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Food blogger creates her own recipe for successful type 2 diabetes management with Dexcom G7
“The biggest thing is just a sense of calmness – I felt like I was just more in control.”
Some people lead busy lives, others like to look busy and then there’s the aptly named Biz Velatini. The 55-year-old from Chicago couldn’t be busier. She’s a popular food blogger (mybizzykitchen), recipe developer, cookbook author with two published books and a third on the way, social media influencer, world traveler and Dexcom Warrior.
“I’m just a basic Pinot Grigio girl who likes long walks on the beach,” she says.
Yet that all requires a unique kind of work-life balance, especially with a type 2 diabetes diagnosis. A four-season athlete, she landed a scholarship to play field hockey in college. But during her freshman year, the program ended. She left school, got a desk job and gained 80 pounds in two years.
“It turns out you can’t eat Suzy Q’s and drink Dr Pepper all day,” she joked.
“The biggest thing is just a sense of calmness – I felt like I was just more in control.”
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Diagnosis changes diet and life
In 2000, she joined a diet program and dropped five pounds in the first week despite mostly ignoring the diet plan. She continued to loosely follow the program and lost another five pounds in week two. During the third week, her office held a health fair and she signed up for an exam to encourage her boss, who had avoided doctor’s visits for years, to get healthy. His bloodwork came back clean, while hers showed blood glucose in the 500s.
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“I had undiagnosed diabetes, so that explained the rapid weight loss,” she said. “I was drinking more water, and I was going to the bathroom more, doing the things that the program was telling me to do, so I had attributed it to that.”
Biz’s father lived with type 1 diabetes, and she watched him manage by not paying much attention to what he ate, rarely testing his glucose levels and giving himself insulin only based on how he felt. So, she was determined to do a better job managing her type 2 diabetes.
“You have to pay attention, though,” Biz said. “I can feel fine at 250, 300 or 350, and have no idea if I am low or high.”
Initially she relied on fingersticks with a supply of 100 test strips every month. And she wouldn’t check her blood glucose unless she felt bad. When she’d go in for her quarterly A1C check, she’d typically be at around 8% – higher than her goal. Eventually, she started using a flash CGM that required her to scan a sensor on her arm to see her readings. But sometimes she would forget to scan, and then she would find herself with a higher glucose level than she wanted.
“Being on social media, people give you suggestions about everything,” Biz said. “People would say, ‘You need to get a Dexcom CGM.’ In December [2022], my insurance company said I could still get my flash CGM, but it was going to cost three times as much because they preferred Dexcom CGM. In January, I finally made the switch to Dexcom and I love it. I wish I would’ve switched a long time ago.
Dexcom CGM becomes a key ingredient in management
After using the Dexcom G6 CGM for a month or so, she upgraded to the Dexcom G7 CGM, which brought even more peace of mind.
“The biggest thing is just a sense of calmness – I felt like I was just more in control,” she said. “Because it’s on my phone†, I can be out to dinner or in the movie theater, and I can just look down and see my glucose level without scanning. It’s discreet.”
Glucose readings in real time also allow her to confidently keep up her active lifestyle, which includes long walks as she globetrots.
“I love having Dexcom CGM because I can always see where my levels are going, especially on walks when it might get hilly or I walk a little faster,” she said. “It’ll give me the alert that says it’s going down quickly. Those alerts are just a time saver, because before I could go from 200 mg/dL to 60 mg/dL and not even know it. It’s like a nudge on my shoulder to pay attention to what’s going on. Whereas before with the fingersticks, I could be in the 200s for days on end and feel fine but just not know.”
Glucose readings in real time also allow her to confidently keep up her active lifestyle, which includes long walks as she globetrots.
Smart devices sold separately
*Fingersticks required for diabetes treatment decisions if symptoms or expectations do not match readings.
She describes diabetes management as a “learning curve” where every day is different. But using Dexcom G7, learning from the data it provides, and adjusting her diet, activities and insulin injections, she has quantifiably improved her health.
“When I went for a test in November 2022, my A1C was 7.1%,” she said. “I just went in March 2023, and it was 6.4%‡. That’s the lowest it’s been in a long time.”
And with the Dexcom Clarity data§, she can see she has nearly eliminated her time below her target range.
“Very low is at 0%,” she said. “Low is 2%. Now I have to work on the high and very high. I’m in-range 72%‡ of the time over the last seven days, which is pretty amazing!”
She now looks forward to her next trip abroad to Banff, Canada, where she’ll hike Sentinel Pass in Banff National Park and the Iceland Trail in Yoho National Park. She builds confidence while training before her trip thanks in part to her Dexcom G7, where real-time feedback on her trend graph has helped her learn that adding protein to the snacks she brings along helps keep her glucose levels steadier.
“I think that was the missing link,” she said. “I can walk a million miles if I didn’t have to worry about my glucose levels tanking. Every three miles I would just eat a third of that snack. And by the time I was done, I stayed steady at 140 mg/dL the whole time – didn’t go up, didn’t go down. Every time I walk, I look at my phone and my levels stay the same‡. Now I can reach those mountain tops!”
To learn more about Dexcom G7, visit dexcom.com/g7. You can also start your journey with Dexcom by filling out the form HERE.
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†Smart devices sold separately. For a list of compatible devices, visit https://www.dexcom.com/compatibility. ‡individual results may vary. §An internet connection is required to send data to Dexcom Clarity.
BRIEF SAFETY STATEMENT: Failure to use the Dexcom Continuous Glucose Monitoring System and its components according to the instructions for use provided with your device and available at https://www.dexcom.com/safety-information and to properly consider all indications, contraindications, warnings, precautions, and cautions in those instructions for use may result in you missing a severe hypoglycemia (low blood glucose) or hyperglycemia (high blood glucose) occurrence and/or making a treatment decision that may result in injury. If your glucose alerts and readings from the Dexcom CGM do not match symptoms, use a blood glucose meter to make diabetes treatment decisions. Seek medical advice and attention when appropriate, including for any medical emergency.