03 August 2026
Episode 361 - Rob Solo Episode: The AI Tool, the Trial, and the Retreat (Copy)
Diabetics Doing Things Podcast
About
It's episode 450 of Diabetics Doing Things — a milestone Rob almost forgets
to mention until he's three topics deep. Fresh off Friends for Life in
Orlando, he lays out what he calls the diabetes conference pyramid: the
industry side (ADA, ADCES, ATTD, EASD) built for HCPs and brand messaging,
and the community side, where Friends for Life stands alone as the one
event he'd choose if he could only pick one. He also previews the upcoming
Diabetes Legends Dallas clinic and makes his now-recurring case for why
kids with diabetes belong on a team.
Then Rob shifts from the conference circuit to something he's been quietly
building: a searchable AI archive of every Diabetics Doing Things episode —
all 450 of them — that surfaces clips, timestamps, and quotes on demand. He
walks through a live demo, asking it about diabetes and mental health and
watching it pull exactly the right moments from years of the show's back
catalog. It's his first real answer to a question he's been sitting with:
what do you actually build for people with diabetes when you have this much
lived experience and the tools to use it.
The back half gets more personal. Rob is wrapping a 90-day clinical trial
on an unreleased insulin pump algorithm — a strange experience in handing
over control of his own management — and talks candidly about what "locking
in" has looked like lately: earlier mornings, journaling, lower-carb meals
without the guilt spiral, and a real 30-day discipline streak. He closes
with an unguarded account of the Diabetes Sangha meditation retreat he
attended this spring, why the "woo-woo" label doesn't scare him off, and a
new mental health resource from Omnipod and Calm worth knowing about.
If you're weighing whether diabetes conferences are worth your time,
curious what an AI trained entirely on this show can actually do, or just
want to hear someone talk honestly about discipline and burnout without the
performance — this one's worth the full listen.
Chapters
00:00 Episode 450 and fresh Friends for Life recap
02:22 Mapping the diabetes conference pyramid: industry side
05:41 Why Friends for Life beats every other conference
08:20 TCOID, Connected in Motion, and Camp Diabetes
11:07 Diabetes Legends Dallas and youth sports advocacy
14:41 Insulin Sensitivity Playbook recap and fan-favorite guests
17:02 Unveiling the DDT AI archive (live demo)
22:00 Personal update: the 90-day clinical trial
25:51 Locking in: mornings, journaling, and low-carb peace
28:21 Inside the Diabetes Sangha meditation retreat
30:52 Omnipod x Calm partnership and mental health resources
32:46 What's coming next and how to find Rob
to mention until he's three topics deep. Fresh off Friends for Life in
Orlando, he lays out what he calls the diabetes conference pyramid: the
industry side (ADA, ADCES, ATTD, EASD) built for HCPs and brand messaging,
and the community side, where Friends for Life stands alone as the one
event he'd choose if he could only pick one. He also previews the upcoming
Diabetes Legends Dallas clinic and makes his now-recurring case for why
kids with diabetes belong on a team.
Then Rob shifts from the conference circuit to something he's been quietly
building: a searchable AI archive of every Diabetics Doing Things episode —
all 450 of them — that surfaces clips, timestamps, and quotes on demand. He
walks through a live demo, asking it about diabetes and mental health and
watching it pull exactly the right moments from years of the show's back
catalog. It's his first real answer to a question he's been sitting with:
what do you actually build for people with diabetes when you have this much
lived experience and the tools to use it.
The back half gets more personal. Rob is wrapping a 90-day clinical trial
on an unreleased insulin pump algorithm — a strange experience in handing
over control of his own management — and talks candidly about what "locking
in" has looked like lately: earlier mornings, journaling, lower-carb meals
without the guilt spiral, and a real 30-day discipline streak. He closes
with an unguarded account of the Diabetes Sangha meditation retreat he
attended this spring, why the "woo-woo" label doesn't scare him off, and a
new mental health resource from Omnipod and Calm worth knowing about.
If you're weighing whether diabetes conferences are worth your time,
curious what an AI trained entirely on this show can actually do, or just
want to hear someone talk honestly about discipline and burnout without the
performance — this one's worth the full listen.
Chapters
00:00 Episode 450 and fresh Friends for Life recap
02:22 Mapping the diabetes conference pyramid: industry side
05:41 Why Friends for Life beats every other conference
08:20 TCOID, Connected in Motion, and Camp Diabetes
11:07 Diabetes Legends Dallas and youth sports advocacy
14:41 Insulin Sensitivity Playbook recap and fan-favorite guests
17:02 Unveiling the DDT AI archive (live demo)
22:00 Personal update: the 90-day clinical trial
25:51 Locking in: mornings, journaling, and low-carb peace
28:21 Inside the Diabetes Sangha meditation retreat
30:52 Omnipod x Calm partnership and mental health resources
32:46 What's coming next and how to find Rob