Article by IDS Director of Intensive Diabetes Management, Tavia Vital BSN, BA, RN, CDCES, with contributions from Naomi Garlick, Founder & CEO, Glow Gummies
Recently, I had an opportunity to interview a fellow person living with T1D, Naomi Garlick, inventor of Glow Gummies – glucose gummies for low blood sugar.
Naomi sent a few free samples for an honest review. My son and I tried each of the flavors and decided to purchase more for ongoing use. We like the flavor, texture, amount of carbs per gummy, and we like the on-the-go bags for stashing in a pocket or my purse! My 17-year-old put a big jar in his soccer bag and another on his nightstand. I have one big jar on my desk in my office and carry a to-go bag in my purse and have another on my nightstand.
After trying Glow Gummies firsthand, I wanted to know more about the gummies and the inspiration behind the brand.
Living with T1D herself for over 20 years, Naomi experiences the challenges of living and working while managing T1D.
Along the way, Naomi realized she did not need to let the ups and downs of living with T1D interfere with her life and career goals. After the initial shock of her diagnosis at age 12, then a period of time where she dealt with feeling ashamed and embarrassed of having a disease and being different from her peers, Naomi switched gears and became determined to never let T1D stop her from living her life and doing what she wants to do.
When talking with Naomi, it was clear from the first moment that she has an internal drive to help spread an important message for other people living with T1D:
Never let T1D stop you from doing what you want to do in your life!
Glow (glucose) Gummies were created for people with insulin-requiring diabetes, by a person living with T1D, and from feedback from people living with T1D. They provide an extremely usable, easy-to-carry, easy-to-take, low-glucose treatment.
https://integrateddiabetes.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Bottles.webp
Take a look at a few excerpts from my interview with Naomi:
Q: What is Glow and what inspired you to start it?
A: Living with T1D is hard! People with T1D make over 180 health-related decisions each day. It’s a relentless cycle of monitoring, adjusting, planning – without any breaks. Yet despite all this effort, the T1D community is often overlooked and underserved. Many solutions for daily diabetes management feel outdated, uninspired and disconnected from the realities of daily life – forcing us to settle for products that are just ‘good enough’, and aren’t made specifically for us. I believe that we deserve better than that. We deserve tools that work as hard as we do. I wanted to build something that made day-to-day management feel easier, providing real solutions, not just more chores.
Glow is a consumer brand focused on improving daily life with type 1 diabetes – basically providing everything you won’t find behind the pharmacy counter. Our first product is Glow Gummies — glucose gummies for low blood sugar. Each gummy has 4g of dextrose-based carbs, making them fast-acting, measurable, and much more enjoyable than juice, candy, or chalky glucose tablets. They’re also vegan, gluten-free, fat-free, caffeine-free, sodium-free, non-GMO, and made with natural colors and flavors (no red dye or artificial ingredients!). The gummies come in two packaging options (bottle and resealable pouches for on-the-go), three flavors (mixed berry, orange, and strawberry), and are HSA/FSA eligible.
Having T1D for 20 years – I’ve really gone through ups & downs with it. I was diagnosed at 12-years old which was a horrible age to be different (in any way, let alone with a disease) – and so I was pretty ashamed of having T1D that I had never heard of before and knew no one else with it. And it took me a long time to come out the other side of that and be confident and open about it.
A lot of T1D solutions focus more on basic function and overlook real-world usability, comfort, and aesthetics. That dynamic can lead to stigma, reduced confidence, and difficulty maintaining consistent self-care that we really need.
With Glow – I wanted to build something that creates products for daily T1D management in a way that feels more like real solutions than just additional chores. And by doing that I think we can empower people with T1D to feel more confident in their daily routines to really improve quality of life as we wait for the cure that always seems to be 5 years away.
Q: What makes Glow Gummies different from other hypo treatments?
A: I did a market study early on of people living with T1D to understand their pain points with low blood sugar treatments — and I tackled all of them. Glow Gummies are:
- Made with fast-acting dextrose (like glucose tabs)
- Rapid recovery to help avoid rebound highs
- Delicious and easy to chew (no chalky texture)
- Easy to measure (4g of carbs per gummy, same as the glucose tabs)
- Health-focused formula of clean and natural ingredients (vegan, gluten-free, fat-free, caffeine-free, sodium-free, no red dye)
- Resealable and portable (available in a variety of packaging options to fit your lifestyle)
- Heat-stable (up to 200°F — great for sports and summer)
- HSA & FSA eligible (for additional savings up to 40%)
- Subscribe & save options (to reliably avoid running out of supplies!)
They’re designed to actually fit into people’s lives, not disrupt them.
Q: What were some of the biggest challenges in starting your business?
A: The mental load of always talking and thinking about diabetes. I realized at one point that my entire life had become diabetes — managing it, building a brand around it, engaging with it on social media. It can be overwhelming. I found that seeking out funny people with T1D on social media really helped me – laughter really is the best medicine!
A surprising challenge is needing to educate people about the science behind different sugars. Not everyone knows why glucose (dextrose) is more efficient (and better for your body / liver) for lows than candy or juice. I think it’s a lapse in education at onset – and I have put out a few articles / educational tools to help people understand the importance of treating lows with dextrose-based carbs (vs. sucrose / fructose like juice or candy)
Q: How has living with T1D helped you as a founder?
A: It definitely made me very resilient. As someone with T1D – you constantly have to roll with the punches. There will always be ups & downs – highs & lows of blood sugar and something that worked for you one day may have a completely different and unexplainable impact the next day – and you can’t let a bad day ruin your good day. It’s directly relatable to so many parts of life and especially starting a business. I feel like I am very good at taking setbacks and turning them into lessons or just not letting it get me down or hold me back at all.
I also think T1D has made me an incredible multi-tasker – which has proved to be very helpful with starting a business and managing an ever-growing to-do list. I don’t get overwhelmed easily at all – and I’m able to stay very organized and as a founder or CEO you wear a million different hats and I think I’m able to jump in and out of different roles and keep up with everything partly because I’m so used to doing that already with doing the full-time job of an organ every day of my life for the past 20 years.
Q: What advice do you have for other entrepreneurs with T1D?
A: Do a market study early – even if the problem/solution seems obvious. And it doesn’t have to be a massive study – I did one with 80 people with T1D that I found through my own network and it was incredibly helpful. You will always learn something.
Lean into “free resources” – free 30-min consultations with lawyers, summer interns, ChatGPT(!)
Someone else told me this (so I can’t take all the credit) – but mistakes are blessings. Don’t be discouraged by the setbacks – and there will be setbacks – just learn from them and keep going.
https://integrateddiabetes.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Bags.webp
Q: What do you want other people to know who are thinking about starting up a business who also live with T1D?
A: Do it! I have gotten so much out of it – it’s been extremely fulfilling, rewarding, uplifting, empowering, etc. and I’ve met so many truly good people. It’s such an amazing community and I feel so blessed to have these people in my life
Q: What tips can you share that help you manage your T1D while launching Glow?
A: Follow positive, real people in the T1D space on social media — skip the perfectionists.
Even just a 5–10 minute walk after a carby meal works wonders.
And honestly… my own product! Glow Gummies have really helped me treat lows quickly and without the frustrating rebound highs.
Q: What compelled you to schedule a visit with IDS?
A: I decided to schedule a visit with IDS because I could tell from the online content and had heard that you offer the most real-life, usable advice — and that turned out to be exactly true.
It was the first time I felt like I was being taught actual hacks for managing diabetes, not just textbook suggestions. The team gave me new ways of thinking about my T1D, and it was such a refreshing change from the typical endo appointment where I often left feeling like the doctor had learned more than I did. When I go to IDS, I feel like I’m taking away real, tangible tools — I leave excited to try them, hopeful about what they’ll do for my blood sugars, and most importantly, I feel like I’ve been helped by people who truly care.
https://integrateddiabetes.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/strawberry.png
Q: What’s the most interesting or surprising thing you’ve learned on your T1D and business journey so far?
A: Hearing that people gain an average of 10 lbs. over time from hypo treatments — this was fascinating and a clear gap in care. We need healthy options that work well for our needs without adding another excess calories.
Learning that 80% of people diagnosed with T1D don’t have a family history — that made me feel less alone as the only person in my family with diabetes (besides my cat… but he was type 2 and couldn’t speak to share his experience ?)
Seeing athletes (pros, college players, kids) use Glow and thrive with T1D. Our “What Makes You Glow” campaign celebrates that. We even had a pro golfer use Glow Gummies at the Masters this year!
Q: Where do you see Glow heading in the future?
A: Glow is just getting started. I want it to be the go-to consumer brand for T1D — for everything you can’t get behind the pharmacy counter. Glow will always be about solving real needs and listening to the community. I want Glow to advocate for the T1D community by challenging what we’ve previously accepted as “good enough” and providing innovative solutions for better care.
https://integrateddiabetes.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/GLOW-gummies-logo.webp
Focused on preventing and treating hypoglycemia in a fast, reliable, and safe way, Naomi´s first product development and launch, Glow Gummies, is taking off like wildfire.
We at Integrated Diabetes Services look forward to watching Naomi Garlick´s future product(s) and website development!
As a thank you for reading this article, Naomi included a discount of 15% off Glow Gummies: IDS15. This link will automatically apply the discount at checkout: https://glowgummies.com/discount/IDS15
To learn more about Naomi and Glow Gummies, check out Glow’s website, her recent Podcast episode with us at Think Like a Pancreas…The Podcast, available at your favorite podcast sites, such as Podbean and YouTube, or follow her on Instagram @glow__gummies.
As a thank you for reading this article, Naomi included a discount of 15% off Glow Gummies: IDS15.
This link will automatically apply the discount at checkout: https://glowgummies.com/discount/IDS15
To learn more about Naomi and Glow Gummies, check out Glow’s website, her recent Podcast episode with us at Think Like a Pancreas…The Podcast, available at your favorite podcast sites, such as Podbean and YouTube, or follow her on Instagram @glow__gummies.
Back to June 2025 NewsletterSign Up For The IDS Monthly Newsletter!
