From restriction to personal power: Anida Westlake’s life with diabetes
For Anida Westlake, diabetes has never been an abstract subject. She was diagnosed with Type 1 as a young child, after what appeared to be a cold became a frightening medical emergency. In hospital, unable to hear what the doctor had told her parents, she became convinced she might die before she had really lived.
The treatment and understanding available then looked very different from today. Anida learnt to inject herself using glass syringes and to test using equipment that was awkward to carry into ordinary childhood life. The language surrounding her condition was often about being good or bad, being in control or cheating, and living with what she describes as a sense of lack.
In this episode of Coalface Stories, Anida explains how that outlook changed. The knowledge she once associated with restriction eventually became a source of strength. It now informs her work helping others approach diabetes and healthier living through realistic, sustainable choices rather than perfection.
A life-changing childhood diagnosis
Anida takes Ian back to the confusion surrounding her diagnosis: overhearing her father ask whether she would be all right, travelling alone in the back of an ambulance and being afraid to close her eyes in hospital. She also remembers the direct lesson in administering her own medication and the question that mattered most to her: would it keep her alive?
Her account shows not only how diabetes care has changed, but how the words used around a condition can shape a young person’s relationship with their body.
Health has to work in real life
Anida’s approach is grounded in the individual. A shift worker, a parent and somebody with a different daily routine may each need a different route towards the same broad goal. Short bursts of change can fall apart when they have been built around somebody else’s plan rather than everyday life.
She and Ian explore the fear people may feel when faced with diabetes or the possibility of developing it. For Anida, hope begins when people can see a realistic next step, recognise progress and regain a sense of choice.
Looking beyond simple answers
The conversation covers the distinction between Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes, the effect of modern eating habits and the limits of judging health by appearance alone. Anida also discusses weight-loss injections, food processing, calories, protein and the importance of understanding how different choices affect the individual.
This is not presented as a search for perfection. Instead, Anida encourages people to gather useful information, notice patterns and take intentional action. Her image of wearing both a “health hat” and a “sugar hat” captures the fact that something described as healthy may not always affect blood sugar in the same way for every person or at every moment.
Lessons from her grandmother’s table
Some of Anida’s strongest lessons about food came from her grandmother Florence. Meals offered choice without pressure to clean the plate. Food mattered, but so did conversation, shared time and the family stories told around the table.
Those memories later helped Anida connect with her grandmother when she came to live with her during COVID at the age of 100. They also reinforced a principle that runs through Anida’s teaching today: good options create choice, and choice creates freedom.
Writing Disrupting Diabetes
Writing Disrupting Diabetes required Anida to step back from knowledge that had become automatic through decades of lived experience and teaching. Returning to her notes helped her account for the many factors that can affect blood sugar, including stress, sleep and daily routines—not only food and exercise.
The result is a conversation about living with diabetes, but also about knowledge, responsibility and making changes that can genuinely remain part of a person’s life.
