23 September 2026
Episode 364 - Resilience & Building a Big Life with Liz Van Voorhis
Diabetics Doing Things Podcast
About
At 15, Liz Van Voorhis landed in the ER on spring break with a blood sugar
of 1,200. She weighed 78 pounds. She had two questions for the doctor.
First, when could she get back to cheer conditioning? Second, did this mean
she couldn't finish her Halloween candy? It was April. That mix of grit and
humor is Liz Van Voorhis.
Liz is an executive coach and founder of The Fit Collective. She has built
wellness programs for brands like Equinox, Peloton, and Lululemon. She
tells Rob about the 15-year corporate career she walked away from after
losing her mom to brain cancer. She also talks about her "brain sabbatical"
year teaching 15 spin classes a week, where her class quietly became a safe
space for people with Type 1 all over New York. She explains the values
exercise from 2004 that she still revisits every New Year's Eve (her
birthday) to decide what gets her commitment.
They also go back to the January 2025 LA fires. Liz used her
retail-operations background to help organize more than 400 volunteers and
get diabetes supplies to around 50 displaced families, which earned her the
self-appointed title "diabetes drug dealer of Southern California."
Along the way, Rob and Liz dig into several other topics:
* Rob's thesis that diabetes doesn't get easier, but you get better at
it
* A million-dollar business loss
* A prayer for financial abundance that was answered by a stolen car
* Why "we are meaning-making beings" beats "everything happens for a
reason"
* Why Liz put off switching to Omnipod for years for purely vain
reasons, and how much she regrets it
If you've ever wondered whether you can build a big, beautiful life with or
without type 1, this one's for you.
Chapters:
00:00 Meet Liz and the Thailand retreat
01:38 How the 2015 diabetes Instagram connected us
03:13 Diagnosed at 15 with a 1,200 blood sugar
08:11 From church-basement aerobics to corporate career
11:41 Losing her mom and blowing up her life
13:00 Teaching spin and finding her T1D community
14:13 Alignment and the courage to walk away
15:45 The values exercise that changed everything
18:51 Organizing diabetes supplies during the LA fires
26:04 It doesn't get easier, you get better
30:09 Breakthroughs, a $1M loss, and a stolen car
35:19 Meaning-making vs. "everything happens for a reason"
36:44 Identity, basketball camps, and embracing who you are
38:42 Tuning out the noise and never drinking
43:29 Omnipod, Dexcom, and getting over vanity
Resources:
1. The Fit Collective
2. Liz Van Voorhis Instagram
of 1,200. She weighed 78 pounds. She had two questions for the doctor.
First, when could she get back to cheer conditioning? Second, did this mean
she couldn't finish her Halloween candy? It was April. That mix of grit and
humor is Liz Van Voorhis.
Liz is an executive coach and founder of The Fit Collective. She has built
wellness programs for brands like Equinox, Peloton, and Lululemon. She
tells Rob about the 15-year corporate career she walked away from after
losing her mom to brain cancer. She also talks about her "brain sabbatical"
year teaching 15 spin classes a week, where her class quietly became a safe
space for people with Type 1 all over New York. She explains the values
exercise from 2004 that she still revisits every New Year's Eve (her
birthday) to decide what gets her commitment.
They also go back to the January 2025 LA fires. Liz used her
retail-operations background to help organize more than 400 volunteers and
get diabetes supplies to around 50 displaced families, which earned her the
self-appointed title "diabetes drug dealer of Southern California."
Along the way, Rob and Liz dig into several other topics:
* Rob's thesis that diabetes doesn't get easier, but you get better at
it
* A million-dollar business loss
* A prayer for financial abundance that was answered by a stolen car
* Why "we are meaning-making beings" beats "everything happens for a
reason"
* Why Liz put off switching to Omnipod for years for purely vain
reasons, and how much she regrets it
If you've ever wondered whether you can build a big, beautiful life with or
without type 1, this one's for you.
Chapters:
00:00 Meet Liz and the Thailand retreat
01:38 How the 2015 diabetes Instagram connected us
03:13 Diagnosed at 15 with a 1,200 blood sugar
08:11 From church-basement aerobics to corporate career
11:41 Losing her mom and blowing up her life
13:00 Teaching spin and finding her T1D community
14:13 Alignment and the courage to walk away
15:45 The values exercise that changed everything
18:51 Organizing diabetes supplies during the LA fires
26:04 It doesn't get easier, you get better
30:09 Breakthroughs, a $1M loss, and a stolen car
35:19 Meaning-making vs. "everything happens for a reason"
36:44 Identity, basketball camps, and embracing who you are
38:42 Tuning out the noise and never drinking
43:29 Omnipod, Dexcom, and getting over vanity
Resources:
1. The Fit Collective
2. Liz Van Voorhis Instagram