Happy & Healthy with Diabetes
Michael Hofer, Ph.D.
Diagnosed with type 1 diabetes on his eleventh birthday. Forty-plus years later: a global executive career, author of books, and an approach that turns diabetes from a burden into discipline. Books, an on-demand course, talks, and low-carb recipes, all in one place.
Four pillars, one life
No single change did it. Each pillar makes the others easier: fewer carbs means fewer spikes, movement makes insulin work better, a calm mind stops stress hormones from hijacking your numbers, and a good medical team catches what you cannot see. Everything on this site maps back to these four.
Medical care
Your care team as partners. CGMs, automated insulin delivery, regular labs, and the shift to personalized, participatory care.
Book: Happy & Healthy with Diabetes
Low-carb nutrition
Fewer carbs, fewer spikes, easier dosing. Labels, shopping, restaurants, travel, and thirty-five recipes you will actually cook.
Books: Slim and Healthy for Life, Festive Survival Guide
Joyful movement
Low-intensity steady-state exercise that improves insulin sensitivity without wrecking your day, and how to keep going for years.
Book: Move for Life
Mindful living
Stress management, meditation, journaling, and the art of imperfection. The pillar most people skip.
Book: The Mindfulness Toolkit
Three ways to start
Read
Multiple books, from the full method in Happy & Healthy with Diabetes to short, focused guides on mindfulness, movement, weight, and the holidays.
Learn
The on-demand course on Udemy: From Surviving to Thriving with Diabetes. Learn the four pillars step by step, at your own pace.
Invite
Keynotes and workshops for patient groups, employers, and conferences, from an executive who has run companies on insulin for four decades.
Low-carb recipes that do not taste like a compromise
Thirty-five recipes from my own kitchen, from egg muffin cups and cauliflower pizza to Austrian Tafelspitz, Peruvian ceviche, and a low-carb cheesecake. Every one has been through my CGM.
Browse the recipes in the separate folder on this website.
Tip from my diabetes
A CGM has been a game-changer for me. Seeing my trends in real time gave me insight and control I never had with finger sticks alone. Pair it with an automated insulin pump, and it feels like having a high-tech partner in your care.
Tip from my diabetes
When I read about the link between stress and blood sugar, all those inexplicable spikes suddenly made sense. Now ten to fifteen minutes of quiet meditation every morning is as much a part of my routine as insulin.
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Michael Hofer, Ph.D.
I was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes on my eleventh birthday. In the four decades since, I have built a career as an executive in international companies, earned a doctorate, and learned five languages, all while checking my blood sugar many times a day. Diabetes did not hold me back. It made me disciplined.
Everything here comes from what actually worked for me, shared as a fellow patient, not a physician. I hope it saves you some of the years it took me to figure out.
Type 1 since age 11
Ph.D.
MBA
CPA
Wharton executive education
Author of 12 books
Five languages
Mindful eating gets dismissed as soft, but the mechanism is anything but. Cortisol, leptin timing, parasympathetic shift, post-meal glucose curves — here's how slowing down at one meal a day can lower stress, stabilize blood sugar, and quietly rebuild your relationship with food.