She was told that diabetes was a chronic, irreversible disease that would steadily worsen. She could expect to take stronger and stronger medications and face a higher risk of dying young, possibly from a heart attack.
Her husband, Colin, has been recognised as one of Australia’s leading innovators by the Institute of Engineers. He built his company, Moldflow, into Australia’s leading exporter of technical software. Neither of them could accept what they were being told without question, so they set out to discover the root causes of diabetes.
Discovering the Real Drivers of Diabetes
They began experimenting with continuous blood sugar monitoring, looking for patterns in the spikes and drops in blood sugar and trying to correlate them with the foods Xiulan was eating. The results were unexpected and raised more questions about what was really going on inside the body.
Colin, now older, thought back to his childhood. At that time, chicken pox, mumps, and measles were common childhood diseases, but diabetes was rare. Today, diabetes is widespread. Around one in three people are diabetic, pre-diabetic, or overweight enough to be at risk of diabetes. In Australia, every few minutes someone has a leg amputated due to diabetes — a situation some have described as the “black death” of the twenty-first century.
Trained as an engineer, Colin asked a simple question: in the last fifty years, what has changed to create this modern epidemic?
He knew it could not simply be the type of food. In his childhood, people ate plenty of sugary foods — cakes with cream, marzipan, icing sugar — and lots of fats. Dripping (animal fat) on toast was a common breakfast. So what had really changed?
From Soil Biology to Gut Biology
As a schoolboy, Colin worked on a farm to earn money for a racing bike. He saw firsthand how farming practices changed over time. One of his jobs was burying manure and dead animals, and he clearly remembered how this improved the soil for years afterward. Looking back with the benefit of modern science, he realised this was not just about nutrients — it was about soil biology, which in turn affects our gut biology.
With his expertise in computers, Colin also saw that it was not just about which species of microbes live in the gut. The microbes communicate and cooperate, forming an intelligent system that acts as a kind of control system for the body.
When this system is damaged by toxins and a lack of critical minerals, it goes into “emergency mode”. The body begins to store extra fat inside cells. As these cells swell, it becomes harder for sugar to enter them — the root of insulin resistance. Our bodies can readily convert sugar to fat and fat back to sugar, but when the control system is impaired, this balance is disrupted.
At this stage, a person may not yet be diagnosed with diabetes because the pancreas can still produce extra insulin to keep blood sugar under control. This can continue for years, with the main visible symptom being excess weight.
The situation becomes serious when fat accumulates inside the cells of the pancreas itself, so it can no longer produce enough insulin. This is the point at which diabetes becomes dangerous and difficult to manage.
The Role of Gut Biology and Living Food
Diabetes is a complex condition with many contributing factors, but damage to gut biology is central. A diet based on food grown in healthy, living soil — rich in diverse microbes and balanced minerals — appears to play a crucial role in avoiding or helping to reverse diabetes.
The fact that Xiulan still has good eyesight, both legs, and a significantly improved quality of life, together with research from around the world, supports this view.
From Personal Crisis to Global Mission
Because diabetes has become such a global problem, Colin’s goal is to link diabetics and health-conscious people with farmers who practice regenerative agriculture, so they can improve their gut biology and overall health by buying nutrient-rich food at a reasonable price directly from these farsighted farmers.
This is about more than just food; it is about rebuilding the connection between living soil, gut health, and human wellbeing.
