If your doctor told you that you have high blood sugar or even borderline high blood sugar, it is imperative that you take action now.
Pre-type 2 diabetes and diabetes are strongly linked with cardiovascular insult, cancer, and neurodegenerative disease.
Blood sugar is typically measured by using a Hemoglobin A1C test.
This test measures the amount of glucose that gets stuck to the hemoglobin on your red blood cells.
This can then be used to calculate an average blood glucose level from the past 3 months.
A pre-type 2 diabetes diagnosis is given when your hemoglobin A1C levels are between 5.7 and 6.4.
Once you hit 6.5, you are diagnosed with type 2 diabetes.
You can see below from this study by Pfister and colleagues that all cause mortality is significantly increased as hemoglobin A1C levels rise.
Even if your Hemoglobin A1C is borderline normal, it warrants taking action!
Why Constant Glucose Monitors?
Although the A1C test gives you insight into your average blood sugar levels, it is a crude metric when it comes to assessing what is happening to your blood sugar in real time.
And that’s why I employ the use of a constant glucose monitor with my clients that have high blood sugar.
A constant glucose monitor is a wearable device that has a small sensor that measures your glucose in real time and provides constant feedback.
This is a super powerful tool because it allows you to catch blood sugar spikes in the moment and change your eating habits going forward.
How CGM’s Help You Lower Average Blood Glucose
If you can minimize your blood sugar spikes, you will by definition lower your average blood sugar and therefore your A1C levels.
Ideally you want your average blood sugar levels around 100mg/dL which will correspond to a hemoglobin A1C of about 5.1.
A constant glucose monitor gives you the ability to track your averages over time.
You can thereby look at your data and adjust your eating habits to target your glucose range.
It also gives you the ability to reduce glucose variability and stay within a pre-determined range.
If you want help lowering your blood sugar levels, take a look at my remote coaching opportunities.
I specifically specialize in improving metabolic health and body composition.
During our time together, I will create a structured plan designed to improve all of your metabolic health markers such as blood sugar, blood pressure, and blood lipids (cholesterol, triglycerides).
I take my client relationships very seriously and will work closely with you day by day to reach all of your desired outcomes.
Having a qualified coach can really make the difference when it comes to improving your metabolic health.
Blood Sugar Spikes
Anyways, back to blood sugar monitors.
Above is an example from my constant glucose monitor where I hit a huge spike.
Shortly after consuming a ton of sushi, my glucose spiked to 169mg/dL!
This of course was the result of the white rice that sushi is made with.
Refined carbohydrates have a significant impact on blood sugar levels and my blood sugar readings are evidence as such.
You can see that my glucose was averaging below 100mg/dL for the entire day until I ate that sushi meal.
I had eaten my usual healthy meals consisting of non-refined carbohydrates, quality fats, and quality protein.
You can distinctly see the before and after effect from my data.
I ate the sushi at around 5:30pm and then by 6:13pm, the next time I checked my glucose, it had gone from 76mg/dL all the way to 144mg/dL.
It then continued to climb until it peaked at 169 before gradually coming back down to baseline.
The point is, that with a constant glucose monitor you can glean insight into how certain foods affect you.
I wanted to give you an example of a high glycemic food like sushi because you can clearly see what refined carbohydrates do to your blood sugar levels.
Now, once and awhile it is okay to have some moderate spikes in glucose, but the more spikes you have – the greater your average glucose will be driven up.
I certainly don’t eat sushi every day but you can imagine what would happen if my diet consisted of primarily refined carbohydrates like white rice.
I would see a higher average glucose over time which would correlate to a higher A1C.
If you want to lower your A1C levels remember this: you need to lower your average glucose each day.
What Type of Constant Glucose Monitor to Get
The constant glucose monitor I use is by abbott and is called the Freestyle Libre.
It’s a 14-day sensor that you wear on your arm and it comes with the free app to monitor your blood sugar levels in real time.
You need a prescription for a CGM so you need to ask your doctor about it first.
Unfortunately they will often only write the script if you have significantly advanced type 2 diabetes.
There are several companies that you can google which offer a work-around method so that you don’t have to go through the hassle with your doctor who may not know about constant glucose monitoring.
Once you start using your constant glucose monitor, you can see which foods are causing your blood sugar to spike and then swap those foods out with ones that are less glycemic.
I’ve written several articles about lowering blood sugar levels which you can find here.
These methods have been proven successful time and time again with all of my clients and I hope they help you as well!
If you need any help with improving your metabolic health, feel free to shoot me an email.
I’d be happy to answer any questions you have and get you started.