DiabeticU: An All-in-One Diabetes Health Platform

One would think universal healthcare would seek more proactive measures to prevent what the American Diabetes Association (ADA) has declared a global epidemic, but statistics show diabetes health maintenance is reactive, in which case the condition is much harder to rebound.

Diabetes management is challenging, but fortunately, the tools are changing. Thanks to entrepreneurs like Matthew Tremellen.

After his diagnosis, he discovered there were no user-friendly platforms to manage the disease effectively. So, he created DiabeticU, a healthcare innovation platform that offers personalized meal and exercise planning, plus many ways to take control of diabetes more positively.

DiabeticU Founder Matthew Tremellen

Matthew Tremellen was born and raised in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, where he lives today with his wife and three children. As the youngest of six, he was active in the Sunshine State, playing sports and snorkeling year-round.

Today, he is the chief executive officer and founder of DiabeticU, a digital health platform that empowers individuals with diabetes to live their best, fullest lives.

Through cutting-edge technology, its diabetes management applications make life easier by allowing people to take control of their health and make proactive choices.

Before founding DiabeticU, Tremellen worked for a healthcare staffing firm for nine years and is also a children’s book author. “My father always wanted to write children's books,” Tremellen said. “So it was an ode to him and my children.”

Change Your Health, Change Your World

Tremellen went through the typical symptoms of diabetes. He began losing a lot of weight and couldn’t figure out why. His mother, a registered nurse, tested his blood sugar one morning and it was 305 on a fasting level. His physician did an A1c test, which came back positive for type 2 diabetes. 

Interesting Fact: You can lose weight with both type 1 diabetes (T1D) and type 2 diabetes (T2D).

Because the body can’t use insulin to convert glucose (blood sugar) into energy, it starts to break down muscle and fat for energy, leading to weight loss.

Other symptoms of type 2 diabetes include:

• Tiredness
• Increased thirst and urination
• Blurred vision
• Numbness or tingling in hands or feet
• Increased hunger

Even though Tremellen’s father had T2D for over 30 years and his brother for about 15 years, his diagnosis still came as a shock. He found the experience daunting, more in how it was handled than the diagnosis itself.

“It took just seven minutes,” said Tremellen. “They put me on Metformin, told me to eat less carbs and sugar, exercise more and come see us in three months. It was kind of heartbreaking for me because it was the first type of disease or illness that I’ve ever had. I’ve been athletic my whole life, so I was in shock.”

Tremellen tackled his condition by researching online and learning everything he could about T2D. “My wife would be so mad at me because I’d spend an hour in the grocery store reading every single label. That was the hardest part for me because you hear ‘eat less sugar, eat less carbs, but there is not much out there that doesn’t have both.”

After understanding the complexities of his condition, Tremellen found himself going off the deep end. “I went overly healthy, but it really hurt me physically. I was losing energy and weight.”

It took him about two years to really understand what he was dealing with. Fortunately, he found a platform through his insurance that offered the continuous glucose monitor (CGM) Dexcom 6, “That was helpful because I started seeing real data—seeing how exercise and food impact you was eye-opening.”

Next, Tremellen searched for technology apps to pair with the Dexcom, but the reality of what he found wasn’t that helpful. “I was using three to four apps to manage it, and that was kind of the ah-ha moment for DiabeticU.

DiabeticU Comprehensive Support

Tremellen began talking to people, asking what their needs were. They surveyed over 400 T2Ds and found that “No one felt like they were managing their diabetes well.”

Dec. 2022, Tremellen’s all-in-one platform was born. He brought co-founder Trace Adams on board, and they founded the company in 2023.

The name DiabeticU popped into his head as he was setting up different screens. Tremellen said it has multiple different meanings: taking care of ‘you’ and providing an innovative guide to manage all your diabetes needs.  

Empowering Digital Platform – DiabeticU

DiabeticU currently supports individuals with type 2 diabetes and prediabetes with a range of personalized meal plans, exercise routines, blood sugar monitoring, medication logging, AI virtual assistance and integrations with over 100 CGM and pump devices. DiabeticU works with health tracking platforms like Apple Health and Google Fit.

What’s more, based on your gathered data, DiabeticU provides recommendations to help you meet your goals. When you see the impact of your meals, workouts and medications on your blood sugar levels – it’s easier to make adjustments and improve management.

“Our goal was to create everything in one platform. We created this from a user perspective, not a clinical one,” Tremellen said. “A lot of the apps out there can be confusing, and they don’t really give you what you need. It also helps with self-management, which is the biggest part of dealing with diabetes.”

DiabeticU for Type 1 Diabetes

DiabeticU currently supports people with prediabetes and type 2 diabetes, but Tremellen said they have plans to bring in a type 1 diabetes version. “We want everyone to manage everything, the education portion, pairing devices, and see what impacts you.”

Just as they researched and spoke to dozens of developers, diabetes educators, and nurses, they wanted to adapt the right functionality for T1D users.

Right now, they are speaking with type 1 users about a customized rendition. “It was easier to tackle the needs of someone with T2D first, and we didn’t want to market to type 1 users until we could offer the same all-encompassing seamless experience we offer individuals with T2D. Still, there are many aspects of the app that T1Ds can utilize.

DiabeticU Total Care

Tremellen said they are searching for ways to improve patient outcomes by working with primary care teams. “We’re rolling out our second phase—DiabeticU Total Care. With the ability to share data with certified diabetes educators, registered dietitians, and nutritionists, we’re meeting them where they are in their journey to make positive, impactful changes.”

Social Media Savvy

As community engagement is a critical part of diabetes management—online diabetes gatherings are gaining momentum. Users gain insightful support, helpful tips and inspiration. These personal success stories and technological updates breed resilience and positive thinking that is catching for all.

The DiabeticU platform offers helpful tips on meal planning, grocery shopping, recipes, motivational tools for exercising, and pearls of diabetes wisdom. For instance, one post suggested trying quinoa instead of white rice, which raises your blood sugar twice as fast.

You can follow DiabeticU on social media sites: Facebook (@diabeticU), Instagram (@diabeticUapp), X (formerly Twitter-@diabeticUapp) and YouTube.

Sharing Made Easy

With the DiabeticU platform, individuals can easily download their glucose numbers to the healthcare teams and clinicians. All the data gathering is seamlessly integrated with wearable devices and continuous glucose monitors.

Moreover, the sharing function allows users to reveal their information to anyone, such as friends, family, clinicians, and health professionals.

DiabeticU (DiU)

One of the perks of DiabeticU’s premium package, if users choose to go beyond the freemium service, is an automated virtual assistant called DiU. It’s personalized in the way that it fits the needs of each user and answers diabetes-related questions by providing smart eating assistance. It also gives users the ability to log via voice command. Users can log meals create workout plans using voice commands.

DiabeticU’s DiU service allows users to tailor individual meal and exercise plans based on personalized preferences, which is called “Smart Eating Assistance.” You can go on the app and say I’m going to McDonald’s, and would like to eat a Big Mac, but how can I lessen the impact on my glucose levels,” said Tremellen. “And it will evaluate and give suggestions, like take half of the bread off, eat small fries, pair with a zero-calorie drink and add a 45-minute walk afterward.

DiabeticU also takes into account dietary needs, allergies, and lifestyle habits. These small changes make big differences in the long run. “In the future, we’re working on predictive analysis and trends to give users suggestions based on their actions and how to improve glucose levels.

Most importantly, DiabeticU stands by its advanced encryption and data gathering to protect your information, privacy and security.

How You Can Impact Your Community

Another critical aspect of DiabeticU is the unity created by patients. DiabeticU created an Impact Award for their users to celebrate someone in the group every year who went beyond and never gave up.

The DiabeticU Impact Award recognizes the hardships T2Ds face on a daily basis. The Impact Award features those who made significant contributions through advocacy, education or volunteering. The nomination opens March 1, 2025, and closes June 30, 2025, and the winner will be announced in September 2025.

ADA 85^th Scientific Sessions

Tremellen recently attended the American Diabetes Association’s (ADAs) 85^th Scientific Sessions in Florida. “The ADA conference was very impactful for me and an all-around awesome experience,” Tremellen said. “To see how great a community it is, with everyone devoted towards solving all the complexities that go with diabetes as a whole, was pretty incredible.”

He found the most exciting thing was Dexcom and Abbot releasing the new over-the-counter CGMs. “I can’t fathom people managing their diabetes without it,” said Tremellen. “Once they get covered by insurance that is where we’ll see the biggest change in the fight against diabetes.

Inspiring Individuals with Diabetes

Since the number of adults with T2D has more than tripled in the last 20 years, tools like DiabeticU are vital to customize your needs.

If you’re interested in learning more about this innovative platform, visit www.diabeticu.com and sign up today for the free trial. You can download the DiabeticU app from Through Apple’s  App Store and can also find it on Google Play.