Shireen Abdullah  0:00  
What if the key to lasting energy, focus, and health was as simple as balancing your blood sugar? In this episode, we explore the GRACE Method, a practical framework that connects nutrition, stress, sleep, movement, and mindset. You’ll learn the first small step you can take today, why blood sugar matters for everyone, not just for those with diabetes, and how steady blood sugar can help prevent chronic conditions and support long-term health. Stay tuned.

Shireen Abdullah  0:35  
Podcasting from Dallas, Texas. I am Shireen, and this is the Yumlish Podcast. Yumlish is working to empower you to take charge of your health through diet and exercise and reduce the risk of chronic conditions like type 2 diabetes and heart disease. We hope to share a unique perspective and a culturally relevant approach to managing these chronic conditions with you each week.

Shireen Abdullah  1:08  
Kelly Schmidt is a functional dietitian, strength coach, and TEDx speaker who has thrived with type 1 diabetes for over three decades. She guides women with autoimmune conditions to balance blood sugar, hormones, and energy through her GRACE Method, which pairs science-based nutrition with sustainable lifestyle strategies. Welcome, Kelly. In fact, I should say welcome back, Kelly.

Kelly Schmidt  1:35
Thank you. I’m excited to be here again.

Shireen Abdullah  1:37  
Yes, excited to have you on. So Kelly has been a guest for our podcast in the past, before. Back in 2021, so it has been a little bit. We’re excited to have you on, Kelly, and today we want to talk about the GRACE Method. But before we do, I want to understand. Before we dive into the details, I really want to understand a little bit. If you can give us a refresher on your journey to become a dietitian, what just really inspired you to develop this GRACE Method?

Kelly Schmidt  2:02  
Sure. Well, thank you again. I’m so excited to be here, and since my last interview with you, I feel like my business has grown up a lot, so I have new gems to share in this framework that you guys kind of recognize. You’re like, tell us more about the GRACE Method. And that’s something I’ve cultivated over my 12 years of private practice and working with thousands of women, of what the five most important pillars are. But before we get there, let’s talk about how did I drive this passion to open this business and why do I show up every day. And it started with at eight years old. On my birthday, I was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes. And of course, that was a journey, you said, successfully living with type 1 for three decades, something like that. I don’t know if the first 10, or 20, or 29 were successful. No, I kid, but type 1 is, of course, a juggling act, and it’s tough, but I have failed forward, and how I got to being a Diabetic Dietitian is often what people know me as, versus my real name.

Kelly Schmidt  2:57
It started with my dad’s journey. So my dad and uncle all had type 1 diabetes. My dad’s still alive today, and it’s not without a fight. My uncle, who is a very routine, type A, that has served him for his type 1 diabetes with the tools and resources he had growing up, as medications and technology was lacking compared to today, and then my aunt, unfortunately, has passed away.

Kelly Schmidt  3:19
So long story short, type 1 is not unknown in our family history, but when I was a senior in high school, my dad was really sick, and my parents didn’t explain to us that he was in kidney failure because they didn’t know what the future looked like or what the options were, as he was on a waiting list for a kidney transplant for a long time, and I was one of four kids, long story short, and we’re all Irish twins, so very close. All my siblings were in college. I was in high school, anchoring down the fort at home, and one day I woke up for school, and my mom said, “Hey, you’re not going to school. We’re gonna go to the hospital. Your dad’s getting a transplant.” And that rocked my world to every detail I can remember, February 5th, 2002, and while I was in the waiting room, while he was getting a dual kidney-pancreas transplant, which was one of the first hundreds at Ohio State University. So he was one of the beginning patients in this option. It was really scary.

Kelly Schmidt  4:12
Of course, you know, I’m thinking that, you know, Dad’s had retinopathy, Dad’s had a foot ulcer, Dad’s had hypo-unawareness, and has totaled his car. Dad has had a heart attack, like all of these things that can come with type 1 diabetes. And I’m like, “All right, well, now he’s having a transplant, like he can pass away today, and when’s this gonna happen to me?” And you know, so many years ago, that still strikes a chord, but really, it lights the fire in what I do today. So in that waiting room, I was trying to figure out where I was going to school and what I was going to do when I grew up, and I was like, “Somewhere to prevent anyone from being in this position.” And I quickly and abruptly fell in love with dietetics. And even when I was in school, like, I knew I wanted a private practice. I knew I wanted to help people use food as medicine. And I have that aggressive desire to keep learning from that day and on. So that’s where I am. Didn’t know I was going to get emotional—way to bring it out of me, but that’s my story. And yeah.

Shireen Abdullah  5:10  
Thank you so much for sharing that. Kelly, what a journey it has been, and to have it be so close to home and to go through it yourself. You know, when we’re talking about type 1, we always hear about type 2. Type 2 is like this: the common diabetes, like 90% of the population that has diabetes, has type 2. We don’t hear type 1 as often. I think there’s more awareness now than it has ever been.

Kelly Schmidt  5:33
Yeah.

Shireen Abdullah  5:34  
So we hear more about type 1. I do want to get into, you know, what you mentioned with The GRACE Method, like, how did that evolve? How did that come about? And then we’ll go more into the GRACE Method as well.

Kelly Schmidt  5:45
Yeah, thank you for asking this question. So often. The word “grace” I say so often. So, as a type 1 diabetic, I call myself a type 1 diabetic. I know some people don’t like using those words, but it just is how it is with myself. I wear a Dexcom, so that’s a continuous glucose monitor and an insulin pump. So most days of my life, I have two little needles in me. And those don’t feel good, but I don’t care about the pain. I just want them to work, and that’s just where I am at  type 1, but as I inject those, you know, I have to change my Dexcom today in an hour and a half as it inserts. I always say the word “grace,” and it just helps me relax, and it goes in, and better absorption, and that’s what we need. So “grace” has always been part of my story, interestingly enough, like the word “grace,” long and short.

Kelly Schmidt  6:33
So I’ve been in private practice coaching clients for over 12 years, and I have found repeated themes that I need to support people on to support the overall goal, and let their goal be type 1 diabetes, better blood sugar management, prevent complications, let it be hypothyroid and weight management, or a combination of all of these things. 

Kelly Schmidt  6:50
Whatever it may be, it always came back to five pillars that I have recognized that the whole body, the whole body, not just macros and calories and, you know, diet needs, but the whole body needs to thrive. So, a holistic realm, and that comes down to the acronym GRACE. And the acronym stands for gut health. In short, R is for routines. A is for adrenals. Or you can think of that as stress management, which is so essential. And then C is clean living. The liver is so taxed in modern life, but also the liver is so responsible for blood sugar control and type 1 and type 2. And then last but not least, exercise. You mentioned. I’m a strength coach, and I partially do that to be better at public speaking, and secondly, to be accountable. But exercise is like a domino to nutrition. They just—they really influence one another, and I find each of them essential for health and blood sugar control.

Shireen Abdullah  7:48  
Well, and that takes me, actually, to my next question. So what is it about blood sugar control, like blood sugar regulation? Why is this such a critical factor for long-term health and energy, even for people who do not have diabetes?

Kelly Schmidt  8:03
Yeah, so I forget where the reference is from, but there’s a stat that most Americans, most Americans on a daily basis, have a blood sugar spike, diabetic or not. And those blood sugar spikes can come from, you know, I’m thinking traffic, of like stress, and they can come from simple carbohydrates, and they can come from, you know, the various sugar drinks and so forth. So on average, the average American has a blood sugar spike on a daily basis. And what does that do? And what it does is it can lead to glycation of the cells. And let me just break that down. It can drive disease. It can drive inflammation. Inflammation can drive disease. So optimizing our blood sugar is so important for long-term health, but for mood, for sleep, for energy production, for being the best version of ourselves.

Shireen Abdullah 8:54
Which then takes me to your method, and sort of that intersection there, how does this GRACE Method that you mentioned, that looks at all of these different elements? How does the method address not just nutrition but, like you said, other elements of it, including sleep, stress, movement, and so forth?

Kelly Schmidt  9:12
Yeah. So I have written here that it’s like it’s worded so well, so I’m going to reference it—the GRACE Method, the five main pillars that I think can help optimize individuals’ health, especially when blood sugar is part of the story. The GRACE Method layers habits that influence blood sugar behind the scenes, lowering cortisol, syncing sleep to circadian rhythms, and using strength training to boost insulin sensitivity. And that’s where it’s at: these five pillars not only support all systems in the body, it influences insulin sensitivity, and hormones don’t work alone. 

Kelly Schmidt  9:46
When we’re insulin resistant. You know, there can be problems with sex hormones, appetite-regulating hormones, thyroid hormones, and things just aren’t, you know, compartmentalized. So overall, it optimizes the whole body, and behind the scenes, these layers, these pillars, these optimizing health on these fronts can improve insulin sensitivity overall, therefore make blood sugar management more seamless, easier, and predictable.

Shireen Abdullah  10:13  
Super helpful. Now, what’s the first small step someone should take today? Because there’s a lot, there’s a lot packed in there, right?

Kelly Schmidt  10:20  
Yeah.

Shireen Abdullah  10:20 
So what are some small steps that someone can take today to start improving their blood sugar?

Kelly Schmidt  10:26 
That’s a great question. When I work with private clients, it’s usually individualized where we begin, and I always want to go for the low-hanging fruit, but generally, I often zero in on routines. So routines are so helpful for the brain, feeling safe, optimizing cortisol, optimizing digestion, and again, creating consistency with blood sugar management, and those routines can be a proper bedtime routine, child or not. You know, us parents need adulting, and we need routines. We need discipline. We need somewhat of boundaries or guardrails just to make sure we’re getting quality sleep, as sleep is the secret sauce to health. Sleep is the secret sauce to better insulin sensitivity. 

Kelly Schmidt  11:11
So that’s a big priority. I’ll put a lot of attention and energy on. But low-hanging fruit is recognizing how much sleep we’re getting, and do we feel rested. And what can we do to improve the quality and quantity? And then, beyond that sleep, I jump to the idea of anchoring meals. So if we take, hopefully, three meals a day, some people like one meal a day. Some people prefer two. But I like three because it’s really important to get enough protein throughout the day to help stabilize blood sugars, optimize nutrient status, and so much more. But I do appreciate anchoring meals, as the digestive system and appetite are somewhat trained. So as we get close to, say, noon, most people are hopefully eating lunch at noon. Those digestive enzymes are already juicing. They’re already initiating before we actually sit down to that meal. So anchoring meals goes a long way, so we can know our appetite. It helps people understand how big of portions they need and also get into that consistency of (if you’re taking medicine, of course, insulin), how well you’re covering the meals, and how to analyze and optimize for the next day, and also course correct from the day before.

Shireen Abdullah  12:21  
So anchoring, anchoring meals, and then focusing on sleep as well. You know, where do most people struggle with the GRACE framework? If they, you know, as they adopt it, and how can they overcome it?

Kelly Schmidt  12:35
Yeah, I think most people struggle with consistency and accountability. I use a lot of sayings in practice. And sayings, I think, help people remember better. But I always say, “Let’s major in the majors. Let’s major in the majors. And sleep.” Something I hadn’t mentioned is just the importance of, excuse me,  hydration. So sleep, hydration, getting outside, and moving your body most hours. You know, I really believe in “exercise snacks.” That’s been the big suggestion I’ve been providing this week: “exercise snacks”, and that’s just a little movement every hour.

Kelly Schmidt  13:12
Maybe it’s like I work from home, going downstairs to refill water or stepping outside to check out my garden. It’s that season where everything’s blooming, what needs to be picked today, but having those “exercise snacks” of little movement, or just a quick five-minute walk around the block, or even just standing up and doing air squats or calf raises, our calves love burning glucose. There is a study done on calf raises. I don’t know if you’re familiar with this data, but even just sitting at my desk, and I’m lowering, lifting, you know, like a ballet dancer, my heels going up and down, as I’m doing right now, that can burn glucose a lot.

Kelly Schmidt  13:47
So, majoring in the majors, I went on a little tangent there. It is so essential, but helping people just really build that in, not like a new habit, but overall lifestyle. And when people come to me, when we’re using the GRACE Method, it’s, “Hey, we’re going to tweak your lifestyle.” It’s not a GRACE Method diet. It’s that we’re going to take with what you have, we’re going to level it up, and we’re going to chase results with the variables that need the most support overall. And that’s so individualized. You know, one person might really need support on their sleep, and another person might really need support on bloating and digestion or constipation, which is a bigger one.

Shireen Abdullah  14:23
You know. So it’s interesting that people bring those different perspectives, a different understanding as well, which, which actually, you know, takes me to that next question, which is like, what are some common misconceptions that people have about blood sugar control that you hear?

Kelly Schmidt  14:39 
Yeah, misconceptions. There’s a slew of them with in regards to type 1 diabetes. I think one big misconception is that carbohydrates are the only thing that influences blood sugar. So as someone who’s dosing up exact precision of insulin for my meals, I have to recognize how much protein is there, because protein can break down into glucose, gluconeogenesis from protein, but also fat can create insulin resistance. I think there was a study—ooh, I think it was like 2000, early 2000s, and the ADA put it out, and it was actually, some people call it, the pizza study. And this study looked at people who consumed pizza, or when participants consumed pizza, and the total amount of fat was around 30 grams of fat.

Kelly Schmidt  15:26
That actually increased insulin demand by 45%, so as someone with type 1 diabetes, most of us are aware pizza is a little harder to cover for insulin than, like, a basic. I’m going to go real easy,  salad with grilled chicken. It’s more of a dance, it’s more of an analysis, and it’s more of a calculation. It’s more recognition of how that food’s breaking down, when it’s breaking down when it’s digesting and how fat’s influencing the slowing of that digestion. And overall, it’s so important to recognize that if you take insulin just for your carbohydrates, you have to also be aware of how much protein is on your plate, how much fat is on your plate, and how that is that manipulating your needs.

Kelly Schmidt  16:03
So there’s one that’s like, a really detail-oriented one, but that’s a big lesson. A lot of my clients are like, I didn’t know. I didn’t know my vegetable omelet needed more insulin to cover it because there’s only five grams of carbohydrate,  is one example. Another is that in modern day, we have such amazing tools. It is the best time in life to be type 1 or have diabetes, because we have continuous glucose monitors. We have an abundance of medications different types of insulin, from Inhaled to these devices. 

Kelly Schmidt  16:34
You know, I have a tubeless insulin pump. There are other ones that can work with the cloud and have, like, AI involved and algorithms and so forth. But because we have these tools, I would, I think a myth is that people assume it’s easy, and it’s absolutely not. You know, on average, someone with type 1 diabetes makes an extra 180 decisions a day. Because, I mean, for example, I’m looking at my plate. How much—how many carbs here, how much protein? What’s the timing? What activity do I have? How many meetings do I have? Am I going to be presenting? Is my cortisol going to be spiked? Now I’m overwhelming listeners, but I think that’s another myth—that it definitely looks easier than it is. And again, everyone listening, give yourself grace, because I understand the battle you’re dancing with.

Shireen Abdullah  17:16
Absolutely love that. Speaking of those with chronic conditions, how does blood sugar stability tie into preventing other chronic conditions? So we’re talking heart disease and cognitive decline. How is all of that related?

Kelly Schmidt  17:31
Your questions are so good today. Right away, I jumped to cognitive decline, and that’s also been termed as type 3 diabetes from dementia, Alzheimer’s, a Parkinson’s as well. A lot of brain diseases come down to blood sugar management. With heart disease, there’s a player there as well. And in every condition. I’m going to jump into the camp. With autoimmune diseases, we tend to collect them. This is one of my points I made in my TEDx talk, and that’s not always discussed. In a lifetime, someone with an autoimmune condition can have up to seven autoimmune diseases. With type 1 diabetes, specifically, there’s a higher risk of Hashimoto’s or hypothyroidism. There’s an increased risk of celiac, or even non-celiac gluten sensitivity. Non-celiac gluten sensitivity is not autoimmune, though, but there’s this risk factor that, once you have one disease, you can collect them, and that’s really scary.

Kelly Schmidt  18:27
And that’s where my GRACE Method comes in, because I want to come in and zero in on how optimized someone’s gut health is, how well are they tolerating the food they’re choosing, how nutritious the food they’re choosing is, and how well are they breaking it down. You know, it’s not what we eat, it’s what we eat and absorb. And when we optimize gut health, where 70% of our immune system is aligned in that small intestine, we can optimize and prevent the risk of complications and ongoing disease. 

Kelly Schmidt 18:56
So, beyond just what the status of blood sugar is, beyond the status of what an A1C is or a fasting blood sugar. It’s looking at the whole picture. And again, I’m coming back to the GRACE Method, because that’s where we zoom in on gut health, particularly. But we don’t jump to gut health too, because it’s complex, it’s kind of overwhelming,  it’s kind of confusing. So I’ll go for the low-hanging fruit of routines. Routines will support gut health. I’ll go to the sleep; I’ll go to cortisol. Cortisol can break down the gut, as well as liver support, and exercise, so they all relate together. Again. I’m going on quite a tangent, bringing in the GRACE Method, but it kind of explains this solution better overall. So now I just took myself off track, but hopefully that answered your question. Sufficely. 

Shireen Abdullah  19:38  
It does, you know. But for people who are busy, right? And that’s like the number, okay, so you see where I’m going with this. For people who are busy, what are some simple daily habits from the GRACE Method that can fit into their routine without overwhelming them?

Kelly Schmidt  19:56  
Yeah, a few things. And I will say, I understand busy well; I just hopped on this kind of like, you know, I have a 10 and 12-year-old; they’re both in club sports and running a business. My husband travels a lot. Oh, I get it, and I actually have a course right now called Shortcuts. So I really love appreciating busy lives and modern lives. And stress will always be part of our lives. And I think stress helps grow us. So even just mindset, mindset of knowing and being aware of our situation, can go a long way, but small, simple things—it’s the power of 1%, you know, referencing Atomic Habits. James Clear’s book is so good, but really aiming for 1% growth, and that can be, “Oh, Kelly talked about this thing; like, maybe I should have my meals around the same time every day, because I can prime the metabolism, support blood sugar control, optimize the portions. I know how much I need to eat.”

Kelly Schmidt  20:50
And that can be one step, just awareness, but two, locking in those kinds of times, those anchor times. But three, my biggest suggestion to clients and self is always know 24 hours in advance what your meals may be. And it’s not like you have to write out a meal plan and follow it to a T, but we should set ourself up for success by being aware of what food we have in the house or food we can source or get and make for those meals. So it’s just again, pre-planning, forecasting, and then being efficient with health. You know, engage in things that are fun, but habit stack where you need, and I guess what I’m getting at is just really thinking of small habits of coming from things you’re doing well, and maybe adding something else there, and other things too.

Kelly Schmidt  21:37
Basics. Okay, let’s say we need more sleep. Don’t jump to, like, two more hours of sleep. Let’s jump to 15 more minutes of sleep. Research shows women need 20 more sleeps than men. So if we’re increasing our sleep, you know, by 15 to 20 minutes, we’re making the difference if research can find that, you know, between genders there’s that specific difference. Adding 15 minutes to what we’re getting can make a specific difference. So it’s breaking things down in small bits that create impact overall.

Shireen Abdullah  22:09
What I’m hearing from you is, like, this constant theme of, like, small, manageable steps to take consistently, right? That’s what I’m hearing thematically here.

Kelly Schmidt  22:16
Yeah.

Shireen Abdullah 22:20  
With that, Kelly, we are toward the end of the episode. But I would like to close out with this question: What do you hope people take away from this episode, not just about blood sugar, but just about living with more energy and resilience overall?

Kelly Schmidt  22:38
Yeah, I think the takeaway—I hope people hear from me—although what I’m sharing today might be different, and it might sound like a lot, but is, there’s hope and there’s opportunity to, because of our condition, to take better care of ourselves than ever. You know, because I’m type 1, I am more motivated to take that extra step of exercise, the extra step of sourcing optimal groceries, that extra step of eating more nutritiously. So I hope people feel inspired and empowered and, at the end of the day, give themself grace, because what they’re doing is a lot, but they’re doing better than they think.

Shireen Abdullah  23:17 
I couldn’t have ended the episode better. Thank you so, so very much. Kelly, I really, really appreciate your time. To our listeners: thank you for tuning in to another episode of the Yumlish podcast. This was an absolute pleasure here talking to Kelly. Hope you enjoyed the episode as much as I did. We’re going to continue on with this conversation. Head over to our Instagram and Facebook and let us know what you thought about this episode. We’ll continue the conversation there again. Head over to @Yumlish on Facebook, on Instagram, find this podcast post, and comment below to tell us what you thought about this episode. Again, we’ll continue the conversation there. Kelly, as always, a pleasure. Thank you.

Kelly Schmidt  23:53
Awesome. Thank you.

Shireen Abdullah 23:56
Thank you for listening to the Yumlish podcast. Make sure to follow us on social media @yumlish_ on Instagram and Twitter and @yumlish on Facebook and LinkedIn for tips about managing your diabetes and other chronic conditions, and to chat and connect with us about your journey and perspective. You can also visit our website, Yumlish.com, for more recipes, advice, and to get involved with all of the exciting opportunities Yumlish has to offer. If you like this week’s show, make sure to subscribe so you can hear more from us every time we post. Thank you again, and we’ll see you next time. Remember, your health always comes first. Stay well.

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Connect with Kelly Schmidt!
Website URL: https://t1dfunctionalnutrition.com/
Instagram URL: https://www.instagram.com/diabeticdietitian/
Facebook URL: https://www.facebook.com/t1dfunctionalnutrition
LinkedIn URL: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kellyschmidtrd/
Youtube URL: https://www.youtube.com/@DiabeticDietitian
TEDx Talk URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NbjO2OUeaTo&t=4s