Sweet Life 2025 highlights

Wow, but it has been a busy and exciting year! Here are some of the highlights.

The Sweet Life Chatbot feedback drive

We started the year off with a bang! Shiara Pillay, our Chatbot Project Manager, travelled around South Africa to hold in-person feedback sessions in each province. She met with people with diabetes, caregivers and healthcare workers in community spaces, support groups and clinics to discuss the Sweet Life Chatbot: what works, what doesn’t work, what do you wish a diabetes education tool looked like?

We are now using all of this feedback to iterate an even more helpful Version 2 of the Sweet Life Chatbot: watch this space!

Sweet Life 14 day meal plan

The response to our healthy eating meal plan that works for the whole family was so great that we decided to double the suggestions!

These are meals that South Africans are already eating, but given a healthy twist: 1/2 plate of vegetables, 1/4 plate of protein and 1/4 plate of high fibre starch.

We developed them with Shirley Desmond, a public clinic dietician living with Type 1 diabetes.

Check out 14 days of healthy (and delicious!) suggestions here. Let us know what you think!

The Diabetes Guidebook

We are so excited to finally bring this book to life! All the basics you need to live a healthy life with Type 2 diabetes.

We distributed 10,000 copies around the country, through healthcare providers and Clicks Clinics, and you can download your free copy here.

It offers expert mental health advice, tips from others living with Type 2 diabetes, a Healthy Food Guide, and the 7 day meal plan, as well as exercise tips and a fresh approach to food.

Take a look and let us know what you think!

#DiabetesLooksLikeMe diabetes stigma campaign

This year we launched #DiabetesLooksLikeMe, our nationwide diabetes stigma campaign. The response from our community, and from the media, was incredible! Check out our campaign page here for details, and our beautiful video below.

Each year on the 14th May we will raise our voices for #DiabetesLooksLikeMe because we know how important it is to speak up against diabetes stigma.

Sweet Life is on Patreon!

This is something I’ve been wanting to do for years. We’re often asked why we don’t ask our community for small monthly donations (R100 or less), but I didn’t feel right just asking for a donation – I wanted us to give something back.

Now we can! Check out our Patreon to see what gifts you can get each month.

#WearBlueforDiabetes & Change a Life

This year’s #WearBlueforDiabetes campaign was our most impactful yet. Instead of only focusing online and on schools and companies, we empowered 100 individuals to hold their own events. 100 events around South Africa – in schools and workplaces, but also at shopping centres and in clinics and hair salons and libraries and homes and anywhere else diabetes awareness was needed.

Take a look at our top #WearBlueforDiabetes & Change a Life events here, and watch our epic World Diabetes Day story below!

We have so many ideas for 2026, but for now it’s time to relax, unwind, and refresh for the new year…

Thank you for being part of our South Africans with Diabetes community! We hope you have a wonderful holiday season, and look forward to connecting again in 2026.