I am such a fan of celery.
Love celery.
I'm Mike Ulrich.
I played in the NFL for nine years.
Worked at ESPN for 23 years.
When I played,
you just ate all you wanted because you knew you were gonna
work it off.
I entered the league at 275 pounds,
six, five, and I finished at 300,
but it was a good weight for what I needed on the field.
When I retired, I was like, I'm done.
You know, I'm not lifting a weight.
I'm not running a lap.
I'm not doing anything, but I kept eating.
And then before I know it I'm at a 320.
It was, it was not a pretty sight.
I thought, okay, I want to be around for my three kids.
I need to start losing weight, at 42,
probably 10 years after I retired
was when I was diagnosed with type two diabetes.
When I heard the diagnosis,
I wasn't overly stunned because I knew my dad had it,
but still it was a cold, hard slap of reality,
that said, okay, hereditary or not,
I am now in this position.
My mindset for all those years,
had been eat whatever you want,
do whatever you want,
because you're going to work it off.
For me, it was a change.
I was not a vegetable eater
and I had to become a vegetable, vegetable eater.
And I did and found out
when you prepare it certain ways, it's good.
You know.
And now I also know it's good for me.
So there was a big learning process of,
of how I had to go about dealing with it.
One of the main reasons
I got involved in OneTouch solutions,
is just that I love the last word of it, solutions.
These are programs that are there for everybody,
but everybody uses them differently.
And through the talking type you campaign,
I had the privilege and honor,
cause I knew these guys,
to talk to a couple of former athletes to see how different
their journey was than mine.
And what works for me, doesn't work for somebody else.
For me,
OneTouch solutions has been an absolute game changer
because it's allowed me to build my own program.
Choosing from a suite of wellness solutions that include
things like live and digital diabetes support,
some assistance in reaching weight and fitness goals,
and the ability to integrate blood sugar data
with other metrics.
I and my family, we are big food fans, no doubt about it.
So around football games or sporting events,
there's always the snacking that goes on.
And one of the things I've always loved was Buffalo wings.
Well, so there's a lot of different varieties out there
of things that you can make
that will still satisfy those taste buds.
So if you all are ready, I'm ready.
Let's go make some Buffalo cauliflower.
Here we go.
We're going to preheat our oven to 450.
We got a baking sheet, with some foil on it,
and we have a rack over the top.
And then we're going to spray that rack.
All right?
Panko breadcrumbs, set aside.
All right?
The rest of the dry ingredients,
you're going to mix into a big bowl.
Chickpea flour, onion, cayenne, and garlic powder,
we have salt and pepper.
Next, we're going to mix them up.
See that, there we go.
I'm going to kind of eyeball this.
One cup of buttermilk.
We've got a nice little batter working for this cauliflower
that we've cut up into florets.
Nothing bland going on here.
This is going to be a wonderful, flavorful snack.
Dump 'em into the panko breadcrumbs.
How about this technique?
I'm not even looking.
(dough thumping)
Can we edit that?
Put a little spray over the top of them yet again.
We're going to pop these in for about 25 minutes
until the edges brown up a little bit.
While that's cooking,
we're going to warm up a little coconut oil,
and pull out the hot sauce.
You're going to pour that all in the coconut oil.
Get it all mixed together .
A nice finished product.
And there you go.
Buffalo cauliflower, with ranch dipping sauce.
(muah)
(upbeat music ends)
You know, when,
when my father had this,
was diagnosed with this,
he was in a different generation and I,
and I'm not critical of him for it,
but he kept it to himself kind of away from us.
Well, I wanted to do the exact opposite.
I have three kids, two were large football players
that I had to sit down and
(laughing)
say, hey, your, your grandfather had this.
I have this.
So, you know, you gotta watch yourself.
Right.
Yeah.
That's what the whole campaign is about, right.
Just like sharing with people and building a community,
versus feeling like you're out there all alone.
Well, and that's what I did, you know,
and I had a platform for a lot of years,
in media after my playing days.
And I thought, you know what?
Not only in my family, but I have a lot of friends,
former athletes, who were, you know,
type two, who are type two diet diabetic.
So I knew I talked to them and I realized we could spread
the word because even though we were athletes,
That's right.
We're dealing with this, like everybody else.
So Mike, I know this is so important to you.
Can you just remind everybody
where they can get the pertinent
and the important information they need?
Sure, Rachel.
So I would encourage all people with diabetes to visit
talkingtypeyou.com
to watch my interviews with former athletes,
and then you can learn more about
OneTouch solutions.
Thank you, my friend.
(whimsical music)