In this captivating episode, Angie Austin welcomes Pam Nisovich-Beed from Abbott’s Lingo Business to discuss innovative nutrition swaps that promise remarkable benefits for energy and health. Explore the fascinating science behind glucose levels and how continuous monitoring can help make informed dietary choices. Plus, Angie brings a heartwarming story of reunion that reflects the positive impact of companionship and service.
SPEAKER 02 :
Welcome to The Good News with Angie Austin. Now, with The Good News, here’s Angie.
SPEAKER 03 :
Hey there, it’s Angie Austin and Jim Stovall with the Good News, and today we’re talking about his Winner’s Wisdom column, Going Back to the Well. And Jim, I have to tell you, my mom’s going back to your well because she’s reading another one of your new books that I just received, and it’s a compilation of your columns.
SPEAKER 06 :
Well, fantastic. Yeah, I’m not even keeping up with that like I should because I wrote six books last year, and they’re all kind of coming out a little at a time, so… Huh! i am i’m glad to know that but uh this column came initially from my friend and colleague bb king one of the great blues musicians of all time and and when my ultimate gift book was turned into a movie they let me work on the music i mean i somebody in you had uh 20th Century Fox said, let the blind guy do the music. So, you know, I got Bob Dylan and B.B. King and Willie Nelson, Patsy Cline, Aaron Copland, put together just a really cool soundtrack. Well, but what I didn’t understand is that when they first put together a movie, they do a rough track. And it’s just something so that people can watch. And you cannot watch a movie without music. It’s just horrible.
SPEAKER 03 :
That’s so true.
SPEAKER 06 :
yeah so they just pull music and put it in there well they put this bb king song of thrillers gone in there and it was great well then i found out where they were going to put something else in and i called and said look i man i cannot see that scene without that we got to have that and they said jim that that’s very very expensive but finally the producer called me and um said, when’s your birthday? And I told him, he said, I’m giving you B.B. King for your birthday. And if you watch The Ultimate Gift now off of Netflix or wherever you get films, right there’s a great scene with B.B. King doing it. Well, I got to meet him and then I went to New York for his 80th birthday. And, you know, and it was amazing because just to see all the people that were fans of this guy. And then he had a guy, Hubert, who had been his a band director for many, many years, handled the horns and the orchestra and everything. And, you know, I stayed in touch with Hubert after that, and I said, you know, how’s the old band doing? Because B.B. King died at age 89 getting ready to do another show. He did 200 shows that year. And I said, how’s the old guy holding up? And he said, you know, he struggles a little here and there. And he said, I always keep my eye over my shoulder on him, make sure he’s okay. But he said that every three or four nights or once a week, it’ll happen. We’ll be playing somewhere and the old man will just come out and the guitar is screaming and he’s just old himself. And everything’s amazing. And I’ll look over my shoulder and one of the young guys will be there. Eric Clapton will be there or, you know, or Carlos Santana sitting there on the front row watching him. And the old man just puts on a show then. And, you know, it was fun. But when I asked B.B. King who who really. you know, inspired you. And he said, oh, all the young guys and everybody else inspires me. But he said, there are times you just got to go back to the well. And I said, what do you mean? And he said, well, everybody that does what I do, we were all inspired by a guy named They’re recorded in the early 1930s, Robert Johnson. And he said, so we all go back to that at some point and do that. And I thought, what an amazing thing, because we have a tendency in our information age to build on things, to build on things, to build on things. And maybe you’re reading, you know, biblical commentary. Maybe you’re listening to someone’s idea of the news. But every once in a while, man, if you don’t want to get tripped up, You’ve got to go back to the original and see what somebody said. And Angie, you know, you’ve been in news. Today, so many things you’ll say, someone will be reporting that someone else is reporting what a guy said. And then, you know, they check with each other and, oh, yeah, we have three sources on this, but they’re all quoting the same thing, and you don’t really know what you got. So every once in a while, it’s good whether you’re getting inspired or informed to to go all the way back to the well and get some pure information.
SPEAKER 03 :
You know, when you talk about going back to the well, for instance, the work of John Steinbeck that you mentioned in your article, what is it that some of these people have that is so inspirational? Because you said you’re keenly aware that only a handful of writers have ever risen to the level of Steinbeck, and same with B.B. King, right, in his genre. Yeah. And you see how they inspired others. So tell me what they have that’s so special, or in particular, John Steinbeck or somebody of that stature or status.
SPEAKER 06 :
Well, the sixth book I wrote last year was a sort of a sequel to a Steinbeck book he wrote 60-something years ago. And Because of that, I read everything he had written and a lot of his compiled letters. I had read what Ernest Hemingway and F. Scott Fitzgerald had said about him. Of course, he won the Pulitzer Prize and, ultimately, he won the Nobel Prize for Literature. You know, and you look at the people that he inspired, and then I go back and read his stuff, it’s what I would imagine it would look like if you were an aspiring sculptor to look at Michelangelo’s David. I mean, Steinbeck’s prose is just immaculate. He is just so, so, so good. And… uh you know and you know when hemingway admires him and fitzgerald and and uh carl sandberg and some of the most amazing writers of the 20th century you know you gotta you gotta look at this guy what is it about that but he also you know he was read by very common people a lot of people had to read his grapes of wrath when they were in high school or east of eden or of mice and men and uh They still hold up. They’re amazingly well-written, and they’re just good stories. And so that’s what intrigued me so much, and I learned so much about the craft of writing from guys like him. And you just, you know, every once in a while, you can read all the modern guys and everything else, and then you just, you know, I’m going back to Ernest Hemingway or Scott Fitzgerald, or in this case, John Steinbeck.
SPEAKER 03 :
So you’ve been in TV for more than 30 years, and you talk about your TV, your writing, your movies. You’re dipping into so many wells here. What do you want us to take away, your readers, to take away from going back to the well?
SPEAKER 06 :
Well… One of the things I learned from TV, and you remember this back in the day, before everything was digital, it was analog. And every time you made an edit, you lost a generation. And you’re making a copy of a copy of a copy. And even with that broadcast tape, you know, you could get down four or five generations. But then if you’re going to mess with this anymore, you better go back to the master and lay down a new track. And, you know, it’s kind of that thing. But… You know, I think it’s good to keep in touch with the cutting edge stuff. But from time to time, you need to go back and see what inspired everybody. And that’s, you know, what I really want people to understand, you know, in my field of personal development. You go back and you read Napoleon Hill because virtually everyone since his time has. You know, almost 100 years ago, almost everybody quotes him. I mean, he influenced everybody. So it’s good to go back and see what made the difference. And I think that’s an important thing to realize.
SPEAKER 03 :
I love that example because I forgot that every time you would do an edit with the old stuff that you’d lose a little bit of quality. All right. Since we did miss one week, Time Machine. That’s your next column, the most recent one. So tell us what you’re teaching us in the column Time Machine.
SPEAKER 06 :
Well, I think here in Western civilization and here in America, we have a tendency to to be really scattered all the time. We’re distracted, we’re scattered, and some of the Asian philosophies and some of those people, they’re more focused than we are because some of them don’t have as many distractions as we have, or whatever the case may be. But success comes when you have a compelling… driving force and you get total focus on it and so many people today they’re distracted with whatever’s on their phone at any given moment but then when they get down to do something they’re feeling you know they’re worried about well i i didn’t handle that very good yesterday or last year i’m guilty about this i should have done that instead of this or they’re worried about something in the future that may or may not ever happen you know hey i haven’t got my taxes done yet i got to do that i got to pick up junior from the uh for the wrestling, and I’ve got to go here. And they’re never really totally focused in the moment. And, you know, if you’re going to succeed at the highest possible level, you’ve got to bring all your energy to that thing you’re doing right now. And I always go back to my late great friend and mentor, Coach John Wooden. He said, before you do anything, great or small, no matter what, phone call, meeting, undertake any task, before you start, ask yourself one simple question. What would I do right now if I were amazing? And, boy, that idea really brings to bear the idea that I need to be in the moment. I need to be totally focused on this conversation I’m having right now with Angie Austin. Doesn’t matter what happened last hour. Doesn’t matter what I’m going to do after this interview. What matters right now is bringing the best I got today. to this project right now. If you can do that with everything you do, you’re going to be an amazing success.
SPEAKER 03 :
What would I do right now if I were really amazing? I think it’s over a decade now that you and I have been radio friends. And finally, I think I’m going to meet you in person in May. But of that over a decade, you’ve told me that at least five times. You’ve used that example. What would I do right now or what would I do next if I were truly amazing? And I’ve thought about that many times over the years because it can really make a difference in your next move, your next interaction, your next… interaction at work, your next project you’re working on, your next move while you’re on vacation with a group of friends, meeting new people, experiencing new things. You could not only have a positive influence on your own life, but you can really have a positive influence on others around you. And I think we can think about examples of people that positively influence us and negatively influence us or have very little or no influence on us that are just kind of a wet noodle, you know, just kind of like, you know, interacting with like a grapefruit. Nothing special, not great, you know, not bad, just kind of. So if you put that in your mind, what would I do next if I were truly amazing? It can really make a huge difference in the quality of your life and those around you.
SPEAKER 06 :
Yeah, you know, we’ve all been at a party or at a business function where you’re meeting and greeting different people, and we’ve all met that wet noodle guy that you were mentioning that, you know, frankly, he’s not paying any attention to me at all. He’s looking around the room to see, now, where’s the important guy I can meet? But I’ve had the opportunity to interact with several presidents, and, you know, they have – and great politicians, great business people – they have the ability to meet hundreds and hundreds of people in a line. And for that six seconds, they make everybody feel like you’re the most important person in the world. And I saw them do that. And when I do book signings now or after an arena event when I meet and greet people, I stay totally in the moment. Because for this man or woman or this young person right here, This is the one moment I’m going to have. I’ll probably never see them again. They’ll probably never see me again. And, you know, if I’m distracted or I’m not paying attention or I’m yelling at somebody else or whatever, I mean, you totally ruin their moment. That six seconds is their moment. And, uh, You know, I remember one of the things that when I studied Harry Truman and I wrote a novel, including him as kind of a character in the novel, and I went back and reread some of his stuff. And when you’re the president, you have a guy that schedules every moment of every day. And he’d gotten behind because the ambassador from somewhere went long, and the scheduler said, we’re going to scrap the Eagle Scouts from Iowa and tell them we can’t do that, and then we’ll move on to the meeting with the Supreme Court aide. And the president said, no, absolutely wrong. We’re meeting with the Eagle Scouts from Iowa, and we’re going to get the photo, and I’m going to shake their hands, because these young people will tell their grandchildren. about this 10 minutes they spent with the president. And if we don’t have 10 minutes for that, we don’t deserve the right to do anything else here. Tell the Supreme Court guy to hold on and we’ll be there. But, you know, he understood the power of the moment and staying in the moment. And that’s what really matters.
SPEAKER 03 :
You know, I get so much out of talking to you. Jim Stovall dot com. We’re out of time. Thank you, my friend. Be well.
SPEAKER 01 :
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SPEAKER 03 :
Hey there, friend. Angie Austin here with the good news. April Fool’s Day is all about tricks and surprises, but this year is about flipping that script. Instead of fooling people, our next guest is here to help us fool our food with smart nutrition swaps that can help our energy, metabolism, and health. Joining us is Pam Nisovich-Beed, global nutritionist for Abbott’s Lingo Business. Pam has run over 30 marathons. You know, those Ironman deals are pretty grueling. She’s authored six books, and today she’s sharing simple science-backed ways to outsmart glucose spikes with Abbott’s first-ever consumer, Continuous Glucose Monitor. Welcome, Pam.
SPEAKER 04 :
Hello. Delighted to be on the show. Thank you.
SPEAKER 03 :
All right. So you and I have talked before, and I’m fascinated by this topic because my dad’s side of the family, even though my uncle was a senior Olympic tennis player, gold medal winner, my dad did Tai Chi three times a day, was one of the highest degrees in judo in like the world. They all ended up, even my aunt who walked three miles a day, still does. She’s 95. They all got type 2 diabetes. And my mom has it too. So I’ve been on a lifelong mission to control glucose spikes. And I don’t know if you recall, but I’m part of a study where I wear the monitor. And I do exercise ten times a day for five minutes. And I know exercise brings glucose down. But I also know with my three athletes, one of my kids is going to college to play next year sport with my three club athletes. They’re all teenagers. I’m always getting them to have something with protein to try to keep that blood sugar from spiking. So I am your best interviewee because I’m fascinated by this topic. So tell us why do we care about our glucose?
SPEAKER 04 :
Yes, so I love this topic too. So glucose, we should care about it because at the very basic, it’s one of the primary sources of energy for our body. It fuels everything from our brain to those working muscles, right, whether we’re walking short bits of activity, whether we’re doing a club sport, et cetera. It’s fuel for our body. But it’s also a way to measure metabolic health because, as you know, glucose really fluxes throughout the day. And where our glucose is at, the patterns, matter for our overall health, but also like just minute by minute how we’re feeling, right? Our mood, our focus, our energy, our sleep, so much more. But the only way we know what glucose is doing behind the scenes is to monitor it. So we use tools like CGMs, Lingo by Abbott. They’re really the key to feeling our best every day because they give us a window into how our body’s reacting to food, exercise, even life’s daily stressors. You know, it gives you kind of those data points minute by minute. But when our glucose is spiking high or it’s dipping too low, it’s impacting energy, craving, sleep, and even our long-term health.
SPEAKER 03 :
Now, to wear this continuous glucose monitor or CGM, I found I didn’t even notice that it was on the back of my arm and I’ve worn it twice for, I don’t know, maybe 10 days at a time. I can’t remember exactly how long. But can you tell us more about Lingo and, you know, how it works? Sure.
SPEAKER 04 :
Certainly. So Lingo is Abbott’s first consumer CGM. So it’s a tool giving you real time insights into how your body’s responding to food. So instead of guessing, you’re really seeing like in the palm of your hand on your smartphone app, which foods are working best for you. But it basically combines a biosensor that you wear on the back of your arm. You wear Lingo for up to 14 days. I like to call it life proof. So sweat, swim, shower with it, etc. It’s going to via Bluetooth connect to your smartphone and it’s really streaming your glucose data minute by minute in real time and that allows you to connect what you’re doing with your glucose and importantly how you’re feeling.
SPEAKER 03 :
So in terms of managing our glucose, so I love the idea that during that 14 days that you’re wearing it and you can do anything with it on, I didn’t even feel it being put on, that you can learn about, like you said, which foods affect you different ways. Because I know with my husband, he can eat hamburgers all the day long in his life. You know, when he gets his blood tested, his blood’s perfect. And then I’ve got high cholesterol and I’m practically a vegetarian. So I know that people react differently to food. And so as we’re wearing the monitor, what are some ways that we can manage our glucose and fool our foods in the process?
SPEAKER 04 :
You hit the nail on the head there and that glucose is so unique to all of us, right? What you eat is going to influence your glucose in a different manner than it’s going to influence mine, even if we’re eating the same thing. But there are some small, simple tweaks that make a really big difference. So let’s start with just some of our familiar favorites, oatmeal, for example. When we eat oatmeal, when we eat any carbs without company, as I call it, we tend to digest that relatively quickly. You know, the energy hits our glucose or our bloodstream, and then it increases, and then relatively soon it crashes. And you feel that. You feel that energy, you know, imbalanced. But if you add in fat, if you add in some nuts, if you add in some fiber, chia seeds, berries, et cetera, you slow down that digestion. So you get kind of a steadier stream of energy and you’re not hungry, you know, 10 minutes later. Same with, let’s say, toast in the morning. So if you add some hard-boiled eggs to that toast, if you add some avocado, make avocado toast. You’re adding nutrition. You’re adding protein. You’re adding fat. You are adding a way to slow down that digestion. So you’re getting some of the same nutrients, but you’re also getting more, right? Protein, fat, you’re going to stay fuller longer. So that is another tweak that kind of keeps your glucose steadier. Even things like what we call resistant starch. So when we think through leftovers, right? Pasta, potatoes, rice. Instead of eating them day of, which obviously you can, When you refrigerate those starches, you reheat them, you’ve created something called resistant starch.
SPEAKER 05 :
Really?
SPEAKER 04 :
It’s a type of dietary fiber, slower to digest, slower to absorb, yes. And it’s kind of like, you know, you have your familiar favorite, but it’s a steadier glucose. So, you know, it’s that time you should actually embrace leftovers. The meal prep actually does work. You get extra points if you add, you know, veggies and protein to that pasta dish, of course. But the resistant starch alone makes an impact.
SPEAKER 03 :
Wow. You learn something new every day. All right. And that that overall is such a health benefit of keeping that blood sugar stable. And so that’s the whole point of this conversation that I don’t think a lot of people realize that not just preventing yourself from getting type 2 diabetes, but even if you’re a healthy person to keep your blood sugar level will overall benefit your health. Am I right here?
SPEAKER 04 :
You are, and I think a lot of us, like I consider myself a pretty healthy individual. I’m often surprised at how my glucose responds to different foods.
SPEAKER 03 :
Really?
SPEAKER 04 :
I can just make tweaks in a way that work better for me, for my glucose, but honestly, behind the scenes, you feel it, right? You feel that steadier energy, or you feel that you’re getting better sleep, or you’re more focused. So it’s kind of like an experiment of one, but you really need that data behind the scenes to understand how you personally are responding.
SPEAKER 03 :
Well, and how neat to have that when you were wearing the lingo on the back of your arm to have that 14 days of data to see, you know, how each food makes your blood sugar respond, you know, to it. Where do people, you know, go to get more information on this?
SPEAKER 04 :
You can get tips, insights on glucose-friendly eating. You can learn more about lingo by visiting hellolingo.com.
SPEAKER 03 :
And, you know, I love to talk to people about their background. And I know, you know, we’ve talked about your Ironman, your over 30 marathons, you know, your books and how you got involved in this area of expertise. Why are you so interested in fitness and nutrition? I know you’re a dietitian as well. So, I mean, you’re pretty well versed in this topic.
SPEAKER 04 :
Yeah, you know, I went into this field because I really felt like we could heal people with food just by making different changes to our diet. It’s bite after bite every single day. Like, it makes a difference. And then as an athlete, I wanted to dive into what works better for performance, for health, et cetera. So that’s kind of why I’m really focused on fueling, on glucose, on metabolic health, and really long-term, right? How do we get to… you know, a better place in our health, but for longer.
SPEAKER 03 :
All right. Give us the website one more time.
SPEAKER 04 :
The website is hellolingo.com.
SPEAKER 03 :
Excellent. A pleasure to have you on the show and thanks for all you’re doing to help others. And I totally agree with you that food can be used for healing our bodies and just keeping it healthy in general. Thanks, Pam.
SPEAKER 05 :
Thank you.
SPEAKER 03 :
Well, we learned a little about health, and now let’s talk a little bit about some good news. You know, I love to share some of these good news stories. I’m a bit of an animal lover, as you probably already know. And whenever I hear about these overseas, like war dogs, these military dogs that, you know, officers, you know, military vets have to leave behind when they leave service or, you know, go home to the U.S., It breaks my heart. So recently, the American Humane Society reunited a retired military dog, Frankie. It’s Frank, F-R-E-N-K-Y, Frankie, with his former handler, Staff Sergeant Kristen. They were separated in 2021, and she said it was like leaving a child behind. They’re looking forward to catching up over… You know, whatever, just snuggles. Frankie and Kristen served together for nearly four and a half years, including a nine-month combat tour in Afghanistan and a 10-month combat tour in Iraq. The 10-year-old German Shepherd was trained in explosive detection and bite work. During his time with Kristin, the pair completed roughly 20 Secret Service missions, helping to protect high-profile VIPs, including the vice president, the president, first lady, and several foreign dignitaries. We are grateful for the opportunity to reunite military dog Frankie with his best friend, said Dr. Robin Ganzert, president and CEO of the American Humane Society. American Humane Society is honored to help give this courageous canine the comfortable retirement he deserves. After six years of distinguished service to our country. How wonderful to get him back since they’ve been separated since 2021. And they spent so much time together on so many missions. During the first mission with the U.S. Special Forces, the team encountered sniper fire and mortar rounds, tragically resulting in several American casualties. Despite the action, Frankie remained calm. and continued his vital work searching for explosives, earning the respect and appreciation of a special forces team they were assigned to. Frankie the dog quickly became an unofficial mascot for the base. His sweet, goofy personality helped boost morale and provided comfort during difficult deployments. They’ve been separated since 2021. She was then reassigned to Fort Durham in New York, so she had to come back, but she was heartbroken to have to leave Frankie behind. Oh, I can’t even imagine. Since learning that Frankie might retire, Kristen has been chomping at the bit to see him again and bring him home. When the news became official, she immediately reached out to American Humane Society for help to get the dog shipped back. Having learned about the organization from a close friend at Lackland who used the program to locate and adopt his own retired military dog, the American Humane Society helper united the pair by picking up Frankie from Fort Johnson in Louisiana and personally escorting him to his new home in San Antonio, Texas. Kristen is so excited to have Frankie and to enjoy Frankie, sit on the couch and let Frankie live inside of a home instead of a kennel. And the Humane Society covered all the costs in honor of the service that Frankie provided for his handler, his unit, and his country. Oh, and it shows them reuniting. Oh, it’s so sweet. I love those good news stories like that. Hey, I appreciate you listening to the good news. If you ever want to reach me, I’m at AngieAustin.org. You can email me there. And I just appreciate your support. If you have a business that you would like to advertise on the good news, I would be more than happy to help you. And if you have, you know, good ideas or feedback for me, just go to AngieAustin.org and you can send me an email there. As well. Thanks for listening to The Good News.
SPEAKER 02 :
Thank you for listening to The Good News with Angie Austin on AM670 KLTT.