My 2-Week Trial With a Continuous Glucose Monitor

By Helen James, Registered Nutritional Therapist

Diabetes is closely linked to obesity, heart disease, high cholesterol, gout, fatty liver, cancer, and dementia.

As a nutritional therapist, I look at the body in terms of functional imbalances. 10 years ago, my love of sugar contributed to an imbalance in my hormones and led to a blood transfusion. I also have a genetic risk for diabetes. This was one of the reasons I studied nutrition so I could make better food choices, and help people do the same.

Type 2 diabetes is an imbalance of how the body breaks down sugar and carbohydrates into glucose, a fuel the body uses to make energy for movement and function. Too much glucose in your blood is bad, insulin is the sugar storage hormone which moves glucose from the blood into our cells. Doctors can test to see how healthy our sugar management is and diagnose diabetes and pre-diabetes. You can have a normal test result but still not manage blood sugar throughout the day.

Bad blood sugar management may lead to insulin resistance is when the body produces more and more insulin hormone to manage glucose. Insulin resistance leads to pre-diabetes. The good news is that with some diet and lifestyle changes insulin resistance is reversible. So, what are the symptoms? • Cravings, fatigue, irritability, headaches, low mood, brain fog, lethargy, dizziness, weakness, accelerated ageing, insomnia

Poor blood sugar management contributes to worse menopause, chronic fatigue, and fibromyalgia symptoms. Who may be at risk of bad sugar management? • Anyone with a high sugar diet, including children • Anyone over 40 • Women in peri-menopause, changes in sex hormones impact blood sugar • Women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) • Anyone with an eating disorder

In April 2022, I decided to wear a continuous glucose monitor for 2 weeks to observe my blood sugar management. My last blood tests in September 2021 were normal, so I knew I wasn’t diabetic or prediabetic.

I didn’t think the results were going to be as bad as they were due to my ‘healthy diet’ I found out: • Porridge with nuts and seeds, made me tired and hungry again after a couple of hours as it caused a glucose spike. • Chickpea and sweet potato curry with brown rice gave me a large glucose spike followed by a low blood sugar reading at night. Waking me at 3a.m. • Good blood sugar management foods for me are protein, healthy fats and non-starchy vegetables. • Oat milk is not great for my blood

sugar, unsweetened nut milk is better. • A blueberry muffin having a huge glucose spike affected me the whole day. It was like a blood sugar rollercoaster. Why is this important to learn?

Consistent glucose spikes followed by glucose lows may cause high blood pressure, raised cholesterol, weight gain/ obesity, heart disease, cancer and increased anxiety levels. What YOU can do to reduce your risks

Choose foods to stabilise blood sugar throughout the day, this may mean sacrificing biscuits, cakes or starchy carbohydrates including bread, breakfast cereals and pastry based foods. These foods may be addictive. Eating more protein and healthy fats like avocados, olives, nuts and seeds may keep cravings at bay. Mindset with food is important. For many, food controls difficult emotions. Identify this and maybe spend more time with friends, exercise, listen to music etc. We may need to change our habits, learn about nutrition, or seek help for our mental wellbeing.

Helen James is a member of BANT (British Association for Nutrition and Lifestyle Medicine). She is also trained in Eating Disorder Therapy by the National Centre for Eating Disorders. You can contact her via her website

www.HJNutrition.com

Other resources www.nhs.uk www.diabetes.org.uk www.lancmag.com