Track Cyclist Mandy Marquardt Spotlight

By Rick Mauch, Sports Journalist

Mandy Marquardt is racing for her life - and the lives of many others.

Mandy lives with Type 1 Diabetes. Yes, it presents a daily challenge, but like all championship-caliber athletes and their competition, she has found a way to control it instead of it being in control of her.

And as she has her sights set on hopefully competing for the United States in the upcoming Summer Olympics as part of Team USA, she also embraces their newest product to help her in the quest.

Mandy's Olympic Quest

Nutrition is an important part of all Olympic-caliber athletes. Mandy has found one of the most helpful food supplements to be turmeric to help her get through her demanding daily routines by helping to improve her recovery time of workouts and to help keep her healthy. Nuvothera Turmeric is a high-performance Super-Micronized formulation she likes to use because of its superior potency that is delivered from advanced micro-particle technology. Nuvothera Turmeric Curcumin is billed as "100 times more potent than the rest." Now that's a slogan every athlete should understand and strive to achieve for themselves. "I looked into the research and just did my research. And I found turmeric to be beneficial for inflammatory issues. And for my psoriasis as well," she said. "I always take a food first approach, but I think nutritional supplements, personally, are really important. I make sure they're coming from a safe place, and they're NSF certified for sport. "I make sure the supplements that you take are approved and good. So, yeah, I mean, as far as everything from the recovery side to managing inflammatory issues, Nuvothera Turmeric has been beneficial for me in a lot of ways, and I'm really happy to be using the newer therapies. "And {at Nuvothera} they're just great people there at the company and just have taught me a lot more about the benefits of turmeric. And I just even been eating more turmeric because I think it also tastes good."

Mandy, a passionate cycler since the age of 10, is a member of the USA Cycling and Team Novo Nordisk, the only cycling team where all members have diabetes. Her record of success includes:

• 18-time U.S. national champion.
• Three-time U.S. National Track record holder - women's 1km TT, 500m TT, and Team Sprint.
• 10-time UCI Track career wins.
• Six-time Pan American Championship track medalist – one gold, two silver, three bronze.
• Current world Sprint ranking – 12th place.
• Track Cycling World Cup team member since 2014.
• Track Cycling World Championships team member since 2014
• 2019-20 UCI Track Cycling World Cup overall Sprint standings rank – ninth place.

"One of my biggest goals is to represent my country at the Olympic Games. Not only would it be the pinnacle of my athlete career, but also an incredible platform to inspire, educate and empower everyone affected by diabetes," Mandy stated. Mandy's sponsors include Novo Nordisk, St. Luke's University Health, Honey Stinger, Mammoth Creameries, Velamints, Klean Athlete, and AltRed.Mandy, a 2014 graduate of Penn State University, is an active ambassador for many organizations, including TrueSport, The Taylor Hooton Foundation, and the St. Luke's University Health Network in her hometown of Allentown, Pennsylvania. She is passionate about being a role model for children worldwide as well as for everyone affected by diabetes. So, if something works for her, she advises others to follow suit. Which includes Nuvothera Super-Micronized Turmeric Curcumin.

Nuvothera Turmeric and Why It's So Good

Nuvothera's proprietary water-soluble Super-Micronized Turmeric Curcumin is designed for maximum absorption, potency, stability, and bioactivity. It has been shown to have a superior biological activity than the leading brands. When tested in water, it has shown:

• 352 times greater antioxidant activity.
• More than 1,400 times greater free radical scavenging properties.
• 126 times greater anti-inflammatory (COX-2) inhibition for improving muscle recovery and help support overall health when having chronic health conditions. The results also show that concentration alone may not be a sufficient indicator of bioavailability at the cellular level. It means that when taken with water, two capsules of Nuvothera's water-soluble Super-Micronized Turmeric Curcumin can promote a healthy lifestyle, support joint health, and mobility, support healthy immune system function, and provide superior antioxidant protection. * Nuvothera is available online at nuvothera.com and Amazon.com.

In short, it helps folks get more out of life and live healthier, and someone doesn't have to be an athlete to benefit from this.

Mandy's Type 1 Diabetes Diagnosis

Mandy recalled the time she learned of her Type 1 Diabetes diagnosis. She admitted wondering if her career was over, and now she's an inspiration to many that with proper care and nutrition, including exercise, rest, etc. an abundant life with all of your dreams still intact can exist. "I was just doing this routine blood work. And it was then that the doctor told me I had elevated blood sugar levels. I had no idea what that meant," she said. "They just said that I had to sit here, drink some water, and they'll test me again in an hour. So, I was just like, okay, I'm an athlete. I'm athletic. My blood sugar's high. That's something around diabetes. But I was like, no, it can't be. There's one particular doctor who was overseeing all the doctors, and he told me that I would never be able to compete at a high level in the sport of track cycling, or cycling in general," she recalled. "I was struck by that."

It was also when she began to focus even more on nutrition and other factors that could help her become great, just as the Super-Micronized Turmeric Curcumin is playing a role in keeping her that way.

"I believed it for a bit because I thought am I hurting myself by really pushing myself and training? But then as I started to learn about nutrition and how what I ate affected my blood sugars, and then I had to take insulin, so I had to learn and monitor my body," she said. "Plus, was going through puberty, my body's changing anyway. So, I just had to do a lot of trial and error and started really to work with an endocrinologist that worked directly with me and helped me. "I said, I just want to get back on my bike, and just see how it goes one day at a time. And then I went through a denial period to where I was getting ready to race. I went to this competition steam event, and I decided not to take any insulin with me. We're three hours away from home. I let my team down. I felt so lethargic and tired. "I realized right then and there, I'm only hurting myself. I didn't see or know any other athletes with Type 1 Diabetes, so it was a difficult place." As she has often done, she called on her bike for comfort. "For me, it was just hard to go through that, but the bike does always feel good. It's just somewhere I could just go and think about where I'm going, and not about what else I'm thinking about. It just felt pretty free," she said. Then she received proof from the results. Following her diagnosis, she won a bronze medal in the German Nationals, something she had also done before being diagnosed. “So, without diabetes, now with diabetes, and right then and there I knew I could continue to do this, but it's going to take a lot of trial and error and continued patience and learning."

Mandy Riding with Team Novo Nordisk

Then Mandy came across Team Novo Nordisk in 2010. "We rise to inspire, educate and empower everyone affected by diabetes. And it's changed my life. I've been a part of the team for 11 years. And when I joined the team, I only was living with diabetes for two years," she said. "I was shocked to see other athletes with Type 1 diabetes, and what was possible. "I've also learned throughout the years that everyone living with diabetes is so different. I could be eating something or training a certain way and it affects my blood sugar differently than my teammates. So, there's not a one-size-fits-all approach to diabetes."

Of course, the additional challenge of a worldwide deadly COVID-19 pandemic was another challenge. Yep, she is conquering that as well, even her own training space. "So, I've made this a great place for me to be able to continue training. I just don't have the velodrome. Also, I live in Pennsylvania. So, it gets really cold. And we have an outdoor velodrome here, and the velodrome that we compete in is indoor," she said. "So, I'd usually go to LA or I'd be competing with the national team during the winter. But no, I had to train on a walk bike. "There's no cheating on the walk-bike. It's full-out and I can get a really good quality workout. And I have the gym. When things started to open up, I started to have this bubble with training partners here that I have with my coach and staff. So yeah, we were able to make it work, but without a velodrome was tricky." Training from home has its advantages, Mandy said. Among them are having everything right at her fingertips in comfort for the healthiest she can be.” It is the first time I've been home like this long in six years, so most of my career, and I've just really enjoyed it. I've been able to focus on things like cooking more at home. I'm home. I'm sleeping in my own bed. I have everything that I need here," she said. "You know, I miss traveling, but it's given me the opportunity to fine-tune more things and my diabetes management, so I wear a continuous glucose monitor that shows my blood sugar continuously right on my phone." And part of that regimen is the micro-sized Nuvothera Turmeric, which gets absorbed into the bloodstream faster. Because, when speed and time are your livelihoods, things need to work fast. “I haven't, honestly, I haven't been sick. I haven't been sick in a couple of years. And the only thing I changed was adding the turmeric into my nutrition," she said.

Mandy's Inspiring Words to Live By

Mandy was asked to share her best advice in video interview published on Business Class News for Women's Health Month. Mandy said, "Keep doing what you love, and don't let these things hinder you from continuing to move forward." Mandy is an inspiration to so many people worldwide from young girls to aspiring athletes, to women's health advocates, to Type 1 diabetics, and people living their dreams despite dealing with a chronic condition.

Join @Nuvothera as we follow Mandy on her Olympic quest. You can follow Mandy on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn social media channels @mandymarquardt. Check out Mandy's website at mandymarquardt.com and Mandy on Team Novo Nordisk and Team USA Cycling.