I wore a continuous glucose monitor(CGM) for a month... Here's what I learned

I turned 50 at the beginning of September and a reasonable gift to buy myself would have been a nice purse, some shoes, clothes, or jewelry right? So what did I buy myself, a CGM. Crazy right??  Not if you know me. I have a very scientific mind and LOVE data and biofeedback so this seemed like a good fit for me. I have used a fingerstick glucose device in the past just to see how specific foods were impacting my blood sugar and to try to troubleshoot times of day where my energy was low, but had never had continuous data available.

I learned a LOT about myself over the last month, and it wasn't all pretty.

1. Tracking STILL makes me crazy

I wasn't tracking macros per-se but did log my food so I could notice how my blood sugar fluctuated with certain foods. That wasn't so bad, but having 24/7 access to my glucose readings was overwhelming, to say the least. I found I was getting obsessed with the numbers and my morning glucose readings became like that number on the scale every morning- it dictated my day. If they were low, I felt good about myself and if they were high I was so frustrated and determined to figure out what had caused the high readings. I messaged the dietician daily and she was amazing, she "talked me off the ledge" multiple times and brought me back to reality. I had no idea that I would still be so sensitive to tracking after having given it up, but wow was that eye opening.

2. Stress plays a HUGE role in blood sugar regulation

I know through my training that stress increases blood sugar, and for some reason, I thought I would be the exception to that rule;) . I feel like I have a good handle on my stress management through meditation, HeartMath, and breathing exercises, however, I still obviously have some work to do in this area.  My glucose rose every day once I got to work, it was a consistent pattern. 

3. Micromanaging everything is NOT helpful

This sort of goes along with #1 above. Being observant and mindful is totally necessary when you are making changes to your health, but obsessing over EVERYTHING gets you nowhere fast. I was trying to figure out every scenario that might have been causing my glucose to rise and totally felt like it was driving me crazy.

4. My Perfectionist tendencies are still there

I like to say I am a "recovering perfectionist" because it is still a struggle for me. I always wanted to have the best grades, check all the boxes, do everything right and these things still bleed over into my life today although not nearly as much as when I was younger.  Seeing the normal ranges for fasting glucose and then seeing mine NOT lying within that range, I had this desire to manipulate whatever I could to get my numbers to be "normal". 

5. There are some clear winners and losers as far as foods go and how my body responds to them. 

Some of these were surprising to me, and others were a "duh" no kidding response- LOL!

1. HUGE glucose spike/response: Bananas, sauerkraut, black beans, trail mix, butternut squash

2. No real glucose response: oatmeal, chickpeas, lentils, apples, pears, sweet potatoes, gluten-free sourdough bread

3. Some non-food things that spiked my glucose: Cold medicine, melatonin supplement

6. What I eat at night impacts my sleep

I found this interesting. I have read a lot about trying to eat your last meal 3 hours before going to bed for proper digestion and optimal sleep. This is tricky for me since I usually can't get dinner on the table until 5:30-6:00 pm and I am in bed by 8:30 pm. I played around a bit with my dinners to see what impacted my overnight glucose numbers and found that dinner with protein and a lot of veggies kept my glucose higher than a dinner of just a protein shake. My morning glucose numbers were better if I just had protein before bed vs. a mixed meal. I also found that sugar before bed REALLY keeps my glucose elevated and I have a much more restless night sleep when I eat sweets at night. Our insulin sensitivity and glucose tolerance have been found to be worse at night, so this makes sense. My body responded much better to carbs eaten in the morning and early afternoon vs. evening. 

7. Numbers often lie

After 3 weeks of tracking and seeing my glucose numbers all over the map, I reached out to my Primary Care Physician. I just had a routine physical a week before starting this CGM experiment, and my A1C(3 month average of blood sugar) was within the normal range at 5.3 so I asked if we could run a few more labs. I had fasting insulin and glucose plus a cholesterol panel run last week. Based on the results, the dietician for my CGM recalibrated my sensor to reflect the values found on my lab tests. This brought my glucose down almost 20 points from where it had been. This means my glucose numbers are NOT as high as I was led to believe based on the first few weeks of data. They are still not optimal, but much closer than I originally thought!  

So what are my main takeaways from this experiment? 

I will use this data to tweak the foods I eat at certain times of day for the best glucose response, like eating carbs earlier in the day and keeping my dinner protein dominant. I will be very mindful of the supplements/medications I am taking as I saw how they impact me on a deeper level. I was reminded that tracking still sucks, and drives perfectionist tendencies. I will continue to work on minimizing the impact of stress on my body by being more consistent with my HeartMath and meditation practice, knowing that is critical to my mental and physical health. I will use the "is it worth it" filter when deciding on sweets especially in the evening. Let's face it, sometimes it will be worth sacrificing a good night's sleep to have a slice of birthday cake with family. I am continuously amazed at the feedback we can get from our bodies when we are willing to listen and dig a little deeper than macros and calories!

I would love to hear if you have used a CGM or other monitoring device that gave you insight into your health and how that might have changed how you approach your wellness going forward!