3 Things Every Diabetic Worries About! (& how to fix it)

In this video I talk about the 3 main things every diabetic is scared of. I talk about how they used to scare me and how I beat self-doubt, took action and got rid of the fear. I hope this inspires you to think differently and take ownership of your diabetes.

It doesn’t matter what the circumstance is, whether you’re at a social event, work, making love or, exercising – when blood glucose is outside of normal range, you can be a difficult person to be around.

Just bumping into and spending time with yourself when you’re going through a high or low….

Would you like that person?

I definitely wouldn’t like me!

I often laugh and tell people that diabetes has given me three personalities. One called healthily, one called high and the other called low.

In order to protect yourself from the complications of diabetes, you need to be proactive in managing your condition. Just like I say in my book, The Diabetic Muscle and Fitness Guide,

‘Any area of life you don’t control – someone else will.’

This is so true, especially in relation to diabetes. If you don’t look after your health – you’ll require a team of people to look after it for you.

Knowledge is Power

If you want to get the most out of life, you need to master diabetes and all the aspects that control it: diet, exercise, lifestyle and medication. That’s exactly why I set up the Diabetic Muscle and Fitness Training Lab.

You need to be selfish.

I know this sounds negative, but please hear me out.

When your blood glucose levels aren’t in range, it’s hard to be your true self. Those anxious, short-tempered personalities of diabetes take control and usually end up giving us a bad name. It’s surprising, just how many people are afraid to stand up and manage their diabetes in the public eye.

Do you worry about what other people think?

Ask yourself the following questions…

Are you afraid to inject insulin in public?

Are paranoid about having your CGM device or Insulin Pump on show?

Are you self-conscious to eat or drink something in certain circumstances to treat a hypo?

Would you be embarrassed to ask for money to buy food to treat a hypo if you’d forgotten your wallet?

Do you feel humiliated nipping to the toilet during a family meal to dose your insulin?

Are you mortified checking your blood glucose level before or, during sex?

There is an endless number of scenarios you will have to deal. The worst thing you can do is suffer in silence.

On Saturday past, I was invited out to dinner with a group of old friends. Our table was booked for 7:00 pm at one of my favourite steak restaurants in Belfast City Northern Ireland.

I arrived at the restaurant and realised that I’d forgotten my insulin pen.

DRAMA!?

Not really. The first thing I do in this kind of situation is ask myself two questions,

Q. What can I control?

• Can I ring anyone to bring my insulin? No
• Is there a chemist open nearby? No
• Do they keep insulin in the restaurant? LOL No
• Should I fast and eat nothing? No chance
• Should I just go home and meet them later? No, I want to enjoy myself

Q. What can I cope with?

• Can I eat what I want and cope with being high for a few hours? No
• Should I just stick with meat, veg and water – even though it may make me go high? No

Luckily, I lived only 15-minutes away (30-minute round trip) from the restaurant. Having also arrived 10-mins early I figured I had a window of opportunity to nip home and grab my insulin as most restaurants take around 20-45mins to serve their food. So, I stood up and told everyone I was nipping home to grab my pen, and of course, there were a few sarcastic comments and sighs about being me unorganized…

I understood where the guys were coming from. At the end of the day, they were hungry and worried I was going to hold the meal up. I left my order with one of the party members before I left, advising them to order my meal just after 7:00 pm. This would buy me enough time.

I drove home, grabbed my insulin and was back in the restaurant for 7:23 pm. I promise I kept within the speed limit. (maybe telling a white lie…)

By the time I got back – the food still wasn’t out yet. It’s funny how we all tend to play the worst case scenario in our heads. Everyone was chatting and getting the drinks in. My absence went unnoticed.

Here’s the moral of the story and why you need to be selfish with your diabetes.

I wanted to enjoy myself, and the people at the table deserved me at my best. If I was to sit through the meal, not eat or, eat and cope with the annoying symptoms of hyperglycemia I know for a fact I wouldn’t be a nice guy to be around.

So, for the good of myself and the table. I decided to be selfish and put diabetes first. I’m so glad I did. I was able to relax, enjoy a great meal and empower myself with the confidence that I was in good health.

I urge you to think the same, no matter what your situation…

• If you need to nip home and keep others waiting, do it.
• If you need to inject and correct a high blood sugar with onlookers, do it.
• If you need to leave the table and check your blood glucose, do it.
• If you need to open a tin of drink or, open a noisy packet of sweets in the cinema to treat your hypo, do it.
• If someone gives you a sarcastic remark, go and fix yourself up first, then come back and give them hell! Ha-ha

If you’re not proactive with managing your diabetes – don’t complain about developing complications. You can’t help anyone, or be your best self if you’re stressed out and not feeling good.

There’s nothing that takes up more time and space in your head than a volatile blood high or low blood glucose level.

I hope this article has inspired you to think differently and put yourself first. Protect your health.

It’s hard to think clearly, have great ideas and take effective action when you’re out of shape, not managing your diabetes, stressed and ill. Align yourself with the fact your body is the vehicle that gets you from where you are (now) to where you want to be.

A healthy body gives you the energy and capacity to love, work hard and build the life you want. There’s no benefit in playing the victim and making excuses. Step up and take ownership of your diabetes. You have more control than you think.

Check out these 21 gems of wisdom to improve your diabetic control in 2018.

1. If your blood glucose levels read high or low it doesn’t mean you’re useless, failing or going to die a horrible death. They’re just numbers – treat them as data and feedback for you to take action. Your blood glucose readings are your friend.

2. You need to bolus for protein, especially beef, whey protein and other sources of dairy. These tend to increase blood glucose levels the most.

3. Purposely putting yourself into hyperglycemia to lose body fat is unwise. You’ll ruin your health and burn off valuable muscle tissue – which increases your body fat percentage. Seriously stupid.

4. Strength training and building muscle is one of the best investments a diabetic can make. Muscle is the largest storage tank for glucose.

5. Sleep is a prerequisite to good quality diabetes management. Aim for 7-8 hours every night. If you fall short, try to make it up with naps or binge sleep at the weekend when your workload calms down.

6. Diet soft drinks will not give you cancer. The majority of people who make this claim have misinterpreted the research and fallen prey to sensationalist headlines designed to shock the masses. Low calorie soft drinks don’t influence blood glucose levels, settle a sweet tooth and support weight loss.

7. Dietary and training adjustments are necessary because energy needs change as we progress. If you don’t know how to change your diet and training up – hire a coach! Or check out the likes of Diabetic Shred

8. It’s perfectly normal to gain weight when starting insulin therapy for the first time. A large proportion of this weight gain is water and stored carbohydrate NOT body fat. The only time you’ll gain body fat is when you eat above and beyond your energy needs. If you can’t get your head around that – read this article for women and this one for men.

9. You don’t have a slow metabolism. Just a fast appetite.

10. Logging the right data can prove invaluable to your ongoing progress. Log objective measures, such as body weight, adherence to diet, which can be interconnected with subjective measures, such as blood sugar control, mood, hunger and energy.

11. Hire a coach! It will save you a lot of time, money and effort. I can’t stress this enough!

12. Undoing something isn’t as easy as pressing CTRL + Z – Undoing something that’s taken months or years to do, isn’t easy to stop or change. You are 100% responsible for managing your diabetes.

13. Do you dedicate time to studying diabetes and all the factors involved in controlling it? If not, why not? Don’t complain about badly controlled diabetes if you haven’t put the work into understanding it. That’s why we created the Training Lab.

14. There are things you’re doing right now that are not conducive to your goal. I don’t know what these things are for you, but everyone has them. Just be aware that if you want to change you’re going to have to stop doing things you might currently enjoy doing, (bad habits). So — no, you can’t have it all.

15. Carry a spare everything (diabetes-wise) in your car.

16. Never leave the house without hypo prevention. The best hypo prevention is a non-diet fizzy drink like coca cola or high energy sports drink (minus the caffeine).

17. Quiz your doctor on things you don’t understand – you deserve to know. Why is this drug a better choice for me than this? Why can’t I get access? Can you double-check? What are the implications? What is the evidence behind your claims?

18. Will there be a cure for diabetes? Who knows? Regardless, focus on the now and keep your blood sugars as well controlled as possible.

19. There is no such thing as a good or bad food – just good or bad diets.

20. Invest in personal development books, courses and mentors. Learning how to manage and dissolve stress is a lifesaver.

21. Surround yourself with like-minded people who want to dominate diabetes and get more out of life. Just like everyone inside the Diabetic Muscle and Fitness private Facebook group.

I hope you got value from all of these.

You don’t live with diabetes alone.

We’re with you every step of the way in 2018.

Respect!

Phil Graham

2. Persuasion is the best way to win an argument.

3. The reason why success often doesn’t feel as good as it should do is because your idea of ‘success’ is based on what you want other people to think about you, rather than doing it for yourself. If you’ve had success this year, great! But, in order to keep advancing and developing make sure you evaluate yourself and commit to developing all the other areas of your life. This allows you to go to the next level. If you’re sitting down to plan your 2018 over the next few days, then do yourself a favour and set goals that serve you! At the end of the day, no one really cares how successful you are. Don’t waste your entire year trying to fit in again!

4. A great way to tell you’re not being true to yourself is when you say things likes, “I have to, should do…”

5. It’s wise to do things because of priority NOT history.

6. Pride gets in the way of mastery. Really cocky = tragedy.

7. It is easy to get complacent and find yourself doing low-value s**t if you do not plan your day or have a vision (goals).

8. Important distinction. At the level of the soul, we are the same. At the level of the physical senses and awareness, we are not.

9. Opinions are the cheapest opinions on earth – especially those that circulate the most. By the time the truth reaches – the lies have spread around the world.

10. The minute you put someone on a pedestal you blind yourself to their downsides. Everyone has another side, a dark side – including you!

11. Anything you repress always surfaces at some stage. It’s wise to dissolve your drama, understand how it served you and affirm it- rather than live through it.

12. In order to really not give a f**k what other people think, you need to know and love yourself. You’re the author of the most important story in the world – your life.

13. It’s ok to turn your phone off and shut your inbox down. Your social media and email accounts aren’t going to vanish and will be waiting for your patiently when you return.

14. For the amount of people that love you – there will be an equal amount of people that dislike you. So what! Live with it and stop trying to please everyone.

15. It is wise to have an inner vision rather than conform. Be …’in the world, not of the world.’ (John 17:16)

16. You will merge and unmerge with people over the course of your life. Learn from every relationship and embed the new found knowledge into the next relationship.

17. Expect people to be disloyal, dishonest and at times an enemy – People only live according to what they perceive is the best option for them. They did what they felt was best for them at the particular time. Don’t hold a grudge over that – you’ll only get ill.

18. 5 ways to embrace your entrepreneurial spirit. 1. Find something you really love doing. 2. Solve a problem that hasn’t been solved. 3. Be able to build the solution yourself. 4. Know when to be patient and when to act fast. 5. Manage your emotions.

19. Stop getting attached to the fantasy of being a success 24/7. If you’re attached to success you’re on your way down. Futile. The majority of your current success is a result of hitting rock bottom.

20. You get most creative when you’re challenged. Invite criticism. It’s kinda useful.

21. 1 true friend is better than 10,000 fake ones. Stop sweating over how many people follow you on social media.

I hope you found immense value in my life lessons from 2017.

Let’s smash 2018 together!

Life is beautiful.

Phil Graham

The success of your diabetes control is directly proportionate to your mind-set. In this video, I share three incredibly useful mind-set tactics for better diabetes management.

Self-Control Is Strength

Right Thought Is Mastery

Calmness Is Power.

Implement them and let me know how you get on!

If you liked this video and want to learn more about exercising with diabetes. You need to check out the Diabetic Muscle and Fitness Training Lab.

It contains a vault of in-depth knowledge and resources you can’t find anywhere else on the internet. You’ll gain valuable new found knowledge on diabetes, nutrition, training, mind-set and more.

Join 1000s of other diabetics just like you and start building muscle, shredding body fat and build the best version of you.

They say a photo speaks a thousand words.

So far 2016 has been crazy. I’ve met a lot of new people, learned a lot of new things, but not many experiences come close to this.

The little girl you see in the photo travelled with her mother to come and hear me speak at the SFN fitness exhibition in Scotland earlier this year.

She’d just been diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes a few weeks previously and was going through a tough time with her health. Her mother was incredibly anxious about her daughter’s well-being and future. It turned out this kid was pretty gifted at gymnastics, training at a very high junior level with tonnes of potential.

Since being diagnosed her body and mind had taken a hit. She couldn’t perform, enjoy or hope like ever before, forcing her to feel down and question her identity.

Seeing such a young kid with limiting beliefs hit a nerve with me. In fact, I saw myself and what I went through.

There was no chance on earth I was letting her (or her mum) leave the building and live another day feeling hopeless and accepting things just ‘wouldn’t be the same again.’

F*&K THAT!

It was in my nature to help. I had to! No two ways about it! I shared every piece of motivation, experience and practical knowledge I had.

Here’s the kicker.

Before going back on stage, the little girl looked me bang in the eyes, smiled, gave me a fist pump and said with a tear in her eye ‘life is what you make of it.’

^ Mind blown! Penny dropped, and I said to myself, ‘That’s why I do what I do.’ smirked and went my way.

I’ll never forget it.

We live in an era where everyone wants to automate their business and make as little human contact as possible. Don’t think like that. If you want to make a BIG impact on this world, personal touch will always trump automation.

Bearing hope is one of the most powerful things you can do. The world would be a better place if people did it more often!

^ Bear it every day!