Glukoositasapaino on nyt saatavilla suomeksi! — And why this book means more to me than I ever expected

Glukoositasapaino – Helposti Tasapainoon is now available on Amazon in paperback and Kindle — my gift to my Finnish ancestors and to every Finn seeking better health. 🌿

Last November felt like a quiet milestone. No fanfare, no big announcement at the time — just a deep, private sense of completion. My book, Glukoositasapaino – Helposti Tasapainoon, the Finnish edition of Glucose Wisdom, went live on Amazon. And as I held that moment, I realised that this translation was not just a book. It was a homecoming.

For those of you who have followed my journey, you'll know that Glucose Wisdom — my account of reversing Type 2 Diabetes through nutrition, mindset and lifestyle change — has already found its readers in English and German. Bringing it into Finnish was always close to my heart, and I am deeply grateful to the two people who made it possible.

My mother did a thorough and loving job of checking the initial translation, making it truly readable and natural in Finnish. And then the manuscript went to my uncle Raineri — who is also my godfather, and who has held a special place in my heart throughout my whole life. That he could contribute his knowledge, his care, and his love to this project, and that his input genuinely improved the book — that means more to me than I can easily say. Kiitos teille molemmille, sydämeni pohjasta.

You can find the book on Amazon here. If you know anyone in your Finnish family or circle who is dealing with Type 2 Diabetes, or who simply wants to understand blood sugar balance better — please share it with them. That is exactly why I wrote it.

But I want to tell you about something else that happened this year, something that gave this book an entirely new meaning for me.

Last year, on my birthday, my partner's son and his family gave me a MyHeritage DNA test as a present. I had wanted to do one of these tests for years and had simply never got around to it. It turned out to be the best birthday present I have ever received.

I have always known that I am half Finnish and half German. My mother is Finnish, my father was German, and I grew up in Germany — though every summer holiday and every Christmas of my childhood was spent in Finland. My mother, working full time and carrying the whole household on her shoulders, was simply too exhausted to speak Finnish at home in the evenings, so I learned the language the proper way — from my grandparents, in Finland, during those long summer holidays. Later in life I took Finnish language courses, the most recent one here in London, to keep my conversational Finnish alive.

I have always described myself this way: German in my head, Finnish in my soul. The punctuality, the perfectionism, the strict work ethic — those I put down to my German upbringing. But my soul has always been Finnish. The moment I see Finnish ground and landscape from the plane window, I am home. I have never lived there, and yet I am home.

So when the DNA results came back — when I saw that number on the screen — I may have shed a tear or two.

59.8% Finnish.

Less than 10% Germanic.

I am overwhelmingly, undeniably, scientifically Finnish. 😁🇫🇮

I have always felt more Finnish than German, and now I know why. And I can wholeheartedly call myself a Viking — because the numbers confirm that I am far more Northern European than German! I don't want to deny my German side; I grew up there, German is my first language, and it shaped me in countless ways. But there is something profound about having what you have always felt in your soul confirmed in your cells.

My MyHeritage DNA results — 59.8% Finnish, and less than 10% Germanic. My soul always knew. Now my cells have confirmed it. 🇫🇮

There was one more astonishing detail. With a Finnish mother and a German father, one might expect the result to be roughly 50/50. But it wasn't. My own conclusion is that my father must also have carried some Finnish DNA in his heritage — which would perhaps explain why he asked to be buried in Finland after his death. He too always felt deeply at home there. He loved Finland and its people, and he even learned to speak Finnish, which as any learner will tell you, is not a small undertaking. Sadly, he is no longer here for me to ask, and his DNA can no longer be tested. But I have asked his brother to take the test — because the family was from Mecklenburg in northern Germany, a region where Swedish and Finnish soldiers fought during the Thirty Years' War. The history is there. The possibility is real.

The DNA results don't just give you a map of where your ancestors lived. They give you matches — people alive today who share a portion of their DNA with you and their ancestors. So far, I have found 59 members of my extended family and 34,539 distant relatives. Of those, 18,028 are in Finland. 3,456 in Sweden. 2,509 in the USA. And only 936 in Germany.

I sat with those numbers for a long time.

I understand that they are influenced by how many people in each country have taken the test. But still. The overwhelming majority of my living relatives are in Finland. That was an extraordinary feeling.

And then something else happened — something deeper and more difficult, and more beautiful.

Looking at those numbers, looking at those family trees stretching back through the generations, I began to understand something that I had never fully felt before: how many people had to live, in order for me to be here. How many ancestors — all the way back through the centuries — had to survive, had to endure, had to love and struggle and carry on, just so that eventually, I could come into this life.

And Finland, even only 100 years ago, was a country of extreme poverty. The winters were brutal. Life was hard in ways that those of us living in modern comfort can barely imagine. And yet they survived. Generation after generation, they showed what the Finns call Sisu — that particular Finnish quality of tenacity, grit, and inner resilience that has no real equivalent in any other language. They endured the harsh winters. They ensured that their children survived. They beat the odds, again and again and again.

All of that, so that I could be here.

And I am the last in my line.

I never wanted children — I knew that from deep within, all my life. The first time I ever felt a shadow of regret about that decision was when I reached the age of menopause, and I realised that the kind of love a parent feels for their child — that particular depth, that particular power of love — is something I will not experience in this life. That is something I am genuinely missing out on, and I can acknowledge that honestly now.

But when I saw those DNA results, and understood the full weight of what they were showing me — all those ancestors, all that sacrifice, all that Sisu, all converging in me, and my line ending here — it was almost unbearable for a moment. I almost felt as though I had forsaken my family. As though I had, without meaning to, stabbed my ancestors in the back.

All that sacrifice, and nobody to carry it forward.

And then something shifted.

Because of course their sacrifice was not for nothing. Many other family members also came from those same ancestors. Many other lines continue. It is only my line that ends with me.

And so the question became: what do I do with that?

The answer came quietly but clearly. I have a newfound mission. A purpose. A desire to ensure that the hardship and the Sisu of my ancestors was not in vain — not through another human being, but through the legacy I leave through my life. Through the work I do. Through the healing I help bring into the world. Through the knowledge I share.

This book is part of that.

Glukoositasapaino is dedicated to all my Finnish ancestors — to those who lived before me, who instilled this love for Finland in me, who ensured that I always find peace when I sit by a lake and look out over the still water. I can feel them there. I hear them. And I promise that I will make their sacrifices worthwhile — not through another human being, but through the legacy of my life.

Diabetes is a problem the world over, and it is present in my own Finnish family. If my book can help even a few of them — or any Finnish reader who is struggling with their blood sugar, their health, or their sense of what is possible — then it has done its work.

Glukoositasapaino – Helposti Tasapainoon is available now on Amazon in paperback and as a Kindle eBook. You can order it here.

And if this story has touched you — please share it. You never know whose ancestor's Sisu might be waiting to be honoured. 🌿

Love and light, Tanya 🤗