Radio NZ’s Head of Content Megan Whelan was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes in December 2021.

Over the course of this year (2022), she will be sharing a weekly column on her first year living with type 2.

We will add each column below as it is posted.

Diabetes and Me: The dangers of disordered eating
17 Aug 2022

Megan looks at changing diet to deal with a health condition versus disordered eating habits, in this week's Diabetes and Me.

Diabetes and Me: Never forget - you've got to still enjoy life 10 Aug 2022
Warning: This column discusses eating disorders and disordered eating
One Sunday morning, I got up, and was pottering around the house before breakfast. I had a craft project, so I was checking on that, and tending to my plants. I checked my social media, read one of the many longreads I have in the 60-something open tabs in my phone.

Diabetes and Me: Getting Covid 20 July 2022

For two-and-a-half years, I've wondered, worried, and fretted about what it would be like getting Covid. Like many people with chronic illnesses, I wondered if I would end up hospitalised, or worse.

Diabetes and Me: Finding strength through failure 29 Jun 2022

I am here for women superheroes who have actual muscles, who look like they could lift a car. For no other reason than seeing powerful women makes me smile.

Diabetes and Me: A well-paced playlist strikes right notes for a stellar treadmill workout 22 Jun 2022

Action - like belting out a Taylor Swift song on a treadmill - leads to motivation, as Megan Whelan finds out during her Diabetes and Me journey.

Diabetes and Me: The game, not the player 15 Jun 2022

Writing about money last week got Megan Whelan thinking: why is all this so hard?

Diabetes and Me: counting the cost 8 Jun 2022

Since her type 2 diabetes diagnosis, Megan Whelan feels like she's doing pretty well. But if she is, a large part of that has to do with the resources she's bringing to the fight.

Diabetes and Me: Filtering out unsolicited diet advice 1 Jun 2022

After writing about the emails she's received over the past 10 weeks in response to Diabetes and Me, Megan Whelan shares tips on how to handle friendly people who insist they know your body better than you.

Diabetes and Me: Unsolicited diet advice 25 May 2022

Since writing about diabetes, Megan Whelan's inbox has been filled with advice: from plant-based diets to pasta replacements. In this week's Diabetes and Me, she asks why people are in such a rush to share.

Diabetes and Me: Can I still eat carbohydrates? 18 May 2022

What are carbohydrates and why am I so scared of them, asks Megan Whelan in this week’s Diabetes and Me. Turns out, they’re not that scary after all.

Diabetes and Me: Undoing the food restriction mindset 10 May 2022

Calorie counting and carb counting are often touted as ways to manage type 2 diabetes, but in this week's Diabetes and Me Megan Whelan asks her dietitian how to manage her diet, while at the same time trying to have a better relationship with food.

Diabetes and me: The emotional side 4 May 2022

One thing Megan Whelan didn't consider about having type 2 diabetes was how it would affect her brain - what to do with all the feelings she would usually stuff down with carbs?

Diabetes and me: Life-changing diagnosis revealed in such a casual manner 27 April 2022

Discovering you have a life-altering condition is a clarifying moment. I found out in a slightly horrifying way. I was seeing a different doctor for something entirely separate, and she blurted out the blood test results. "Oh yes, that will be the diabetes," she said.

Diabetes and Me: Hooked on lifting 20 Apr 2022

In this week's column of Diabetes and Me, RNZ's Megan Whelan shares her journey of learning to live with type 2 diabetes and explains why the gym is now her sanctuary.

Diabetes and me: Making sustainable changes 13 Apr 2022

My health is maybe not something I can fix in three months but if it isn't something I am being graded on, how will I know I have done well? RNZ's Megan Whelan shares her journey of learning to live…

Diabetes and me: Wrestling with the causes of diabetes 6 Apr 2022

It's not a particularly productive question, but it's the one that plagues me: How much is this my own fault? RNZ's Megan Whelan shares her journey of learning to live with type 2 diabetes.

Diabetes and me: My year of living right 30 Mar 2022

In the first in a new weekly series, RNZ's Megan Whelan opens up about her journey with Type 2 diabetes.

All stories first published on Radio NZ www.rnz.co.nz/news/diabetesandme