long runs when I was marathon training. I was really, really grateful to find something like GMO paper pen because then I would just throw that into my into my running Bell and I wouldn't have to think about it in the off chance. Thankfully, I've never had I've never needed to use any type of glucagon injection. But that's the kind of like peace of mind that I like knowing and the worst worst case scenario and I'm in a severe extreme emergency situation that I would be covered. But for the most part, you know, my settings are very dialed in and I am incredibly body aware. And I bet on myself. I don't you know what I made like I every I don't need to check every two seconds because I trust myself and I'm willing, you know, I'm willing to take a certain certain element of

Scott Benner 14:58
risk. Yeah. So Robin, you're going No, I'm gonna tell you something right now, like you're being a really good sport by trying to talk about how you're doing all this stuff, because I know from having my daughter set really well to and her settings are rock solid, that when people ask you like, how do you do that? I say, it's not really there's not a lot to say because the settings are so right on that even as you move from activity to inactivity or strenuous activity to cardio or whatever, that your settings are so close that it, you don't see the impact that they imagined. And that's why I go back to them. And I say, you know, you got to get your Basal right, first, you have to understand how to Pre-Bolus meals and the glycemic load an index of the food you're eating, like, to me that's, that's the key. It's not the like, it's not the magic, hey, 25 minutes before you go for a run, eat 15 carbs of like, I don't know, those are workarounds to a problem that could be fixed other ways is how I kind of say it.

Robin Arzon 15:55
And, yeah, I mean, I really, I really think it's important to observe, I when I was diagnosed, I thought to myself, Okay, you're gonna just have to treat yourself like a science experiment, like take in as much data as you're comfortable. And then repeat what works and change what doesn't. And I have plenty of days where I'm just like, oh, gosh, why isn't this going my way. But for the most part, I'm able to operate largely unencumbered. Because I really approached my care. Like, I had to get curious. I had to get curious, instead of getting frustrated, get curious.

Scott Benner 16:32
See, the way I think about it, as you have to have these experiences over and over again. And when they do go wrong, which they inevitably will, instead of, kind of like being upset by it treated as a learning experience. Look at what happened. So you can make adjustments for the next time. I think we're saying the same thing. Really? That's really cool. Yeah, that's excellent. Hey, I'm going to jump around a little bit these questions a little bit. Here's a less serious one. This is a quote, how do I walk away from a spin class without my crotch and but feeling like it's been pummeled by a sledgehammer and set on fire? Do you have anything about that?

Robin Arzon 17:05
That's funny. You do get used to it? I would say check your bike settings, because you should not feel like you've been set on fire. But yeah, I would say you know, definitely check your your bike settings to make sure that you're seated on the bike appropriately, but otherwise, you do get used to it after a few cracks.

Scott Benner 17:23
When you have I don't know if you share this, but you appear to have as little body fat as humanly possible. Do you feel like your pod and index calm? Does it feel different people want to know when you don't have as much body fat when you're inserting them? Or how would you be

Robin Arzon 17:42
I have made Yeah, I have inserted it them in areas where I actually feel it. The other day, I inserted it accidentally, like in my oblique and that did not feel so great. So I removed that part a little bit early. But I tried to choose areas that have a little bit more cushion.

Scott Benner 18:01
Or you aware of that photo of you know, Chris Freeman, he was an Olympic cross country skier has type one. There's a and he's got to know him personally. But yeah, who I mean, yeah, there's this very popular photo of him where he's wearing his on the pod like up on his PEC. And I always, like when I saw that photo, I thought, well, I can find a place on my daughter if he can wear it there. You know, like, so. It's just a lot of pinching that goes on when you put it on, but I always use that. Yeah, I

Robin Arzon 18:26
always I always pinch up for sure. Yeah, after

Scott Benner 18:29
right. People are wondering if you have any advice for young athletes who have type one and it's been recently diagnosed about making the transition from there the life before they had to worry about their blood sugar's to it.

Robin Arzon 18:43
I mean, races diagnosis is tough, right? Because you're just figuring out what works right like there's no part of the difficulty and the challenge of type one is that it is unpredictable like you know that's what's so cool about the G vocal pen to be ready campaign is that it's like that's the message is be ready.

Scott Benner 19:08
G voc hypo pen has no visible needle, and it's the first premixed auto injector have glucagon for very low blood sugar and adults and kids with diabetes ages two and above. If you'd like to learn more about Chivo Capo pen, all you have to do is go to G voc glucagon.com forward slash juicebox. G voc shouldn't be used in patients with insulinoma or pheochromocytoma. Visit G voc glucagon.com/risk.

And don't forget if you'd like to vote to know that you heard Robin on this podcast visit G voc glucagon.com. Forward slash Robin Arsan. Now let's get back to Robin she was saying something about B Ready.

Robin Arzon 20:03
I love that message because it's encouraging someone to really advocate for themselves. And you know, we we are warriors, we are diabetes warriors. But it doesn't mean that we can't advocate for ourselves, and then prepare for what? How we define our finish line or what that finish line looks like. So I would say, for young athletes, advocate for yourself, you know, if you want to continue playing that sport, you absolutely can and should. Now, you're just going to have insulin and maybe a Devo type of pen in your toolkit. But, you know, that initial journey, you know, it's challenging, and then as you bring it, you bring in different elements, then that is, you kind of have to recalibrate, you know, what, what the facts and what the care are. But I think, focus on what you can do rather than what you can't do. And I do understand, especially as it relates to children, you know, caregivers are really just trying to keep kids healthy and safe. But we should be doing so in a way that encourages them to lead really dynamic and robust lives. And they can absolutely continue to do that safely.

Scott Benner 21:11
I like what you just said there about, focus on what you can do, because you can build off of that. So maybe, maybe you're not, you know, maybe you can't go do the run you used to exactly do right away, but do the things you can do learn from that. And then adapt, adapt, adapt as you go along. That's a really great idea. All right. Yeah. You know, I keep thinking when you're talking about to evoke that. The hypo pen is the first. It's the first glucagon that my daughter's actually carried with her because of the form factor. Oh, good. Prior to that, we we would stash them at the house or at school, but they were never on her person. And now she has them constantly with her in six months from now she's leaving for college for the first time. And it is a real, there's a real sense of calm for me knowing that it's something that's on her person all the time. Yeah, I agree. Yeah. Tell me about the be ready campaign. I know you're involved in it. And what's it same?

Robin Arzon 22:04
Well, I, you know, as I mentioned, it's the idea that we're empowering folks living with type one to give themselves peace of mind when I think be ready, I'm taking keys, cell phone, water, rescue carbs, you know, like glucose tabs in the event of a low blood sugar. And then for severe low blood sugar, incidences, you've got the GMO carboplatin which hopefully, you don't need, right, but you know, you throw it in your backpack, I throw it in my running pack, I have it in my training, I take a bag, you know, when I go to lift heavy weights, and I have that in my in my training bag. So that's the idea behind it is that, you know, this is something that you are going to use an only in an extreme circumstance or perhaps a loved one we would use for you. If you are, you know, in a really unpredictable, severe low blood sugar event.

Scott Benner 22:54
Hey, again, I feel weird for knowing things about you that other people told me, but are you plant based with your eating style?

Robin Arzon 23:03
I am yeah, I have I've been plant based for almost nine years.

Scott Benner 23:07
Okay, so Well, how long have you had type 1000?

Robin Arzon 23:11
And less? I was I was vegan before I was type? 1013. I want to say

Scott Benner 23:22
maybe yeah, I love that. You don't? I don't know exactly when my daughter was. Yeah, I

Robin Arzon 23:25
don't know. I mean, you know, it's interesting, because like I had such such a lot like my primary ways of identifying in the world don't happen to relate to me, you know, living with insulin and living with these bionic products. You know, my identity is a lot of things. So I don't think you know, I don't think about it that much. You know, and, and folks, I do have followers who are like, Oh, why don't you talk about this? Why don't you talk about that. And it's not that I'm clearly we're talking about it today. It's not that I'm unwilling, it's just there's so many other things that I think about in my day to day that really empower me to live boldly.

Scott Benner 24:09
Yeah, you know, it's funny people were asking if you saw a difference between how you had to use insulin plant based but in prior so you you obviously don't know but do you think generally speaking do you use I mean, what's the impact on I mean, there's still a lot of protein and in what you're eating Do you see protein spikes like people do when they eat a cheeseburger and then see a arise 90 minutes later from the protein? Do you see that with what you're eating? No,

Robin Arzon 24:36
not not at all. I very rarely, it's only when I eat processed foods. Of course, we all know like the pizzas and things like that, that I that I and I would use non non dairy cheese. But I eat a lot of the same stuff day in day out. So you know they how food is going to affect my body is at this point law. Originally large, largely predictable, and being plant based, and they enabled maintenance, obviously, that's a very personal choice, and enables me to feel faster from my workout. And really feel like I have control over where my food is coming from and what that looks like,

Scott Benner 25:18
How often would you say do you have? Well, first of all, what's the range you shoot for? When you're not working out? Where are you? Where are you hoping for your blood sugar to be?

Robin Arzon 25:29
I try to keep it between 90 and 100.

Scott Benner 25:31
Cool. Okay. And then. So for my daughter, we use like 70 and 120 are her Dexcom alerts. So my my question was, is how often do you have to do something to push your blood sugar back up to 90? Is it? What kind of frequency or does that happen with?

Robin Arzon 25:50
Um, meaning, like, what I needed to treat a low or

Scott Benner 25:55
something like not dangerously low? Yeah, pretty rarely. Okay, do you see? Yeah, I

Robin Arzon 26:02
would say it's pretty rare.

Scott Benner 26:03
Do you see highs more frequently than lows are not even enough to speak of?

Robin Arzon 26:09
I'm not enough to speak up. I mean, I will certainly say like, if I'm traveling, if I'm out to eat, you know, timezone changes, something like that. So anytime you change variables like that, things can get a little funky. But I would say it's really only like, if I'm, you know, out to eat, and I'm just like, okay, screw it. I'm gonna have this, this and this. And in two hours, I'm probably going to need to treat a trending high, you know?

Scott Benner 26:35
What's the, what's the, what's the average meal Bolus for you? Like, units? Wise? Is it I know, we're not? I know, everybody's different. But I'm just trying to get a feeling for the plant based thing. Is it? Because I'm getting I mean, you're you've got to be. I don't know how tall you are. But you look like you're built out of a muscle. So you know, I'm assuming that being in good shape is, is part of how the insulin works. And you write because it gets through your body? Well, I'm assuming you're really well hydrated all the time. You know, so you're getting good insulin circulation. If you don't want to answer it's fine. But I'm just wondering, like, what what would you consider like a big Bolus when you're having those like, restaurant meals?

Robin Arzon 27:12
Oh, big. Probably over four or five units. Okay.

Scott Benner 27:21
Gotcha. All right. I have more questions. Again, I'm sorry to know about your life. It's creepy. But you've had a baby in the recently congratulations. I know it's a little long to stay. Still. But people are wondering if you have any breastfeeding tips for with type one or pregnancy tips for type one.

Robin Arzon 27:45
Looping helps a lot. Certainly, I would say. Breastfeeding. Yeah, at the beginning of breastfeeding, that was tricky. There were I had many more lows in the beginning. You know, pretty much after you have the baby. Of course, in the third trimester, as the placenta is growing, your insulin needs really skyrocket. And I think mine like double, maybe even triple by the end. But as soon as you have the baby that that really tamp down, then if you're breastfeeding, your body is basically a furnace like you are like I really likened it to you're kind of always in that low level of cardio, least in the beginning as your milk supply as is developing. So those first six weeks, I was very, you know, I trended low, much more frequently. So if I were to, you know, Monday morning quarterback approached, I would have reduced my basil pretty significantly. And then, you know, Bolus kept an eye on my blood sugar and Bolus more frequently, just until I got a handle on what you know what my new Basal rate should were, should have been, you know, during that breastfeeding, initial breastfeeding, part of the journey. Yeah,

Scott Benner 28:56
I've interviewed a number we actually have series. I want to track a woman through her pregnancy interviewed her at every trimester while she had type one. And we've had some experts on to talk about it. And some of them say that the Basal needs and your bolusing needs in the third trimester, almost stop as soon as the placenta is delivered. And you almost have to like, swap back again. So now in hindsight, you think maybe right after the delivery, your needs lowered, but you kind of stayed with the settings you were at? Is that how it went? Or do you think your body burning?

Robin Arzon 29:26
I definitely lowered it regardless, because I knew, you know, I did some research and I was aware about that after, you know, the placenta is no longer a factor. But I would say, you know, middle of the night lows were much very frequent in the in those first few weeks, and it would be sometimes like, you know, I'm up to keep the baby and I'm going low. So I tried to just, you know, you know, plan for plan for the unpredictable both the baby and breastfeeding and loads. And then finally, you know, kind of I reached, what's my blood supply kind of came in? That roller coaster alleviated a little bit. But yeah, those first few weeks were challenging.

Scott Benner 30:13
Did you address it mostly with food or with insulin adjustments? Or a little bit of both?

Robin Arzon 30:19
I think it's yeah, it was definitely a little bit about initially, it was predominantly food, I would just be like, Okay, it's to the morning, I'm just going to eat half this, whatever, banana or drink some juice, but then I wanted, you know, I wanted to get my settings right. To the extent that I could, I could, and I ultimately did. And then, you know, for the remainder of my breastfeeding journey, it was normal, like, normal robbing

Scott Benner 30:44
cool. Again, I'm gonna ask a question. It's not my question. It's someone else's. And if it's too personal, please don't answer it. People are wondering if you're thinking about having your daughter tested for TrialNet like to see if she has any type one markers. Have you ever considered that or even thought about it?

Robin Arzon 31:01
My husband and I have had discussed it, but we're not going to discuss that publicly, of course.

Scott Benner 31:05
Okay. What was the other question I had about that? Oh, in your family line, after being diagnosed with type one, because you were diagnosed as an adult? So first of all, was that shocking? Are there other autoimmune 's in your family that, that it made it seem reasonable when it happens? Like do you have any relatives with type one or? Celiac? No? Anything really?

Robin Arzon 31:28
No, nothing like that. So that was definitely surprising.

Scott Benner 31:31
Yeah. What was that, like? As an adult trying to adjust to it? What do you think it would have? I mean, when you talk to kids who go through it, do you see similarities? Or do you think it's it's very much different?

Robin Arzon 31:44
I don't know. You know, I only know my own experience. I cannot I really, I can't say and I don't speak to a ton of kids. About this specifically.

Scott Benner 31:55
Well, if you want to speak to a ton of them ever, I have a list of them over here who are dressed up like you riding peloton bikes. So I actually have this here. This, this woman tells me that when she returned home from the hospital, with her 12 year old son, there was no t one D in their family. They were basically she said she was having a breakdown because her son was diagnosed she got on her peloton bike to try to alleviate her stress. She randomly picked a 20 minute ride, and for the first time realized that you had diabetes. And I guess you raise your arm and she saw a sensor or something like that. And she said it's snapped her into reality, she realized she could handle this for her kid. And they've just been been going full bore after that. And I'm telling you, that's one of like a dozen stories like that, that people sent me. Really crazy what

Robin Arzon 32:44
I'm grateful that I was able to inspire her.

Scott Benner 32:47
So I have to tell you, like what you said earlier about diabetes, not being a very big part of your life, you know, moment to moment, because you are incredibly busy. You you you run the world, it seems like to me. I don't know all that you do. But it seems like a lot. And and I get that. And even if you were to talk to my daughter who's just about 18, she would talk about it like you do, it's not at the forefront of her mind. It's not it's not you know, it doesn't stick to her constantly all day long. But then, on the flip of that, is that just you having it and being yourself is such a you know, it's such an empowering thing for other people. Can you tell me what that feels like? Like, what does it feel like to not set out to be a role model for something but yet you end up being one? I like how you laugh?

Robin Arzon 33:40
Uh, yeah, I don't I don't know, I don't, I didn't certainly don't see myself as a role model. But I am someone who lives with a lot of aspects of my persona and my public my life as a public figure. And that's part of it. And I own it. And I not only preach what I practice, but I practice what I preach. So it I am living a life that is in alignment with my value system. And that's the only way I can answer it is you don't really choose sometimes you don't choose how the world perceives you. And, you know, I guess that's just an example of it. Yeah.

Scott Benner 34:22
So Robin, no, this has got nothing to do with me. But I receive probably about 15 letters, like these notes that people sent to you. I received them about the podcast every day. And they're, they're difficult to process like I listened to the uncomfortable nature of your answer just now. And I thought if you were to ask me that question, I would have sounded just like you. I just started out to make a podcast and I thought I would share the way we do things and it might help people and I didn't I never imagined what would happen. And then when people kind of mirror back their experience to you and they say hey, you did this or I was able to accomplish this because of something you said. I always just go Thank you. I'm so glad the podcast is valuable for you. I don't even know what to say it feels it's otherworldly, really. It's not it's not something I don't think I don't think a normal person prepares for that to happen to themselves. So I appreciate you and I think I know you feel so most people I guess know you right? Do you think through through your work with peloton and being an instructor there and that business but what else do you have going on you've written go you're going to write more books.

When you have diabetes and use insulin, low blood sugar can happen when you don't expect it. GE voc hypo pan is a ready to use glucagon option that can treat very low blood sugar in adults and kids with diabetes ages two and above. Find out more go to G voc glucagon.com forward slash juicebox G voc shouldn't be used in patients with via kromus atoma or insulinoma visit G voc glucagon.com/risk. Once again, robins link for G voc glucagon is Chivo glucagon.com forward slash Robin Arsan now we'll get back to the show.

Robin Arzon 36:21
Yeah, I've written a few books. I had two New York Times bestsellers. The first one shut up and run and the second is my first children's book strong mama. I just submitted the manuscript for my third book, I have some cool partnerships happening, you know, in the fashion and beauty space. That that's pretty exciting coming out this year, I have some things you know, as it relates to being a mom, and you know, stuff for a fina as well some products coming out from for children. And, you know, of course, you know, my partnerships with companies like GE voc hyperopia, and, you know, natural corollary to how I live my life, right. So whether it's diet, you know, being able to continue to be bold, that someone living with diabetes, you know, because I have the GMO cocoa pen in my in my back pocket essentially, or whether it's, you know, continuing to put out more amazing content with peloton globally. You know, those the synergies are really important to me. And I, I partner and invest only with come in companies that I really use and aligned with with my day to day. So for example, I'm an investor and athletic greens, ag one that is a company that I really believe in. So any of the any of the partnerships that I speak about publicly as an investor and a brand ambassador, are things that I really use.

Scott Benner 37:50
Now, that's amazing. The athletic greens, that's a drink, right? That brings nutrients, vitamins, that sort of stuff.

Robin Arzon 37:58
Yeah, exactly. So I'll throw that in my water in the morning.

Scott Benner 38:01
What what's in your smoothie, you mentioned your smoothie, like it's a friend, I don't know if you realize that, when you speak about it, like it's a person in your life. So what's in that smoothie,

Robin Arzon 38:11
the smoothie is about, you know, One serving is about 20 carbs, and the carbs would change. You know, it might be mango one day, it might be berries, but you know, I'll I'll do the carb count, based on all know what the carb count is and kind of use that as a work back approach. Vegan Protein, I'll put magnesium in there, I'll put the Ag one in there. Gosh, what else is in there? Some vitamin D, some, sometimes some chia seeds, sometimes some hemp hearts, you know, it really depends on what we have in the cabinet. But it might be as many as like 10 to 15 ingredients, depending on depending on the day. And then greens will always throw in kale, spinach, whatever we have in the fridge,

Scott Benner 38:58
you make yourself at home every day. Oh, wow. This you're you're married? Correct? Yeah. Do you and your husband keep a similar kind of diet? Or do you eat two different ways?

Robin Arzon 39:12
No, we pretty much the same together every day.

Scott Benner 39:17
Would it be difficult? Do you think if one did something one way and one did something the other way? Or just more work? Maybe?

Robin Arzon 39:24
Um, I mean, it probably would make it. Certainly we would have more dishes. It's a lot easier to eat as a family. I will say that.

Scott Benner 39:34
What does I don't even know if you think about it this way. But do you think of do you think of the way you eat as a style? Is it something that you you don't you don't mean? Like do you do you have cheat moments or is it not? Or do you just there's part of me that thinks that you are just a person who sets a course on things and does them and doesn't deviate from them but I'm trying to find out if that's the case or not?

Robin Arzon 39:58
Yeah, I don't really have My philosophy of life, this is a cheating day or meal. You know, I don't, I don't live a life that I feel like I need to have a vacation from like, I don't only live for Saturdays, you know, my life is friggin awesome. Similarly, I feel in a way that makes me feel really good. And I love the foods that I eat. So I don't feel the need to kind of sneak away and have a a cheat. If I feel like having something, you know, if I want to eat birthday cake and eat birthday cake, if I want to have dessert, I'm gonna eat dessert, you know, I don't feel the need to kind of reward myself or punish myself using food.

Scott Benner 40:40
Okay, no, I mean, it makes a lot of sense. And so do you even? Are you aware of your your caloric intake during the day or anything like that? Are you just sort of like you just don't know, basically, you eat what you eat? Sounds like pretty repetitiously at the very least. So you probably know what you're taking in day to day.

Robin Arzon 40:57
Roughly, yeah. I would say I eat pretty intuitively. But I have a general sense of macros, macros and micronutrients, nutrients. Yeah. Okay.

Scott Benner 41:10
Is that something you were able to figure out on your own? Or did you need? Did you go to someone to help you understand the, the nutrients that your body specifically needed? Because it occurs to me. I mean, just to as a sidebar for a second, you know, we talked to a lot of different people on the podcast, and we have this one series called how we eat and people just come on and tell the tell the different things that they, you know, some people are keto, and some people are plant based, etc. And they come on, and they talk about it. But what I find talking to people, is that the happiest ones are the ones that seem to have found the eating style that fits their body. And and then if you don't, I mean, it's just, it's what works for them. They're happy, and they're healthy. And they're unencumbered. And that ends up being the right answer. So I don't know, I forgot my question. But I'm assuming that's, that's what I got my question again, I found it did you have to go to somebody to have somebody tell you, Hey, these are the macros that you need? Or how would a person go about figuring something like that out?

Robin Arzon 42:13
Well, nutritionists are certainly very helpful in that, you know, get getting an understanding of your lifestyle, how active you are. And that is a very important, I would say stop on the journey for somebody who is really just trying to educate themselves and do that kind of exploratory regex conversation. I've done a lot of I mean, I've really educated myself about what works for me, and again, to your point is, find what works for you. There isn't a one size fits all. And I definitely recommend, you know, seeking out a professional to help you calculate if macros are of interest is certainly not required for for all folks. But it's, it can be helpful data. And again, we should only be using these data points as ways to help us not, you know, to have more numbers, and more things to kind of inform you know, what, how we're doing and how we're doing what we're doing,

Scott Benner 43:18
right. However, a couple of minutes left, I want to ask you, so I'm gonna use myself as an example. I'm 50 years old, I make a podcast about 12 hours a day. And in the my free time I walked to the bathroom, the shower, and at my bed, I am not getting enough exercise. So at Christmas time, I was like, Okay, well, what seems low impact for me that I could get started with, and I got a bike. I rode the bike for three weeks before my knees started hurting. And now next month, I'm having my meniscus repaired. How do people know Don't worry, it'll be fine. But, but, um, but how do people who are who want to do something? Like what path is there to success, right? Because I made the decision and I made the move and I started doing it. Okay, I had a I had a, you know, a physical limitation, and I'm going to fix it, and I'm gonna get right back to it. But I mean, how do people How should people start? Because I mean, I watched a video of you riding that bike, I'm 100% certain I would have a stroke or a heart attack if I did that. So but I do believe I could get to it. But what is that? Like? How do I get to it? Is my question like, you know what I'm saying? Like how do people go from inactivity to activity with with the best chance for success?

Robin Arzon 44:35
Yeah, I would say small, consistent voices. You know, the sweeping change usually isn't the long term strategy. I would rather have someone do consistent, less intense movement or initially and for a longer period of time, and then you later on, you know, intense stuff like there is absolutely a place for intensity and working really hard and pushing heavier weights and running further distances and biking, you know, but I wouldn't recommend that, as someone who's new to movement start there, I would rather see what you can do consistently for one month, three months, six months, and then use that, you know, as as a building block. Yeah,

Scott Benner 45:25
I want to be clear, I don't think the bicycle like hurt my knee, I think my knee was already kind of there and just, you know, doing anything kind of pushed it over the edge. So just so lower, low, kind of lower, more consistent, maybe longer, less impactful until you start feeling that you can handle more and then more intense, more intense, more intense as you move forward. If you put real effort into that. Yeah. If you put real effort into that, is it fair to think that in a year, you could see a change in your life, I just want to let you know that the next part of our conversation is related to exercise, listeners should consult their physician before beginning or changing any exercise or physical activity program.

Robin Arzon 46:11
Oh, my gosh, you could see a change much sooner. And it also depends on the goal, right. So you know, if you're trying to build up cardiovascular endurance or approaches for that, if you're trying to build up, you know, build up more muscle and make your muscles larger and hypertrophy training, there's a there's a method for that, right? So you really have to begin with the end goal in mind of like, what is your objective and the more specific you can get with your objective, then you can specifically inform how you should be moving how frequently how intensely, you know that all of those are variables that really are informed by what the goal is, and, and where someone is starting from. But you but I would say someone really needs to start where they are. People's entire lives can change in a year. So yes, I would say change certainly can happen. And, and that length of time.

Scott Benner 47:02
Alright, so I feel like I have a minute left. So I have to ask you about, like your average day, like when you get to the end of Is there ever an end to your day? Do you? Do you have like a time where you say I'm not going to work anymore? Does work kind of exist throughout the day?

Robin Arzon 47:16
Yeah, I mean, I would say I don't usually take meetings, you know, after, by the time, it's my daughter's dinner time, I'm pretty much off in terms of any public facing commitment. I untether, myself from social media and emails, probably at around eight o'clock, and then I start to wind down, I have a meditation practice, I have a read, you know, I read every single evening before going to bed. And that, you know, I tried to create a transition time to anchor my day. You know, so I can start to let go, because my work is who I am also as a public figure. So I have to be very intentional with moments that are, are not that.

Scott Benner 48:01
I feel that that my job doesn't really exist in an office or a place. And that there are times when, like, sometimes my my wife will be like, What are you doing? And I'm like, I'm making money. And you know, but it's 10 o'clock at night. I'm like, I shouldn't be doing this right now. You know what I mean? So, hey, you just mentioned meditation? Do you practice anything specific, you transcendental? Or do you something else, there's just sort of a mindfulness that you that you approach,

Robin Arzon 48:25
if it is similar to TM, it's a Vedic practice that I've been doing, actually, since I was a lawyer, so quite a few years,

Scott Benner 48:34
when you're next to other people? Do you think? Do they do you think they look at you and go, that person has way more energy than I do? Or do you feel like you're not I'm saying, like, you have a ton of good energy, I guess, is what I should say. And you're obviously putting it to work in a lot of different places. But you're doing I mean, just the stuff I can see from you publicly, which is clearly not your entire life. I'm tired watching you. So why are you getting tired?

Robin Arzon 49:04
You know, I, I do prioritize sleep. I, I often take it back to basics, you know, like when I'm feeling like my energy is waning, and I might been lately be a higher energy person than most folks. But, you know, I asked myself very simple questions like, have you are you hydrated? Did you eat a vegetable today? You know, can you get to bed a little earlier, because we put the phone down for 10 minutes, you know, that we kind of know intuitively what we're supposed to do. But when we're, you know, filled with cortisol, and, you know, we feel like things are getting a little bit stressful or lot stressful. We kind of let those things fall. But really, we do have a framework that we can rely on and we should be relying on those things. Especially when and when, you know, times are tough. Yeah.

Scott Benner 49:54
I appreciate you sharing all this with me. I really do. I'm sorry. We had a little technical difficulty at the beginning kind of took away some of our time. I'm but I've just been really excited to do this. I've come at us 16 different ways and have not been able to get through to you. And when when we were able to make this happen, I was really excited people. I'm going to tell you Robin, the people that I know in the industry, when I when I said I was interviewing you, they were like, how did you get Robin to come on your podcast? So you are known as here we are. You are known as a tough get just so you know. There are people who were incredibly impressed that you and I were talking today. I hope you had a great time. I really enjoyed speaking with you. Thank you so much for doing this.

Robin Arzon 50:37
Oh yeah. Thanks for having me. Great to talk to you, Scott.

Scott Benner 50:39
It's my pleasure. Take care.

A huge thank you to one of today's sponsors, G voc glucagon, find out more about Chivo Capo pen at G voc glucagon.com. Ford slash juicebox. you spell that GVOKEGLUC AG o n.com. Ford slash juicebox. Also want to thank Robin for coming on the Juicebox Podcast and spending this time chatting with us is very cool. If you're new to the podcast, hang on for a second. And I'll tell you a little more about it.

First of all, run through some links G vote glucagon.com forward slash Robin arzani. Hit that link. Let you vote no, you heard Robin here on the podcast. And if you're a US resident, who is the caregiver of a type one, or has type one themselves, please again, consider going to T one D exchange.org Ford slash juicebox. And taking that quick survey. Now if you're new to the podcast, and you just came by to hear Robin, you should stay and hang out. There are over 600 More episodes for you to enjoy. You can check them out in a number of different ways in the audio app of your choice, meaning Spotify, Apple podcasts, what else? I think Google's got a podcast that there's there's a ton of podcast apps or other audio apps where you just search for Juicebox Podcast, type one diabetes, hit subscribe or follow. And you're on your way. If you're having trouble finding a podcast app, go to juicebox podcast.com. And there are links right across the top of the page that will get you started. The podcast has a vibrant private Facebook group. It's absolutely free, has 25,000 people in it and is waiting for you you can look around and see what people are talking about. We'll jump right in Juicebox Podcast type one diabetes on Facebook. The show has different series defining diabetes, which goes over all of the terms that you might run into in your life using insulin. There's the diabetes Pro Tip series with me and CDE Jenny Smith, where we talk about all different kinds of ways of managing type one, you might enjoy the diabetes variable series that talks about things that impact your life with type one, such as alcohol, or shopping at Walmart, or other things that make your blood sugar go up and down. The after dark series covers things like eating disorders, complications, bipolar disorder, drug use, and so much more adult topics for people living with type one. There's this series all about algorithm pumping. Are you looking into on the pod five control like you, Medtronic sucks 70 G, and you'd love to hear conversations about those. We have that too, right here on the Juicebox Podcast. And don't forget the how we eat series where a new person comes on to discuss their eating style intermittent fasting, keto flexitarian Bernstein FODMAP doesn't matter if it's a style of eating. We've talked about it here on the podcast. One more time, jump into a podcast app or an audio app start today. If you don't know where to start, go to that Facebook group Juicebox Podcast type one diabetes, and right up top. In the featured tab. There's lists and lists and lists of episodes that you might be interested in. Thank you so much for listening today. I'll be back very soon with another episode of The Juicebox Podcast.