Continuous Glucose Monitoring

I’m back again with another “healthy girl era” topic! Like I talked about a couple weeks ago, this year I am really attempting to dive deeper into my health and wellness. I decided to explore continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) and learning how to better understand my overall health. After some research, I decided the CGM from Nutrisense was the device I wanted to trial. The purpose for me is to better understand how certain foods affect my blood sugar and what I can do with that knowledge, to overall improve my well being. I truly wanted to better understand how the food I eat affects my body and my blood sugars, then in turn affecting my life longevity! Once you learn about how glucose and blood sugars affect your body, you will strive to apply these lifestyle techniques so you can improve your longevity of life, maintain good cardiovascular health, weight management, optimize your metabolism and aid in keeping energy levels consistent! 

Not only does food affect your blood sugar, but exercise, sleep and stress can as well. Combining the data that my CGM provides me with my wearable device data, I truly feel that I have such a better understanding of my body, recovery, how it feels and an overall great picture to help myself achieve healthy lifestyle goals and maintain overall wellness. 

If this is something you are thinking about doing, I encourage you to start by reading the Glucose Revolution book first! This is absolutely an essential piece in the quest to learn about your blood sugars. Glucose Revolution was very enlightening and instrumental in helping me better understand glucose, how different foods affect our blood sugar and how just by simply changing the order of consumption can completely change the way foods spike your blood sugars. The goal of CGM is truly to keep your blood sugars stable throughout the day with as few spikes or crashes as possible. When your body experiences extreme highs and lows of glucose continuously over years, this can, in turn, lead to health conditions, inflammatory states and diseases. But, please know, some variability in your glucose levels is completely normal and healthy! Did you know that maintaining a balance in your glucose levels can help promote healthy skin, including reduction in acne and fighting against the effects of aging!

My biggest takeaway

One of the biggest takeaways from the Glucose Revolution book and wearing the CGM was adapting small changes and how they can impact our health and blood sugars. For example, the order in which we eat our food can make all the difference. Let’s take broccoli and pasta as our dinner. The order in which we eat these 2 foods can impact your overall blood sugar and health. Think of your stomach and intestines as the kitchen sink and plumbing. Whatever food goes down the pipe first initiates the glucose response. If you are eating the pasta first all the carbs are going to spike your sugar. In the reverse, eating broccoli first will allow the fiber to decrease all those carbs hitting your system. In all, the best order for maintaining stable blood sugar levels is fiber, protein and fat and lastly carbs and sugars. If a chicken breast would have been added to that meal, the best ideal order would be, broccoli, chicken & then pasta. Another good rule of thumb is, start with green vegetables or a salad first! Next time that bread basket comes to the table before your salad, think about this simple rule of thumb. Take a piece of bread and save it to have after your salad, not before! 😉

When we consume all foods, our body has to work to digest those foods properly. Starches like bread, pasta, crackers, rice are converted into glucose to digest them. While on the other hand, fiber, protein and fat are not converted into glucose by our bodies and macronutrients are important for keeping your glucose levels at a steady state. One thing I want to stress though, is our bodies need all of these nutrients to maintain a healthy lifestyle. Cutting out major macronutrients is not healthy, it takes a balance and knowing the “proper” order of consumption. Check out a great blog I wrote about Macros & their importance!

Another really amazing healthy habit that benefits your overall health and blood sugar stability is taking a walk after you eat. Even a 10 minute walk will do the trick. Be sure to walk within 60-90 minutes of finishing your meal to help stabilize the post meal blood sugar spikes. 

These tips are all so effective and I highly recommend reading Glucose Revolution to learn more, as well as following the Glucose Goddess on Instagram. All of this knowledge I have gained is another tool in my “healthy toolbox” of life! 

As with anything in life, knowledge is power! The more you know the better, especially when it comes to overall health and wellness. Always strive to be the healthiest version of yourself daily. Daily habits turn into long term results and wellness. Listen to your body and don’t feel guilty on the days that you maybe splurge and eat dessert first, but don’t make it a habit! 😉

XO-

Racquel