Have you considered trying a CGM? I've been using one since January and it's been so helpful in growing my awareness of how what I eat actualy supports my health goals.
What is a Continuous Glucos Monitor [CGM]?
A CGM is a small plastic disc worn on the arm that automatically tests blood sugar every few minutes, twenty-four hours a day and then sends this information directly to your smartphone. This is far better than getting a blood test for fasting glucose, because a blood test is a "snapshot" of your glucose level on a particular day. Depending on what you ate the night before, your reading could be significantly higher or lower than what you would see throughout a day, week, or even a month of wearing a CGM.
Wearing a CGM is a part of the journey in understanding and optimizing my health.
Benefits.
Improve Glucose Levels.
Glucose should be generally stable and rise only slightly after we eat. Sharp spikes and drops in glucose levels can damage tissues and lead to greater risk of heart disease, diabetes, and metabolic dysfunction. Even if you have normal glucose levels, without using a monitor you won't know if your body is experiencing these spikes and drops and this definitely correlates with worse metabolic markers.
Reduce Cravings and Anxiety.
High glucose spikes leads to bigger glucose crashes, which leads to cravings, fatigue, and anxiety. Glucose drops after meals can predict how hungry you will be later in the day and how soon you will need to eat again. Using a CGM can teach you how to avoid the spikes & drops by keeping blood sugar more stable.
Learn How What You Eat Affects Your Blood Sugar Levels.
We are all different and how we react to certain foods is unique. That's why following a certain eating plan might not be serving you well. CGMs can be useful in uncovering the impact of a meal on your blood glucose levels and if you see a huge spike, that's a clear sign that there was too much refined grains or sugars which is creating a big stress on your cells.
Learn to Create Strategies to Stabilize Glucose.
Balancing meals with enough fiber, protein, and fat; eating earlier in the day, closing the kitchen before dark and walking after meals are some of the helpful strategies that I'm using to balance my blood sugar.
Train the Body to Become Metabolically Flexible.
Buring fat produces ketones which have health benefits. But if the body is constantly getting glucose - it's preferred source of food energy, it will not prioritize burning fat. I'm learning to keep blood sugar levels low and healthy by changing my diet and lifestyle. This gives my body the opportunity to tap into fat stores for energy which will improve my metabolic flexibility.
Find Metabolic Dysfunction Earlier.
My fasting glucose is still higher than optimal even with all of the things I'm doing. Using a CGM I can see glucose curves and clues into my dysfunction and take steps to correct it.
Motivate Behavior Change.
Looking at real-time glucose data and the impact my food choices and activity levels have, I am motivated to make better choices which will lead to improving my health.
Choosing to wear a CGM, you can view long-term trends in glucosee that can help you see the trajectory of your metabolic health. If you track your blood sugar and keep it in a low and healthy range over the course of your lifetime, you will never have to walk into your doctor's office and get a diagnosis of type 2 diabetes that will change everything!
This disease progresses gradually over years and decades and unfortunately, depending on your doctor to monitor climbing glucose numbers doesn't usually happen. Until you can be medicated, you might not be given any indication that you're moving towards type 2 diabetes.
Knowing exactly where you stand places you in control of your health, and that's powerful!
I'd love to encourage you to consider tracking your blood sugar levels. Our health is tied to how our body utilizes the energy we got through our food.
I can help you discover where you stand and give you ways to improve your health.
You can find me here: https://www.janlindquistntp.com
Thanks for reading,
Jan
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