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Episode 7: Take charge and gain control with Andi Balog the T1D Nutritionist
50 Plays19 days ago
In this inspiring episode of The Type 1 Club Podcast, Jacqui chats with Andi, a passionate Nutritionist, about her personal journey with Type 1 diabetes and how it led her to a career dedicated to empowering others in the diabetes community. Andi shares her diagnosis story —full of challenges, growth, and resilience—and how it shaped her commitment to helping others take charge of their diabetes.
From practical nutrition tips to building a positive mindset, Andi provides invaluable insights into what it means to gain control and live confidently with T1D. This episode is a must-listen for anyone looking for inspiration, guidance, and a sense of connection on their diabetes journey.
If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe, leave a review, and share with anyone who might benefit from the Type 1 Foundation’s message.
To connect further with Andi Balog, the T1D Nutritionist, and explore her resources:
- Visit Empowering Health for details about her programs, including one-on-one consultations, recipes, training memberships, and resources like the Better Bolusing Guide.
- Check out her Empowering Health Podcast
- Follow her on Instagram for tips, updates, and engaging content related to managing Type 1 Diabetes.
Further Resources:
Type 1 Foundation Website
Follow us on Instagram
Join the Facebook Group
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Transcript
Introduction and Disclaimer
00:00:00
Speaker
The content provided in this podcast is for informational purposes only and is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition. Reliance on any information provided by this podcast is solely at your own risk.
Welcome to Type 1 Club
00:00:22
Speaker
Welcome to the Type 1 Club. Whether you're a parent grappling with a new diagnosis, a caregiver seeking guidance or simply someone wanting to learn more about Type 1 diabetes, this podcast is for you.
00:00:36
Speaker
Together, let's dispel myths, break down barriers, and build a community of understanding and resilience. Join us as we embark on this journey together, because with knowledge, compassion, and support, no one should ever feel alone in managing Type 1 diabetes. Welcome to the Type 1 Club.
00:01:00
Speaker
Hello,
Meet Andy Balog
00:01:01
Speaker
everybody, and welcome back to the Type 1 Club. I am Jackie Kidman, and I'm very excited to have you all here again listening. I'm also excited today because we get to introduce you to Andy Balog. A lot of people might already know Andy from the Type 1 community. She plays a lot of roles in the Type 1 Foundation as well, but she's lived with Type 1 diabetes for over two decades and she is a certified personal trainer, nutritionist and she's the owner of Empowering Health, nutrition and health coaching for Type 1 diabetics. We'll go into a little bit more about what her role is that she does but
00:01:44
Speaker
sort of the overall kind of role that what she does is when she works with type one diabetics is she helps them to lose weight, get fitter, stronger and improve their confidence in maintaining their blood sugar levels every day through her education, support and empowerment. She's got her own podcast as well. So we'll share some links around that. So Andy, welcome and thank you so much for your time. Thank you so much for having me. It was so exciting.
00:02:11
Speaker
Would love for you to share a bit about your story of how you were diagnosed.
Andy's Diagnosis Story
00:02:17
Speaker
Yeah, for sure. So I was diagnosed about a week before my 10th birthday and it was kind of the usual, you know, it gets, it ramps up a little bit towards when you get diagnosed. So I don't remember too much of the months prior, but I remember closer to the diagnosis of, it was around,
00:02:40
Speaker
My birthday's the February 16th. So Australia Day was like right at the end of January, right? I remember something ah around that, which was like this event that we went to. And I remember there was, um it was right near the Torrens in Adelaide that had like sprinklers on. And I remember wanting to run under the sprinklers and lay under them and have my mouth open and just let the water go in my mouth. Cause I felt so dehydrated. Even getting out that day, I wanted to just lay on my bed. Like I got up.
00:03:08
Speaker
I had to make my bed and then laid back on my bed thinking I can't get up like I was so tired yeah just like the usual like not like having stomach pains whenever I ate I remember going to the bathroom with a drink bottle because I felt like while I was on the bar in the bathroom I felt like I needed to drink more water that's how thirsty I was.
00:03:27
Speaker
Yeah, so it was it was intense. And then I just remember going to we'd gone to the GP many times and we're told there wasn't a problem. There was no fingerprints involved. And then eventually, at some point, we just got told to go straight to hospital. And then I remember kind of going in and out of it a little bit. I don't know if I was like, I can probably DKA. I remember them saying my blood sugar was about 56. So crazy. Yeah. And that's pretty much all I remember. And then it was just type one weld. So yeah. why Wow. That's so interesting of the thirst, like of that's your memory of like, I could basically just sit under this sprinkler and just drink all this water of like your body is just saying, I'm so thirsty. You know, like, and that's what we talk about in terms of the, like one of the major symptoms is that
00:04:18
Speaker
Do you remember going to the toilet a lot or any of that as well? Yeah, I just remember feeling like every time I went to the bathroom I could feel, this sounds strange, but like I could feel myself get dehydrated with like each time I went to the bathroom. Like I could feel it like depleting me. Very strange, yeah. um That's kind of what I remember. Did your parents know anything about Type 1?
00:04:43
Speaker
No, they didn't. My sister was studying nursing, like she was becoming a midwife. And so she was kind of learning a little bit about that at the time. And so she was kind of saying to my mum, like, I think it might be this, like, I think it might be this. And, you know, I think like most parents would be like, don't, don't say that, like, I'm sure it's not that kind of thing.
00:05:05
Speaker
um And then I do remember when we were in hospital, finally, my mum was on the phone to my sister and my sister was like, I told you it was probably that. and wow ah There was little things, but no one else outside the family had any idea or like many things, as far as I know. And did they know what was involved when you get diagnosed with diabetes? Was that all just completely? It was never a thing, like no one in my family knew of anyone who had it at all. So, yeah.
00:05:34
Speaker
say So 20 years ago, or 21 years ago, there's giving your age away there, but so that's right, you're still young. yeah the The technology, you must have seen a great big change from technology 20.
00:05:48
Speaker
over 20 years ago, I can imagine. Yeah, it's weird. I guess it's because you know how you kind of grow with it, so it doesn't feel that different over time. But when you look back, it's like, yeah, that's a big change. Yeah, yeah I mean, I guess the difference was mainly, I think when I was diagnosed, I'm not even sure if there were insulin pumps, maybe there was, I'm not sure. But it wasn't something they talked about in the hospitals or um anything like that. So it was, you know, syringes, like proper syringes, not pens.
00:06:16
Speaker
But that to me is so normal, like to the point where I in my diabetes case have syringes. Like I prefer syringes to pens because to me it's such a natural, I know how to like use the plunger. Like to me, it's like when I pull my pen out as like my backup long acting, I'm like, oh yeah, I have to like add this. And then it's like so many more steps or it's like a syringe is so simple and everyone looks at me like a syringe, like what? Yeah, it's so funny how you just get used to what,
00:06:45
Speaker
like you said, as it evolved, like, so we when Harvey was diagnosed, we left the hospital and we were doing finger pricks. And then you went on a wait list for the Dexi-com. And then that was about the first three months we had doing the every three to four hours, the finger pricks. And I remember that was probably the longest three months of my life. I felt looking back on it now.
00:07:09
Speaker
because now with the Dexicon, I'm like, well, it's just so much ease. Like it's taken that kind of pressure off. And you are also looking at numbers differently. You're probably looking at numbers a lot more. So then it probably is a bit more intense. Correct. Just the two sides to it, 100%. Yeah. Yeah. Like it's almost like, I remember those, those three, those first three months, just like, you know, okay, hang on, we've got to do this and like up through the night and that sort of stuff.
00:07:35
Speaker
And then when you went on the Dexcom and you get a reading every five minutes, it was also like, whoa, I have too much information here. And how do I get more control over this? And, you know, it was kind of nice to have that three hour break.
00:07:49
Speaker
it look over kind of like That's how I feel looking back on it because yeah seeing and hearing about people these days like that they are put on pumps a lot of the time straight away and they are put on cgms and things straight away and i'm like like i kind of liked that i didn't have that because it would have been a lot more helicopter parenting kind of thing like and i liked that i got away without that because i could tell it would have been really intense So I think of it that way if that makes sense. Yeah, yeah, okay. So the first sort of, you know, a few years of diagnosis, can you remember that? Because you like being 10, you know. I remember being in the hospital and being told we had to do an injection ourselves before we left.
00:08:32
Speaker
And I remember from that moment, I don't know how it came to me to do this, but I was like, I think it's that same thought of not wanting overbearing. I hated people paying too much attention to like the center of attention kind of thing. So I straight away for some reason was like, Oh, I want to do it. So my mum did one and I remember it really hurting because like, you know, when you don't know what someone else is feeling, like giving someone an interaction is like, you can't tell how gentle to be or whatever.
00:08:59
Speaker
So I remember it really being uncomfortable and then the next one I was like, I'm doing it. I'm gonna do it. So I did it myself um And from that moment on no one else ever gave me another injection or did any of my finger prick So I did everything from that moment on like it's just something that I couldn't Handle the idea of other people I guess I kind of had this thought and I don't know how I thought it but it was like Eventually, I'm gonna have to do this by myself. So I kind of was like I may as well do it so
00:09:29
Speaker
So, like, incredible. And we sort of say that a lot about, like, our kids, well, I know as parents, the parent of a child, but ah that of just how resilient and brave and they've just had to kind of grow up to a degree so quickly. Like, and that that that story just kind of, a little tears in my eyes, but that's yeah just like, wow, you've really gone from a 10 year old to then kind of going, oh, yeah, I'm just going to be this independent, manage my own,
00:09:58
Speaker
kind of thing like that body autonomy. It's it's incredible. And that's all we always say. they These kids are just amazing. They're just so strong and brave. And I mean, I've even had like a scenario yesterday when we're at the footy with my and like a community footy thing, and I had to give Harvey some insulin. and the kids were like, I'm very like public, we're we're manual injections still. And I'm always like, just jabbing him and I know that sounds terrible, but I don't take him away or but we just do it quite publicly. And they, yeah, these kids were like, Oh, does that hurt? You know, um like, it looks like it would be painful, you know, and Harvey's just like, whatever, he's just eating his hot chips, he's wrapped, you know. And he's like, nah, you know, sometimes, like, just sort of talking sort of like that. And then I just sort of said, and I said, Oh, it doesn't really, like, he's pretty good. I said, maybe initially, it was tough. And I said, but it's also, you know, it saves his life. And then they're like,
00:10:57
Speaker
They're like, so if he doesn't have that, you know, so it's just sort of sparked conversation, but at the same time I was just like, oh gosh, like it really, we really expect a lot from these kids. It is a lot. At the time I didn't think like, oh, this is like, I've got to be brave. I didn't have that thought. It was trying to avoid a situation I didn't want, which was attention on me 24 seven being asked questions. Cause I started to figure it like I'd still get a lot of like, obviously my parents were like checking in all the time.
00:11:24
Speaker
And I started to piece together that the more responsibility I took over it, the less I would get questions. So that's the connection I made. Yeah, so I just kept doing it myself because I was like, at least that way I don't get bothered about it.
00:11:39
Speaker
So yeah. Right.
Challenges for Kids with Type 1
00:11:41
Speaker
Okay. Did you ever find at any time that you felt like type one held you back? I mean, I'm getting you to look over the last two decades, but I know that's tricky, but did you ever have a moment that you felt like? I felt different. And like you were saying, I definitely felt that thing of growing up quickly.
00:11:56
Speaker
So I felt like I thought about things a lot more than other kids my age, which made me, I think I found it hard to connect with people because I would always look around at my friends and be like, Oh, they're so immature. And I couldn't figure out why. And maybe that was part of it. Maybe that was just my personality. I guess I'll never know. I love at camps and stuff like I do remember at one specific camp, they didn't really know how to handle the type one situation. So there was one activity where we were supposed to go out on canoes and I had all my light jelly beans and everything with me, but they didn't feel comfortable being responsible. So they tried to say, oh, you can't come on the canoes because you're type one. know says you can't do sport do anything it your tight unlike And I think it got resolved in the end because I think I did go out.
00:12:42
Speaker
because one of the other teachers was like, oh, that's not cool. so wow But yeah, little little things like that.
00:12:50
Speaker
Don't ignore the four. The four early warning signs of type 1 diabetes, excessive thirst, frequent urination, unexplained weight loss and extreme fatigue. If you or someone you know is experiencing these symptoms, don't wait. Get checked by a healthcare care professional. Early detection and treatment are key to managing type 1 diabetes effectively.
00:13:15
Speaker
It's really hard because I know like I often feel that with Harvey I feel like
00:13:23
Speaker
I try not to but I often feel like I prefer like I'm so open about it but at the same time I would sometimes like not to be because I don't want it to hinder anything that he can do you know I don't want it to be looked at like oh I remember the early stages I used to think oh he doesn't get invited to parties he won't get invited to parties because he's type one He won't get invited to sleepovers or, you know, like you just have these constant worry. Even I know I've got, he's trying out for rep basketball this week and I'm like, I have to tell the coaches that he's type one and I'm like, I'm putting it off. Correct. Yeah. I think it's normal to think about those things. Yeah. And I guess you're going to get some of that sometimes you will get people who won't be able to handle it.
00:14:10
Speaker
but you just got to keep kind of trying and we get aside trying. cause they're And you know what? Like you hear those stories, but I've never experienced it, but I just, I think i it's just this.
00:14:21
Speaker
personal worry that I have. And I just think, you know, not that not that Harvey would know anything about it. And I would hope he doesn't feel it. But yeah, there's times when I'm like, Oh, I'm so open. I'm so open. Oh, no, I can't tell that, you know, I can't do that. Or, you know, like I'm a bit Jekyll and Hyde, but that's yeah yeah're really hard. Yeah, I can't speak to the parent thing. So I can imagine that's a whole other conversation.
00:14:45
Speaker
Yeah, yeah,
Career Shift to Health Coaching
00:14:46
Speaker
but we do expect a lot from our kids and theyre they are amazing. Fast forward now, sort of 20 years later, and you've sort of decided to go into an area, so you're living with Type 1 and now you try and you decided to work in an industry which supports Type 1s. How did you, I mean, it seems pretty self-explanatory of how you got to that point, but yeah do you want to say, was there a pivotal moment where you thought,
00:15:15
Speaker
Yeah, this is something that I want to work more on or that I could see I could be doing this as a career. It's very weird because when you talk about it like that, like when you say it like that, it's like, oh, it's really obvious, but it wasn't obvious at the time. So when I left school, as I was actually really like, I'm a creative kind of person. So I really loved art and design and they were the only subjects that I really excelled at. So I um actually went into design at uni.
00:15:43
Speaker
And i that was great and all of that. um But at the same time, so all the way through my diagnosis and sorry, all the way through my life with type one, I had was gaining more and more weight every year because of the like mismanagement of insulin, which at the time I didn't know I was doing. So by the time I reached the last year of school, so I was about 17, I had gained a lot of weight. So like I was over like 10 kilos overweight, which doesn't sound like much, but at that age, I guess it was a lot.
00:16:17
Speaker
And so with that being in the background, then going to uni, then I got my first insulin pump right before I started uni and started putting lap pieces together and figured out the connection between the overuse of insulin, overeating, all of that, dropped about eight kilos over the holiday period between the end of year 12 and the start of uni. And it was very effortless. It wasn't like intentional. It was just me using less insulin and eating for what I needed. And um putting all that together, I started to have more of an interest in health and like, wow, this is awesome. Like, can we help other people do this? Like surely I'm not the only one who has dealt with this.
00:17:02
Speaker
So I finished my first year of uni in design and loved that and whatever, but in that end period of that first year, I realised that my uni happened to be right next to the Australian Institute of Fitness. So in my semester break of my first year of uni, I decided to go over there and inquire and actually enrolled in personal training, started all that. So i was I basically was living like a dual path. I was doing my design and then I was doing my fitness and I did both of those like freelance at the same time and eventually I had to pick a direction. That's where that all happened because I just was like which one's drawing me more like which one's pulling at me more and it felt like fitness was and I was like if I ever want to I can just go back to the other stuff. But now my job involves both so it's worked out pretty awesome. Wow look at that Institute of um
00:17:54
Speaker
Was it Institute of Fitness? Is that what it was? Yeah, like the subliminal messaging. and i was like oh it's right there on driver yeah and And it's also, I guess, one of those things that you, you you're doing it. So, you know, like, it's kind of like, well, I'm doing it, I'm trialing it. i'm So it's just the same, I guess, as what we kind of do when we chat with people about our our own experiences. It's kind of like to be able to create that into a business.
00:18:24
Speaker
or your career that you've you've lived it. you know Yeah, like for a lot of people, I guess, particularly type ones, like you've you've there's a niche there, isn't there?
Understanding Insulin Management
00:18:34
Speaker
You were sort of talking about in one of your podcasts about how when you're diagnosed and then you go from all of a sudden learning about carbs and you know your insulin ratios and all that sort of stuff. And then you're, I mean, we're still in the hospital system, but you kind of just push like, you know okay, this is your intense kind of,
00:18:54
Speaker
taking it all in um with what you've got to do but you've also got this huge emotional kind of stuff happening at the same time kind of adjusting to telling your child that well this is for life we're not just doing this in hospital we're going to go home and continue to do this and then but then they're also kind of in that phase of they're so hungry after diagnosis and so you're they just want to eat all the time but then you're kind of trying to manage the the amount of insulin they get and you know all that sort of stuff and then you're kind of like things start to change, they grow, they you know so then your requirements constantly are changing in terms of your ratios. and yeah And all I remember is talking about carbs in the hospital but over the two years. And I'm still learning. I've learned that there are extra things that we need to talk about and think about with with dosing. Do you want to do a quick little summary of what you learned about that?
00:19:51
Speaker
I know it's a full, probably, discussion, but but it's not just about carbs, is it, when we're when we're talking about dressing? So I think it was a little bit different as well of um the timing of it. So like when I was diagnosed, I don't even think there was, there was like, obviously the idea of like carbs are the most influential, but even that it was more of lumping carbs into an exchange. So like into 15 grams worth. So it's more generalized and more blase because they couldn't get the control that you can now anyway with syringes because the doses were larger.
00:20:27
Speaker
So that was one of the problems so there wasn't much education at all really it was like this is your dose do this and there was never really a change. Then when the pump situation came about that's when car carbs were more of a topic but again like you said that you don't really get any other information and all of the other important information is done behind.
00:20:48
Speaker
closed doors kind of thing. So you go to a diabetes educator or an endo, they give you the dosages that get put into a pump and you are blind to it a lot of the time. So that is something that I started to realize that's a problem. um So that's something that I try to educate people about and be like, ask questions, like advocate them.
00:21:10
Speaker
and know that that's a thing and go looking for it and find out what that actually is for you. That's so important to know. Otherwise you're constantly going to be reliant on these six month appointments for changes to happen that's so far apart.
00:21:25
Speaker
to make change, right? So yeah, there's different things. So there's your um carbs are a big influence. There's exercise. There is the different ways that we dose insulin. So it's essentially all insulin management, but we've got our long-acting insulin or our basal rates on a pump. We've got the short-acting insulin or um your bolus ratios, I guess you could say. So that would be your amounts you need for carbohydrates or the amounts you need to reduce a blood sugar if it's high. There's all these different factors and then you've got all the other things, hormones, temperature, stress, everything.
00:22:07
Speaker
Right? So you make that joke, I often see that joke going around, like, ah you know, how it's like, oh, the moon's in the, in the in the half-present phase. So it's going to send out sugars higher or lower or, you know, like you're like, well, the wind was blowing in a different direction today. So that's what, you know, there is that joke that it can be, some days you could have, feel like you have the exact same day, but. But sugars are different. Like sugars are different. So you're just like, what? You know, but then, yeah, like,
00:22:36
Speaker
There is obviously some things in there that will change it, but there are elements where you can control. um Correct. There's actually a lot more things you can control than you can't. And that's another thing that I try to tell people is like, if you start to switch your mindset to that, you're actually already more empowered because when we say it's out of our control, we're instantly like disempowered. Whereas if you then realize, and it's not like we're not um gaslighting ourselves by saying we're more in control. It's not like you're telling yourself something that isn't true. It actually is true. The data shows how much
00:23:07
Speaker
evidence theories of all the different factors that influence blood sugar. If you're aware of those factors and how they influence you, you have heaps of control. So, yeah. I love that. I love that because you do. Yeah, there are some days when I um probably need to write that up and put that somewhere around that I can see it every day, like, come on yeah we can you know, because, yeah, there's this element of perfectionism that you think, what, you know, like, but you need we need to remember, there are some really amazing and great things that are happening through the day.
Connect with Andy
00:23:37
Speaker
that, yeah, but you sometimes in it just feels rough. um ah then yeah So loved this little chat and I've loved like getting to hear your story and in introducing you to the Type 1 Club. Obviously, we'll leave some information about how people can connect with you, but just verbally, you can tell us how how we can get in touch further with you, how people can reach out.
00:24:01
Speaker
Yeah, um so I'm mainly on Instagram. That's where I hang out. I mean, you'll put all that below anyway. Do you want me to tell people what? just Tell us a bit about your podcast. My podcast. So my podcast is a lot of what we, like the topics we just went through a little bit there of like reminding people of the different ways that you can create more, I guess, empowerment and control over type one and in your life.
00:24:27
Speaker
Um, we discussed those different factors in more detail. I, you know, go into a bit of my story, you know, interactions I might have with my clients to try and give like an inside view of how this actually can work for you or how you can change things. So that's the empowering health podcast. And that's the same name as my business, empowering health coaching. And Instagram is just at the T1D nutritionist, but no dots or dashes because there's lots of it's so funny. there's like I started finding people with almost the exact same handle as me, but like there's a dot in there and it's funny because we have like the similar niche and everything. There's a girl who called Andy as well, who's a nutritionist and she's that one, so yeah.
00:25:12
Speaker
but We'll definitely put all that and you'll definitely be some sort of regular on this podcast as an expert in these sort of areas. I would love to finish up by you sharing with us what what's your hypo treatment? What's my hypo treatment? I love, um I use glucose by IBD medical.
00:25:35
Speaker
They're my favorite. They're just like so easy to eat and they taste really zingy to me, kind of like sherbet. I get from it, which I know not everyone's the same, but for me it tastes kind of zingy um and I don't need many and it's light in my stomach and stuff. So I prefer that. You just get that from the chemist, can't you? From like, or do you? I think they have some stockists, but you can get it from their website and type on foundation, I think stocks them now too.
00:26:02
Speaker
Ah, amazing. And then what's your long-acting carb that you have after those? I don't normally do a long-acting carb. Do I lie? Am I dick about that? Is that... is
Conclusion and Call to Action
00:26:12
Speaker
that um Many people still do, um but I find it's not necessary unless it's like you've had multiple hypos already in the day, or if you want to make sure overnight that you don't drop if you've had lows before bed, sometimes then I would. But yeah, I don't usually.
00:26:30
Speaker
Oh, interesting. Interesting. I still have so much to learn. Always learning. Always, always. Thank you so much for your time. I've absolutely loved this chat, and we will be back soon for another episode of the Type 1 Club. That would be awesome. Thank you.
00:26:57
Speaker
Thank you for tuning in to the Type 1 Club podcast. We hope you enjoyed today's episode and gained some valuable insights. If you like what you heard, be sure to subscribe to our podcast on all the platforms so you never miss an episode. We also appreciate it if you could leave us a rating and review. It really helps us to reach more listeners just like yourselves. For more updates, behind the scene content, and to join the conversation further, follow us on Instagram and Facebook, the Type 1 Foundation, or visit our website type1foundation.com.au. Thanks again for listening, and we will see you next time on the Type 1 Club.