Madi Cheever - TypeOneTypeFun (00:03.95)
Boom.
You already got it. Great. Okay. So then now, thank you so much. Perfect. there's a really loud car. Okay. Hopefully that that wasn't too loud. Let's see here. Okay. Here's the intro and then we'll roll straight in. Okay, Paul.
Paul (00:23.648)
Okay.
Madi Cheever - TypeOneTypeFun (00:26.19)
if I can swallow. Living with type 1 diabetes doesn't mean giving up the outdoors. Meet Paul Reed, founder of type 1 Outdoors. From climbing and hiking to managing blood sugar miles from home, Paul shares how preparation, mindset, and the right tools make adventure possible, diabetes and all. So Paul, thanks for joining us today.
Paul (00:50.551)
Great to be here.
Madi Cheever - TypeOneTypeFun (00:52.012)
Yes, and it's good to see you. It's been a little bit, but I am glad that we are back and happy new year. And I want to jump right in if that's all right. Okay, so obviously I know and now everyone listening will know that you are an avid sportsman and outdoorsman living with type 1 diabetes. So tell me a little bit more. How did diabetes change the way you approached outdoors at first, if anything?
Paul (01:01.025)
Let's jump right in.
Paul (01:18.487)
Okay, so at first I was diagnosed a long time ago. In fact, this year, fun fact, this is my 40th anniversary coming up this year. So many years ago, way back in the, I don't know, mid 80s, 86 to be exact, I got my diagnosis. And back then I was just, you know, a 15 year old kid, as most kids are diagnosed in their teenage years anyway.
You know, I was diagnosed as your typical teenager. Back then I was diagnosed in Australia. I was living in Australia and that's where I was born. you know, diabetes tech back then in the mid eighties was in its infancy. There wasn't very much diabetes tech. In fact, there wasn't really much diabetes management from a personal standpoint. And like most 15 year old kids, especially diagnosed with a chronic condition.
It requires some discipline, which no 15 year old has. So I was a bad diabetic as we all were when we were first diagnosed, but you know, welcome to the club. But anyway, that was kind of my defining diagnosis. You know, 15 years old getting diagnosed, only one in the family. So I had no one else to reference to living with a chronic condition as many of us are anyway. So that's kind of the origin story.
Madi Cheever - TypeOneTypeFun (02:44.718)
Yeah, oh, you're speaking my language. I was diagnosed at 14. I'm the unicorn of my family as well. And I went home on Halloween day, which I used to think was ironic until I learned what diabetes was, type one at least. And I was like, oh, okay, cool, great. And it does require a lot at first. And really throughout time, I think with type one, it does get easier, but sometimes there's ups and downs, there's challenges. Oh, yeah, so.
Paul (02:50.816)
Ever?
Paul (03:11.094)
for sure, yeah.
Madi Cheever - TypeOneTypeFun (03:14.604)
Well, I guess I know there's challenges. We all know there's challenges, right? Anyone listening knows. But is there ever a moment where you realize that diabetes wasn't going to or didn't have to stop you from doing the things that you love?
Paul (03:26.923)
You know, I don't know if there was one particular moment. Instead, I think there was a culmination of small moments that kind of like, the evidence was there. It's like, you know, the doctors say I can't do this or I can't do that, but you know, I kind of can. So there wasn't really one particular moment. It was just like, yeah, I can pretty much do anything. I mean, there's really nothing holding me back.
I mean, sure, it takes a little bit longer to recover from a hypo, but you know, it's not a big deal. And eventually, give some mileage on that. You'll eventually realize that, you know, my diabetes, I can manage. I can handle, it's like, a doctor could look at my graph and see, oh no, you went down to like 45. You know, how did you recover from that? It's like, dude, it happens all the time. It's like, this is not a big deal. So.
Yeah, my diabetes management is my management. I know how to recover from a low. fun fact, I have survived 100 % of my high lows. 100 %! Thank you.
Madi Cheever - TypeOneTypeFun (04:38.286)
That's pretty fantastic coming up on 40 years.
Paul (04:40.887)
Coming up 40 years, 100 % of my hypo's. Recover.
Madi Cheever - TypeOneTypeFun (04:44.366)
Wow, and incredible. And I think that's actually one of the coolest things that we get to say is that diabetes is tough for sure. It has a lot of challenges, but how cool is it that we are given so many challenges and we actively overcome them every single day. And sometimes we even forget that we're doing that like we're not, but we are. if we, mean, I don't know. I think my life would look totally different without diabetes, maybe for the better, but also maybe for the worst. It's really forced me to.
prioritize myself and my health and a lot of really beneficial things.
Paul (05:15.529)
Yeah. I often think about that too. Like without diabetes, I would not have met this awesome community of diabetics. There wouldn't be a reason to meet other awesome diabetics. And so I don't know, would my life feel more fulfilled not meeting all these awesome people? Who knows? Life didn't travel that direction. So, but here we are.
Madi Cheever - TypeOneTypeFun (05:39.47)
Yeah, and if you're listening and you don't have diabetes, don't worry, we love you too, but you're missing out just a little bit. We're a fun time, we are. I'm sure you're...
Paul (05:45.419)
You listen up. Who doesn't want to take insulin externally? I mean, it's wonderful.
Madi Cheever - TypeOneTypeFun (05:52.044)
Yeah, I mean it's great to check your blood sugar all the time, every time, and take insulin and manage carbs and counting and numbers and doctors and appointments and prescriptions and co-pays, but hey, you know, I'm just getting started. So I love this, I love that we're already getting to have such a blast and hopefully for those listening everyone feels just like, you know what, we get it, we all get it. And so I'm kind of curious about the inspiration of Type 1 Outdoors. What kind of...
Paul (06:14.422)
Get it.
Madi Cheever - TypeOneTypeFun (06:21.268)
Gap did you see in the diabetes space?
Paul (06:23.543)
Yeah, that was so about 10 years ago, around 2015, 2016. You know, I had been a diabetic for, you know, about 30 something years back then, you 30 years or so. And I was like, you know, living as a diabetic, doing diabetes with regular life stuff. lot of the friends that I had at the time, you know, we were getting into mountaineering, we were getting into climbing.
I was already starting to get into a lot of outdoorsy things, know, hiking in the mountains or perhaps getting into running, training for a race or things like that. And then I discovered that there was like, there is a, I don't know, an intangible thing about being in the outdoors, about being in the mountains, being in nature, that there was this.
very difficult to explain, but there is this intangible thing that does amazing things for your mental health. And the burden that we all feel as type ones, we feel the weight of diabetes. It's like it's with us all the time. 24 seven, we don't get to take breaks from this, but this burden, this weight felt lifted when I was in nature, in the mountains, and I wanted more of that.
So I did a lot of things to try and get myself into the mountains, whether it be going to a ski resort and snowboarding and then like, okay, well, what could I do that combined multiple activities in the mountains? I was enjoying running. Well, how about trail running? Okay, I get to do running in the mountains. Okay, well, what about rock climbing? I like rock climbing, but what about doing rock climbing in the mountains? Introducing mountaineering.
You know, and now we have like snow sports combined with climbing sports and all of this was going into the mountains. Getting into nature, that intangible wilderness therapy that does these amazing things for your mental health when you're burdened with a chronic condition like type 1 diabetes.
Madi Cheever - TypeOneTypeFun (08:40.04)
my goodness. Every single time you explain the outdoors in some way, shape or form, it makes me feel exactly what it is. You said it's kind of hard to explain. I know it though. I know what you're talking about. I've lived in many places, right? Lived in Hawaii, lived in Colorado. I've seen these beautiful places and done this hiking and done the walks, the exploration, the going through paths. And it is, it is absolutely therapy. You're right.
And I think maybe that's one of the ways that sharing your story specifically has been helpful to others with diabetes. And is there anything else that you feel has helped support others with T1D with getting confident, getting outside?
Paul (09:20.055)
Well, that's exactly it. It's that confidence. We're trying to get to a little bit of that confidence. Living with a chronic condition like type one, we always walk into scenarios where we lose our confidence. Like, I've been running high for three days straight. I don't feel like I've got this under control. Yet when we use a little bit of our getting into nature and like...
putting a plan together and executing a plan, we feel that confidence come back. And I was, you know, that was part of the plan of building this whole idea of being type one in the outdoors to encourage, to inspire other type one diabetics to not want to do these things that may seem a little outlandish, but understanding that, you know, if you put together a plan, execute it with living with a chronic condition,
you can actually achieve some pretty amazing things. know, climb really high mountains, go backpacking for five, six, seven days, you know, with just limited supplies. Like how does that all come together? For someone who's just getting started in outdoors, we've done this before. When we travel, just traveling, whether it's an overnight travel trip or a week long trip or a two week vacation, when we as diabetics, we travel, we put together
a plan, it's like, well, I'm going to need some supplies, maybe a couple extra supplies, just in case something fails. We bring a lot of tech with us too, especially CGMs and pumps. And we all know how tech likes to behave, especially in scenarios where, maybe traveling, they're away from home or perhaps off the grid in the mountains. The same thing, you know, you bring your backups, you use your backups and you have a backup plan.
just in case something fails. And what's gonna fail the most? Out tech, know, pumps and CGMs mostly. So backup plan that will, you know, inspire a little more confidence in getting out there.
Madi Cheever - TypeOneTypeFun (11:28.908)
Yeah. my goodness. I love it. I know myself, I bring backups for the backups if I have the space because I know that when things are going well and I'm in my normal life, like sure, maybe something fails here or there, but no, it's totally going to fail when I'm on the trip around the world or when I'm in the really important three hour away meeting or you know, it's that the like last night I ran out of insulin in my pump, just completely forgot and was out.
Paul (11:43.817)
Of course.
Madi Cheever - TypeOneTypeFun (11:53.16)
on a date with my significant other and hours I was without my pump, but I brought backups because I knew I was like, okay, like I always bring it just in case for whatever may happen. yeah, I love this. I really appreciate kind of providing some of that. To me, understanding having backups is a layer of confidence itself. So one of the biggest things I hear from people with T1D are the fears of things not working or fears of travel because what if one...
Paul (12:02.423)
Just in case.
Madi Cheever - TypeOneTypeFun (12:23.0)
What if that, what if this, whatever it may be. So do you have any top must know tips for managing blood sugar when you are on an outdoor adventure?
Paul (12:33.089)
Well, that's the thing. like fear is usually, fear comes on because you're entering something new, a new experience. So perhaps there's lack of experience and that fear becomes like this daunting thing of, what if, you know, starting out and getting over a lot of that fear is baby steps. Just do baby steps. Do something small, manageable and controlled and see how far you can take it.
Everyone's experience in managing fear is going to be different. So it's just a matter of like well I need to do this for myself. How do I get there? So it's like well, I kind of want to go on a camping trip, but I've never camped before Okay, do you have a tent maybe set it up in the living room? you know see kind of like what a baby step could look like and You know, I was trying to think about the first question that you had for me and I went down this fear path
this video pathway. Can you please refresh me on what that was?
Madi Cheever - TypeOneTypeFun (13:34.368)
Yes, I love it. So the initial question from now was the must know tips for managing blood sugar with outdoor activities. Is that what you're asking about?
Paul (13:42.057)
Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. Okay, managing blood sugar with outdoor activities. You know what, when I pack for something, whether it's a five day backpacking trip or a two hour hiking trip, the same thing applies. We break everything down into its smallest, know, tiny foundation components. Number one, we need something to treat low blood sugar. We need something to treat high blood sugar.
Make it simple. Those two things. If we just focus on those two things, we can expand them and we can contract them. So if I'm going on a five day backpacking trip, do I have enough to handle five days worth of hypos? Do I have enough to handle five days worth of high blood sugar? know, going out for a two hour hike in the local mountains. Same thing. Just scale it down. You know, I might bring just a candy bar and then some
glucose tablets or perhaps I'm bringing my extra fast acting insulin pen just in case my pump might fail. So there was a whole bunch of different things. For me myself, I like to travel with inhalable insulin. Inhalable insulin is great. It's pocket friendly. It doesn't require refrigeration. It's rapidly acting and it's rapidly.
evaporating. So it's not something that's going to cause hypos and it's not something that's going to stain my system long enough. It's a great little backup. So that's how I do my backups in like smaller cases, like a little two hour hike in the hills.
Madi Cheever - TypeOneTypeFun (15:25.678)
And I think that the thing that I think of is okay. I have had I mean I've worked with hundreds of people with t1d and One of the questions that I would think someone would ask is like, okay These are all good tips But how much do you actually bring literally the numbers and there isn't a number there isn't a number unless you find it for yourself everyone's different, but my pro tip I know I'm not outdoor as
much per se, but when I go on adventures or even when I wait when I go out dancing or whatever it may be, I bring as much as I possibly can. And then I bring some cash just in case and figure it out from there. And really, sometimes what that looks like is if I'm out and about, maybe I have 10 fruit snacks in one boot and 10 fruit snacks in a little purse or whatever it may be, because you better believe that worst case scenario. That's what 300 carbs on my person. OK, I'm good.
Paul (16:19.103)
You'll survive.
Madi Cheever - TypeOneTypeFun (16:20.506)
Yeah, so I think if you are on that first adventure, maybe breaking it down, making it smaller, and then also bringing way more than you ever think you could possibly, possibly, possibly need backups for the backups for the backups. And then hopefully you come home with way too many supplies and you're like, okay, I definitely don't need to carry that much next time. Yeah, yeah, and then you figure it out. Mm-hmm, yeah. Okay, and what about like...
Paul (16:38.389)
That's usually the case. Especially starting out.
Madi Cheever - TypeOneTypeFun (16:47.656)
I know we've already kind of talked about our technology potentially failing, is there gear or tech that you specifically never leave without, have to have, anything like that?
Paul (16:57.599)
Yeah, so specific tech, think hands down, the CGM is probably the most significant tech advancement in the diabetes space in the last, you know, 50, 100 years. I don't even know. But I think when it comes to specific tech, the CGM is way more important than your insulin delivery system, because we can get creative with insulin delivery.
That's not a problem. I mean, I've used a syringe to siphon insulin out of a broken pump. You know, no big deal. You know, like I said, inhalable insulins. If my inhaler is missing, I can always just take one of these cartridges and just open it up and use it. You know, we can get creative without insulin delivery. Glucose monitoring though, now we're in the space of, well, I can bring my BGM.
Right? The old finger stick meter. I always do. But you know, it's like, one of those things where it's like, it's a snapshot in time. It's not telling me my trends. You know, I could be like, oh, 130, that's great. But I could be hypo in 20 minutes. You know.
Madi Cheever - TypeOneTypeFun (18:13.87)
Yeah, I'm with you. If I had to only have one, a CGM or a pump, I think I would still keep my CGM. Although I love the freedom my pump provides, but I know how to deal without it better than without my CGM. If I don't have my CGM, I feel like I'm driving a car that I can't see out of. It's scary. And you're right, it is just a snapshot unless you're willing to prick your finger every 10, 15 minutes for the next 10, 15, 20, 30, 45 minutes.
Paul (18:19.848)
Exactly.
Paul (18:31.295)
Right. It is.
Paul (18:42.367)
Right.
Madi Cheever - TypeOneTypeFun (18:43.414)
Yeah. Okay. you know, speaking of that, especially with the hypo in consideration, fear is something that holds people back for sure after diagnosis or, maybe they've had a situation happen. They went hiking, they went low, they, vow never to hike again. what would you say to someone who maybe has that fear, but maybe they want to push past that, that physical or mental limitation?
Paul (18:51.895)
No fish at
Paul (19:08.503)
So yeah, that mental limitation, that's a tough one to get around because, you know, as diabetics, we've all experienced that hypo and it's trauma. I mean, it's like PTSD, like right there. We've felt it. It's a physical thing. It's like, I don't like this and I don't want to experience it again at home, let alone like off the grid somewhere. How terrifying would that be?
So when it comes to hypo remedies, I usually, especially in the outdoors, I tell people like bring something that is melt proof and crush proof. And this gives you an opportunity to go to the candy store and experiment. Find some candies that meet those two criteria. You don't want something that melts. So sorry Snickers fans and Reese's Peanut Butter fans.
Those are gonna melt. You want something that's going to be unmeltable, whether it's hard candy like Starburst. Starbursts are great, by the way. They're individually wrapped, too. But my go-to, just to kind of cut to the chase here, is this. Little Payday Bar. It's snack-sized, so it's pocket-friendly. It's crush-proof, and it doesn't melt. So, you know, it's kind of the trifecta of outdoors hypo remedies.
Madi Cheever - TypeOneTypeFun (20:38.734)
Okay, I like this. I really admire this bit of expertise, especially considering I know I've had a multiple something in a car, in a purse, whatever it may be, so getting outdoors or not, this is top tier advice. So I like that very much, so thank you. I think that is helpful for everyone listening, just in case you need to listen back through the last few minutes, do it, because it's worth it. And just out of curiosity, I'm just,
Asking for funsies now. Are there any specific adventures or upcoming activities or anything on your personal bucket list?
Paul (21:21.057)
Personal bandwidth. It's tough to put my finger on that because I do have a number of adventures coming up. Besides the usual outdoor activities and locally here in Southern California, I put together these small little meetups on the weekends, bringing together type ones and non-type ones. And we end up like,
hiking a small mountain out here in Southern California where it's kind of spoiled. We get a lot of access to a lot of mountains. In the summertime, I put together these climbing trips for type one diabetics who want to get into or at least experience rock climbing. And so we go out to Joshua Tree National Park for a weekend and we camp and we like, you know, discuss ideas of like, well, how do I, you know, know, camp with
insulin that needs to stay cool or perhaps how do I manage my CGM or my pump site when I'm wearing a climbing harness, things like that. And so there was a lot of this discussion about how to prep for certain activities that we do. And you know what? A lot of the questions that I get out there on these adventures are from the non-type one diabetics. They're super curious about, well, how does insulin work?
You know, if you go low, do you need insulin? No. You know, when you go high, do you need sugar? How does this, how does diabetes work? What causes it? How do you manage it? What's it like, you know, day by day? The type ones, we have all those answers to those questions. The non-type ones, they're the ones that are super curious. They're the ones that are learning something. They're like,
fascinated you guys do this all the time for us it's like well yeah it's it's not a big deal you know it's we wouldn't be around if we didn't but you know this is this is our life so I kind of went off on a tangent there as I do but
Madi Cheever - TypeOneTypeFun (23:33.634)
It is.
Madi Cheever - TypeOneTypeFun (23:37.55)
No, that's great. And maybe how can people get involved in your weekends? Where can they find that information?
Paul (23:44.535)
So oftentimes my information I put it up on my social media, sometimes on my website if it's something big. On my social media I'm TypeOneOutdoors, all spelled out, and I'm on Instagram, I'm on TikTok, YouTube, Facebook, and web. And beyond that I now have a second account, it's called TypeOneClient, once again all spelled out.
type one outdoors for just outdoorsy activities and fun stuff, you know, in nature. And then there's type one climbs, which is more climbing specific, you know, rock climbing, mountaineering, things like that.
Madi Cheever - TypeOneTypeFun (24:26.478)
Awesome, awesome. I'm glad that you said that. Thank you. I want to make sure that everyone knows that all of that information will also be in the show notes. So maybe just a quick wrap up question. Is there anything really exciting coming up for Type 1 Outdoors in the next year?
Paul (24:41.417)
In the next year, there was just small events, small gatherings. There was camps. I'm still doing my camps out in Joshua Tree and up in the Eastern Sierra. And for type one outdoors, it's just local hikes. And there is an area called local tracks where I put together these small little meetups in the local mountains where, you know, we can come together as groups of type ones, type ones and non type ones, friends and family.
And I put together like a small hike, whether it's in Griffith Park in Los Angeles, something easy peasy, or something a little more challenging up in the bigger mountains where it's going to take a few more hours. you know, but I cover all of that in what the activity is.
Madi Cheever - TypeOneTypeFun (25:27.64)
That's awesome. That is awesome. And if you are anywhere near local or just passing by and happen to want to join in, then make sure you grab that information from Paul. I know I want to be in on the next experience whenever I can be. I will be there sometime eventually. I know we've talked about it before. I want to make it out. So make sure if you are interested in these kinds of things, diabetes does not stop you from participating and Paul is your go-to.
Paul (25:56.555)
That sounds great. That sounds wonderful.
Madi Cheever - TypeOneTypeFun (25:56.618)
Alright. Yeah, I love it. Will go outside, go touch some grass, go get some fresh air in your lungs. Maybe I don't know, climb a little hike a little do something fun. Paul, anything else?
Paul (26:10.807)
Just get outdoors, like get inspired and try and discover some of that intangible wilderness therapy and remove some of that burden of living with type 1 just for a little tiny bit.
Madi Cheever - TypeOneTypeFun (26:26.678)
It really does wonders. really does. And Paul, I can't thank you enough for today. So thank a million times and go get outside, y'all.
Paul (26:30.807)
You're welcome.
Paul (26:36.545)
Sounds good.
