Diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes as a child, Anida Westlake remembers a time of glass syringes, rigid routines and language built around what she could not do. What began as fear and restriction gradually became knowledge, choice and personal power.

Anida joins Ian Wilson to share the story of her diagnosis, explain Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes in accessible terms, and explore why health cannot be reduced to weight, calories or a quick fix. She also discusses sustainable lifestyle change, processed food, the marketing surrounding protein and the different roles of medical treatment and day-to-day support.

The conversation returns repeatedly to a simple principle: people need useful knowledge and realistic choices that work within their own lives.

### Episode Highlights

00:00:00 Introduction

00:01:16 Turning a sense of lack into personal power

00:02:35 Helping people find success on their own terms

00:07:04 Moving from fear and powerlessness towards hope

00:09:13 Young Anida and a life-changing diagnosis

00:25:25 Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes explained

00:31:14 How modern life has changed the way we eat

00:38:02 The global rise in Type 2 diabetes

00:41:04 Weight-loss injections and lasting lifestyle change

00:44:33 Challenging the myths surrounding diabetes

00:48:18 The different roles of doctors, dieticians and lifestyle support

00:51:36 Looking beyond calories to understand food

00:56:18 What is really inside processed food?

00:58:47 The truth behind the marketing of protein

01:01:51 Balancing your health hat and your sugar hat

01:04:50 What Anida learnt from her grandmother

01:09:59 Writing Disrupting Diabetes

01:12:44 Quick-fire questions

01:16:36 What would a cure for Type 1 really mean?

01:18:20 What does working at the coalface mean to Anida?

01:19:59 How to connect with Anida

### Where to find Anida

Website: https://alwhealth.com/

Navigating Diabetes Pitfalls: https://navigatingdiabetespitfalls.com/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/anida-westlake-66ba53b/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/anidawestlake_healthychoices/

Facebook community: https://www.facebook.com/groups/diabeteswellnessthriveandprevent

Book: https://www.amazon.com/Disrupting-Diabetes-Prevention-Reversal-Beyond/dp/B0DHCL5V3N

Business coach, mentor and advanced Meta ads strategist Gwen Baird has spent more than 20 years helping business owners find clarity and create businesses that fit the lives they want to lead. Her own path to that work, however, was shaped by family, devastating loss, serious illness and a determination to keep choosing what came next.

Gwen talks with Ian about the childhood ambition dismissed by a careers officer, the freedom she found working for herself, and how a diagnosis of dilated cardiomyopathy brought her travelling sales career to an end. She explains how discovering social media opened another path, eventually leading her from social media management into business coaching and Meta ads.

Along the way, Gwen shares direct advice about asking for the sale, finding the real reason behind a business, creating a practical 90-day plan and implementing what you learn. She also challenges the idea that marketing begins and ends with social media—and explains why a business should be built around your health, energy and needs.

### Chapters

00:01:05 Who is Gwen today?

00:04:54 Young Gwen

00:08:09 Childhood dreams

00:09:59 Entrepreneurial nature

00:13:05 What is law accountancy?

00:15:21 Becoming a business coach

00:24:45 Who does Gwen help?

00:25:16 Why Gwen resonates with her audience

00:26:09 Common client struggles

00:40:01 What clients think their problem is

00:42:06 Are people surprised by this?

00:44:09 Mindset vs marketing

00:45:26 Marketing themselves consistently

00:49:46 Common marketing mistakes

00:52:50 Why business feels complicated

00:53:55 What separates success from stagnation

00:54:54 Advice to her younger self

00:56:37 One lesson everyone should know

00:57:15 What life has been teaching her

00:57:32 Quick fire questions

00:57:43 Superpower question

00:58:19 Dinner with three historical figures

01:00:00 What's on the menu

01:00:50 Changed her mind about

01:01:06 Most impactful habit

01:02:07 Common misconceptions about her

01:02:51 What she's most grateful for

01:03:27 Question she wishes she'd been asked

01:04:07 How she wants to be remembered

01:05:07 Meaning of working at the coalface

### Connect with Gwen

Website: https://gwenbaird.com/

The Align Method with Gwen: https://www.facebook.com/groups/thealignmethodwithgwen

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/G.I.Baird/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gwenbairdonline/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gwenbaird/

Paraag Amin spent much of his life moving from one goal to the next. Academic achievement led to investment banking, senior leadership and the appearance of success—but the feelings he expected to come with those milestones gradually disappeared.

In this episode of Coalface Stories: 60 for 60, Paraag talks about growing up as the mature child who felt he had to work harder, the pressure to follow a secure and successful path, and the personal cost of losing himself in work and expectation.

A health crisis on his 40th birthday became a wake-up call. Paraag began rebuilding his life around freedom, peace, connection and choice. He and Ian discuss why people can outgrow the lives they created, how work becomes an escape nobody questions, why freedom needs structure and what it means to live without masks.

The conversation also turns to AI, human connection and the need to protect our humanity in a rapidly changing world.

00:00 Coalface Stories - 60 for 60 Series: Paraag Amin

00:30 Intro & Welcome

01:00 Who Are You Today?

08:13 Childhood

14:49 Career in Business & Finance

20:50 Defining Moments in Banking Career

30:45 Turning Point & Escaping the Corporate World

53:36 Helping Others Escape the Programming

57:43 Quick Fire Round

01:03:23 Working at the Coalface

01:05:18 Closing & Where to Find Paraag

Website: https://alifethatfits.today

LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/paraagamin/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/the_paraag/