I Used A Continuous Glucose Monitor For Two Weeks. Amazing Insights!

Libre Free Two Week Trial My Blood Glucose ResultsToday we're talking about something that affects each and every one of us: our blood glucose levels.Now, you might be thinking, "Blood glucose? Isn't that just a concern for people with diabetes?" But here's the thing: Monitoring your blood glucose is crucial for everyone. It's actually one of the highest risk factors for a number of health issues. And guess what? The food you eat impacts your blood glucose levels, and it affects everyone differently.So, let's dive right in. First off, why is blood glucose so important? Well, consistently high blood glucose levels can lead to serious health problems, and we’re not just talking diabetes here, it includes heart disease, kidney failure, and even blindness. It's not just a minor issue; it's a major risk factor for a host of complications.But here's where it gets interesting – and a bit complicated. The way our bodies react to different foods can vary wildly. Research has shown that while one person may get a fast blood glucose increase (or a spike) from eating a bowl of ice cream, this doesn’t happen to everyone……That means the same food that spikes one person's blood sugar might not have the same effect on someone else. It's a real eye-opener and a big reason why a one-size-fits-all approach to nutrition just doesn't work.Therefore, when a client has a conversation about nutrition, and they ask for my personal opinion on which foods they should eat…… how can I honestly answer that with any real insight? The first step, in my opinion, is to understand how the foods we eat regularly affect our blood glucose levels. And it amazes me that so many of my clients who have been diagnosed as having Type II diabetes, or have pre-diabetes, are not advised to check their blood glucose levels AT ALL!! They’re on medication to ‘control it’ but never measure their blood glucose levels…..The saying ‘What we measure, we can manage’ has never been more applicable here. Type II diabetes is for the vast majority of us, a lifestyle disease, which means that our lifestyle… the things we consistently do day in and day out have caused this to happen. So giving us medication, and providing no advice on how we can change our lifestyle for the better sounds like a backwards way of dealing with it. Now this is where we come up against the first problem….. passive sick care versus active healthcare…If you’re not willing to accept that what you’re doing day in day out is harming your health, and that in order to change that you’re going to have to change something and put some effort in to forming new habits…The sort of person who says things like;‘Well, what should I expect at my age…’And they’re just turning 60!! Personally, I expect to be running around and keeping up with those in their 40’s!Time will only work against us if consistently make decisions that harm our health.Anyone noticed what happens when you go to the gym consistently for a few months? You start to notice improvements right? Well, if you can start to get a hold on what foods are causing your blood glucose levels to spike, then you can start to manage your type II diabetes better….. and in a lot of cases I’ve heard of people reversing it entirely! Through LIFESTYLE CHANGES……. They reversed a lifestyle disease…… see how much sense that makes?! Well my philosophy is before you start changing things you need to know where you are right now. That way you can measure the changes… positive or negative that have been made by whatever intervention you’ve put in place…. For example.. Has my blood glucose level changed since I reduced the amount of bread I eat from 8 slices to 2 slices each day? Now how can I accurately know the answer if I’ve got no idea what my blood glucose levels were in the first place? So I decided to try using a ‘Continuous Glucose Monitor’ (CGM). You might have seen these advertised for companies like ‘Zoe’. Davina McCall and Steven Bartlett have been recruited to push their program, which looks very thorough and very interesting by the way. A bit pricey for some perhaps, but then how much is your health worth to you? Because boy do we miss it when it goes…….. we’d generally pay any amount to get it back. But came across a company called Libre. They were doing a free two week trial of their CGM so I signed up and tried it so I could let you know whether it was worth you doing the same. I’m not diabetic, and nor do I want to be. Therefore, prevention was my main motivation. I do get sleepy after eating at times, and I wondered whether this could be linked to certain foods causing a ‘sugar crash’. I tended to feel tired after eating bread…. I’ve switched to eating gluten free bread and that’s made a massive difference… and gluten free food in general because I now get less drowsiness and I recover better after exercise. But I wanted to see how my body reacted to the types of food I was eating. Fortunately for me, it was good news. I stayed within the target blood glucose zone for 99% of the two week trial period. The foods that made me spike for a short time above that zone were;Cake - no great surprises there - I tested cake multiple times, and it caused a spike each time. Sweet and Sour Chicken - This actually gave me my highest reading of 11.4.Traditional Ramen - This surprised me a bit - but the noodles were wheat noodles so perhaps that was the reason.  Foods that surprisingly didn’t cause a spike;Porridge - I thought this would send my BG to the moon but it barely shifted above 8.5mmol/ml each time. I do put lots of healthy stuff in it. I have hazelnuts, almonds, Brazil nuts, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, raisins, peanut butter and half a teaspoon of cacao powder…….Yeah it’s not your traditional porridge!! Delicious though and keeps me going until lunch. 2) Peanut M&M’s! - Not sure if this is good news as I LOVE them. Chocolate and nuts is my thing….. I need to find an alternative without the toxic bright coloured shell. That part I could easily do without. What I learned was that my blood glucose bobs along between 5.5 and 6.5 most of the day, well within the ‘safe zone’. When I do get a large spike in my blood glucose, my body is very efficient at removing it and bringing those levels down quickly. If I was showing signs of pre-diabetes, it would have taken much longer for my body to react and remove the glucose from my blood and into the cells. Eating protein and fats meant that my blood glucose levels barely changed. They stayed very consistent, therefore, if in the future, WHEN I do this type of test again…… because I will do it again in order to see what’s changed over time….When I do this again, if I was to find my blood glucose was sitting at a higher baseline than now…. I’d know to switch to nutrition habits higher in protein and fats whilst minimising carbohydrate intake. I think that would work for me, but it might not work for you. You need to test first in order to get some objective data to back up your next move. Useful LinksYoutube ChannelElevate Health Chiropractic and Wellbeing WebsiteElevate Health Online Membership Registration