Guides
GNL Guides
All education and self-discovery guides on The Glucose Never Lies. Start with Foundations, then explore the areas most relevant to your life with type 1 diabetes.
Start here
Foundations
Foundations are the required starting point. These guides lock in safety, core principles, and baseline competence. Everything else on GNL assumes this knowledge is in place.
The essential building blocks: insulin, CGM, carbohydrate, hypos, and measuring success. Work through the sequence in order, or jump to what you need most right now.
How to use the guides: Start with Foundations. After that, explore in any order: take what is useful now, and return as your needs change. Each guide describes average responses and mechanisms: use your CGM data and care team to interpret what you observe.
New series
HbA1c and Time in Range
The international consensus says aim for 70% time in range. But 70% on which CGM? And 70% for which biology? This five-part guide shows you how to find your personalised target using your own data, your own device, and your own glycation biology.
CGM calibration zones. Glycator biology. The mHGI calculator. The personalised TIR target matrix. And why Nassim Nicholas Taleb’s thinking on individual risk reframes everything the 14-day report tells you.
Podcast companion
John and Anj discuss the HbA1c and TIR Guide: why your 70% is not the same as someone else’s, what glycator status means for your target, and how the Via Negativa lens reframes the numbers.
Self-discovery and experimentation
Observe. Learn. Adapt. Repeat.
Progress comes from observing real glucose patterns, making small and safe changes, and adapting based on what actually happens.
How to understand and work with glucose movement between meals: the mechanisms behind rising and falling trends.
Explore →How movement amplifies insulin sensitivity: and the mechanisms behind glucose changes during and after different activity types.
Explore →A framework for thriving with CGM: reading trends, understanding glucose context, and using data to guide self-discovery.
Explore →How the fat and protein content of meals affects glucose: and the mechanisms behind high-carb and high-fat meal responses.
Explore →The physiology of exercise with type 1 diabetes: hypo risk, insulin on board, glucose responses, and how they interact.
Explore →How the IOB setting works, why it matters for corrections, stacking, and exercise hypo risk: across different systems.
Explore →Why insulin resistance is more pronounced in type 1 and how it interacts with glucose patterns, body composition, and energy.
Explore →Why early childhood type 1 diabetes presents unique physiological and practical challenges: and what the evidence describes.
Explore →The mechanisms behind alcohol and drug interactions with glucose and insulin in type 1 diabetes: what tends to happen and why.
Explore →Technology
Technology guides
Choosing and using the devices that move the needle: CGM, AID systems, and skin care for technology users.
Choosing and using continuous glucose monitoring: accuracy, sensor selection, and getting the most from your device.
Explore the CGM Guide →Choosing and using hybrid closed-loop systems: how AID algorithms work, and what to explore with your care team.
Explore the AID Guide →Protecting skin while using CGM and pump devices: practical approaches to adhesion, reactions, and site care.
Explore the Skincare guide →Not sure where to start?
Ask GNL Grace
Tell Grace what you want to learn about and she will take you straight to the best guide, article, or podcast episode on the platform.