Reclaim Your Rise
with Lauren Bongiorno

From the get-go, today’s guest was not going to let type one diabetes stop her from moving forward with life. DCB graduate Sara Lerner and I sat down for a refreshing conversation about how she came to radically accept her diagnosis very early on. She shares practical advice along with the values that helped her do so and why she DOES let diabetes define her. We also chat about training her beloved diabetic alert dog Louie, why and how she celebrated her Diaversary, and the massive impact of community on her diabetes journey. Whether you’re newly diagnosed or still struggling to accept and feel empowered in your diagnosis, you need to listen to this conversation. Time Stamps: (05:00) How her diagnosis was the biggest growth of her life  (06:58) Grateful from day one (08:28) The values that helped her quickly tackle diabetes with less fear (10:11) Letting diabetes define her  (11:24) The importance of getting plugged in early to the diabetes community  (13:15) Releasing the fantasy of pre-diabetes life  (14:48) “I’m doing more now with Type 1” (16:00) Her DCB experience and eating the thing that scares you (18:50) Breaking your own limitations  (19:20) Letting go of control as a control freak  (23:39) How she ran a half marathon (29:23) Louie her diabetic alert dog, the training process, and how he helps her (36:30) Diaversary Parties  (41:30) The essential role of Community to integrate What to do now: Follow me @lauren_bongiorno and @riselyhealth on Instagram to stay in the loop for when new episodes drop. The doors for the April Decide and Conquer Bootcamp - our signature group coaching program for women with T1D - are now open. Apply HERE .  Learn more about our 1:1 coaching programs HERE.   Sara’s recommendation for diabetic alert dog training and scholarships available HERE Disclaimer: Nothing you hear on the Reclaim your Rise podcast should be a substitute for personalized professional medical advice. Please always consult your physician or other medical professional before making any changes to your diet, insulin dosages, or healthcare plan.

Today’s guest, Eddie Stern, is the founder of The Breathing App For Diabetes, the first app that helps people with diabetes lower their stress levels. With 35 years of experience in the yoga space, Eddie and I go deep in this conversation about a side of diabetes management that Western medicine is not suited to address: holistic stress management. We discuss consciousness, purpose, identity, the role of disharmony, and breathwork. Eddie helps us to ask big questions like “Who am I?” and address how to stop identifying with productivity and output. He even leads you in a 3 minute guided breathwork session to engage the parasympathetic “healing state.”  Learn why 60,000 monthly app users are running to get his app and start changing the speed of your mind for better diabetes care! Time Stamps: (05:56) The pursuit of meaning and purpose  (09:37) The high school teacher that changed his life and the 3 questions she asked  (11:22) The unchanging nature of Consciousness and finding Awareness  (14:16) The Relative and Absolute “Who am I” (16:30) Life is relationship and interconnectedness to all that is  (18:22) How to release identity to productivity & external accomplishment  (20:44) We as an expression of purposefulness in Nature (21:55) The role of disharmony in Nature and Spirituality  (23:20) Lauren reflects on her yoga journey  (24:11) The key to freedom with diabetes: intuition & slowing down (25:34) Stress = speed of the mind  (27:14) Eddie in India and being “woken up” in devotion (30:54) Eastern and Western medicine approaches  (35:13) Diabetes, tress, and noncommunicable diseases from a yogic healing approach (36:56) Parasympathetic Response as the Healing State (39:30) 3 minute guided breathwork with Eddie  (43:44) What Lauren felt post breathwork  (44:25) What to Expect: The Breathing App for Diabetes  (49:00) Where to find Eddie’s app and books What to do now: Follow me @lauren_bongiorno and @riselyhealth on Instagram to stay in the loop for when new episodes drop. The doors for the April Decide and Conquer Bootcamp - our signature group coaching program for women with T1D - are now open. Apply HERE .  Learn more about our 1:1 coaching programs HERE.   Check out The Breathing App for Diabetes in the app store Disclaimer: Nothing you hear on the Reclaim your Rise podcast should be a substitute for personalized professional medical advice. Please always consult your physician or other medical professional before making any changes to your diet, insulin dosages, or healthcare plan.

For today’s guest, Risely group coaching graduate KC Gurbuz, getting diagnosed with undiagnosed infertility was another major life challenge to navigate with T1D. On today’s episode, KC walks through her experience with the IVF process and how she managed her diabetes through it. We go into all of it: from what her numbers looked like, to the mental health challenge, to food journaling, and finally holding her sweet baby in her arms. Time Stamps: (03:14) Running a half marathon in range post DCB (06:43) Moving from restrictive to less restrictive  (08:37) When they decided to have a baby and interviewing your doctors team (09:56) Diabetes management and deciding when to conceive  (11:30) Her husband’s role  (14:09) The start of infertility treatments (16:27) Mental health, infertility, & gratitude  (18:19) Rates of success and the process (22:25) “Checking the box of challenge” (25:13) Managing her numbers during treatments (29:25) The “two week wait” (30:45) Respecting her body and perspective  (31:45) What grounded her for pregnancy (32:36) One of the first signs you're pregnant as a diabetic and ow pregnancy affects your numbers (33:45) Food journaling while pregnant (36:30) Is coaching better before or during pregnancy? (38:00) The support of  DCB community mamas (39:00) IVF, Preeclampsia and Diabetes (40:17) Her postpartum experience  (41:28) Gratitude and Grace (44:03) KC’s advice for infertility & IVF What to do now: Follow me @lauren_bongiorno and @riselyhealth on Instagram to stay in the loop for when new episodes drop. The doors for the April Decide and Conquer Bootcamp - our signature group coaching program for women with T1D - are now open. Apply HERE .  Learn more about our 1:1 coaching programs HERE. Disclaimer: Nothing you hear on the Reclaim your Rise podcast should be a substitute for personalized professional medical advice. Please always consult your physician or other medical professional before making any changes to your diet, insulin dosages, or healthcare plan.

The Jocelyn Diabetes Center suggests that 30% of diabetic women between the ages of 15 and 30 manipulate or omit their insulin in order to lose weight. For Eating Disorder Awareness Week, I want to talk about the lesser known yet devastating eating disorder. Today’s incredible guest is the founder and executive director of Diabulimia. Helpline (DBH), Erin Akers. Erin shares the heart-wrenching story of how she flatlined and was resuscitated after her diabulimia put her in the hospital. This episode is raw and real, but also a necessary conversation to shed light on the T1D tendency towards perfectionism and a disordered relationship to food. Time Stamps: (06:25) The Recovery-Relapse Cycle  (07:14) January 2012: The Fall (08:25) The Fear of Being Found Out (09:25) The Time Erin Flat-lined  (10:22) A Mother’s Cry: A Call To Change  (12:28) Why the Second Time Was Harder to Ask For Help (14:30) Her Diagnosis Journey  (16:40) When the Body Image Issues Began as a childt 9  (19:10) Comparison to Her Brother’s Diabetesic Journey (22:00) Giving Up on Being a “Good Diabetic” at 14 (22:48) The Descent: Figuring Out How She Could Lose Weight  (25:40) Feeding the Hungry Heart: Our Relationship to Food  (26:40) Perfectionist Tendencies and Grace (32:57) Context Collapse  (35:58) The Unique Pathology of Diabulimia (37:54) The 2 Things  (38:53) What Recovery Looks Like (39:55) Relationship to the Number (40:55) A Perfectionist Exercise (42:10) Journaling to Heal (46:38) Recovery is Not Passive: You Have To Do the Work (47:45) Diabulimia An Ignored Population (49:41) Community  (52:35) The Helpline (53:23) Why We Can’t Afford to NOT Talk About Diabuleima (57:12) Erin’s Lifelong Complications (59:01) Happy Recovery Stories  (01:02:25) Getting Your Dreams, Belief, and Hope Back What to do now: 1. To Call the FREE Diabuleima Helpline: 1-425-985-3635 2. DBH Links: INSTAGRAM: www.instagram.com/diabulimiahelpline/ DBH WEBSITE: www.DBH.org DIABETES & EATING DISORDER FB SUPPORT GROUP: https://www.facebook.com/groups/DiabulimiaSupport 3. Follow me @lauren_bongiorno and @riselyhealth on Instagram to stay in the loop for when new episodes drop. 4. Learn more about our coaching programs HERE. Disclaimer: Nothing you hear on the Reclaim your Rise podcast should be a substitute for personalized professional medical advice. Please always consult your physician or other medical professional before making any changes to your diet, insulin dosages, or healthcare plan.