3 Surprises from Wearing a Continuous Glucose Monitor

 While I know my health won't be perfect forever, my goal is to take care of my body as well as I reasonably can so that I can have the least amount of physical suffering for the longest amount of time possible.

My approach to that goal incorporates the fact that I'm also a big believer in getting to the root cause of an issue, and in trying to get AHEAD of issues.

Western medicine is really good at addressing emergencies right after they occur.  If I get hit by a bus, yes please take me to a hospital.

But seeing them coming?  Preventative medicine?  Eh, not so much.  Besides looking at your bloodwork and urine occasionally, we tend to wait until after the issue to identify the issue.  More reactive than proactive.

With all this in mind (and because I have to go to the doctor every 90 days now that I'm lightly treating my ADHD), I recently asked the doctor about the possibility of getting a Continuous Glucose Monitor (CGM) to get a peek into what's going on with my blood sugar.

Because all the reasons above, plus money (AKA, insurance), she discouraged getting a prescription for one.  She did, however, mention that she had heard they now were available on Amazon without a prescription (!).

 So for $49, I figured, why not, and decided to do some primary research on myself.  🙂  Here's what I learned:

1.  You Can't Play A Player – But You May Be Playing Yourself

They say you can't play a player (which is a whole different blog post), but in this case, I was definitely playing myself.

Based on what I've learned – and what I teach – I knew full well something sweet on an empty stomach was a surefire way to spike my blood sugar. 

And, yet.. I definitely figured having a chai latte after skipping breakfast and going for a beach walk was totally fine.

And it was fine, in the sense that I didn't die or go to jail. LOL

But this choice was the only time that my blood sugar spiked out of the healthy zone on the high end the entire 14 days I was wearing the sensor.  🙁

I knew a sugary drink wasn't a great idea, but I figured in lieu of breakfast, and after a walk, and instead of a coffee latte, which might have been too much caffeine for me personally as I'd already had another coffee that morning – it's fine, right?!?

Eh, no, not so much.

While I felt ok, seeing my blood glucose had spiked into the unhealthy high zone was creepy.

 Part of the reason that this is such an important insight is that this is a routine we have almost every week, so it's not a one off – it's a repeating pattern.

Next time I may just have that second coffee and see how I feel.  Spiking my glucose like that was not how I wanted to end a “healthy” morning.   

2.  Getting Dysregulated Made Me More Dysregulatable – And For Quite Awhile

The second key insight was that spiking my blood sugar wasn't just a one off event – it seemed to make it easier for something small to cause a larger spike later that day – and to have lesser, but lingering, effects into the next day.

While I encourage clients who make an exception (planned or unplanned) to let it go and move on, the fact is that for my body a glucose spike was not a one and done.  It seemed to make my body more sensitive to lesser stimulus going forward.

So if after the chai tea (above) I'd had bread (say a sandwich) with lunch, or fruit (say and apple and nut butter) later in the day, by body had a much bigger reaction than on the days I'd had a sensible breakfast with good protein.

 I know when I get emotionally dysregulated (say a big argument) I tend to be more delicate afterwards – definitely the rest of that day, but maybe to a lesser degree the next day as well.  It seems like at least for me, that may be the case with my blood sugar as well. 

3. Hacks and Tricks Aren't Equal to Good Choices

The first day I had the CGM, my blood sugar was steady and low no matter what I ate – to the point that I wondered whether it was working.  So I decided to test it by intentionally eating processed food.

As much as possible, I try to avoid processed food products – even those marketed or designed to be healthy. 

I don't always follow this rule, because I also don't like cooking, so I have protein shakes and bars more often than I should.

I'm also lactose-intolerant, so I use pretend milk in place of regular moo-cow milk when milk is called for.

But with that exception, I generally try to eat food, not food products (hat tip: Michael Pollan).

So yes, that means avoiding obvious junk food (Cheetos and Snickers, for example).

It also means avoiding junk food's slick younger brother, processed food with healthy stuff added back in.  The nutrition facts look better, but processed food is processed food, and your body just doesn't run as well on food products as it does on actual food.

With that disclaimer out of the way, I intentionally decided to have some Raisin Bran Crunch to see if I could get a reaction from the CGM.

But I didn't want to entirely screw myself up, so I figured I'd add some plant-based “milk” and nut butter so there would be a bit of protein and fat to blunt the effects.

I can't tell you whether or not that helped, as I never tried it without the “milk” and nut butter.  But even with those tricks and hacks, the CGM still recorded a sizeable spike from the cereal – more than I'd anticipated when I designed the test.

This is a lot like point #1 – I was fooling myself by thinking this hack would mitigate the effect of the processed food!

Now, am I saying you can never have cereal or chai latte or whatever your heart desires?  No, of course not.  Do what you like.  But if you'd be intrigued by a reality check, the Lingo CGM might be of interest to you.  It was for me.

The monitor is off now, and I don't have plans to buy another at the moment.  For someone who is reasonably healthy and realistic, there may be no need.  But as an audit and reality check when I think I'm doing well?  Definitely worth the $49 occasionally in my opinion.