This week the Betacell Podcast released an episode called The Diabetes Library- in the episode, it took a closer took at Lauren's program offerings through Risely Health. 

Clients who have completed DCB which is Lauren's $4,000 signature group program discussed their experiences in the program: 

• "we have a whole session or like a whole week dedicated to like, eating and things like that. But it was basically just about how exercise and weight correlate, which is like, sort of a causation doesn't equal correlation thing, right?... And it's also really a backwards way of thinking about like nutrition and your body. It actually felt like a little bit harmful because not only was like, not relevant to my experience and like pretty off base, but it's like a narrative that like is probably a little bit dangerous."
• "part of the program includes sleep basal testing. So like doing some fasting and like seeing what your basal rates look like. And one person who was super newly diagnosed, they had just started a pump like fairly recently. And her endocrinologist basically said don't turn control IQ off. Like, we need to like, sort of figure this out together. And Lauren or one of the coaches was like more or less the gist of it was like, no, you should turn it off and do basal testing. And like, admittedly, my doctor does not always know what's best for me, but like also if you're worried sort of about the legality and like, any ramifications of giving like medical advice, like telling someone their doctor is maybe not right, is probably venturing into that territory."

"And this program hardly sounds like the individualized client-centered health coaching that you would expect from someone with NBHWC certification. Antidotes like telling a client to change their insulin pump, change their insulin to carb ratios, and saying what foods they should avoid are legally questionable and ethically, at least in my mind, wrong."

We know that people with diabetes do not require adequate support and care considering it is a demanding condition that requires your attention 24/7. "Technically only the doctor who prescribes your insulin can tell you how much of it to take. But we know diabetes is very unpredictable and we're changing our insulin dosing all the time. It's not as simple as just taking one pill every 24 hours with a meal. And it's not uncommon to sit down from another person with type one at lunch and ask, what would you bolus for this? Is that illegal medical advice? Yeah, technically it is. But I think when you're asking a friend how much insulin to take for a 10 piece chicken McNugget meal at McDonald's, no one is looking at that as medical advice. It's a little different when you're paying $4,000 for a coaching program that says on the website, that it will give you quote, a clear roadmap for improving bloodsugar."

It is a hard pill to swallow to pay $4000 for a program on top of the rising costs of healthcare & insulin. It is even more troublesome knowing that telling someone how to dose for their medication is completely beyond the scope of practice for health coaches. 

In addition to exploring Riselys group coaching, this episode explored the blood sugar reset. "One of Lauren's products, the seven day blood sugar reset, which is not a coaching program, but a guide you can purchase includes a section on which foods to eat and which ones to limit or avoid. Those are things like chicken, gluten, cheese, and maple syrup. I'm a little offended. Not only because that's most of my own diet, but because I think that restricting foods, the same thing that Lauren said she was doing when she was obsessing about her diabetes, is pretty far out of scope for someone who is not a registered dietician. And also when dealing with people who have type one diabetes, who are twice as likely to experience an eating disorder as the rest of the population, I'd argue it's concerning, if not downright dangerous."

Lauren's programs are filled with misinformation and unqualified coaches which has potential to harm many people with T1D. 

Lissie Poyner from Needles and Spoons is a health coach who explains "So I did partner with, she's my co-coach still to this day, she's a registered dietician and CDE. Because I just think that that's a perspective that people have to have on their team or working with them when you're approaching a thing like diabetes. We know that there are things in the background, like basal rates, carb ratios, correction factors, and just because you're a person living with diabetes and you might understand and conceptualize those things doesn't mean that you can be giving advice on that."

If Lauren & the Risely Team truly valued the diabetes community, shouldn't they have the best intentions for the community in mind? You would think, but it seems like somewhere along the way Lauren & her team decided to fill the healthcare gap themselves by filling their own pockets- despite not having the appropriate credentials to do the work they are doing. 

This needs to end.

Listen to the full episode here: 
https://open.spotify.com/episode/3BtwUcVJr1ZuzfcFBxsgeU?si=oNNsHq1fQLKt0CeBRDpnWw

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/beta-cell-type-1-diabetes/id1055838038?i=1000552794941