Hey there Voice Finder,
Three things before we get started:
1️⃣ Did you check out last week’s essay on how I build an anti-diet home culture?
2️⃣ Now that the Find Your Food Voice book is out in the wild, I want to help you read it. I have ideas flooding my brain on ways to make a book club happen. What say you?
3️⃣ Anytime you click that heart on this email and especially when you share it—you are helping me and my team. TIA!
Let’s get to this week’s podcast episode!
This week’s episode is in conversation with Wendy Lopez, co-founder and co-creator of Diabetes Digital with Jessica Jones. I first met Wendy back in 2019 when Heather Caplan hosted a weight inclusive podcast panel. It was during FNCE (our yearly dietitian mega-conference) yet not an Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics sanctioned event which made it even more fun. Back then, Wendy and Jessica hosted Food Heaven and we answered questions with Christy Harrison and Rebecca Scritchfield.
In this FYFV episode, we chat about the complicated relationship between PCOS and diabetes—how they are connected and what to do about it. We explore the implications of insulin resistance, the role of nutrition, and the impact of GLP-1 medications like Ozempic on managing these conditions. We hope the conversation helps you explore your personal personal health choices without blame and shame. Wendy shares insights on continuous glucose monitoring and the necessity of supportive healthcare conversations.
Here is a handy timestamp guide:
00:48 Understanding Insulin Resistance in PCOS
02:15 Navigating Healthcare and Testing for PCOS
04:48 The Impact of Fear on Health Choices
06:50 The Role of Carbohydrates in Managing PCOS
09:41 Exploring GLP-1 Medications and Their Effects
12:45 Navigating the Complexities of PCOS Management
Important Episode Links:
The Find Your Food Voice Book: JulieDuffyDillon.com/book
Keep learning on Substack: FindYourFoodVoice.Substack.com
Want to watch the show instead? Here’s the episode via YouTube:
That’s all for now. Thank you for supporting the show and contributing to the Find Your Food Voice movement 💜
Warmly,
Julie
Looking for transcripts?
Here they are. Please know they are primarily created by AI so I hope you are patient with any errors. Listen along above!
Julie Duffy Dillon (00:00)
Welcome to episode 412 of Find Your Food Voice. Today is a conversation with Wendy Lopez all on diabetes and PCOS. Let's get to it.
Hey there, voice finder, Julie Duffy Dillon here, your host and registered dietitian I am excited to unpack this episode where I am talking with Wendy Lopez, who is one of the co-founders of Diabetes Digital. And we are really getting into the weeds of PCOS and diabetes, and in particular, how they're connected, why are they connected, and how can you, someone who is a voice finder, so you are.
trying your hardest to reject diets, to recover from your eating disorder, and also manage this really tough chronic condition, well, we go into things like GLP-1s, continuous glucose monitors, and all the fear that is dumped on you by the healthcare team. We also talk about some lab tests and lots of other things under the sun. And I was so glad to actually have this conversation with Wendy because podcast panel with Wendy.
to really chat and get to know each other. So this was really great for me to be able to connect with her more. And I'm excited about some of the projects that we're doing now behind the scenes that we'll tell you about.
But this episode is one that I know you're going to find to be really helpful, especially if you have PCOS or diabetes or you know someone who does.
before I share this episode, I wanna let you know a little bit about Wendy. Wendy Lopez is a nationally recognized registered dietitian and certified diabetes care and education specialist with a strong commitment to making nutrition education accessible and inclusive for all. She is the COO and co-founder of Diabetes Digital, which you'll hear about in this interview. And Wendy has played a crucial role in creating a cutting edge tech
platform that offers specialized nutrition counseling services for people living with diabetes and pre-diabetes. And it's all through a weight inclusive lens. How cool is that? she's also the co-host of the Diabetes Digital podcast. You may also know her from Food Heaven, the platform and podcast as well.
A quick word before we get to this interview with Wendy. Many of you asked me, how am I doing since the Find Your Food Voice book has come out? And I'm doing pretty great. And in a way, it's kind of been anticlimactic because I don't know, I'm not sitting on Oprah's couch or anything. But really, it's also been just this really magical experience where this dream has become a reality. And honestly, the book coming out didn't even feel as
Magical is actually writing the book. Like I really enjoyed the experience of writing So what I have decided that I want to do is I want to continue to write more than anything If you don't know me very well, you know I've done this job of helping people with insulin resistance and PCOS and diabetes for many many years decades actually and Something that's happened as I've gotten closer to midlife is I've developed some chronic conditions that make
the work that I was doing one-on-one with clients, just not accessible for me anymore. Yet writing was something that I found that I could do and I didn't have any triggers to my chronic health conditions. And so I wanna continue to do that.
so that brings me to another question many of you have asked me. How can you support me? Well, just know listening to this podcast alone is a huge support because as you probably get a little annoyed with listening to podcasts like mine, we do have dynamic ads inserted. So every time someone listens to the podcast, it helps me to,
make a few pennies off of those dynamic ads. So that helps me to continue to do my writing work and help me support my team. And ordering the book, of course, also helps along with leaving a rating or review on Amazon or any of those big guys. Goodreads is another one to also leave a rating or review. And I would love honest feedback. It doesn't have to be all sparkles and raves, although if you're feeling those things, definitely.
put them in the review, but I would love any feedback that you also have about how I can make the book even better. And if you are able to continue to even support me more, the next best thing is to subscribe to my substack. It's the same name as my book, Find Your Food Voice. And that's basically where I get to continue to go back to my writing life, where I get to write every day and I'm publishing an essay every week. I just published a very
very meaty essay on how I have been building an anti-diet culture home. And after 17 years of parenting, I had a lot to say. So it was just part one. Substack like cut me off. It's like, you can't make it any longer than this. So you could subscribe there so you can continue to find more just tools and tips and strategies that I've gathered over the last 25 years on how to live your life, how to
manage your health, how to eat food and enjoy it without including the diet industry. So I will put links to all of that in the show notes. And we are now ready to get to this interview with Wendy. We're gonna take a very quick ad break and we'll be right back with my interview with Wendy Lopez.
Julie Duffy Dillon (05:36)
Hey, Wendy, welcome to the show.
Wendy (05:39)
Hi, so excited to be here.
Julie Duffy Dillon (05:41)
I am so glad that we're finally talking. And I know our
brushed up alongside each other. But now we actually get to have a real chat because we have some similar interests in, I don't know, does insulin unite us? Is that maybe what it is? I know with the diabetes digital,
Wendy (05:49)
Yeah.
Yes, it does.
Julie Duffy Dillon (06:06)
program and podcast that you have, PCOS is also a part of that conversation. So I'm excited to unpack the PCOS and diabetes combination. And from my angle, many people I work with have PCOS and that fear of diabetes is one of the first things that they are it's just like handed to them at the diagnosis is be afraid of diabetes. to get us started,
I'm curious what you have on your radar about like why is there a connection with PCOS and diabetes?
Wendy (06:39)
Yeah, the fear mongering is so real, especially when you go into your doctor's visits. And I think that's why it's so real because it's coming from people in healthcare. And so you're like, okay, well, this is something that I should be scared about. And it's definitely something to know about and we can dispel some of the fear and mess and things like that today.
Julie Duffy Dillon (06:42)
Mm-hmm
Mm-hmm.
Wendy (07:02)
But with PCOS,
insulin resistance is one of the key features. And that means that the body cells, they're not responding efficiently to insulin. That could drive up blood sugar levels over time. And when you have chronic insulin resistance, it does increase the risk of developing prediabetes, of developing type 2 diabetes. And research does show that there's an increased risk for people that have PCOS to develop type 2 diabetes. And I mean, it is like quite a significant risk.
Julie Duffy Dillon (07:30)
Yes, it
is.
Wendy (07:30)
Yeah,
I saw some research that suggested that more than half of people with PCOS by the age of 40 will develop type 2. And, you know, the insulin resistance is also tied to things like increased testosterone production, which is very common in PCOS, dysregulated ovulation. And with PCOS being underdiagnosed, along with conditions like pre-diabetes and diabetes, a lot of people don't really know about their risk for
Julie Duffy Dillon (07:36)
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
Yeah.
Wendy (08:00)
type two diabetes until much later. And they might already have these conditions. And so that's why it's really important to get your A1C tested yearly, especially if you're at a higher risk for developing either PCOS, pre-diabetes or type two. You can also get like your fasting glucose tested.
doing things like your lipid panel, your liver functioning tests, since those can also be elevated with PCOS, trying to do as much preventative work as possible, I think will help to calm some of the fears around developing these conditions.
Julie Duffy Dillon (08:28)
Mm-hmm.
Yeah, yeah.
I mean, just to note for the listener, you did not mention weight at all in those tests. there are so many things that you can kind of monitor to help manage this risk level that's not all on weight. But before we can dive into that, but before we go there, just mentioning all those tests, the one thing that I see that is so
Wendy (08:46)
Yeah.
Julie Duffy Dillon (08:58)
unique to the PCOS experience with diabetes is kind of like how it unfolds because of like those really high insulin levels, A1C and fasting blood sugar are normal for so long. And so a lot of my clients would tell me, my doctor says that I don't have insulin resistance because my A1C is normal, or my blood sugar is normal. I'm like, well, that's really just looking at your blood sugar and you have so much insulin probably that like,
Wendy (09:11)
Mm-hmm.
and
Julie Duffy Dillon (09:27)
It's just
making it normal. Do you end up having people who are tracking their HOMA IR or that insulin resistance test instead? I don't know if you've ever used that with clients.
Wendy (09:39)
Yeah, it's like, it's that's why it's really important to have a good healthcare team because I agree, like, usually go into the doctor. And if you've had like these symptoms of PCOS for years, but it's not.
Julie Duffy Dillon (09:43)
Yeah.
Mm-hmm.
Wendy (09:51)
diagnosed,
it's like they're scratching the surface. They might be doing just like very basic level testing and you don't have doctors who are ordering like all these tests that you've mentioned. And so we do try to work closely with like endocrinologists and primary care providers so that we can advocate for people to get those tests because I mean, we can't order them, but you know, we can recommend them and say,
Julie Duffy Dillon (09:54)
Mm-hmm.
Yeah, of course. Yeah.
Wendy (10:14)
based on symptoms or just based on like certain trends. And a lot of people are also like tracking their glucose too. And so they might be seeing like certain trends that might indicate some insulin resistance. And so pushing for that testing is gonna be really important and also knowing what those tests are because a lot of people don't know about them.
Julie Duffy Dillon (10:21)
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, agreed.
I think it's important to what you mentioned, there are some ways to we can notice how our body feels, even without some of those labs. And I have a feeling you see this too, but so many of my clients have a hard time navigating healthcare period just because they feel so ashamed of like,
Wendy (10:40)
Yeah.
Julie Duffy Dillon (10:52)
either their body size or doesn't feel safe going to the doctor. And so a lot of times we talk about like, are there some things you can do to kind of just notice how your body is feeling to know when you do need to take that step to go to the healthcare provider when you start to feel different and you're not feeling as well. So yeah, I don't know if that's something that you and your clients have ever had to like unpack. have a feeling it's something you have, yeah.
Wendy (11:14)
Yeah,
definitely with like just like intense fatigue or, you know, having just like overeating episodes or like really strong cravings or mood swings. Like those are all indicative that something is off either hormonally or like with your blood sugar fluctuating.
Julie Duffy Dillon (11:18)
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm. Right, yeah.
Can we go back to the fear part? Because that's something that I see as this huge block for people to just access tools for their health because they are so afraid of getting diabetes that it does a couple things that I see, again, end up being these blocks.
Wendy (11:37)
Yeah.
Julie Duffy Dillon (11:56)
being so afraid they're gonna get diabetes, so they're doing like a fad diet, or they're so scared to go to the doctor, so they're just avoiding the doctor. I see that as like really get in the way of a person's relationship with food. What are you noticing on your end? Yeah.
Wendy (12:04)
around.
same. Yeah, I mean, there's like
so much content on social media, right? Like I'm not even on TikTok, but somehow I'm getting PCOS content from TikTok. I'm like, how is this even getting to me? And so a lot of this content is coming from people that are speaking from personal experience, not people that have professional training in PCOS.
Julie Duffy Dillon (12:16)
Yeah.
It's wild out there, yeah.
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
Wendy (12:36)
And a lot of the messages that I've seen push for avoiding carbs and sugar, which is very similar to like the diabetes nutrition messaging that I get, it cross correlates a lot. And really that that's the only way that you can manage the condition that you can prevent diabetes from coming on is by like cutting out carbs or like severely restricting. And so this can lead to anxiety, to guilt and to a disordered relationship with food.
Julie Duffy Dillon (12:41)
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
Wendy (13:09)
So, you know, out so many foods is usually going to backfire because these are foods that we probably grew up eating.
Julie Duffy Dillon (13:10)
Yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly.
Mm-hmm.
Wendy (13:27)
that also fuel our brain. Like carbs are the brain's preferred fuel source. So that's where you start getting low energy mood swings. You can't concentrate. You have blood sugar dysregulation because your glucose is going up and then it's going down, especially if you're having bingeing episodes because you've been restricting so much. And also that ties in with like the yo-yo dieting or the weight cycling.
Julie Duffy Dillon (13:34)
Mm-hmm.
Yes, yes, yes.
Wendy (13:54)
which can be really stressful on the body where like you go through your period of restriction and then that's not very sustainable. And then you have bingeing episodes and your weight starts going up and down that can actually worsen insulin resistance. It could create more stress, more shame, worse health outcomes. And so we really focus on balancing meals with
Julie Duffy Dillon (14:10)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Wendy (14:21)
carbohydrates, not taking them out, but really incorporating them, incorporating fiber, protein, fat, so that you have more stable blood sugar without all of this restriction. And I have seen much better results taking on this approach versus all of the trends that are online.
Julie Duffy Dillon (14:24)
Mm-hmm.
Right, right. Yeah, for sure. You know, something that I've noticed with clients is that they'll come to me already, you know, probably experimenting with some of those TikTok trends that you're describing with removing carbohydrates and things like that and feeling awful, but still thinking like that's the only way to measure blood sugar or to like help lower blood sugar, probably because they may be checking it like right after eating or something like that. And what ends up happening within
the six months or so of adding foods back in, like eating enough and eating enough carbohydrate, what people will say is they're like, I actually have energy now. And yeah, they're not having those intense cravings and feeling just more at home in their body, probably also sleeping better. You mentioned glucose monitoring and that's something that I haven't really talked a lot about on this podcast, but
Wendy (15:18)
Yeah.
Julie Duffy Dillon (15:34)
I've worked with a few clients with PCOS who've used a continuous glucose monitor. And I'm curious what you've noticed too, because what I've seen is when people have done more of the restricting or just like life happened and they weren't able to eat enough at lunch or a meal or snack or something, it was so directly impacting this like lower blood sugar and then this really big spike back up and led just from not eating enough.
Wendy (15:55)
Mm-hmm.
Julie Duffy Dillon (16:03)
So are you seeing something like that at all with the continuous glucose monitors or what are you noticing with that in PCOS?
Wendy (16:10)
Yeah, I think it's a really helpful tool, but if you have a history of disorder eating, sometimes it's not as helpful. So you kind of have to gauge what your situation is and what effect it's having on you, because you don't want it to be something that's an added stress, right? Sometimes with these trackers, that would happen to me with the sleep trackers.
Julie Duffy Dillon (16:13)
Mm-hmm.
Yes.
Mmm.
Wendy (16:35)
I would track my sleep and I would become so fixated on it that I wasn't getting good sleep. was like, I would wake up and I'm like, how did I sleep? And I'm like, okay, I don't need to be, it's fine. know, like after a while you kind of get it. So with PCOS, I think it could be really helpful just to see how your body is reacting to certain foods and food combinations because
Julie Duffy Dillon (16:40)
Yes.
Uh-huh.
Food combinations,
yeah.
Wendy (16:58)
there are like foods that you would be like, you would think on paper like, this is really going to cause a spike and it doesn't. And there's actually some, yeah, there's some interesting research that showed that foods that are more culturally relevant to someone's background, even if they're a refined carbohydrate, don't cause the same spike as like, for example, a white rice compared to a brown rice. It wouldn't cause a spike that you would think even though it's a refined grain. And so I think
Julie Duffy Dillon (17:05)
Yeah, exactly what I saw.
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
Mmm, mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
Wendy (17:28)
it's a helpful tool if you're taking it for what it is, just like information gathering. And also if you're a pretty consistent eater and you have PCOS or pre-diabetes, I would say for type two, definitely, I think it's helpful to have. But if you're more like in the pre-diabetes range or you don't have any of those conditions and you're a consistent eater, the trends tend to...
Julie Duffy Dillon (17:33)
Right, right.
Wendy (17:52)
pretty much be similar over time. Like it just kind of gets boring. Cause I've done it just for like research purposes so I can explain to clients how it works. And it just kind of like, you're kind of just getting the same numbers more or less every day. You know, so it's something good to know. Like if you're like, okay, you eat pretty much more or less the same meals with the time. if you want to go through a trial, like, let me for two weeks, just like see what works better than I think it could work really well.
Julie Duffy Dillon (17:57)
Mm-hmm.
Yeah.
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Yes.
Yeah, that's what some people that I've worked with have done. And it was for sure this decision that was carefully made instead of like, let me just do this because of any eating disorder history. Yeah, you want to make sure that the timing is good. And then also the numbers are going to be used neutrally and not become this other fixation. And also having it be a trial, like really just
Wendy (18:32)
Yeah.
Julie Duffy Dillon (18:47)
couple weeks and that's all we really needed because we got enough data from that. So this is a big question I have for you. So I, we could have a couple episodes with this one, but like,
Wendy (18:59)
Okay.
Julie Duffy Dillon (19:01)
we won't.
But how are GLP-1s impacting your work these days? Is it making it interesting?
Wendy (19:08)
my
god, it's so interesting because you know, like more and more people are on these medications and so we have to learn more about them and understand how they're affecting people and more and more people who don't have type 2 diabetes. Like for example with Ozempic, you know, it's recommended for people, that's how it's been studied for people with type 2 mostly, but they're being used off label more and more now. So
Julie Duffy Dillon (19:17)
Yeah.
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
Yes.
Wendy (19:36)
I'm always keeping my ear on any research that's coming out or just what people's experiences are. And I will say, I have worked with Ozempic specifically since it launched and just looking at people's trends and side effects and things like that. And the research does show that there is a significant A1C reduction for people that have type 2 diabetes when they're on these GLP ones. With Ozempic,
Julie Duffy Dillon (20:00)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Wendy (20:05)
It's a 1.5 % reduction, which is significant. And I've worked with people that have type 2 who've done really well on GLP-1s, especially if they're making other adjustments with like nutrition and movement and things like that. Now, when it comes to PCOS, if you don't have type 2, the research is still evolving. You know, it's studied more so with type 2 specifically for Ozempic. And so when it comes to PCOS,
Julie Duffy Dillon (20:15)
Mm-hmm.
Wendy (20:33)
The research that's out there is mostly tied to weight loss. And so it's like, you lose the weight and potentially that can help with insulin resistance. And a lot of people go on these medications for weight loss. And research shows that weight loss associated with the medications, it's not anything super significant. It's anywhere from like five to 10%, which I think as clinicians is important to communicate that. Cause I think a lot of...
Julie Duffy Dillon (20:36)
Correct, yeah.
Mm-hmm.
Wendy (20:58)
Doctors who are prescribing, they don't communicate that. then people blame themselves if they're not seeing anything above that percentage. They're like, there's something wrong with me because I'm not losing the weight. And I will say, in my personal experience, results have been very mixed. Some people, they might lose weight and then they plateau. Some people, they don't really lose weight at all. Some people, they might lose the weight and then it goes back to what it was, or it goes back even higher.
Julie Duffy Dillon (21:06)
Yes.
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
Wendy (21:27)
what it was before. So, you know, these are all just things to take into account along with the side effects, which I think is like the biggest consideration, because the side effects are pretty strong.
Julie Duffy Dillon (21:39)
Yeah, it's not just like a medication just to like flippantly make a decision about. Yeah, because those are some intense side effects. I'm so glad you mentioned the actual research on how much weight is lost, because I know the way it's dangled and like talked about even like advertisements. Sometimes I know they have in the fine print those like percentages. But really what people are taking home is like, this is the thing that's going to really help.
Wendy (22:00)
Yeah.
Julie Duffy Dillon (22:05)
decreased a significant amount of weight loss and it really, it's not as much. And so that's important as you're like hearing all of the pros and cons, you know, if the side effects are not worth it, you know, they're not worth it.
Wendy (22:19)
Yeah,
and also just the sustainability of it. what I've seen is that once you get off the medication, the weight typically tends to come back up. And so really thinking about, is this something that I'm going to be on forever, you know, like to maintain this weight? And it's also expensive. if you, know, insurance plans are not covering GLP ones for the most part, if you only have like PCOS or pre-diabetes. And so you have to pay out of pocket, you have to figure out how to access them.
Julie Duffy Dillon (22:21)
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm. Yeah.
Yes.
Yeah, yeah.
Mm-hmm.
Wendy (22:49)
Some people
are getting generic versions that are not really well studied and we don't really know what the risk of the app, we don't know what the risk of that is. So it's all just like, it's all developing and unfolding because it is relatively new. So we'll see, but we do work with people to navigate the side effects if they make the decision to go on a GLP-1, navigating those side effects, making sure that they're nourishing properly because
Julie Duffy Dillon (22:54)
Yes, I'm scared of those. Yeah.
Wendy (23:17)
It really limits your appetite and we don't want people developing deficiencies. So also just making sure that you're, you're properly nourishing throughout the day.
Julie Duffy Dillon (23:21)
Yes, yes.
Mm-hmm. I think that's so important, especially for people with PCOS who are curious about their risk for diabetes. think about we don't have a lot of long-term data on using GLP-1s and PCOS, of course. We have very little long-term data on PCOS management period. But one thing we do know in the general population is weight cycling, like you mentioned before, is something that puts people at higher risk for things like diabetes. And so if GLP-1s are just
Wendy (23:45)
Yeah.
Julie Duffy Dillon (23:56)
leading to weight cycling in the end for you, you just need to know that. That could make it even expedite things. It certainly is a mixed bag. One of the hardest parts I'm hearing from folks, I have a lot of people in my membership who have been doing non-diet work for a long time, 10, 20 years, and sometimes people will talk about their experimentation with GLP-1s to help with their diabetes.
And unfortunately, what's happened is then once a doctor sees that on their chart, all the work they did on advocating for like non-diet care, like, please don't weigh me, please don't let me see my weight. It's almost like having the GLP-1 on their chart. It makes like, takes all that away. And so all the providers are like, we could talk about weight loss now because you're taking this injection. And so I've been like, let's just make sure that people know that's another like,
Wendy (24:35)
and
Ohhhh, yeah.
Julie Duffy Dillon (24:52)
Just a thing to keep on your list of like a pro and con. Like you may have to do more advocacy if you're used to getting more weight neutral care. You may notice that starting to slide again, which I hate.
Wendy (25:00)
Hmm
That's a great point. Yeah, I didn't think
about that, but it's true. Like with GLP-1 comes a weight-focused conversation with your doctor. And so you're probably going to be getting more and more of that. And if you don't really want to hear that, or you've been doing all this work to let your provider know that you want weight-neutral care, then yeah, that's definitely something to consider.
Julie Duffy Dillon (25:12)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
Yeah.
Yeah, and think the other part, when people are getting it covered with insurance, they're noticing that if they don't keep upping the dose for a weight loss, that it's not covered, even though it may be helping at those smaller doses or the lower doses, I'm like, it's just like a tangled up mess to me. So it's a lot. So before we end, Wendy, is there any?
Wendy (25:34)
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
Yeah, it's a lot.
Julie Duffy Dillon (25:53)
thing that you have in your mind that you wish people with PCOS knew about managing their diabetes risk? Is there anything like you wish their doctors told them or their healthcare providers told them instead of like the stuff that they're getting at this point?
Wendy (26:06)
Yeah,
PCOS is a very complex condition similar to diabetes and it's not your fault. It's not a personal failure. I think there's a lot of blame and punishment that happens when you get diagnosed with these conditions and it's like, you ate a certain way or you didn't exercise enough. And the reality is that we don't know exactly why someone developed PCOS. It could be genetics, it could be environmental factors, it could be underlying insulin resistance.
And so instead of approaching it with blame, it's important to get the right support, the right resources. It's not about eliminating carbohydrates. It's about knowing how to make confident food choices with pairing carbohydrates with other foods so that you can stabilize your blood sugar. And you're also enjoying the meals that you're eating. Like rigid diets, they don't prevent diabetes. They oftentimes increase stress.
Julie Duffy Dillon (27:03)
Mm-hmm.
Wendy (27:03)
cravings,
disorder eating patterns, and there's a lot of weight loss messaging with PCOS, so it's hard, but there's so many other things that you can do to improve insulin sensitivity, like movement, stress reduction, sleep, eating balanced meals, like all of these things, a lot of times are more impactful than nutrition. Like there's so much focus on nutrition, it's like, there's so much that you can do, and like everyone is not in,
the situation to like approach it from all angles and tackle it all. Like we all have life happening. And so just try to focus on like what are one or two things that you can start doing and it doesn't have to be a complete overhaul.
Julie Duffy Dillon (27:46)
Yes. my gosh, I love that. There's so much of a, gosh, like the threat of diabetes with PCOS. see so many people going down into really intense restrictive diets. So I appreciate everything that you said. So in my book that's coming out really soon, and actually by the time someone's listening to this, it's already gonna be out. So hey, I have in the resource section, the Diabetes Digital Podcast. I love your podcast with Jessica. So,
That's one thing that I will put in the show notes, but if someone's wanting to know more about you and the work you're doing, where should we direct them?
Wendy (28:21)
Absolutely. So you can go to diabetesdigital.co. We are a virtual nutrition counseling platform. We are covered by insurance. So most of our patients pay zero out of pocket and we help manage PCOS, pre-diabetes, diabetes, other chronic conditions through weight inclusive care. We practice from an intuitive eating and health at every size approach. So yeah, if you're looking for a dietitian to work with that's covered by insurance, you can check us out.
Julie Duffy Dillon (28:48)
Awesome. Thank you. It was so great to chat. I appreciate your time.
Wendy (28:52)
Yeah, thank you.
Julie Duffy Dillon (28:54)
So there you have it. I hope you enjoyed my conversation with Wendy Lopez from Diabetes Digital. Next week, I will be sharing a conversation that I had with Jamie Magdic, who is a dietitian that also is in recovery from an eating disorder. And we are unpacking the experience of pseudo recovery.
You know this podcast cannot happen without a few really important people. Rachel Popik is the genius behind this podcast, just reaching your ears. So thank you, Rachel. And Coleen Bremner is our hype woman extraordinaire. I encourage you to connect with her as well.
She helps me behind the scenes to manage a lot of the communication that you and I have. So if you wanna continue to unpack the Find Your Food Voice conversation that I wrote about in the book and just get more insight into how to connect and maintain that connection with your food voice, join me on Substack, subscribe to my newsletter and we'll stay connected that way.
So I look forward to being in your ears next week and until then, take care.
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