Sugar Surfing

Steve was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes as a child. He later became a pediatric endocrinologist, but his most intimate laboratory was still his own body. Over decades, he watched how insulin, food, activity, stress, timing, and ordinary life changed the direction of his glucose.

What he discovered was not another fixed formula. Blood sugar behaved as a moving system. A number mattered, but so did its direction, speed, momentum, and context. Steve began developing a more responsive way to interpret the moment and decide what—if anything—to do next.

Steve coined Sugar Surfing because he saw a natural connection between glucose and ocean waves. Blood sugar rises, falls, accelerates, flattens, and changes direction. The person with diabetes cannot stop the ocean, but can learn to read what is forming and respond with greater awareness.

The toolkit—insulin, food, movement, timing, and technology—can be manipulated like a surfer’s board. The person remains present, considers the conditions, and makes an in-the-moment decision. Taking action is a decision. Choosing not to act is also a decision.

That metaphor grew into an entirely new, approachable lexicon designed to help people with diabetes, families, clinicians, and educators communicate about a complex moving system without being trapped by clinical jargon.