Ep. 220: Robby Barbaro - Going the Distance with Diabetes: Robby's IRONMAN Story

Episode 220 • 26th October 2023 • PLANTSTRONG Podcast • Rip Esselstyn

If you've followed the PLANTSTRONG Podcast, no doubt you're familiar with Robby Barbaro, one of the founders of Mastering Diabetes and now, an official IRONMAN triathlon finisher!

If you don’t know, an IRONMAN is a one-day triathlon where you swim 2.4 miles, bike 112 miles, and then run a marathon! Crazy, right?! It's even more awesome since Robby did it as a plant-based, Type 1 diabetic.

In this episode, Rip and Robby talk about how he trained, fueled, and monitored his glucose during training and racing. They also talk about his mindset and training process, as he essentially started from ground zero as a triathlete.

As Robby says, you can always become a happier and better version of yourself and that’s exactly what he did. He found an area in his life he wasn’t happy with, and sought to make big changes.

We invite all of you to do it too, no matter what your goals happen to be. (and believe me, it doesn’t have to be an IRONMAN!)

About Robby Barbaro

Robby Barbaro, MPH graduated from the University of Florida and is the cofounder of Mastering Diabetes. He worked at Forks Over Knives for six years before turning his attention in 2016 to coaching people with diabetes full-time.

Robby was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes at the age of 12 and has been living this lifestyle since 2006. In that time, while eating pounds of fruit every day, his HbA1c value has never exceeded 6.4%, and his blood glucose has been stable and easy to manage.

He is the co-host of the annual Mastering Diabetes Online Summit, a featured speaker at Whole Foods Global Headquarters, VegFest LA, Plant-Stock, Torrance Memorial Medical Center, and has been featured on Forks Over Knives, Healthline, Medical Medium, Vice, Thrive Magazine, Diet Fiction, Thrive Global, BestLife and the wildly popular podcasts Plant Proof and Nutrition Rounds, and is the author of the book Mastering Diabetes with Cyrus Khambatta, PhD.