Should you care about your glucose levels?

If you’ve had the unfortunate experience of being told you have diabetes, all of the sudden you care very much about your glucose level. But there is a thing called “insulin resistance” that is estimated to affect 88% of adults in the US. Insulin resistance is caused by having too much glucose in your body causing inflammation that is considered one of the main contributing causes of serious, chronic illnesses such as diabetes (of course) but also heart disease, cancer, and more.

Glucose is the main form of sugar found in your bloodstream and it is your body’s main source of fuel. Insulin is released by your pancreas to help your body use and store the glucose. Your glucose levels rise and fall throughout the day based on many factors - what you eat, if you’ve exercised, certain medications you take, how much stress you are under, etc. If you often have too much glucose in your system, your cells become numb to insulin and your blood sugar will rise outside the ability for the insulin to control it. This is called insulin resistance and it is a form of inflammation that is causing damage throughout the body. The evidence is clear that long-term inflammatory states and the diseases associated with them are the leading cause of death. 

Most of the 88% of people with insulin resistance do not know they are in this state. Even seemingly “healthy” people with BMI in a normal range could be in a prolonged state of insulin resistance called prediabetes. The best ways you test for these are through an AIC test (a blood draw lab test) and with a glucometer (finger prick or sensor worn on the skin).  AIC tests take an average of your glucose levels over a period of time, while a glucometer can give you readings in real-time.

For years now in the wellness community, we’ve been experimenting with wearing continuous glucose monitors (CGMs) to optimize our health. Nutrisense has been around for a while but newcomer Levels is also gaining market share. Since everyone’s metabolically different, using a CGM has been really helpful to discover new insights on lowering my glucose by tweaking my  diet, hydration, exercise, stress and more. For me, I learned that the homemade popcorn I love did not impact my glucose as much as I feared, but stress for me is the glucose equivalent of a super-sized McDonald’s meal. 

I plan to share more of these CGM insights. I hope it helps to shed light on what others may be experiencing. And, as always, if you are interested in improving your health, please reach out for a free 30-min consultation.