Episode 28 — 2025 in Review: Chaos → Clarity

An honest audit of the year — what we built, what we learned, and what’s next for Glucose Never Lies in 2026

Host: John Pemberton

Guest: Anjanee Kohli RD MNutr — Diabetes Specialist Dietitian, Creative Lead and Co-Director at Glucose Never Lies

Listen / Watch:

TL;DR

  • 2025 was about building a podcast that translates “general health optimisation” into T1D reality — without pretending the trade-offs don’t exist.
  • We revisit the biggest repeat offenders: insulin dynamics, liver logic, devices/algorithms, exercise variability, and real-world living (including alcohol).
  • We name what we got wrong, what we changed our mind about, and what we’re still uncertain about.
  • We end with what’s coming in 2026 — and the principles we won’t compromise on.

Simple

What this episode is: A candid “state of the podcast” conversation between John and Anjanee — the themes that mattered, the episodes that landed, and the gaps we’re determined to close next year.

Who it’s for: People living with T1D, parents, and clinicians who want signal over noise — and who are bored of advice that collapses when real life happens.

What should change after listening: You should have a clearer map of what to prioritise, what to ignore, and which episodes/guides to use depending on the situation you’re facing.

Medium

What we built in 2025 (and why)

  • Translation: taking high-level health discussions and forcing them through T1D physiology, tech constraints, and lived reality.
  • Principles-first education: not “protocols”, but decision rules that still work when variables change.
  • Real-world playbooks: hard topics people actually face (exercise, alcohol, device wear/skin, accessibility).

What we learned (repeated patterns)

  • When outcomes look “mysterious”, it’s often because we’re ignoring the biggest driver (dose, timing, liver contribution, activity effects, algorithm behaviour).
  • Good decisions come from honest models, not perfect plans.
  • “Education” isn’t facts — it’s reducing future regret.

Deep

Where we think people get trapped

  • Over-indexing on tactics: tweaking snacks/basal/boluses without understanding which variable is actually dominant in that moment.
  • Device mythology: assuming AID/CGM removes trade-offs instead of shifting them.
  • Single-cause stories: attributing everything to “carbs”, “stress”, or “hormones” when it’s often interactions.

Uncertainty we’re keeping explicit

  • Which subgroups benefit most from specific strategies (heterogeneity matters; “average” is not a person).
  • Where evidence is thin vs where lived experience is ahead of the literature.
  • How fast algorithms and device standards are evolving — and what that means for day-to-day trust.

Practical

How to use this episode

  1. Skim the “Episodes & pages mentioned” section below and open the ones that match your current problem.
  2. Use one guide at a time for 2–3 weeks rather than mixing five ideas and learning nothing.
  3. If you’re stuck, choose the episode that matches the context (exercise vs alcohol vs skin vs device safety).

What we want people to stop doing in 2026

  • Stop chasing “perfect control” with no model — it creates fragile behaviour and worse outcomes.
  • Stop treating T1D as if it behaves like non-diabetic physiology with a bit of insulin added.

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