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184 points yeatsy | 2 comments | | HN request time: 0.421s | source

Hi HN,

I’m Joshua, a student, and I’m excited (and a little nervous) to share something deeply personal that I’ve been working on: Islet, my diabetes management app powered by GPT-4o-mini. It’s now on the App Store, but I want to be upfront—it’s still very much in its early stages, with a lot more to go.

I was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes while rowing competitively, and that moment changed everything. It wasn’t just the practical challenges of managing insulin, carb counts, and blood sugars; it fundamentally shifted how I see myself and the world. It forced me to slow down, prioritise my health, and take control in ways I never had to before. My outlook on life became more focused on resilience, adaptability, and finding solutions to problems that truly matter.

This app started as a pet project over the summer, a way to see what I could create using ChatGPT and explore the potential of LLMs to help with real-world challenges. At first, it was just about making my own diabetes management easier—understanding patterns in blood sugars, planning meals, and adjusting routines. But as I worked on it, I realised it could do more.

Right now, Islet offers personalised meal suggestions, tracks activity, and provides basic insights based on the data you enter. It’s far from complete. Even so, the process of building Islet has already taught me so much about how powerful AI can be in creating personal, meaningful tools.

This project is deeply tied to how my diagnosis changed me. It’s about more than managing diabetes, it’s about showing how anyone, even a student experimenting over the summer, can use AI to potentially solve real, personal problems. I believe tools like LLMs have the power to democratise solutions for all, making life just a bit easier for all of us.

If you’re curious, you can check it out here: https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/islet-diabetes/id6453168642. I’d love to hear your thoughts what works, what doesn’t, and what features you think would make it better. Your input could help shape the next steps for Islet.

Thanks for reading !

joshua

Show context
system2 ◴[] No.42169403[source]
Question: Doesn't a carb-free (carnivor/true keto) diets eliminate diabetes?
replies(8): >>42169421 #>>42169461 #>>42169488 #>>42169607 #>>42169651 #>>42169727 #>>42171212 #>>42180743 #
1. RandomUser4976 ◴[] No.42180743[source]
See sources below. The answer is… No! All food requires insulin. This is true for type-1-diabetics and non-diabetics. Fat and protein require insulin, but via a “post-bolus” instead of a “pre-bolus”. Another issue is fat and protein cause insulin resistance.

Here’s a link to an insulin calculator for fat and protein: https://drlogy.com/calculator/warsaw-method

Sources: “The effect of fat and protein was additive, with blood glucose concentrations increasing by 5.4 mmol/L (97.2 mg/dl) at 5 h, the sum of the individual incremental increases for protein and fat” https://diabetesjournals.org/care/article/38/6/1008/37384/Im...

“Meal composition impacts postprandial glucose excursions. Education on the impact of high-fat and high-protein meals and the adjustment of insulin dosing is necessary.” Source: ADA Standards of Care in Diabetes—2024 https://diabetesjournals.org/care/article/47/Supplement_1/S2...

“Match mealtime insulin doses to carbohydrate intake and, additionally, to fat and protein intake.” Source: ADA Standards of Care in Diabetes—2024 https://diabetesjournals.org/care/article/47/Supplement_1/S1...

“Insulin dosing based on carbohydrate plus fat/protein counting reduces the postprandial glucose levels” Source: Pediatric Diabetes Volume 13, Issue 7 p. 540-544 https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22765260/

“research and the use of continuous glucose monitoring have shown that other nutritional properties of food, including fat, protein, and glycemic index significantly affect postprandial glucose excursions” https://diabetesjournals.org/care/article/38/6/1008/37384/Im...

replies(1): >>42189270 #
2. system2 ◴[] No.42189270[source]
https://dornsife.usc.edu/news/stories/a-diet-that-mimics-fas...