The New Year is upon us, and before you reach for the next cleanse regimen or hire a nutritionist to get your weight, hormones, etc. on track, read this!
Most of the health issues women experience today have a common underlying factor: Blood sugar dysregulation.
Let’s look at the ways our blood sugar affects our hormone health, weight, sleep, energy, mental health, and so much more:
Insulin is a crucial factor in the body’s fat storage. The hormone allows cells to take up glucose for energy. When there’s an excess of glucose in the bloodstream, increased insulin levels signal the body to store it, first in the liver as glycogen and then as fat cells around the body.
Research demonstrates that over 80% of Americans experience glucose spikes from everyday foods. This means most women in America are on the glucose rollercoaster, causing fatigue, crashes, cravings, feelings of depression and anxiety (release of adrenaline from the blood sugar crash that comes after a spike due to a surge of insulin), and eventually can lead to hormone issues, acne, infertility, PCOS, and cancer.
And the problem is that some of these everyday foods causing this rollercoaster are what some dieticians and nutritionists might consider “healthy.”
Additionally, many of the common cleanses and detox diets are also often very unhealthy for blood sugar and perpetuate the blood sugar rollercoaster. (Click here for my Detox 101 eBook that goes into that.)
Stabilizing blood sugar is a crucial component for:
Hormone balance
Achieving weight goals
Adrenal recovery
Thyroid health and healing
Optimizing mental health
Restoring energy
Restful sleep
Cardiovascular health
Brain clarity and cognition
More than 88 million Americans are prediabetic and don’t even know it. By the time most realize this, t has progressed to Type 2 diabetes and has already caused irreversible organ damage.
Did you know that Alzheimer’s is often known as Type 3 diabetes because of how it’s a result of this blood sugar rollercoaster process on the brain?!
And there isn’t much help to be found in the allopathic medical field with this; their approach is medication and not prevention or reversing this.
But there are ways to reduce these effects and that starts with paying attention to the health issues detailed in here that tell us there’s a problem with blood sugar regulation! Of course a huge part of that is what we eat, right?!
So some might ask—What’s a good diet for this then?
But the problem is that every body is different. While there are some dietary choices and variations that work well for most people, there is so much individual variation. This is why holistic health is so powerful; it looks at the person as a unique whole, not the way the allopathic field looks at every person the same in a prescriptive way.
Learning how our body responds to foods in real time is a powerful way to reclaim our health in all areas!
So how do we do that?
A CGM is a Continuous Glucose Monitor, a device that attaches to the body (currently for 10-14 days depending on which device is used) and uses a small needle or wire to continuously check the body’s blood sugar/glucose.
These monitors sync up to a smartphone to provide real-time read outs 24/7. The main advantage of this over finger pokes is to see how things like foods, drinks, emotions, sleep (or lack thereof, heat, exercise, etc. affect our glucose. 90% of non-diabetics experience glucose spikes. Many of these people will have an A1c and morning fasting glucose in the “normal” range but these often-missed spikes cause inflammation, aging, and insulin resistance in the body over time. This is also a main contributing cause to things like Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome, fatigue, food cravings, brain fog, weight gain, and more.
A study found that people who monitor blood sugar levels on a regular basis tend to have higher rates of weight loss. This is mainly due to how impactful it is to see how everyday foods affect you!
Another benefit to continuous monitoring is for those with adrenal fatigue who may be experiencing hypoglycemia overnight while sleeping.
Every time we have a glucose spike, our body has to produce insulin to work towards homeostasis, which in this case is getting glucose back into normal range. Insulin is a fat storage hormone, so the more insulin we cause our body to produce, the more fat it tells our body to store. This is why glucose spikes are the main reason for weight gain and difficulty losing weight.
Currently in the US, CGM’s are by prescription only. Most conventional doctors are hesitant to prescribe a CGM for patients without diabetes, despite the evidence showing its benefits to many areas of health. The two main CGM’s are the Libre and the Dexcom. The Dexcom is generally only used for those with Type 1 diabetes; most companies are using the Libre for anyone interested in monitoring their glucose. (In this picture I have a Libre and my son has a Dexcom.)
These devices can be worn while swimming, exercising, showering, etc. There are two main companies right now supporting metabolic health by offering an online medical consult by which to receive a CGM: Levels Health and Nutrisense. Here’s the cost breakdown for each of them:
Nutrisense:
1 month: $350
3 months: $250/mo
6 months: $225/mo
12 months: $199/mo
$25 off first month (so $325 if just doing 1 month) with this link: https://www.nutrisense.io/?rfsn=6758720.15bf9c2&utm_source=affiliate&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=Sarajopoff&utm_term=6758720.15bf9c2 (or code SJPOFF25 )
Levels Health:
Initial consult for prescription and membership: $199
Glucose monitor: $199/month
(So $398 for first month and $199/mo after that)
https://levels.link/r/ZNETGFNW
Both Nutrisense and Levels offer Libre so the actual CGM is exactly the same. They both will use the Libre app for data readout. Then they each have their own app to sync up with the Libre app for assessing how food scores and things like that. The Libre sensor lasts for 14 days so each month of monitoring requires two sensors.
I have personally found that I learned mostly everything I needed to learn about my glucose, how things in my everyday life affect it, and how to make impactful shifts to improve it in one month. So one month may be adequate for those without diabetes, but some also end up enjoying it and going for longer (which I am doing personally mostly to continue gleaning insight that helps others).
Wearing a CGM also has the power of providing some serious ACCOUNTABILITY in a way that no nutritionist or diet plan can! When you know how that splurge of potato chips or french fries will jump up your blood sugar and send you crashing, you’re less like to splurge!
While some might see that kind of accountability has something they don’t want, it truly is the most powerful way to really turn around your health. It also offers insight into how other things might be affecting your health. For instance, when stressed or consuming caffeine, you might see a blood sugar spike that you had no idea was happening in those instances. That gives you more knowledge for reclaiming your hormones, weight, energy, etc.!
Check out some of the testimonials:
“Everyone should experience a continuous glucose monitor. They do not lie to you. It shows you how horrible these foods are for you and your children.”
“In two weeks of blood sugar monitoring, my glucose score improved by 88%, I learned what works for me, and saw the impact even just a ten-minute walk has on my health, and my energy levels are way up!”
“I’ve seen the power of real-time data in my own life. If everyone understood how food and activity affected their blood sugar, people would make better choices, keep glucose stable, and never develop insulin resistance, much less Type 2 diabetes.”
“Weight loss wasn’t my first goal, but I was hoping for it, and I lost about five or six pounds without trying so hard. When you look at the graphs and see your blood sugar spike in one direction—and go into the red—all you want to do is get it down. When that would happen, I’d regroup and the next day focus on eating my go-to foods (like chicken sausage or green vegetable juice with collagen mixed in) to stay more stable.
Overall, using the CGM made me more conscious of my food choices. Just by aiming to avoid the high spikes, I was able to lose some weight. My fatigue was the main goal I was working on, and on days where I saw fewer spikes and more stable glucose responses, my energy levels were so much better.”
Can you see how this truly is such a powerful tool for reclaiming our health?! I personally had done so so many things to reclaim my adrenal health and got the most improvement and the quickest results once I had started wearing a CGM and getting my blood sugar stable.
(A couple of tips: The first two days of the Libre sensors are inaccurate; do a finger poke to confirm or just use days 3-14 for reliable data. Also, no it doesn’t hurt to apply!)
You can use the links above or talk to your practitioner to obtain a CGM. Then be sure to join my group The Leveled Life as we post what we learn from our CGM experience along with recipes, tips, etc.!
Reach out anytime with questions!
Here’s to your health!