What I Learned While Wearing a CGM

“Insulin resistance is one of the most under-recognized causes for fatigue, hormone imbalances, weight gain, weight loss resistance, and inflammation. And regulating glucose and avoiding huge blood sugar spikes is one of the biggest needle movers for overall health and longevity.” These are Ashley Furlong’s words and they certainly caught my attention. Ashley is an integrative health practitioner and the founder of Whole Health Studio, a wellness studio for women. Ashley opened Whole Health Studio as a space for women to come to learn, to grow, to heal and to connect. I’ve been to her studio a few times now and I absolutely love what she is doing for women in Philadelphia. She’s an incredible resource to help navigate the changes that happen throughout a woman’s life. I could write an entire blog post about the unique offerings that Ashley is bringing to the community through Whole Health Studio. But I really love what I learned about managing glucose from Ashley that I am just going to focus on that… at least for now ;).

Maybe some of these symptoms that I listed at the start of this post resonate with you. They resonated with me. So my goal with this project is to answer the question: How can you learn if some of your symptoms are being caused by insulin resistance and how can you fix the problem now, before those symptoms turn into real complications? Well, lucky for us, anyone can learn how glucose is handled in their own body by wearing one of these little monitors, the size of a quarter, in their arm for two weeks. Wearing a Continuous Glucose Monitor, more commonly referred to as a “CGM”, can provide key insights into your lifestyle and how well your insulin is working. So of course I decided to wear a CGM and see what I could learn about my body over the course of 14 days. And of course, I am going to share it all with you right here because that’s what I do.

But let’s back up a little and start by defining some of the words that you may hear thrown around when it comes to this topic. So think of me as your biology teacher for the next few paragraphs. What is glucose? Glucose is sugar. Our body uses glucose for energy. Carbohydrates tend to have a lot of glucose. That’s why “carb loading” before a big race is a thing — but in actuality carb loading isn’t going to be the best option for everybody before a race. You’ll have to keep on reading to learn why.

Well then what is insulin? Insulin is actually a hormone. It’s produced by the pancreas and regulates blood sugar levels by helping glucose enter your body’s cells for energy. It’s actually foundational for other hormones to stay balanced — attention perimenopausal and menopausal women in the audience. What is insulin resistance? Insulin resistance is when your body isn’t able to bring that glucose to your cells for energy. Instead the glucose is just left building up in the body with no place to go. Thus, it starts to create all sorts of issues that you’ll see in the form of the symptoms that I mentioned in the first sentence of this post. And over time that insulin resistance can turn into more serious complications, like diabetes. My father is diabetic and I see what havoc this disease has wreaked on his physical and mental health over the past 20 years.

So in order to ensure that insulin is doing what it needs to do with the glucose you give your body, it’s helpful to monitor your glucose by wearing a CGM. What is a CGM? A CGM is a device that tracks a person's glucose levels continuously throughout the day and night, using a small sensor inserted under the skin (I wore mine in the back of my upper arm, and I promise you that I did not feel it at all while I was wearing it). The monitor measures glucose levels in the body’s interstitial fluid (the liquid that surrounds the cells in the body). In my case, the sensor is connected to a transmitter that sends the data wirelessly to an app. It’s actually quite impressive how easy it is to apply the CGM to your body and then sync the app to your monitor with your phone in just seconds. And within a few hours, all of your body’s glucose information is available on that app. You’ll probably become obsessed with watching the graphs and data as you go through your days wearing the CGM. It’s pretty cool.

The whole point of wearing the CGM and monitoring your glucose is so that you can see what lifestyle and diet factors impact your body’s glucose levels. Every body reacts to certain factors differently. Then you can create more stability in order to improve how well your body’s insulin works. This can in turn provide you with more energy, weight loss, balanced hormones and reduce inflammation. Ah, ha! So that is why we are here and that is why I wanted to share my experience with a CGM with you all. I chose to wear the Lingo because that is what Ashley recommends but there are so many on the market. A few popular brands include Nutrisense and Levels but here is a list of some other popular ones.

To put it very generally, the overall goal when you are tracking your glucose with a CGM is to have less spikes. You will see that your glucose levels will spike after events such as a meal or snack, an intense workout and when under stress. When your glucose levels are constantly spiking, you are overwhelming your body’s insulin, which will cause it to burn out, i.e. slow down, not work as well and maybe even stop working altogether.

When you stabilize your glucose levels then insulin will work better. The best way to keep your insulin hormone working well is to manage your blood sugar by having less spikes. More stable glucose equals better insulin productivity which equals an increased ability to burn fat. When there are less demands on the insulin, the better it will work. So when you wear your monitor, you can see what causes more demands on your body and then work to decrease those demands with lifestyle changes, which I learned all about from Ashley. When you sign up for Ashley’s program at Whole Health Studio you will get a comprehensive Glucose Protocol that will list nine lifestyle skills to support glucose and insulin. I’m going to get into a few of the ones that really blew my mind and that I worked on during my two weeks of monitoring.

Diet.

Obviously, diet is the biggest factor here. You want to eat as many whole foods as possible to avoid glucose spikes. You want to limit sweetened beverages, refined carbohydrates, tons of processed breads and pastas, sodas and artificial ingredients. You can actually watch what happens to your glucose levels when you are wearing your CGM when you eat these things. Every body reacts differently to different foods so it’s really cool to wear the monitor and see how your body reacts to certain foods. For example, I had been enjoying a pretty healthy breakfast porridge until I wore my monitor and saw my body spike one of its highest spikes after this meal. I was quite shocked to learn that this porridge that I thought was helping my body could actually be the reason my insulin has to work overtime.

Order of Food.

This is actually pretty crazy and one of the biggest takeaways I learned from Ashley and this project: it’s not just what you eat, but when you eat it that affects your glucose levels. Ashley calls it “sequencing your food.” She recommends eating veggies first, then proteins and then starches. This way the fiber from the veggies, the protein and the fats all coat your intestines so that glucose is absorbed more slowly and you see less of those spikes. Ashley likes to use pizza night as a good example of this. Eat your pizza but only after you eat a side salad.

Also, starting your day with a high protein meal like a veggie omelet or greek yogurt is way better than any sweet, carb loaded breakfast will ever be. If you are eating natural sugars such as fruit, enjoy them with a protein or healthy fat to slow down the absorption of glucose. And although it sounds all YOLO to eat dessert first, it’s never a good idea to have sweets on an empty stomach when it comes to your insulin. Just have some veggies first before you YOLO.

Exercise (and Stress).

You know this one made my ears perk up. And not just because Ashley told me— I saw this one for myself. One of the highest spikes I had while wearing my CGM was during a HIIT workout. We always think that all exercise is always all good, right? Well, not necessarily when it comes to insulin. Depending on the type of exercise, stress is put on the body when we exercise. When the body is under stress, cortisol is released in order to protect the body. But cortisol takes glucose out of the cells, which is what we don’t want. We want that glucose in the cells doing its thing, not out of the cells hanging out and creating problems. That is why managing stress is huge when it comes to your insulin productivity.

Recently, I found a new love for high intensity workouts. But when you are overdoing that type of exercise, your body will go into stress mode. This causes cortisol to grab onto glucose and take it out of the cells to help the body react to the stress it’s under. So high intensity exercising is ok in moderation but it will not be good every day. And Ashley recommends limiting your HIIT workouts around certain times of your cycle, as well. During the week before your period, your cortisol is already naturally elevated so it’s best to do more low impact exercising during this time. Your body will also naturally tell you to slow down in this phase anyway. And through out our lives, there are times that you will want to limit those high intense workouts because cortisol levels tend to be high, such as postpartum, perimenopause and when under stress.

I do have to say that I was a little confused by what to do with all the information I got from my monitor. So that’s why having someone like Ashley, who knows what all that data means, help guide you is key. At Whole Health Studio, Ashley offers the service: Elevate Your Metabolic Health. This service includes an expert glucose support protocol with actionable steps and a recommended grocery list, a glucose sensor delivered to your door, as well as a consultation with Ashley to discuss your findings.

Whether you’ve considered wearing a CGM before or never even heard of a CGM until this post, I definitely recommend having the human guidance from a professional to get the most out of your time wearing the monitor. So what’s next? Well, I made a few adjustments to my lifestyle based on what I learned from the CGM. For one, I always have a glass of water with my morning cup to help prevent the spikes. Second, I now always consider the order of the foods that I consume. No more straight to sweets or carbs for me. It really makes a difference. And lastly, while I didn’t stop doing those HIIT workouts (because you know me), I am more aware of what could happen to my glucose levels during them and can work to properly fuel and hydrate before a class to make a difference in how my body reacts to the stress of this kind of workout. If you are interested in learning more about glucose and how a CGM could help you, definitely give my girl Ashley a call at Whole Health Studio.