After Christel Oerum and her husband, To-
bias, moved to Santa Monica, California, in
2011, they started working out at Gold’s
Gym in Venice—the original bodybuilders’
gym. Christel had been living with type 1
diabetes for almost 15 years already, notic-
ing the fluctuations she saw in her blood
sugar during and after exercise but not sure
how to manage it. “There was no good in-
formation available,” she says. “All I got was
a pamphlet from my endocrinologist that
said to eat 15 grams more carbs prior to ex-
ercise. That’s not useful advice.”
As Christel grew stronger, she decided
to enter fitness competitions and was deter-
mined to figure things out on her own. She
began to blog about her experiences with
different types of exercise. Cardio would
generally make her blood sugar drop, she
found, while strength training would drive
it up. As her readership grew, she realized
that other people were struggling to manage
their diabetes while working out, too.
In 2015, she became certified as a per-
sonal trainer and left her job with a large
medical device company to focus com-
pletely on the blog. Today her website, Di-
abetes Strong, boasts half a million readers
a month and includes contributions from
a team of professional writers and editors
who also have diabetes. In response to
reader queries, the site’s scope has expanded
from exercise into all aspects of healthy liv-
ing with diabetes. “We answer questions in
a way that doesn’t talk down to people,” she
says. “It’s OK to say this sucks, but here’s
what to do about it.”
The Oerums have intentionally kept
Diabetes Strong as a free resource, funded
through advertising and merchandise sales,
including sales of Christel’s e-book Fit with
Diabetes. Christel also offers online diabetes
coaching. In addition to running the web-
site, the Oerums also organize an annual,
four-week online Fit With Diabetes Chal-
lenge and manage the Diabetes Strong
Facebook group, where their 16,000 follow-
ers (and counting!) can ask questions and
share information. Their goal: To create a
community of people who learn from each
other, so that no one has to go through a life
with diabetes by themselves.
“Many people struggle with their blood
sugars when exercising or just going for a
walk,” Christel says. “I’m trying to empower
people by giving them the knowledge to do
whatever they want to do.”
CHRISTEL OERUM / CO-FOUNDER & HEAD COACH, DIABETES STRONG
“I’m trying to
empower people
by giving them
knowledge.”
PHOTO MARC OLIVIER LE BLANC
54 DI ABETIC LI VING / FALL 2 019
