Hi, I’m Philip Hall.
I have lived with Type 1 diabetes for more than 34 years. Diagnosed at 17, just weeks before starting university. Since then I have probably given myself well over 25,000 injections and eaten enough hypo snacks to personally keep several food companies in business.
Diabetes still asks something of you every day. It asks for attention, patience, calculation, resilience, and sometimes more emotional energy than people realise. Through every CGM generation, every pump, every burnout, every “I think I’ve got the hang of this” followed by “actually, no” – I am still here. Still showing up. And along the way I have learned that the most useful support for living well with Type 1 often happens between clinical appointments, not during them.
That gap is what Smart Diabetes Living exists to help fill.
Smart Diabetes Living was created for the parts of diabetes life that often happen between appointments. The quiet worry. The decision fatigue. The parent lying awake after a child’s diagnosis. The person with Type 1 who knows what to do, but cannot face doing it today. The family member who wants to help but does not know what to say.
Why I write
I am not a doctor. I am not a diabetes educator. What I am is someone who has spent most of his life translating clinical guidance into Tuesday-afternoon-at-3pm decisions about a sandwich, a basal rate, a sensor that refuses to behave, or a family conversation about why the alarm went off at 2am again.
Not because I have diabetes perfectly sorted. Because I know what it feels like to live with it for decades – to get tired, to adapt, to keep learning, and to find hope again.
I wrote Diabetes Decoded for the days when the everyday reality of Type 1 needs a calm, practical handbook. Not medical theory, not empty reassurance: honest, lived-experience guidance on food, exercise, sleep, travel, work, relationships, and the long, patient work of living well with this condition.
I wrote Beyond Burnout because I wanted someone with Type 1 diabetes to read it and feel the relief of thinking: Finally. Someone understands what this feels like.
I wrote Tech Tamed for when the technology that is supposed to help starts to feel like a second job. A manufacturer-neutral companion for making CGM, pumps, hybrid closed-loop systems, and every alert, graph and setting work for your actual life, not the other way around.
I wrote You’ve Got This because parents need more than instructions after their child is diagnosed. They need reassurance. They need perspective. They need someone to say, with honesty and kindness, that their child can still live a full, confident and meaningful life.
Diabetes care has improved enormously. But the everyday reality – the relentless decision-making, the technology fatigue, the burnout, the family impact, the unanswered questions about access – those are still under-supported. Most resources are either purely clinical or purely cheerleading. There is a quiet space in between for honest, practical, lived-experience guidance that respects your clinical team. That’s why I write.
Type 1 diabetes can be serious, demanding and relentless – but it does not have to make life small.
What you’ll find here
- Four books covering burnout recovery, the practical reality of living well with Type 1, taming diabetes technology, and being the parent of a child with Type 1.
- Free guides that solve specific problems, like the Burnout Reset 7-day guide.
- The Between Appointments Toolkit – decision aids, family scripts, and practical templates.
- Manufacturer-neutral technology education, because the diabetes industry has enough sales pages already.
- A clinician pathway so diabetes teams can confidently recommend specific resources to their patients.
- An advocacy hub focused on subsidised CGM access for people currently excluded, and fair pump/AID affordability for Australians with Type 1 diabetes.
What you won’t find here
No fear marketing. No miracle cures. No claims that any device, supplement, or product is medically right for you specifically – that conversation belongs with your diabetes team. No pretending that life with Type 1 is easy, and no pretending it is impossible either.
On technology and access
My professional background is in technology and cyber security. I understand systems, risk, and the gap between powerful tools and real-life usability. Technology should help us live better. It should not make us feel like we are failing in high definition.
For people who live with this condition every hour of every day, access to better technology is not about convenience. It is about safety. It is about sleep. It is about reducing fear. It is about easing the mental load. It is about giving people and families more freedom to live their lives.
In 2025, I travelled to Parliament House in Canberra to advocate for fair access to modern diabetes technology, including pump and AID affordability for Australians with Type 1 diabetes. The technology exists. The evidence is clear. The barrier is access.
Where I’m based
I write from Sydney, Australia. If you notice the books and site spell things like Smart Diabetes Living uses Australian English, including words such as behaviour, subsidised and centre, and uses mmol/L as the default glucose unit. instead of mg/dL, that is why. I keep SI units as the default because that is what most readers outside the US will see at their clinic, and add mg/dL conversions where they help.
Press, speaking, and clinician collaboration
I have spoken with ABC Radio, Nine News, The Stripped Supply Podcast, and Australian Diabetic Living magazine on living with Type 1, burnout, AID access and the lived experience of diabetes technology. If you are a journalist, podcast host, conference organiser, or clinician interested in speaking or recommending the resources to patients, the Speaking and Media page has details, or you can get in touch.
A note on tone
You will not find me telling you that everything is going to be fine. I will tell you that you are not alone, that the next small step is almost always possible, and that diabetes does not get the final word on the shape of your life. That is what the books say. That is what this site says. That is what I genuinely believe.
Most of all, we deserve to know we are not alone.
If this site has helped you, the best thing you can do is tell someone with Type 1, or a clinician, that it exists. Quiet word-of-mouth is how trust gets built.