Why This Became Personal
Most people are aware of the social and financial damage caused by non-infectious diseases such as diabetes, heart attacks, and strokes. These conditions are now the largest cost to our health system. For me, this issue became deeply personal when my wife developed type 2 diabetes.
She began to lose her eyesight and, as a result, fell down a flight of stairs and broke multiple bones in her foot. After surgery, her foot started to turn black and the risk of amputation became real. The advice we received from a diabetes specialist was blunt and familiar: diabetes is a chronic disease, it is not curable, and it will steadily get worse. Stronger medicines would be required over time, insulin injections would be inevitable, and life expectancy would be reduced.
This is standard advice given to many people with diabetes. We were not prepared to accept it without question, and that marked the beginning of a long and focused journey into understanding diabetes more deeply.
Questioning the Standard Model
Along the way, we discovered that many qualified medical doctors strongly disagree with the idea that diabetes is irreversible. There is a growing body of research showing that the common treatment approach—administering insulin or drugs that increase insulin— may provide short-term blood sugar control while worsening insulin resistance over time.
We learned that diabetes is driven largely by diet, but diet itself is governed by hormones. People do not become overweight simply because they overeat. Instead, hormonal signals force the body to store excess fat, which then creates hunger and leads to overeating. This process is automatic and largely outside conscious control. Willpower alone cannot override it.
To change how the body manages insulin and fat, hormones must change. To change hormones, gut biology must change. This was a critical insight.
The Role of Gut Biology
Hormone production and regulation are strongly influenced by the gut biome. If gut biology is damaged or unbalanced, hormone signalling becomes distorted. This drives cravings, overeating, and insulin resistance. In this context, the common advice to “eat less and exercise more” is deeply flawed. It ignores the biological control system that determines appetite, fat storage, and blood sugar regulation.
Despite clear evidence that this approach does not work long term, it remains the standard prescription for diabetes, usually combined with progressively stronger medications.
Fortunately, by focusing on diet quality, gut biology, and metabolic signals rather than calorie restriction alone, we were able to reverse our situation. Health steadily improved, blood sugar levels came under control, and diabetic medication was reduced.
From Personal Experience to Shared Benefit
These experiences should not be limited to a single household. Others deserve access to the same understanding and tools. We were fortunate: one of us had medical training and the other had a background in engineering and technical innovation. Much of my life was spent building complex systems, including growing a technology company into Australia’s leading exporter of advanced engineering software.
That background shaped how this problem was approached. Reversing diabetes is not about telling people to “eat healthy.” That message has failed repeatedly. Food choices are controlled by gut biology, and lasting health requires restoring that biological foundation.
Growing Food to Support Health
This led to the development of a growing system designed to produce plants in highly biologically active conditions, with the specific aim of supporting gut health. The focus is not just nutrients, but living biology, trace elements, and plant diversity that help restore natural hormonal balance.
The broader goal is to make this approach widely accessible. The first step is the formation of the Gbiota Club, a citizen science project where people can independently build their own growing beds, observe changes in health, and share results. This open, practical testing is essential for credibility.
The final stage involves commercial growers producing food using the same biologically active principles. Home gardeners can demonstrate what is possible, but to meet the needs of the millions of people affected by diabetes and other chronic diseases, commercial scale production is essential.
Why This Matters
This project is not about ideology or trends. It is about preventing blindness, amputations, and early death by addressing root causes rather than symptoms. Honest food, grown in living systems, is a foundation for restoring metabolic health.
The Gbiota project exists because personal experience showed that change is possible, and because the cost of inaction is simply too high.
Colin Austin — © Creative Commons. Reproduction permitted for private use with source acknowledgment; commercial use requires a license.
Download “Personal Motives Behind the Gbiota Project” (full PDF)
