Your Best T1D Year

Neil Greathouse

Managing Type 1 Diabetes doesn’t have to be overwhelming.

Each 5-minute episode of Your Best T1D Year is packed with practical strategies, mindset shifts, and a little humor to help you feel more in control and less frustrated by diabetes.

Hosted by Neil Greathouse, this Monday, Wednesday, and Friday podcast delivers quick, relatable episodes that make learning about T1D effortless - so you can build small wins that lead to big changes.

📅 New episodes drop every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.

🎧 Subscribe now and start making diabetes management feel easier - one small habit at a time.

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S1 · E259
Yesterday · 5 min
No Walk Required
The best news in the whole research pile, for everyone whose body has notes: you don't have to walk. At all. A 2016 Diabetes Care study by Paddy Dempsey found that breaking up sitting with simple resistance moves, calf raises, half squats, sit-to-stands right beside a desk, lowered post-meal glucose and insulin about as well as walking did. The magic was never the walking. It's muscle contraction, any muscle contraction, opening the side door that pulls glucose out of your blood. Bad knees, chronic pain, wheelchairs, rainy weeks, unwalkable neighborhoods: this challenge was built for your body too. And hear this exactly right: seated and standing moves aren't the modified version. They're THE version. In this episode: The Dempsey study: resistance moves matched walking for post-meal glucose Seated and standing options that open the same metabolic side door Adapting the after-dinner ten and hourly get-up to any body Why every activity challenge accidentally excludes people, and this one doesn't Your challenge: swap one walk for one no-walk session this week and prove to yourself it counts. And send this episode to somebody who needs it. Helpful resources and newsletter: https://yourbestt1dyear.com Connect with Neil: TikTok: https://tiktok.com/@the.betes Instagram: https://instagram.com/thebetes Facebook: https://facebook.com/neilgreathouse LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/neil-greathouse-a607b912 Website: https://yourbestt1dyear.com Books on Amazon: Type 1 Diabetes – One Day at a Time: https://a.co/d/6UHooWJ Type 1 Diabetes – True Stories: https://a.co/d/dfIlyI1
S1 · E258
Monday · 6 min
The Desk Job Playbook
Eight meetings, one mailbox trip, and a CGM drifting up by 3pm for no food-related reason. Welcome to October, the real-life month of the Keep It Moving challenge, starting with everyone whose job owns their body eight hours a day: office workers, teachers, truckers, nurses charting after a shift. The principle: don't ADD movement to your day, HIDE it inside your day. Five plays, easiest first: the standing call, the top-of-the-hour get-up (the ADA's every-30-minutes guidance adapted for someone with an actual boss), the far bathroom, the one-glass-at-a-time water trick, and the ten-minute walking lunch. None of it looks like exercise, which is exactly the point. In this episode: Five ways to hide movement inside a workday, ranked by ease Why desk jobs quietly raise insulin needs, and what interrupts it Habit-stacking movement onto calls, water, and lunch you already have What the science says about light movement and afternoon glucose drift Your challenge: pick TWO plays from the playbook and run them every workday this week. Helpful resources and newsletter: https://yourbestt1dyear.com Connect with Neil: TikTok: https://tiktok.com/@the.betes Instagram: https://instagram.com/thebetes Facebook: https://facebook.com/neilgreathouse LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/neil-greathouse-a607b912 Website: https://yourbestt1dyear.com Books on Amazon: Type 1 Diabetes – One Day at a Time: https://a.co/d/6UHooWJ Type 1 Diabetes – True Stories: https://a.co/d/dfIlyI1
S1 · E257
Friday · 5 min
When You're Already High
A scene from Neil's actual life: an airport layover, a stubborn high from hours of travel sitting, and one man doing laps past the same Cinnabon so many times the employees start whispering. This episode covers movement as a tool when your blood sugar is already high: what it can do, what it can't, and the one rule that never bends. Gentle walking helps the correction you already took work better, because working muscles pull glucose out of the blood without extra insulin. But the rule comes first, every time: if you're high, check for ketones before you move. No ketones, a gentle walk can help. Ketones present, movement is off the table, full stop, that's insulin, fluids, rest, and your care team. Plus the September recap: the side door, the two-day bonus, three walks, movement snacks, and the safety net, all in one month. In this episode: How gentle movement helps a correction dose do its job The one-high-one-ketone rule, the non-negotiable of the whole series The travel-day playbook for stubborn highs Everything September taught, recapped in one breath Your challenge this weekend: keep the anchor walk. And if a ketone-free high shows up, try the gentle-walk assist and watch what your line does. Helpful resources and newsletter: https://yourbestt1dyear.com Connect with Neil: TikTok: https://tiktok.com/@the.betes Instagram: https://instagram.com/thebetes Facebook: https://facebook.com/neilgreathouse LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/neil-greathouse-a607b912 Website: https://yourbestt1dyear.com Books on Amazon: Type 1 Diabetes – One Day at a Time: https://a.co/d/6UHooWJ Type 1 Diabetes – True Stories: https://a.co/d/dfIlyI1
S1 · E256
September 30 · 8 min
Walking With Insulin Still Working
The fear episode, faced head-on. The couch was never the real reason people with type 1 diabetes move less. The real reason is the low. So this is the safety net, built from the top shelf: the international consensus statement on exercise and T1D in The Lancet Diabetes and Endocrinology, and a 2026 analysis of 8,171 real-world activity sessions from the Type 1 Diabetes Exercise Initiative. That study found only three things predicted going low: longer activity, a lower starting glucose, and more insulin on board. That's the whole list, and you can check all three before your shoes are on. Neil walks through the four-tool safety net (check your number and arrow, respect insulin timing, carry fast carbs, keep it easy) and shows how it covers all three predictors. The fear feels infinite. The actual risk has a checklist. In this episode: * The 8,171-session study: only three things predict exercise lows in T1D * The four-tool safety net, mapped to the three predictors * Why easy, conversation-pace walking is the shallow end by design * How to have the exercise conversation with your care team Your challenge: walk WITH the net this week. Same after-dinner ten, full pre-flight: number, arrow, fast carbs in pocket. Helpful resources and newsletter: https://yourbestt1dyear.com Connect with Neil: TikTok: https://tiktok.com/@the.betes Instagram: https://instagram.com/thebetes Facebook: https://facebook.com/neilgreathouse LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/neil-greathouse-a607b912 Website: https://yourbestt1dyear.com Books on Amazon: Type 1 Diabetes – One Day at a Time: https://a.co/d/6UHooWJ Type 1 Diabetes – True Stories: https://a.co/d/dfIlyI1
S1 · E255
September 28 · 53 min
Muscle Is Medicine // Strength Training with Type 1 Diabetes (Alex St. John, MSc)
Alex St. John is six foot five, about 295 pounds, and three years into serious lifting when type 1 diabetes showed up mid-semester of his kinesiology degree, at a blood sugar of 504. His response was never "should I stop?" It was "how do I keep lifting?" Twelve years later he's a T1D exercise researcher in one of the top labs on the planet for this stuff, and he spends this hour translating science that usually reads like a tax form. The 48-hour insulin sensitivity bonus is real, and he confirms it. Exercise makes your insulin faster, not stronger (there's a Fast and Furious button involved). Fasted and fed lifting behave differently, and a seesaw explains why. Plus caffeine as low protection, what's in his gym bag, the endo who tried to "fix" his intentional bulk, an official kilt ruling, and a brand new Fastest Five Minutes world record. Follow Alex: https://instagram.com/saintjohnscience Know your type 1 diabetes risk with a painless cheek swab from T1D Scout: https://www.t1dscout.com Helpful resources and newsletter: https://yourbestt1dyear.com Connect with Neil: TikTok: https://tiktok.com/@the.betes Instagram: https://instagram.com/thebetes Facebook: https://facebook.com/neilgreathouse LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/neil-greathouse-a607b912 Website: https://yourbestt1dyear.com Books on Amazon: Type 1 Diabetes – One Day at a Time: https://a.co/d/6UHooWJ Type 1 Diabetes – True Stories: https://a.co/d/dfIlyI1
S1 · E254
September 25 · 6 min
"Snack" Before You Eat
The graduate seminar of movement snacks, with the loudest safety caveat of the month. A 2014 study in Diabetologia coined the term exercise snacks: short, brisk bursts of movement a few minutes BEFORE each meal. Compared to a standard 30-minute workout, the little pre-meal bursts lowered average post-meal glucose by about 12 percent. You're preheating the oven before the food arrives. But for type 1 diabetes, intensity plus insulin on board is exactly where lows come from, so this is a talk-to-your-care-team-first tool, not a try-it-tonight-because-a-podcast-said-so tool. Neil also shares a personal sidebar from the 2026 research: fasted morning workouts turned out to be more predictable, not safer, which explains a lot about his 4am runs. In this episode: * Exercise snacks: the pre-meal movement study, explained honestly * About 12 percent lower post-meal glucose from a couple of brisk minutes * The T1D-specific safety caveats, said loudly and repeated * Why the after-dinner ten stays the anchor, and this stays the bonus level Your challenge: keep the after-dinner ten, that's the assignment. The pre-meal snack is optional, gated on your care team, your number, your arrow, and fast carbs within reach. Helpful resources and newsletter: https://yourbestt1dyear.com Connect with Neil: TikTok: https://tiktok.com/@the.betes Instagram: https://instagram.com/thebetes Facebook: https://facebook.com/neilgreathouse LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/neil-greathouse-a607b912 Website: https://yourbestt1dyear.com Books on Amazon: Type 1 Diabetes – One Day at a Time: https://a.co/d/6UHooWJ Type 1 Diabetes – True Stories: https://a.co/d/dfIlyI1
S1 · E253
September 23 · 5 min
The After-Dinner Ten
Meet Neil's walking partner: Cora, a 5.9-pound senior Morkie whose hips don't lie and whose top speed is best described as eventually. Every evening, Neil, his wife Gina, and Cora take the after-dinner walk, and that slow, unimpressive, dog-paced walk is the single most valuable thing he does for his blood sugar most days. The numbers back it up: a 2022 review in Sports Medicine found even a short easy walk after eating meaningfully blunts the glucose rise, in the range of 15 to 20 points off the peak, and researcher Andrew Reynolds found ten minutes after each meal beat one 30-minute daily walk. This episode gives you the exact protocol: finish dinner, do NOT sit on the couch first (it's a Venus flytrap with throw pillows), shoes, ten easy minutes, wave at your flat line. In this episode: * Why the after-dinner walk is the highest-value ten minutes of your day * The research: 15 to 20 points off the post-meal peak from an easy walk * The couch trap, and the table-shoes-door move that beats it * Conversation pace, dogs welcome, no gear required Your challenge: the after-dinner ten, most nights this week. Compare your two-hour numbers to your week-one before picture. Helpful resources and newsletter: https://yourbestt1dyear.com Connect with Neil: TikTok: https://tiktok.com/@the.betes Instagram: https://instagram.com/thebetes Facebook: https://facebook.com/neilgreathouse LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/neil-greathouse-a607b912 Website: https://yourbestt1dyear.com Books on Amazon: Type 1 Diabetes – One Day at a Time: https://a.co/d/6UHooWJ Type 1 Diabetes – True Stories: https://a.co/d/dfIlyI1
S1 · E252
September 21 · 5 min
You Don't Need The Gym
Somebody sold all of us the same lie: that getting active means a membership, an hour a day, and a personality transplant. This episode formally cancels that belief system with receipts. Look at the evidence from three weeks of this challenge: three short walks beat one long one, two minutes of strolling every 20 minutes moved real glucose numbers, three-minute movement snacks worked in actual T1D bodies, and the ADA now recommends breaking up sitting every half hour. There is no gym anywhere in that list. The bar was never where the marketing put it. The steps target was inflated by a pedometer slogan, the effort target was inflated by gym culture, and the actual science has been quietly asking for the bare minimum this whole time. Stop trying to become a gym person. Become a slightly-less-still person. In this episode: * Every study in this challenge, stacked: none of them required a gym * How marketing inflated both the step count and the effort bar * The identity shift that actually sticks for people with type 1 diabetes * The complete starter kit: the after-dinner ten plus the hourly get-up Your challenge: run both anchor habits this week. The after-dinner ten most nights, and the hourly get-up during workdays. That's the whole foundation. Helpful resources and newsletter: https://yourbestt1dyear.com Connect with Neil: TikTok: https://tiktok.com/@the.betes Instagram: https://instagram.com/thebetes Facebook: https://facebook.com/neilgreathouse LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/neil-greathouse-a607b912 Website: https://yourbestt1dyear.com Books on Amazon: Type 1 Diabetes – One Day at a Time: https://a.co/d/6UHooWJ Type 1 Diabetes – True Stories: https://a.co/d/dfIlyI1
S1 · E251
September 18 · 5 min
The Movement "Snack"
For once, a study on our actual people. Published in 2026 in Diabetes Technology and Therapeutics: adults with type 1 diabetes on insulin pumps sat for six hours straight on one lab day, and on another day broke up the same sitting with three minutes of simple resistance moves every 30 minutes. On the movement snack day, their insulin worked measurably better. Nobody touched a pump setting. That's the movement snack: tiny bites of movement instead of one big meal of exercise you keep rescheduling. Calf raises while coffee brews. Squats between Zoom calls with the camera off. And the ADA's 2025 Standards of Care now officially recommend interrupting sitting every 30 minutes, which means your desk squats are evidence-based medicine now. This isn't 75 Hard. This is 8 Easy. In this episode: * The first sitting-break study done specifically in people with T1D on pumps * What a movement snack is, and why two minutes counts * The ADA's every-30-minutes recommendation, now official * How to hide movement inside a workday without anyone noticing Your challenge: pick a trigger and run one movement snack an hour for one workday. Two or three minutes, up and moving, back down. See what your afternoon line does. Helpful resources and newsletter: https://yourbestt1dyear.com Connect with Neil: TikTok: https://tiktok.com/@the.betes Instagram: https://instagram.com/thebetes Facebook: https://facebook.com/neilgreathouse LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/neil-greathouse-a607b912 Website: https://yourbestt1dyear.com Books on Amazon: Type 1 Diabetes – One Day at a Time: https://a.co/d/6UHooWJ Type 1 Diabetes – True Stories: https://a.co/d/dfIlyI1
S1 · E250
September 16 · 5 min
Three Short Walks Beat One Long Walk
Stop looking for 45 free minutes. They don't exist, and it turns out they were never the assignment. A 2013 Diabetes Care study by Loretta DiPietro compared one 45-minute walk against three 15-minute walks after meals, same total time. The three short walks won on 24-hour blood sugar control, and the after-dinner walk did the most work of all. For everyone with type 1 diabetes who works, parents, commutes, or lives an actual life, this reorganizes everything. You don't need a block of time. You need three ten-minute cracks, and one of them, right after dinner, you already own if you did the pre-bolus challenge this summer. Same minutes, better numbers, and the only thing that changed was when. In this episode: * The DiPietro study: same walking time, dramatically better placement * Why post-meal walks beat any other timing for blood sugar * The after-dinner walk as MVP, and why it stacks on your pre-bolus habit * Finding the three cracks hiding in your normal day Your challenge: add one after-dinner walk. Ten minutes, easy pace. Check your line at the two-hour mark and compare it to a normal night. Helpful resources and newsletter: https://yourbestt1dyear.com Connect with Neil: TikTok: https://tiktok.com/@the.betes Instagram: https://instagram.com/thebetes Facebook: https://facebook.com/neilgreathouse LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/neil-greathouse-a607b912 Website: https://yourbestt1dyear.com Books on Amazon: Type 1 Diabetes – One Day at a Time: https://a.co/d/6UHooWJ Type 1 Diabetes – True Stories: https://a.co/d/dfIlyI1
S1 · E249
September 14 · 1 hr 4 min
Exercising with Type 1 Diabetes // 34 Years of T1D and Still Moving (Arnie Bunch, the Blood Sugar Ninja)
Arnie Bunch has been living with type 1 diabetes since 1992, the same year Neil was diagnosed. He's a runner, the creator of the #bloodsugarninja, and the kind of friend who gives you the straight answer about the gear because he's actually worn it at mile 18. Two weeks into the Keep It Moving challenge, the science gets a face. This is the lived-experience episode. Before the researchers and the study data, Neil wanted you to hear a regular guy with a regular life talk about what moving, and not moving, actually does to this disease over decades. Arnie gets honest about the chair tax on desk days, the fear of lows that keeps so many of us parked, the habit that finally stuck after the ones that didn't, and a movement-plus-blood-sugar mistake he owns out loud. That's the evidence that doesn't fit in a journal. In this episode: Thirty-four years of type 1 in the short version: diagnosis, the grind nobody claps for, and where the relationship stands now Where movement actually fits in real T1D management... walker, runner, pacer-during-football-games, all of it counts The chair tax: what desk days versus moving days do to insulin sensitivity, felt in a real body, not a lab Fear of going low with insulin on board... the number one reason people with T1D move less, and what Arnie would tell his younger, scared self The habit that finally stuck (after failing five times), and what was different that time Movement on chaotic days: not the ideal schedule, the real one True or False, the Diabetes Confession Booth, and the Fastest Five Minutes... friend edition This Week's Challenge: One ten-minute walk after one meal. That's it. Your muscles have a side door that pulls sugar out of your blood with zero insulin, and the payout lasts up to two days. Take the deal. Know your type 1 diabetes risk with a painless cheek swab from T1D Scout: https://www.t1dscout.com Follow Arnie: Instagram: https://instagram.com/type_run_diabetic Everything else: https://linktr.ee/awbunch3 Helpful resources and newsletter: https://yourbestt1dyear.com Connect with Neil: TikTok: https://tiktok.com/@the.betes Instagram: https://instagram.com/thebetes Facebook: https://facebook.com/neilgreathouse LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/neil-greathouse-a607b912 Website: https://yourbestt1dyear.com Books on Amazon: Type 1 Diabetes – One Day at a Time: https://a.co/d/6UHooWJ Type 1 Diabetes – True Stories: https://a.co/d/dfIlyI1
S1 · E248
September 11 · 6 min
The Bonus That Lasts Two Days
The fact this whole challenge is built on: when you move today, your insulin works better tomorrow. For 24 to 48 hours after movement, the muscles you used stay more sensitive to insulin. One walk buys you a bonus that's still paying out tomorrow night, like a Costco membership for your pancreas. And this year the receipts got enormous. A 2026 study in Diabetologia analyzed 428,058 real exercise sessions from 3,248 people with type 1 diabetes wearing CGMs. Every type of movement improved time in range over the next 24 hours: walking about 2 points, strength work almost 4. Neil also gives you the honest cost from the same study (time below range rose slightly on active days) and why that's exactly what the upcoming safety-net episode is for. In this episode: * The 24-to-48-hour insulin sensitivity window, explained simply * 428,058 real T1D workouts: the biggest exercise dataset our community has ever had * Walking vs cardio vs strength for next-day time in range * The honest tradeoff nobody selling fitness plans will tell you Your challenge: move ten easy minutes today, then pay attention tomorrow. A lot of people can feel the day-after difference once they know to look. Helpful resources and newsletter: https://yourbestt1dyear.com Connect with Neil: TikTok: https://tiktok.com/@the.betes Instagram: https://instagram.com/thebetes Facebook: https://facebook.com/neilgreathouse LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/neil-greathouse-a607b912 Website: https://yourbestt1dyear.com Books on Amazon: Type 1 Diabetes – One Day at a Time: https://a.co/d/6UHooWJ Type 1 Diabetes – True Stories: https://a.co/d/dfIlyI1
S1 · E247
September 9 · 5 min
Your Muscles Have a Side Door
The coolest piece of machinery you own, and nobody ever handed you the manual. Normally, sugar leaves your blood through a door that only insulin can unlock. That's type 1 diabetes in one sentence. But your muscles have a second door, a side door, and it opens when you move. No insulin required. It's the Home Alone house: the front door is booby-trapped and complicated, and the side door is just... open. Neil breaks down GLUT4 (the worst-named best friend in diabetes), why a walk can pull a number down all by itself, and why this mechanism works identically in every human body, which is exactly why the movement research applies to those of us with T1D. This is the episode that explains everything that follows in the Keep It Moving challenge. In this episode: * How muscle contraction pulls glucose out of your blood without insulin * GLUT4 explained in plain English, with appropriate mockery of the name * Why a 10-minute walk can visibly bend your CGM line * The great equalizer: why this science applies to every body, T1D included Your challenge: use the door on purpose once. Walk easy for ten minutes after any meal, then peek at your CGM at the two-hour mark. Helpful resources and newsletter: https://yourbestt1dyear.com Connect with Neil: TikTok: https://tiktok.com/@the.betes Instagram: https://instagram.com/thebetes Facebook: https://facebook.com/neilgreathouse LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/neil-greathouse-a607b912 Website: https://yourbestt1dyear.com Books on Amazon: Type 1 Diabetes – One Day at a Time: https://a.co/d/6UHooWJ Type 1 Diabetes – True Stories: https://a.co/d/dfIlyI1
S1 · E246
September 7 · 5 min
The 3 Hour Sit
It's Labor Day, college football is back, and Neil just sat through a noon kickoff and surfaced at midnight. Perfect timing to explain what a three-hour sit actually does inside a body with type 1 diabetes: your leg muscles clock out, sugar hangs around in your blood, insulin works alone, and that stubborn afternoon high parks itself on your CGM. You might not have eaten your way into it. You might have sat your way into it. The hope: a 2012 Diabetes Care study found just two minutes of easy walking every 20 minutes meaningfully lowered blood sugar and insulin levels compared to sitting straight through. And the American Diabetes Association's 2025 Standards of Care now officially recommend breaking up sitting at least every 30 minutes. It's in the rulebook your endo reads. In this episode: * What happens to glucose and insulin during a long unbroken sit * The 2012 study: two minutes of strolling every 20 minutes moved real numbers * The ADA's new every-30-minutes guideline, explained in plain English * Why football Saturdays are a blood sugar event of their own Your challenge: one time this week, catch yourself mid-long-sit and just get up for two minutes. Consider it a test drive. Helpful resources and newsletter: https://yourbestt1dyear.com Connect with Neil: TikTok: https://tiktok.com/@the.betes Instagram: https://instagram.com/thebetes Facebook: https://facebook.com/neilgreathouse LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/neil-greathouse-a607b912 Website: https://yourbestt1dyear.com Books on Amazon: Type 1 Diabetes – One Day at a Time: https://a.co/d/6UHooWJ Type 1 Diabetes – True Stories: https://a.co/d/dfIlyI1
S1 · E245
September 4 · 6 min
This Number Will Surprise You
How many steps do you actually take on a normal day? Not your best day, a regular Tuesday. Check your phone, and prepare to appeal the ruling. In this episode Neil breaks down the gap between how active we feel and what the step count says, and why being busy and actually moving are two different things for blood sugar. Then two stats that change the whole conversation. Most adults with type 1 diabetes do not hit the recommended 150 minutes of weekly activity, and the number one reason in the research is fear of going low, not laziness. And that famous 10,000 steps goal? A 1960s Japanese pedometer slogan, not science. A 2022 Lancet Public Health study of about 47,000 adults found the big health benefits show up way before 10K. In this episode: * The real reason people with T1D move less, straight from the research * Where 10,000 steps actually came from, and what the science says instead * 47,000 adults, 40 to 50 percent lower mortality risk, no gym required * How to find your true step baseline this weekend Your challenge: two numbers at bedtime for a few days, your steps from your phone and your longest sit. That baseline is the only number you'll ever compete against here. Helpful resources and newsletter: https://yourbestt1dyear.com Connect with Neil: TikTok: https://tiktok.com/@the.betes Instagram: https://instagram.com/thebetes Facebook: https://facebook.com/neilgreathouse LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/neil-greathouse-a607b912 Website: https://yourbestt1dyear.com Books on Amazon: Type 1 Diabetes – One Day at a Time: https://a.co/d/6UHooWJ Type 1 Diabetes – True Stories: https://a.co/d/dfIlyI1
S1 · E244
September 2 · 6 min
The Chair is Winning
Welcome to Keep It Moving, the new 8-week challenge for people with type 1 diabetes, and meet the villain: the chair. Nobody decides to sit for half a day. The chair decides for you, quietly, like a Netflix autoplay countdown, and your blood sugar pays the tax. Neil opens with his own confession: eight back-to-back Zoom meetings, a 4am run that turned into a fully sedentary day, and the insulin sensitivity drop he can feel by every afternoon. This is not a fitness challenge. No gym, no gear, no 10,000 steps. The problem is long, unbroken sitting, and the fix is smaller than anyone has told you. Starting now, right before the fall slump steals everyone's movement, about 2,000 people with T1D are getting ahead of it together. In this episode: Why sitting, not exercise, is the real blood sugar problem for most of us How long unbroken sitting quietly raises insulin needs through the day What the fall slump does to activity and A1C, and why we start in September The before picture: the one number to notice this week without changing anything Your challenge this week: change nothing. Just notice your longest unbroken sit each day. No guilt, no fixing. We're taking the before picture. Helpful resources and newsletter: https://yourbestt1dyear.com Connect with Neil: TikTok: https://tiktok.com/@the.betes Instagram: https://instagram.com/thebetes Facebook: https://facebook.com/neilgreathouse LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/neil-greathouse-a607b912 Website: https://yourbestt1dyear.com Books on Amazon: Type 1 Diabetes – One Day at a Time: https://a.co/d/6UHooWJ Type 1 Diabetes – True Stories: https://a.co/d/dfIlyI1
S1 · E243
September 1 · 6 min
The Head Start Finale + What's Next: The Steps Challenge | Type 1 Diabetes
Eight weeks ago, you were spiking after dinner and blaming yourself for it. This is the finale of The Head Start, and instead of another recap, Neil reads two listener stories that say what these eight weeks were really about, one from a woman who cried at her kitchen sink the first time she saw a flat 140, and one from a 31-year veteran whose time in range jumped from the low 60s to 81%. Then Neil looks ahead. Starting in September, the next challenge is steps, just walking, and it's the perfect sequel to pre-bolusing. One walk can improve insulin sensitivity for 24 to 48 hours, a 10-minute walk after a meal lowers the spike, and breaking up sitting can cut the after-meal glucose rise by about 28%. We start in September and October, before the cold-weather slump, because A1C is at its lowest then and climbs through winter as we move less. In this episode: Two real listener stories on what pre-bolusing changed for them Why time in range is protecting your health for years to come A first look at the next challenge: steps and walking for T1D The science of walking, insulin sensitivity, and post-meal blood sugar Final Challenge: Keep pre-bolusing your dinner, it's yours now. And if you're feeling good tonight, take a short walk after dinner, a little sneak preview of September. Helpful resources and newsletter: https://yourbestt1dyear.com Connect with Neil: TikTok: https://tiktok.com/@the.betes Instagram: https://instagram.com/thebetes Facebook: https://facebook.com/neilgreathouse LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/neil-greathouse-a607b912 Website: https://yourbestt1dyear.com Books on Amazon: Type 1 Diabetes – One Day at a Time: https://a.co/d/6UHooWJ Type 1 Diabetes – True Stories: https://a.co/d/dfIlyI1
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August 31 · 58 min
Pre-Bolusing at the Kids Table // Raising Kids with Type 1 Diabetes (Raquel Baron, Type One Together)
Raquel Baron was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes at five years old and left the hospital late to her own birthday party. Twenty-four years later, she's the founder and CEO of Type One Together, home of the T1D Babysitter List, now over 4,000 sitters nationwide who either live with type 1 or love someone who does. It started as one college student in Austin with 14 names written on a piece of paper. This week, Neil pulls up a chair at the kids table. This one is for the T1D parents. Pre-bolusing is hard enough as an adult. Try doing it for a picky toddler who might eat all the mashed potatoes, none of them, or hit the trampoline right after dinner. Raquel breaks down why chasing one perfect dose is the trap, how to dose for the carbs you KNOW they'll eat, and why splitting the dose into little swings beats swinging for the fences. Then she gets honest about the part nobody says out loud: why telling kids to hope for a cure can quietly backfire, and what she wants every worried parent to hear from the kid who grew up on the other side of it. In this episode: Why kids miss so many doses... research Neil shares shows more than 1 in 4 meals gets a late or missed bolus, and about half of snack boluses in kids never happen The stat that stops you cold: kids who get their boluses on time are about 24 times more likely to be in excellent control Raquel's "safe number" method: dose for the food you know they'll eat, keep an emergency treat in the pantry, and add insulin as the meal unfolds The pediatric guidelines that give parents permission to dose during or after meals for little ones... you are not failing if the 15-minute head start doesn't happen Handing off T1D responsibility in stages, from "press the button for me" at toddler age to the high schooler who wants the freedom CGM anxiety is real: why parents can't put the phone down, and the ten-minute timer trick from the Better Together community Diabuddies, the babysitter question every parent forgets to answer, "hope isn't a strategy," and a NEW Fastest Five Minutes world record (30 answers, sorry Natalie) This Week's Challenge: Parents, pre-bolus for the safe number. Look at the plate, find the carbs your kid will absolutely eat, and get that insulin going. No bullseye required. Little swings win. Learn more about Type One Together, the T1D Babysitter List, and the Better Together community: https://www.typeonetogether.com Helpful resources and newsletter: https://yourbestt1dyear.com Connect with Neil: TikTok: https://tiktok.com/@the.betes Instagram: https://instagram.com/thebetes Facebook: https://facebook.com/neilgreathouse LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/neil-greathouse-a607b912 Website: https://yourbestt1dyear.com Books on Amazon: Type 1 Diabetes – One Day at a Time: https://a.co/d/6UHooWJ Type 1 Diabetes – True Stories: https://a.co/d/dfIlyI1
S1 · E241
August 28 · 5 min
The Pre-Bolus Challenge Recap: All the Science | Type 1 Diabetes
Previously, on The Head Start: a man admitted he's had type 1 for 34 years and still sometimes doses with his mouth full, and an entire audience realized the after-dinner spike was never their fault. This is the greatest-hits recap, and this time it comes with the receipts. Neil runs the whole arc, the fear, the junk drawer of reasons, why food beats insulin to the finish line, and then the science: 15 minutes early can cut your peak by about 50 points, the sweet spot is 15 to 20 minutes, and pre-bolusing did not raise lows. Plus the August numbers, 27% of meals get a late or missed bolus, a high-fat meal can need 42% more insulin, and even 20-year veterans miss carb counts by about 15 grams. Eight weeks, one real skill. In this episode: The full eight-week arc, from fear to flat lines The headline studies and numbers behind pre-bolusing The August real-life lessons: restaurants, pizza, tech, and the kids' table Proof of how far you've come since Episode 216 This Week's Challenge: Pull up your two-hour numbers from week one next to now. Compare them side by side. That difference is your receipt. Keep it. Helpful resources and newsletter: https://yourbestt1dyear.com Connect with Neil: TikTok: https://tiktok.com/@the.betes Instagram: https://instagram.com/thebetes Facebook: https://facebook.com/neilgreathouse LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/neil-greathouse-a607b912 Website: https://yourbestt1dyear.com Books on Amazon: Type 1 Diabetes – One Day at a Time: https://a.co/d/6UHooWJ Type 1 Diabetes – True Stories: https://a.co/d/dfIlyI1
S1 · E240
August 26 · 5 min
How to Make Pre-Bolusing a Lasting Habit | Type 1 Diabetes
The challenge is almost over, so the real question is what happens next week, when Neil isn't in your ears three times a week. This episode is about making the pre-bolus habit last past the finish line, and it's grounded in habit science. A study by Phillippa Lally found it takes about 66 days on average for a behavior to become automatic, but the range is huge, 18 to 254 days. So if pre-bolusing still takes effort, you're not failing, you're on a normal curve. The best finding: missing a single day did not break the habit. Neil also makes the timely case for locking it in now, heading into back-to-school season, so the new routine gets built while everything's already being rearranged. In this episode: Why habits that last are the ones that got easy, not white-knuckled The Lally study: about 66 days to automatic, and one missed day is fine How to habit-stack your pre-bolus so it survives busy seasons Why back-to-school is the perfect time to lock it in This Week's Challenge: Write down, somewhere you'll see it, the one reason YOU want to keep pre-bolusing. When motivation dips in a few weeks, that note is what carries you. Helpful resources and newsletter: https://yourbestt1dyear.com Connect with Neil: TikTok: https://tiktok.com/@the.betes Instagram: https://instagram.com/thebetes Facebook: https://facebook.com/neilgreathouse LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/neil-greathouse-a607b912 Website: https://yourbestt1dyear.com Books on Amazon: Type 1 Diabetes – One Day at a Time: https://a.co/d/6UHooWJ Type 1 Diabetes – True Stories: https://a.co/d/dfIlyI1

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