Modern Metabolic Health with Dr. Lindsay Ogle, MD
Join Dr. Lindsay Ogle, a board certified family medicine and obesity medicine physician, as she explores evidence-based strategies and practical tips to prevent and treat weight and metabolic conditions. Dr. Ogle provides insights on managing diabetes, PMOS, metabolic syndrome, obesity and related conditions through lifestyle optimization, safe medications and personalized care.
Modern Metabolic Health with Dr. Lindsay Ogle, MD
What To Eat With Type 2 Diabetes With Wendy Castle, RD
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If you or someone you love has diabetes and would like to learn how to optimize nutrition to help manage this chronic condition, then I highly recommend Wendy Castle and her team at One Bite Nutrition.
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Diabetes advice online can feel like a shouting match, and it often leaves people thinking they have to fear carbs, chase perfect numbers, or overhaul their entire life overnight. We sit down with Wendy Castle, a registered dietitian and certified diabetes educator, to bring the conversation back to what actually helps: clear education, realistic nutrition skills, and a plan you can stick with.
We start by separating type 1 diabetes from type 2 diabetes so the “why” behind treatment finally makes sense. Then we get practical about food: how to read a nutrition label, why “total carbohydrates” matters more than just sugar, and how fiber, protein, and fats can help smooth out blood sugar spikes so your post-meal curve looks more like a hill than a mountain. Wendy also shares why there’s rarely a single best diabetes diet, and how personalized meal planning can fit allergies, culture, and real-life schedules.
Next, we tackle blood sugar monitoring and the mental load that can come with it. You’ll hear a patient-centered way to decide whether checking helps you make positive changes or whether it derails you, plus a staggered testing method that provides better insight without constant finger pokes. We also cover non-food factors that impact glucose, including hydration, movement, stress, illness, and medication pitfalls, along with simple actions like water and walking that can help bring high readings down.
If you want smarter type 2 diabetes management strategies, insulin resistance education, and lifestyle tools that support better A1C without shame, hit play. Subscribe, share with someone who needs calmer diabetes guidance, and leave a review so more people can find trustworthy metabolic health information.
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Welcome And Medical Disclaimer
Dr. Lindsay OgleWelcome to the Modern Metabolic Health Podcast with your host, Dr. Lindsay Ogle, board certified family medicine and obesity medicine physician. Here we learn how we can treat and prevent modern metabolic conditions such as diabetes, PCOS, fatty liver disease, metabolic syndrome, sleep apnea, and more. We focus on optimizing lifestyle while utilizing safe and effective medical treatments. Please remember that while I am a physician, I am not your physician. Everything discussed here is provided as general medical knowledge and not direct medical advice. Please talk to your doctor about what is best for you. We are continuing our series, our health series today with Wendy Castle. She is a registered dietitian and we are going to be talking about diabetes. So before we get into that, I will let her introduce herself and tell us a little bit more about what she does and who she helps.
SPEAKER_01Excellent. Thank you so much, Dr. O'Golf. Very happy to be here. As you mentioned, my name is Wendy Castle. I'm a registered dietitian by trade. I'm also a certified diabetes educator. I've worked in diabetes over 10 years, and I really love people with diabetes and helping them manage that condition. It's near and dear to my heart. I'm also the owner of OneBite Nutrition Consulting. We have a team of dietitians that see individuals for various different reasons, diabetes being one of them. But yeah, so very excited to be here.
Dr. Lindsay OgleYeah, and thank you for joining us. To get
Meet Wendy Castle And Her Work
Dr. Lindsay Oglestarted, let's just briefly go over what is diabetes and maybe what's the difference between type 1 diabetes and type 2 diabetes.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, absolutely. I get this question a lot. You know, there's different terms thrown out there, type 1, type 2. Um, and just a brief explanation of that is type 1 diabetes, approximately 6% of those people diagnosed with diabetes have type 1. So that's not the majority, but type 1 is an autoimmune disorder where the pancreas's cells are destroyed from that autoimmune disorder and it can't secrete the hormone insulin, which is what allows your body to utilize fuel such as carbohydrates. Um those individuals rely on injectable insulin to manage their condition. Um, there are other different things that can help reduce the amount of insulin they may possibly need, but they will need insulin. The other type is type 2 diabetes. Now, that's approximately 94% of those diagnosed with diabetes, so the majority have type 2 diabetes. That number is rising in the United States. Um, and type 2 diabetes is really around insulin resistance, and that's a term that you might have heard, might not have heard, but really it means your body can't utilize the insulin your pancreas is secreting. Um, it doesn't mean your pancreas isn't making any, it's making some. It's either just not keeping up with the job or not making as much as you need. Um, and it's not actively getting into the
Type 1 Vs Type 2 Diabetes
SPEAKER_01cell where your body can utilize it and use it for what it needs.
Dr. Lindsay OgleYeah, thank you for going over that. And that's a very important distinction. Um, like you like you mentioned. Um both uh conditions are called diabetes, but really have very different underlying um causes and and then ultimately treatment. Um, so I'm curious, do you um work with patients who both have type 1 and type 2 diabetes, or do you focus on one or the other?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, the majority of my patients are have type 2 diabetes. Um there is different ways to manage both of those. Type people with type 2 diabetes have a little more tools in their toolbox. Um, you know, activity is going to play a role, um, food plays a role in both, but you have oral medication options when you have type 2 diabetes. Um and so there's so there's definitely a distinction on how you treat diabetes. Um, but I primarily focus on type 2. I do have some type um people with type 1 diabetes, um, it's just not the majority of the patients I see.
Dr. Lindsay OgleYeah, yeah, that makes sense. Um, and I'm sure one of the first questions that you get if somebody is newly diagnosed as having type 2 diabetes, or they are finally able to talk to a dietitian after this diagnosis, um, their
Carbs, Fiber, And Meal Balance
Dr. Lindsay Oglefirst question may be what sorts of things can I eat with diabetes? Um, so I'm curious what those and what that initial response might be from you.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, absolutely. And and I think people kind of get bombarded with um, you know, either looking up internet searches of what they should eat, um, you know, listening to podcasts or friends, family, um, you know, everybody kind of has their opinion on a diet. Um, when it comes to diabetes, there's really nothing you can't eat. Um, it's how much you're eating and how you're pairing it. So one of the nutrients we really kind of focus on is it's called carbohydrates. There's some confusion about looking at carbohydrates. When you look at the food label, we really want to look at total carbohydrate. Um, some people accidentally look at sugar. And if you look on the label, if you look below, sugar's indented, meaning it's it's included in that total carbohydrate number. So when we're looking at total carbohydrates, in general, a female will need around 30 to 45 grams per meal. Uh, males are 45 to 60, and that's just a general blanket statement. Um, you can use lower carb dieting as an option to manage your diabetes if you want to. Um, and if you're a very active person or um maybe of younger age, you you might need more. So that's where dietitians are really helpful because they individualize that plan. Um, but the important thing is when you are reading a label, you want to look at total carbohydrates when you're looking at that. And and not all carbs are considered equal. Um, some carbs, some people say, Oh, are there good foods or bad foods? Um, and I don't really like to say good or bad, but one of the things that you can look at on the label when you're trying to differentiate between two foods is how much fiber is in there. You'll notice that fiber is indented just like sugar. So it is included in the total carbohydrate number. But what fiber does is it allows you to digest your food more slowly. So instead of getting a big spike in your blood sugar and then it comes down and it looks more like a mountain, you're gonna get more of this hill effect. And that's really what we're trying to go for. We don't want these big peaks and valleys. We want to get more of a hill effect. So our blood sugars not going quite as high and dipping low, really low after meals.
Dr. Lindsay OgleYeah, absolutely. That that's a really good tip on what how to kind of look, start to look at nutrition labels because that definitely is a skill that you learn over time. And um I'm sure you um can give your patients and clients a lot of feedback on that experience.
SPEAKER_01Absolutely, yeah. And then that's just one piece of the puzzle. There are other nutrients we use to try to pair our meals together. Um, we've got fats and proteins that are that are um nutrients that are we also consider when we're meal planning. So really finding that balance. I know a lot of quote-unquote fad diets really want to eliminate or reduce, severely reduce certain nutrients, but they all play a role and they're all important. We just have to get them in the right balance for you. And again, that's something that's very individualized to the person based on their activity level, their age, and their specific needs and their eating preferences. Um, that's another thing that we work a lot with is you know, if people have different eating preferences, whether it's because of food allergies, um, religious reasons, or um just personal reasons, um, we tie all that in together with them so they can have a meal plan that fits their needs, even though they might have a chronic condition like diabetes.
Dr. Lindsay OgleYeah, I love that approach. And I think we are pretty aligned in kind of that philosophy that there's not one best diet that everyone must follow, even if they have the same condition. Um, we're all unique individuals have our own preferences and schedules and our work and our day-to-day. And so we really need to tailor that advice for the individual individual person. So I always love when I hear um health professionals um have that approach as well. Um we
Blood Sugar Testing Without Burnout
Dr. Lindsay Oglekind of mentioned you were mentioning like that um blood sugar curve. Um, I'm curious what your thoughts are as far as um patients checking their blood sugar. Um, does everyone with diabetes have to check their blood sugar and how often, or what might that look like?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I love this question. Absolutely love this question because for the first, I think, five or six years of my practice, um, being a dietitian and a healthcare professional, we always want we want that information. We want to know all of the things so that we can best direct our patients and managing their disease. And so when I first started practicing, yeah, I wanted people to chuck their blood sugars no matter what. And then I went to a conference on diabetes and more specifically on um the psychological aspect behind diabetes and how that influences patients. The conference I went to was really, really cool. It brought providers and patients together at the same conference, and we really got to just learn from each other. Um, probably one of the best conferences I've been to. But since I've been to that conference, I've changed my practice. And what I learned there was if somebody checks their blood sugar and it creates a positive change in what they do. So if they by checking their blood sugar every day, they will, you know, maybe eat a little bit of a lower carb breakfast, or maybe they'll go for a walk or something like that. If it gives them a positive behavior in relation to checking their blood sugar, then that is definitely something positive. Um, and they should continue to do that. If it doesn't, if they check their blood sugar and it's 180 in the morning and they're like, great, I woke up, my blood sugar is 180, it's too high, and my day is all thrown off now, so I might as well eat whatever I want for breakfast and I'm not gonna do anything. And see, they get that negative feedback. Um, then I say, you know, unless you're dosing medication off of that, which people with type 1 diabetes would be, people with type 2 diabetes, not necessarily. Um, you know, maybe you don't need to. If you're if you really are having a hard time with that negative feedback, uh, maybe we focus on other behaviors that you can control. And um, you know, maybe not look at the blood sugar so closely. I have plenty of patients that are on both sides, you know, having that information really keeps them focused and sets them up for their day, whether they have a reading that they want to see or a reading they don't want to see, it really helps keep them accountable. And then I've got some patients that it really just derails them if they see a number that they don't want to see. Um, if somebody is making positive changes be by checking their blood sugar, I'm a proponent of using what we call a staggered method. So not checking your blood sugar five times a day, um, but you know, maybe checking it one time a day, but mixing up what time you check it each day. So maybe one day it's fasting, and the next day it's two hours after breakfast, the next day it's two hours after lunch, the next day two hours after dinner, because we don't want you poking your finger five to six times a day, but we do need to see a good picture of what your day looks like. And if you're in the habit of just testing fasting every morning, we're only getting one snapshot of that picture. We need to see the whole picture, how your pancreas responds after you have a meal. Um, how does it respond after a meal on the weekend compared to during the week? A lot of a lot of things change. We're not robots, and so I really like that staggered method because we get a lot of information without having to poke your finger multiple times.
Dr. Lindsay OgleYeah, again, a more individualized approach with the patient in front of you rather than a blanket recommendation for everybody. And I really do appreciate that. And it makes me think of a lot of parallels in my practice in um in primary care and in weight management with um patients weighing themselves in the morning. Some people that works very well, some people it does not. Um, and then the staggered approach, um, I think about blood pressure too, and I like to see different blood pressure um measurements throughout the day on different days. So um, yeah, interesting to hear that perspective and just note those parallels um in other aspects of medicine.
SPEAKER_01Absolutely.
Dr. Lindsay OgleYeah.
Beyond Food: Water, Walks, Stress
Dr. Lindsay OgleUm another question that you may get, and I'm curious to know your answer, things other than food, what other things might affect someone's blood sugar?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, um, so things that affect blood sugar, um, food obviously does. Um, but other things that people kind of forget about maybe is activity and hydration. So if a patient calls me up and they're like, man, my blood sugar's high, what do I do? Like they might not have medicine, or maybe they've already taken their medicine. Um, the number one thing I tell them to do is grab a water bottle and start walking. Um, you can walk in place, you can walk around your neighborhood, um, you can walk around your house, but your muscles don't work for free. They uptake that sugar or that glucose from your blood, and is one of the fastest ways to get your blood sugar down in addition to hydrating. So hydration is super important because if you're dehydrated, that um that that sugar load in your blood is concentrated. Just by hydrating and getting that fluid in will lower your blood sugar just because it's it's creating more fluid. Um, so those are the two main ways to try to control your blood sugar that you can do at home. Some other ones are um stress management. So whether it's um like physical stress, so like if you have an illness or a surgery or or something of the sort, your blood sugars might look a little bit different. Um, I've had patients even say that they um, now that they they know and they've been checking their blood sugars, they can predict their illness because a day or so before their blood sugars will be be higher than normal and they just can't make heads or tails of it, and then the next day they come down with a cold. Um, or it could just be mental stress. So let's say, you know, you have some chronic stress in regards to some, you know, personal factors that can raise your blood sugar as well. So really trying to focus on those ways to manage stress, and that's again a very individualized approach. Some people it's you know, reading or talking to a friend, some people enjoy working out, um, you know, some people do yoga, meditation. It just kind of depends on the person and what their um stress relievers are. Um, but that's definitely an aspect that we address when we're talking to people is how do you manage your stress? How do we deal with this? Um, and then another way to manage your blood sugar, which might be a little more obvious, is medications. Um, I'm people, particularly people that have insulin and they're able to self-adjust their dose, um, we we really don't recommend doing that. Um, and it's not a way to manage your blood sugars. Um, so I think you'll probably agree with me, but um, some of my patients kind of run into trouble if they they try to give themselves more medication to do XYZ behavior they want to do. So let's say they're going to a buffet, so they're gonna take two of their medication instead of one. Obviously, we don't recommend that. Um just take your medication as prescribed. And you know, if your blood sugars aren't reacting consistently the way you want it to, that's the perfect time to make an appointment with your PCP and just touch base. Um, you know, just let them know, and that's that's a med adjustment.
Dr. Lindsay OgleYeah, absolutely. Well, thank you for going over all of that. Um, yeah, I find it all very, very interesting. And I think um the the tip of drinking more water, um, I'm gonna try to remember mentioning that to patients more often. Um, I don't think I always remember that. Um, I love the movement um idea, and it doesn't have to be a big exercise. Yeah, walking counts. And um you mentioned even moving around the house, like I'm thinking someone made dinner, even cleaning up the kitchen after dinner or doing laundry or cleaning the house, that activity counts to help lower the blood sugar. Then um, stress management is huge, and we actually have um Ra, who is a therapist, she's going to be talking about stress management. So um, we'll go over that topic in more detail. Um, so so that's excellent. So thank you on that. Um any anything else that you can think of right now that you would like to share with our listeners about um diabetes treatment or prevention, anything you would like people to know?
Control What You Can Let Go
SPEAKER_01Yeah, the one the one thing that I really try to educate patients on are there are plenty of things you can control with your diabetes, like what you eat, um, who you choose to be on your healthcare team, what your activity level is, how you manage your stress levels, um, taking your medications as prescribed, um your environment. Um, you know, a lot of a lot of people have sedentary jobs. We have desk jobs, I'm guilty. Um, but how do we how do we change our environment to promote health? But on the flip side to that, are there there are plenty of things you can't control. So numbers don't rule your life. Don't let blood sugar numbers rule your life. There are certain things you can't control, like how much insulin your pancreas is capable of producing and releasing. Um, you know, the natural aging process. If there was a magical cure for that, I'm sure many people would would want that. But I mean, we're all aging, so our organs are becoming less efficient, usually, not more efficient. And that's just something we can't really control. Um, the progression of disease. Now we can try to stunt that, but diabetes is a progressive disease. So as you age, it does get harder to manage, not easier to manage most generally. Um sometimes people have financial constraints, and unfortunately, that might dictate part of their care. Maybe they can't get some of the medications because they're too expensive. Um, so that's some things that you can't really control. Um, they might have other health conditions that are playing playing a role. Um, I think of my patients that have COPD and they get pneumonia and they have to be on a steroid and their blood sugar goes through the moon because they're on prednisone and they have diabetes. And that's, I mean, you have to breathe at that time. Um, that's more important, and we'll manage your diabetes with other means so that you can recover from your illness. And then lastly, the genetic predisposition. So if you're genetically predisposed to diabetes, um, you can you can check all the boxes, you could do all of the things, and you may still get diabetes. But the good thing is, if you're being proactive on trying to prevent diabetes, or let's say you got diagnosed with pre-diabetes and you don't want to bridge that threshold of getting full-blown diabetes, is you're making those behavior changes. You're changing the things you can control instead of focusing on the things that you cannot.
Dr. Lindsay OgleYeah, yeah, I think that's great. And with any chronic medical condition, uh especially at a new diagnosis, it can feel very overwhelming and scary and isolating, and it's a lot to take on. And something like diabetes, it can also have a lot of like bias and stigma around it, too, um, because there is the lifestyle component, but like you said, there is also a genetic component and environmental factors and things that we can't control. Um, so really uh understanding that this is a um longer-term path towards health, and that you don't have to have all the answers right away, and you can reach out to support, whether that's through your primary care doctor or other physician or a dietitian or therapist or group support. There is a lot out there that you can lean on. Um, and we definitely encourage you to do that.
Building A Strong Care Team
Dr. Lindsay OgleUm and I would love to hear if you have any tips on how to find a great um practitioner and if people are wanting to work with you, how they would get a hold of you to either ask questions or to work with you directly.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, absolutely. I am a firm believer that you have to pick your health care team wisely. Um, you know, you want to pick people that are listening to your needs, um, people that are accessible. Um, you know, some people, you know, you might have to go to urgent care because you can't get in with your primary. It's very important to have that relationship with your providers and your care team. Um everybody has kind of their different schedule. The way we work in our practice is we see our patients every week to two weeks just to make sure that we're getting everybody on the right path. They're getting as many touch points as they can to get started towards their goals. And then if, you know, I've had patients for years, and if I start seeing them for years, maybe we go once a month or once a quarter, whatever meets their needs. Um, but definitely initial appointments are usually every week to two weeks. Um, if somebody does want to get in contact with us, um, our website is onebitenutrition.com. You can even book directly on our website if you would like. Um, our business phone number is um also 573-836-2866. Um, and one thing that we definitely pride ourselves on is we are one piece of your healthcare team. So we like to communicate with your primary care physician or your endocrinologist, um, or your optometrist, podiatrist, any other person that's a part of your team because it's very important not to silo or segment your care. Everybody has to be aware of um, you know, what we're talking about. And I think sometimes it's really nice for doctors to see or endocrinologists to see the progress that our patients are making on a weekly basis. They see those little habits happening and those little changes. So when you go back into seeing the doc in a month, two months, or three months, um, they can they can say, oh wow, I can see that you've been working really hard and look, your A1C dropped. Um and all of those wins that our patients have had.
Dr. Lindsay OgleYeah, yeah. So exciting. And I uh love the work that you're doing and helping so many people. So thank you for taking the time um to uh have this discussion and share your knowledge and expertise um with our audience. Um, and I will definitely uh share your um website and that phone number for everybody so they have that if they would like to reach out.
Closing Thanks And Listener Requests
Dr. Lindsay OgleThank you for listening and learning how you can improve your metabolic health in this modern world. If you found this information helpful, please share with a friend, family member, or colleague. We need to do all we can to combat the dangerous misinformation that is out there. Please subscribe and write a review. This will help others find the podcast that they may also improve their metabolic health. I look forward to our conversation next week.