Unlocking Insights into Metabolic Health with CGMs

Continuous Glucose Monitors, commonly known as CGMs, are transformative devices that attach to your body for 10-14 days, providing real-time data on your blood glucose levels. This continuous stream of information offers unparalleled insights into your metabolic health, revealing patterns and responses that no other device can.

Guidelines for Optimal Blood Sugar Management:

• Average Blood Sugar: Aim to maintain an average below 100 mg/dL.

  
  

• Variability: Keep daily fluctuations narrow, ideally around a 15 mg/dL standard deviation.

  
  

• Spikes: Limit spikes to under 140 mg/dL, indicating a robust metabolic system.

Traditional metrics such as Hemoglobin A1c, fasting glucose, and finger stick glucose measurements only provide snapshots, often missing the comprehensive story of your glucose trends. CGMs fill this gap, offering a detailed and dynamic picture of your metabolic health.

The Power of Real-Time Feedback:A CGM does more than just monitor; it acts as a potent behavioral tool. Real-time feedback helps you understand the impact of different foods on your blood sugar levels and how variables like stress, exercise, and sleep influence your glucose throughout the day. This device effectively turns health management into a game. For instance, you might wonder:

• How much will a Twix bar raise my blood sugar, and for how long?

• What effect does a banana have?

• Does the timing of eating steak relative to a potato change the glucose spike?

• Can a run before eating ice cream mitigate its impact?

• How does my body process a tomato?

I've thoroughly enjoyed experimenting with my CGM, exploring how my body responds to different scenarios.

Accessibility and Advocacy:CGMs are invaluable tools for anyone interested in enhancing their health and understanding their body better. They are safe, with the only noted risk being mild irritation at the implantation site, and robust—I even wore mine during a triathlon without issue. However, currently, a prescription is required to access these devices, a barrier that restricts many from benefiting from this technology. There's hope that this may change by as early as summer 2024.

Get Started with CGM:If you're curious about trying a CGM and taking control of your health, reach out to me at Mike@McMullenMedical.com. Together, we can explore how a CGM can benefit you.