Your Diabetes Insider Leverages Social Media and Nutrition Coaching to Empower People Living with Type 1 Diabetes
Ben Tzeel, founder of Your Diabetes Insider, wants people with diabetes to start living on their own terms. On social media, he’s the face of his tech-enabled nutrition coaching company and he embodies the ethos of a life unhindered by diabetes. In his videos and photos – widely viewed on TikTok and Instagram – he chronicles himself eating things like stadium food and banana pancakes all while managing his blood sugar levels and maintaining washboard abs. He gets to have his cake and eat it too – and he wants others to as well.
Funders, learn how you can become a Health Moonshot Champion and support Health Transformers like Ben Tzeel.
The Challenge
Ben Tzeel was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes (T1D) at age seven. “The first thing I remember was just everyone saying no, you can't have this. You can't do this. You can't run around with your friends. You can't have the birthday treat,” says Tzeel. “I had a chip on my shoulder from the time I was eight or nine years old because I was constantly being told no.” His frustration came to a head when he was 12 years old and tried out for a traveling baseball team in his small Wisconsin town. He was thrilled to have thought he made the team and went out to get ice cream with his future teammates to celebrate. But after testing his blood sugar and finding his glucose extremely high, everything changed. Not only could he not have the ice cream, but he found out the next morning that he couldn’t join the team either. “I knew it had to be because of diabetes.”
Tzeel credits that moment as a turning point. “Up until that time, I resented my diabetes, but then I realized if I'm going to do what I want to do in life, I have to work doubly as hard as everybody else,” says Tzeel. In high school, Tzeel began working out and lifting weights and paying more attention to his diet, but it was a largely unguided pursuit. He would ask his care team for advice about how to live an active life but didn’t get many answers. “They’d tell me I have to figure it out and guess and check and see what happens,” says Tzeel.
Tzeel’s pursuit for answers led him to a PhD program where he began conducting diabetes research. However, after two years he was itching to share his insight with others and pivot away from academia to something more accessible. “Why not just switch gears, become a dietitian, become a diabetes educator, and get the information I’m researching out to people now?” says Tzeel.
The Solution
In 2018, armed with his degree in nutrition, registered dietitian credential, and having spent four years as strength coach already, and knowing “enough about how to read research properly to be dangerous,” Tzeel started developing his social media presence. He wanted to holistically cover nutrition, exercise, and blood sugar levels – what he terms “a holy trinity” that he didn’t see others addressing – as a complete package. “What matters to me is the widespread adoption of this information,” says Tzeel.
On his social media channels, Tzeel’s entertaining antics are infused with educational content, providing tips and insight on living a satisfying life with diabetes. In his fully-virtual nutrition practice, he and his team of registered dietitians and diabetes educators build upon this educational model with one-on-one coaching meant to empower individuals to lead more healthy lives without banning all “fun” foods. “We will show you how to live your best life so that you are the healthiest, strongest, and best version of yourself,” their website states.
How It Works
Tzeel’s social media presence and coaching company, Your Diabetes Insider, work hand in hand. Through social media, he has been able to educate widely about topics that he feels most diabetes care teams don’t adequately address, and in the meantime, he’s been able to create an audience and client stream for his company. “Social media led to the start of a sustainable business,” he says.
Tzeel grew his social media presence to more than 22,000 followers on Instagram and 127,000 on TikTok through a combination of first-person narratives, humor, and research-based educational content. At age 32, his youthful energy translates well on these platforms: he’s always in a flat-brimmed baseball cap, records his videos at home or out and about, and when he’s wearing any t-shirt at all, it’s often emblazoned with a motivational phrase like “man up” or “hustle beats talent.” The fast edits and bold graphics of his videos are right at home on TikTok, where he has gained most traction. “TikTok is the fun platform,” says Tzeel. “If I can bring across messages and educate in a fun way, the message will really resonate with the diabetes community,” he says. He uses skits and punch lines to deliver messages that might otherwise be a bore to sit through – like the importance of subtracting fiber from net carb dosing.
Tzeel has the eyes and ears of a mostly young audience on social media and over the past five years, he has brought over about 2,500 of them as clients at Your Diabetes Insider. He works with two other registered dietitians who, like him, are living with T1D and have exercise backgrounds. “If you don't live with diabetes yourself, it's very hard to understand what the day to day is like,” says Tzeel.
At Your Diabetes Insider, the registered dietitians work with clients to create personalized health plans for the patients with their top priorities in mind. “For people that want to make a change to their diet or exercise routine, we can give them a game plan so that they’re not floundering and guessing,” says Tzeel. Consistent virtual meetings, which can be weekly or monthly according to one’s needs, help clients set objectives, develop accountability, and learn about nutrition and lifestyle management. Tzeel wants to fill in the gaps for the things that should have been taught to people early in their diabetes diagnosis but weren’t.
At Your Diabetes Insider, Tzeel has made a point of building a team that combines expertise in T1D and nutrition with specialists who understand strength and conditioning. That allows them to address fitness concerns not covered by other T1D care teams. Tzeel mentions a client that wants to build muscle but has no idea what to do and his care team won’t tell him anything. “We can do that in an evidence-based way that makes sense and fits into his life as a person living with diabetes,” says Tzeel.
Accessibility is another major concern to Tzeel. His embrace of telemedicine renders the services of Your Diabetes Insider available worldwide and cuts out commuting to a dietitian’s office and sitting around in a waiting room. “You sit there for an hour and a half waiting for your ten-minutes-of-glory appointment,” says Tzeel. “If we’re three minutes late, we’re profusely apologizing. We value our patients’ time,” he says.
Money, like time and location, is another barrier of accessibility that Tzeel creatively navigates. His educational resources on social media are free. The coaching services for Your Diabetes Insider are not, but he works hard to establish coverage from insurance companies when possible. “If we can take insurance for certain people in certain places, then hopefully that lowers the barriers,” says Tzeel.
Our Take
Tzeel wants to grow Your Diabetes Insider to be the top diabetes dietitian practice in the country. His presence on social media has proven his ability to draw large audiences and his relevance to a young demographic that represents the future of diabetes. As a dietitian, he’s filling a gap by addressing diet, exercise, and diabetes management. We’re excited to partner with him as part of our T1D Moonshot Community to scale up his company and help even more people with diabetes live lives that feel fuller, less restricted, and healthier.
Connect with Your Diabetes Insider via email
Call for Alzheimer’s Innovation
With support from the Alzheimer’s Drug Discovery Foundation (ADDF) and Gates Ventures, we’ve launched a new global initiative created to develop a collaborative innovation community alongside leading companies, research teams, and stakeholders with a mission to accelerate progress in prevention, diagnosis, and management of Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias. Learn more and apply for an Alzheimer’s Moonshot Fellowship.
Become a Health Moonshot Champion
Health moonshots are fueled by passionate families, foundations, and industry organizations committed to achieving health moonshots. Learn how you can join other champions of the T1D Moonshot or one of our other global health moonshots.
Follow us on social media for daily updates on Health Transformers: X (Twitter), LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram.
Published: Apr 18, 2024