I wrapped up my 4 week experiment with the Continuous Glucose Monitor/CGM a week ago. Here are the 4 reflections from the 4 weeks –
(1) Sleep’s impact on metabolism was fascinating to watch. The single biggest distortion I saw in my metabolism was when I was sleep deprived. My glucose trends were fairly steady on most days. Then there came a day when I only slept 4 hours – the next day’s glucose graph read like the stock market.
(2) My ability to metabolize glucose slows significantly toward the evening. The same meal would cause steeper and longer glucose spikes in the evening. Ergo – eat lesser in the evening and leave at least 2 hours before bedtime.
(3) Moving after a meal has a big impact on our metabolism. This was my biggest takeaway after my first week. This held true throughout. Movement helps us use the glucose from the meal and, in theory, prevents it from being stored as triglycerides. I say “in theory” because I look forward to validating this when I get blood work done in a few weeks after keeping up this habit.
(4) Ordering of nutrients can have a near magical impact. Starting with fiber/salad, moving to protein, and ending with carbs is dramatically different vs. simply eating the same carbs without anything else. That sounds like an excuse to eat more and an invitation to gain weight. But a good friend who went through this process and lost weight said one of his biggest takeaways was that quality of nutrients matters a lot more than quantity.
These 4 weeks with the CGM were transformational. Getting to observe my body’s response to food was both educational and empowering – I’ll never look at food and lifestyle the same way again.
