Michael Goldberg had lived with type 1 diabetes for over 60 years and followed a whole-food, plant-based diet for 15 or 16 years. But he was frustrated by nights when correction doses of insulin did not seem to lower his blood sugar as expected.
After joining the Mastering Diabetes Coaching Program and changing his meals, Michael reported that his A1c fell from 6.1% to 5.3% in three months. He also said he noticed a more prompt response to insulin after three or four weeks and was using less insulin by the time of his interview.
His story explores what he reconsidered within an already plant-based routine, the recipes he enjoyed, and why preparing meals at home helped him follow his preferred approach.
Michael’s Results at a Glance
Result | Before | After 3 Months | Header |
|---|---|---|---|
A1c | 6.1% | 5.3% | Cell |
Response to correction insulin | Reported occasions when glucose remained elevated hours after a dose | Reported a more prompt response after three or four weeks | Cell |
Insulin use | --- | Reported using less insulin | Cell |
Cell | Cell | Cell |
Results reported by Michael at the time of her interview.
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In This Story:
Over 60 Years of Managing Type 1 Diabetes
Michael had spent decades managing type 1 diabetes. For 15 or 16 years, he had eaten a whole-food, plant-based diet without added oil, sugar, or salt. He exercised and made his health a priority.
Still, he sometimes struggled with blood sugar that did not respond to insulin as he expected. He described waking during the night, taking a correction dose of one or two units, and finding his glucose still elevated two or three hours later.
Michael wanted to understand what he could change. An email inviting him to a presentation by Robby Barbaro introduced him to the the Mastering Diabetes Coaching Program. After watching, he decided to join.
Looking More Closely at His Plant-Based Meals
Although Michael was already eating plant-based, his routine included peanut butter on crackers, different kinds of nuts, and avocado.
Through the program, he began reconsidering how much fat he was eating. Michael came to believe that reducing it helped explain the difference he later noticed in his response to insulin.
He switched to Mastering Diabetes meals and began working through the recorded educational program. This gave him recipes to follow while he learned more about the approach.
What Michael Noticed in the First Weeks
About three or four weeks after changing his meals, Michael says he noticed that correction insulin seemed to lower his blood sugar more promptly.
That mattered because the delayed response had been his main frustration. He attributed the change to the meals he was eating and felt encouraged by what he was observing.
This was his early experience with insulin response. His next A1c result came after three months.
His A1c Result After Three Months
Michael reported that his A1c fell from 6.1% to 5.3% after three months of eating Mastering Diabetes meals.
Header | Before | After |
|---|---|---|
A1c (%) | 6.1 | 5.3 |
He also said he was taking less insulin. For Michael, the combination of exercise, meals he enjoyed, a lower A1c, and less insulin contributed to feeling better. His priority remained managing his blood sugar as well as possible.
Recipes He Wanted to Keep Eating
Michael was pleasantly surprised by how much he enjoyed the food. He switched completely to Mastering Diabetes meals and found several recipes he wanted to make again.
Among his favorites were Southwest Bean Salad, Bombay Potatoes, Ethiopian Chickpea Stew, and a chickpea-based tuna-style recipe. He also enjoyed a lentil vegetable soup.
There were still plenty of recipes he had not tried. Rather than worrying about getting bored, Michael felt he had more meals to explore.
Make your nutrition routine easier to put into practice
Michael appreciated having recipes he enjoyed and educational lessons he could work through. A free discovery call can help you explore the nutrition guidance and practical support available for your own goals.
Why He Preferred Preparing Food at Home
Michael valued knowing what went into his meals. Preparing food at home made it easier to follow his preferences for meals without added oil, sugar, or salt.
He found restaurant meals more difficult to navigate, particularly when looking for a low-fat, whole-food, plant-based option. Having recipes he liked gave him a practical reason to keep cooking at home.
His motivation was straightforward: he wanted to be healthy and manage his diabetes as well as he could.
What Changed for Michael
After living with type 1 diabetes for over 60 years, Michael reported that his A1c fell from 6.1% to 5.3% in three months. He also described a more prompt response to correction insulin after three or four weeks and said he was using less insulin by the time of his interview.
Michael found meals he enjoyed and an approach he wanted to continue. Alongside his exercise routine, he says these changes helped him feel better and supported his ongoing blood sugar goals.
Michael believes many people living with diabetes accept insulin resistance as something they simply have to live with.
His experience taught him otherwise. For him, that has been life-changing.
Find support for your own goals with type 1 diabetes
Michael’s results reflect his individual experience. If you want nutrition education and help building daily habits alongside your diabetes care, book a free discovery call to learn about the Mastering Diabetes Coaching Program.
Video Transcript: Michael Goldberg's Type 1 Diabetes and Insulin Response Story
Michael Goldberg shares how, after living with Type 1 diabetes for more than 60 years, he lowered his A1c from 6.1% to 5.3% in 3 months, improved his response to insulin, and began taking less insulin after joining Mastering Diabetes.
Original video: 60 Years with Type 1 Diabetes: How I Lowered My A1C to 5.3
This transcript has been lightly edited for clarity and readability while preserving the meaning and first-person voice of the original story.
00:00 – Why Nuts and Avocado Stopped Michael's Insulin From Working and What Fixed It
My A1c was 6.1%. After 3 months of eating the Mastering Diabetes diet, my A1c is now 5.3%.
I’ve had type 1 diabetes for over 60 years. In a lot of ways, things were good. I had been eating a whole-food, plant-based diet with no oil, no added sugar, and no added salt for 15 or 16 years. That worked pretty good.
But the problem I was having was insulin insensitivity. What I didn’t know was that I was having peanut butter on crackers for snacks. I was eating all kinds of different nuts, avocado. I didn’t know, I should’ve but I didn’t, that fat can cause insulin insensitivity.
It was really a problem. Sometimes I would wake up during the night, my blood sugar would be a little high, and I would need to take 1 or 2 units of insulin. I’d take the insulin, and nothing would happen. I’d wake up 2 or 3 hours later, and if anything, my blood sugar was even higher. It just wasn’t working.
I got an email from Robby at Mastering Diabetes, and he was going to do a little presentation. I watched his presentation, and I was very impressed with it. I thought it could really help me, so I signed up.
Then I started eating the Mastering Diabetes meals, and I began going through the whole recorded program that they’ve put together. Basically, 3 or 4 weeks after I started, the insulin was reacting. I would take the insulin, and it was working right away. That really was the problem: too much fat was causing the insensitivity.
01:57 – Michael's Favorite Mastering Diabetes Recipes
I also really liked the meals. I’ve switched over completely to Mastering Diabetes meals. All these recipes are really good.
I like the Southwest Bean Salad, the Korean Chili, the Bombay Potatoes, and the Ethiopian Chickpea Stew. There’s one that’s like tuna fish, except it’s made with chickpeas. It’s really, really good. That’s another one. I think there’s a Lentil Vegetable Soup. They’re just really good.
The recipes are good. You know everything that you’re eating. The more this encourages you to stay home and eat food at home instead of going to restaurants, the better, because it’s pretty hard to go to a restaurant and get a low-fat, whole-food, plant-based meal that doesn’t have too much salt or added sugar. It’s really hard to do that.
I was probably surprised that these meals were as good as they are. There’s lots of stuff that I like, and there’s a whole bunch more that I haven’t even tried yet. I’m not worried at all about getting too bored with the meals or anything like that.
My main focus is that I want to be really healthy. I want my diabetes to be in as good control as possible. Those are my number one priorities.
03:21 – Michael's A1C Drops From 6.1 to 5.3 With Less Insulin
Before Mastering Diabetes, my A1c was 6.1%. After 3 months of eating the Mastering Diabetes diet, my A1c is now 5.3%.
The combination of the exercise, the lower A1c, these meals, and taking less insulin is really good and makes me feel good.
After working with Mastering Diabetes, I feel a lot better than I was feeling before. I had insensitivity to insulin, and now I don’t have that anymore. That’s because of the meals that I’m eating—the Mastering Diabetes meals.
04:05 – Advice for Anyone With Type 1 or Type 2 Diabetes
If I were talking to somebody who had type 2 diabetes, I would tell them that it was likely that, if they were to do the Mastering Diabetes program, they would be able to stop having diabetes within 6 months. Eating these meals, I don’t see how that could not happen because I know about the fact that, with a whole-food, plant-based diet, you can just reverse type 2 diabetes.
I would really recommend it to the person if they had type 2 diabetes. If they had type 1 diabetes, I would tell them all about my experience and that I felt like it was really valuable because I want my blood sugars to be as normal as possible.
I want to have really balanced blood sugars, and you can’t do that if you’re insulin resistant. I don’t see how you can do it. You tend to have to take more insulin than you really need to take, and it’s not kicking in when it should. That’s why—because I want my blood sugars to be as normal as possible.
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