We caught up with Apeiron Life Founder Geoff’s Continuous Glucose Monitoring (CGM) experience as he tested out our new program, which helps you to monitor your blood glucose levels in real-time. It’s a great tool to allow you insight into how food, sleep, and movement affect your blood glucose levels.
Geoff decided to explore the CGM experience to gain further insight into his personal reactions to specific foods and how different types of movement could play a role in his health.
What I Learned:
One of the biggest surprises to me was how easy the whole process was and the insight it gave me to act upon recommendations. At first, the idea was daunting, but The Apeiron Life team has built a great guide to help you through the process. The most intimidating part was getting started, but attaching the monitor was actually rather easy.
Watching the numbers was initially a bit stressful. But I learned to trust the trends as they generally showed where my levels were and use them as a guide rather than hyper-focus on the precise numbers themselves. The precise numbers vary from sensor to sensor and may or may not match with a more accurate blood draw. It’s more the impact directionally you should focus on.
The change in levels matched what I felt physically going on in my body. For example, exercise, especially Zone 2/3, was significant in bringing my blood glucose levels back into the optimal range. Swimming was a particularly great movement for this goal.
Regarding my nutrition, I noticed that a high protein, high vegetable meal didn’t alter my glucose levels. And really, all of those good whole foods like lean protein and non-starchy vegetables kept my numbers at a fairly consistent rate. Seeing the data brought that home for me.
Also, for my meals, by eating them in order of protein, vegetables, and finally, a starch or dessert, my blood glucose stayed steady. But when I consumed an item like pasta alone, it spiked my glucose somewhat high. I, therefore, became conscious of this fact and began to consume my food intentionally rather than passively in terms of type and order.
Processed food was an item I generally understood might spike my blood glucose. Still, it wasn't until I saw my glucose numbers skyrocket from the fast-food chicken sandwich that it hit home. It emphasized how much sugar and processed carbs are in those fast-food bread buns. These monitors place theoretical concepts into real-time data and empower you to make changes, such as walking after a meal to mitigate the rise in blood sugar levels. I found swimming or biking could quickly get my levels back into the target zone. It gives you the power to alter your habits in visible ways.
What it made me do differently:
Logging my meals in conjunction with the monitor allowed me to be more conscious of my food choices since I started to understand how each item affected my glucose.
In the long term, I’ll take away this knowledge and be more purposeful in areas such as how I eat my meals (protein first, starches last) and utilizing exercises like swimming. I had a vague understanding that swimming was a great full-body workout. Yet, until I saw the undeniable data in front of me, it truly validated how it can give a full-body workout and support my metabolic health.
Utilizing tools like the glucose monitor allows you to easily change your current habits without too much inconvenience. The process was a great way to trial and error different items so that you can take the knowledge forward into your everyday life.
If you’re curious to try Continuous Glucose Monitoring, speak with your Apeiron Life Client Advocate; they can get you started and answer any questions!
Further Reading:
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