Do you think it's scary? I

don't know that scary's the word I would use.

I think there's reasons why we've got a narrative about it being really scary.

And that's partly, I think there's two things for me that have meant we've drawn focus to the scary parts.

um but and i'm going to talk about those in a sec but i just think the core part is that we just need to de-center the scary stuff they're real they exist we have to think about them but we don't have to have them front and center all of the time driving all of our decisions um two of the things that we've done with diabetes um all forms that i think drive that um is number one you know we're so Self-management is so important.

Being aware and knowing what's going on with your diabetes is great for diabetes control but it's also a huge burden and it draws a focus on those sugars that are always present and always the focus of what you're doing and you're having to think about them and are they good or are they bad? Are they not where they're supposed to be? What am I going to do? And that focus builds a constant fear.

A constant amount of energy and vigilance that you have to put in all of the time.

What can we do to change that?

Yeah.

'Cause I think you have to understand that to understand what might be going wrong.

Um, and um, you'll learn across all of this that I talk a lot of metaphors.

It's help, how it, uh, helps me understand hormones and stuff.

Um, and so, um, you know, glucose is a fundamental fuel that our body needs every day, um, to be able to function.

Um, and it's really important that we have just the right amount of glucose floating around in our blood all the time.

We eat it frequently, both in our sweet, sugary stuff, but also carbohydrates, starchy foods.

For anybody who's listening who may be hapū, would you be able to explain what it would look like for them to get tested for gestational diabetes?