CGM Experiment Insights

The number one thing you can do for your health is to maintain insulin sensitivity and blood sugar balance. There are various ways to gain insight into how your blood sugar is responding to what you are eating or your lifestyle. One of my favorite ways to look at this is to use a Continuous Glucose Monitor (CGMs) to keep track of blood sugar levels in real-time, providing insights that can lead to improved health outcomes across various aspects of life. As a bonus, you don’t have to constantly prick your finger!

Ensuring an optimal blood sugar response can be a game-changer for body composition, energy levels, workout performance, pregnancy health, and hormonal balance. Read on to find out how!

1. Optimizing Body Composition

For those looking to shed excess fat or build muscle, maintaining optimal blood glucose levels is crucial. A CGM helps in identifying how different foods affect blood sugar and can guide meal planning to prevent spikes and crashes. By keeping glucose levels within the recommended range of 70-130 mg/dL (depending on where you look, this range can vary - I set my device up to 150), individuals can better manage their weight and improve metabolic health. Studies have shown that stabilizing glucose levels can reduce cravings and support more effective fat loss.

2. Enhancing Energy Levels

Stable glucose levels are synonymous with more consistent energy throughout the day. Fluctuations in blood sugar can lead to energy dips and spikes, causing fatigue and reduced productivity. By monitoring glucose with a CGM, individuals can adjust their diet to maintain an average daily glucose levels ideally between 80-100 mg/dL, thus optimizing their energy levels.

3. Improving Workout Performance

Athletes and fitness enthusiasts can benefit from using a CGM to track how their bodies respond to different training regimes. Monitoring glucose levels can help optimize fuel intake for endurance sports or high-intensity training, ensuring that the body has enough energy throughout the workout. Moreover, understanding glucose trends can aid in recovery by adjusting post-workout nutrition to replenish energy stores effectively. Want to learn more? Check out Dr. Eric’s blog on this topic!

4. Monitoring During Pregnancy

Maintaining proper glucose levels during pregnancy is crucial for the health of both the mother and the baby. A CGM can provide continuous feedback, helping to manage gestational diabetes if it arises and ensuring that glucose levels stay within a safe range. Insulin resistance increases in the second half of pregnancy due to hormones blocking insulin’s effect. That’s why the Glucose Tolerance Test (GTT) is typically done between 24-28 weeks. By tracking your body’s response to food during pregnancy with a CGM, you can take action earlier.

5. Addressing Hormonal Imbalances

Hormonal imbalances such as those seen in conditions like polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) can be better managed with the help of a CGM. By keeping an eye on how different foods and activities influence blood sugar levels, one can make informed decisions that help in balancing hormones naturally. Supplements like inositol and berberine have been noted to positively affect blood glucose levels, offering an additional tool for managing these imbalances.

Glucose Level Cause and Effect

I noted predictable fluctuations, either low or high, of my glucose levels in response to certain things. Here is what I found:

Things that Increased Glucose:

• Heat Exposure: Activities like taking a hot shower or sauna session can temporarily increase blood sugar due to the stress response they trigger in the body. During heat exposure, body temperature will rise as does growth hormone, adrenaline, glucagon, and cortisol causing the transient increase in glucose.

• Stress: Emotional or physical stress can raise glucose levels as part of the body’s response mechanism.

• Naked Carbohydrates: Consumption of high-carbohydrate or sugary foods naturally spikes blood sugar levels. This one is obvious! However, I noted a big difference in my glucose spike when I dressed up my. For example, I ate ice cream on an empty stomach and spikes up to 202mg/dL! I expected that to happen, but it was eye opening. Compared to another time when I had a bowl of ice cream following dinner and only had a 20mg/dL spike. There was protein and fiber in my digestive system reducing the amount of absorbed glucose.

• High Intensity Exercise: I found when I exercised fasted, my glucose increased slightly. This makes sense as your liver has to start breaking down glycogen, your glucose stores, to maintain glucose levels for your muscles to burn for energy. If you see this happening, it is a good sign that you have “fuel in the tank”. I hypothesize that someone who chronically under eats and over exercises may not see this happen.

Things that Decreased Glucose Spikes:

• Alcohol Consumption: Drinking alcohol can lower blood sugar levels, which is why some people might experience hypoglycemia in response to drinking which causes carbohydrate cravings! This can especially be dangerous for diabetics who are using insulin as you could be at risk for dangerously low levels of blood sugar. How does alcohol lower glucose? Your liver is the key organ in your body that maintains glucose levels through building new glucose (gluconeogenesis). Since the liver is what has to process the alcohol, our body diverts the priority to that function when alcohol is consumed instead of maintaining glucose. Alcohol also inhibits the release of glucagon from the pancreas which is the hormone that signals the release of glucose from glycogen (glucose storage) which maintain blood glucose, especially when you are not eating. If gluconeogensis and glycogen functions are stalled, that results in hypoglycemia.

• Low Intensity Exercise: You aren’t imagining it! Exercise is listed above as well as a factor that can increase glucose! However, intensity matters. For example, following a meal, physical activity such as a walk, can lower post meal glucose spikes due to increased insulin sensitivity and glucose consumption by muscles.

Supplements and Blood Sugar

Certain supplements like berberine, gymnema, amla, and inositol have been found to help in regulating blood sugar levels. These natural supplements can enhance insulin sensitivity and promote a more stable glucose environment in the body. They are something to test out if you are finding you are having a lot of spikes or a higher average glucose of >100mg/dL.

Keeping it in Perspective

By integrating a Continuous Glucose Monitor into your health regimen, you can take control of your blood sugar and, by extension, your overall health and well-being. This device isn’t just for those with diabetes; it's a powerful tool for anyone looking to optimize their health across various facets of life. When doing a CGM experiment, it can be easy to get obsessed with the nuances of the data and I want to remind you that we are really trying to understand the big picture! Blood sugar spikes happen. They happened to me and they probably will happen to you. What this tells us is what foods your body has to work a little harder to manage. If spikes are happening all day, or your body is not getting back to your pre-meal glucose level (which should be under 100mg/dL), or your average blood glucose is high, then we want to start to tackle what may be contributing to this. If you want to dig even more into CGM data, Lily Nichols, a dietician specialized in pregnancy and diabetes nutrition, shares her insights in these two blogs:
Lily Nichols CGM Experiment

Lily Nichols Follow Up CGM Experiment

When I recommend a CGM to a patient, I will comb through their 2 weeks of data with them during an office visit to help understand what may be contributing to symptoms and what we can do about it with nutrition, lifestyle, and supplementation. My patients come away from the CGM experiment feeling like they gained valuable insight and also ready to not have to wear the CGM anymore!