Mastering Diabetes Coaching Program - My Experience and Honest Review
I recently took part to the Mastering Diabetes Coaching Challenge, and this is my review. Is it worth it? Is it good? Is it effective? I will answer all these questions!
First of all, why did I do the program to begin with? After all, I have been eating a plant based diet and very physically active for a long time. Also, I was much aware of the Mastering Diabetes method before joining the program, actively trying to implement it into my life.
Turns out that doing everything by myself was not always effective, and I was in a phase of my life where I needed someone to report to, someone who could keep me accountable. Plus, as an endurance athlete, I wanted to figure out how to fuel my endeavors (carb loading) without screwing up the diabetic in me.
I was plant based yes, but often struggling with the “whole food” bit: I was trapped by several cravings for foods such as tahini, bread and other processed items that were taking a toll on the stability of my blood glucose, and I could not control myself around any of those.
Therefore I decided to raise the stakes, pay for a personal coach, force myself to stick to whatever was necessary to do and report every action. Might sound drastic, but I needed it. Most of all, it was effective.
By the way, do you also want to achieve and maintain
a 90% (or more!) time in range?
I have listed The 5 Pillars of my strategy,
grounded in science and experience, in a Free PDF.
The Mastering Diabetes Coaching Challenge
First of all, for whom is this? Besides what the name suggests, after attending the program I am quite convinced that pretty much everyone would derive great benefits from it. Type-1 diabetics will simply master the control of their chronic condition, and have mental and practical tools that last a lifetime.
Type-2 diabetics or individuals with some metabolic disorders will likely observe them as they reverse and disappear from their lives (I have seen this in my own family, after sharing some of the simple practices and food habits promoted by the program). The programs can be 6 weeks, 6 months long or even longer, for those who need a prolonged assistance and guidance, which makes the offering quite hard to beat in my opinion.
Then, I believe the information and the process that underlie a bulletproof long term health should be known by the general public, often overwhelmed by information about “high protein”, “keto”, “high fats”, “zero carb” and other dangerous diets. That is why I have found myself recommending it to some friends who have no form of diabetes at all. Caring about your health is a simple and valid enough reason to want to look into the Mastering Diabetes Program.
My Coaching Program: 6 Weeks Challenge
Anyway, among the various offerings, I decided to join the “6-Weeks Challenge”, which was enough time for me to rewire my habits.
Once the program started I got immediate access to the Members Platform, with many helpful resources:
Video courses, essential to understand the whats, the whys and the hows behind the Method. These videos are a very helpful and accessible explanation of the science of all kinds of diabetes and metabolic provesses, and they were an essential first step for me to find the right motivation to stick to the Program.
Guided Workouts. There is an entire section dedicated to follow along workouts provided by personal trainers, and suitable for everyone regardless of age or fitness level. I didn’t do any of them because my workout schedule was busy already, but I see how they could be useful for someone who doesn’t know where to start with fitness.
Tasty and Simple Recipes. A full meal schedule is provided for each week. Recipes cover breakfast, lunch and dinner. They are extremely simple, low friction, adaptable and very tasty. Even an absolute kitchen disaster like myself could make them, so rest assured they are accessible!
Q&As and Live webinars are also held by coaches on a weekly or biweekly basis, where all doubts from the members are tackled and solved. I found these to be rather helpful too, in addition to the Facebook Group where one can chat and interact with the other members, exchanging recipes, tips, tricks and some inspiration. But besides the community aspect, let’s dive into the private coaching and how it works.
How The Coaching Works In Practice
Before the program’s Day 1, I jumped in an assessment call with my soon-to-be coach to clarify my struggles, my starting point, my goals and why I decided to embark at all.
[That, in itself, was personally helpful because explaining out loud why I was doing all of this reinforced my commitment]
Then, from day one, my relationship with the coach assigned to me developed on a daily basis. Each morning I would send a picture of the Decision Tree (arguably the MOST important and life changing thing the program has given me) from the previous day, containing all the details about what I ate, how much I injected, exercised, and the likes. I would receive custom feedbacks when needed and if I had any questions at all about anything, they would be answered fairly quickly.
Each week, I had a 30 minute zoom call with the coach to discuss the trends spotted during the previous 7 days, and any doubts that emerged regarding the process. These calls have been incredibly valuable for me, because they were my chance to “hammer” my coach with questions related to nutrition for endurance training.
Custom Support on Diabetes and Running
In particular, I had always fueled my long runs with immense quantities of plain white rice or pasta because I was too scared that any amount of fiber would send me to the toilet in the middle of a run. While there is certainly some truth in there, and I still eat low fiber and less vegetables before a longer training or a race, I was invited to slightly and gradually change my approach and observe what happened. So instead of eliminating vegetables, I would trade some of my rice for some potatoes (which are much more gentle on the blood sugar), and I would have them accompanied by some small amount of leafy greens with some vinegar. On race day, I started eating dates instead of rice cakes, and loving it. Result: my carb loadings haven’t compromised my time in range as was previously the case in 100% of occasions, my stomach has always felt great and my endurance performance haven’t suffered one bit.
I had also the opportunity to interact with a coach specialized in endurance sports, who provided some custom recipes for a higher calorie demand (with a slightly higher fat content) and most importantly some great advice and mental models to tackle endurance training and nutrition with type-1 diabetes.
For instance, she made it clear that there is a time and a place for more processed foods when it comes to the great energy demands of an athlete’s body. That was freeing, because I know I can safely snack on those when needed without feeling guilty. Secondly, the slogan “feed the athlete first, then deal with the diabetic” has been life changing: before, if I had a high blood sugar during a workout I would for instance skip a gel, possibly compromising the entire race. Now, I know that for those 2-4 hours I am an athlete, and I do what is best for the athlete: I eat all the carbs that are required to perform. By experience, I can say that those few hours with a hyperglycemia are more than compensated by the insulin sensitivity promoted by the run itself. Plus, when my weekly time in range is around 90%, I have no problem being out of range a few hours!
My interaction with the coaches has been tailored to my needs. It proved to be effective in terms of performance and most of all it put me in condition to bulletproof my long term health as a person and as an athlete.
In conclusion, was the 6 Weeks Mastering Diabetes Challenge program effective?
So, was the 6 Weeks Challenge program effective? Yes. It has changed me for the better in various ways.
To start, I hit 80%-90% weekly time in range consistently, without barely any effort and even on very bad weeks. (Sometimes even more than that).
Then, my insulin sensitivity has skyrocketed, with all the long term health benefits that span from it. I average 700 grams of carbs a day, needing 35-40 units of insulin (la tua included). I am practically carb loading every day of my life, but I am leaner, stronger and recovering much better in between workouts.
I know how to use the Decision Tree, an incredibly powerful and life changing tool for daily type-1 diabetes management.
I am not subjugated to my old cravings anymore, because I have understood that my health is much much much more important than any short term pleasure like bread, tahini, or else.
Also, I know I can have those without guilt because they can be functional to up my calories, but now I can control my impulse to indulge in them because I journal, reflect and take stock of my actions in a more attentive way.
I have principles to navigate endurance with T1 more easily, such as the “feed the athlete first” one. What I also enjoyed is that the coaches approach was always very gentle. While promoting a whole food plant based diet, I never felt like a certain way of eating was being imposed on me by anyone, which makes the entire experience suitable and enjoyable also for non vegans. You simply get to know and to see how the food you eat impacts your health, and can adjust (or not) your own decisions accordingly.
Lastly, seeing my time in range so high for the vast majority of time, while eating all the food I love in extreme abundance and performing better in all areas of life (sports, work, relationships, etc) gives me a boost of confidence that is hard to describe. It must be experienced.
Knowing that the way I am living now is a vote for a longer lifespan, healthspan and serves my daily activities with the best quality and quantity of energy is an incredible mindset shift, worth any amount of money.
My health is my top one priority, so I have no doubt to conclude this was a superb investment.
What Can Be Improved
The only thing I did not quite enjoy was engaging with the customer care or email support. The onboarding and off boarding communications felt very much like templates. Sure, I can’t complain about the overall experience, but these touch points do matter and they are a great opportunity for a company to develop and nurture a relationship with a customer.
If I had to grade my experience on that aspect alone, I might provide a more critical evaluation. But it really is a smaller bit more than balanced by a great experience overall.
I was here to understand how to improve my health for the rest of my life, and that goal was nailed. I would recommend any form of the Mastering Diabetes Coaching Program to anyone who cares about their health, regardless of the type of diabetes they have, and even to people that do not have any diagnosis at all. In a short amount of time it provides simple, clear and sustainable indications to improve one’s lifestyle and better navigate a lifetime of health.
