10 Things We Learned from Wearing a CGM, So You Don’t Have To

If you have not heard about CGMs, continuous blood glucose monitors, I'm potentially going to ask if you've been living under a rock. Because if you're a woman in midlife, and I say that with respect and just teasing, but if you're a woman in midlife, you're kind of being targeted for them. And I want to tell you why that's potentially not a bad thing. But in this episode, My hope is that if you're thinking, "I don't want to do that," or, "I can't do that," "That's an investment I can't afford right now," or, "Do I really need it?" This will answer all of those questions. And hopefully, by sharing what our most recent 1-month-long or 28-day continuous blood glucose monitor challenge participants say about it, you will benefit from not wearing one because they did. So let's jump in. Wearing a CGM is almost becoming a thing, like it's trending. And I'm going to say that for the rest of this show, I will say CGM as opposed to continuous blood glucose monitor, because that is a mouthful. So CGM, that's what we're talking about. And I'm going to share this quote from one of our participants. "I wish every doctor would recommend wearing a CGM to patients." After completing a 28-day continuous blood glucose monitor and blood sugar challenge, that was a sentiment so many of our midlife women shared. In this episode, I'm sharing exactly what they told me on day 29. So it has certainly evolved. And what I mean by that is It's changed dramatically from the first day or time that we, we were looking at this. It's really so much better and user-friendly. So let me tell you this. So back in 2014 and '15, I was writing You Still Got It, Girl: The After 50 Fitness Formula for Women, one of the first books, first of all, on of its type by a fitness professional talking about Fitness needs to change because here's what we're seeing: more injuries, more fat, less muscle from doing the traditional exercise. So I dug into all of that, both with the book, with my later TEDx talk, all of it. But I began monitoring blood glucose knowing this is an issue because if blood glucose goes up, insulin goes up, we're in fat storage, exactly the opposite of desired results for most of us. And that is where we begin to see 'Insulin and cortisol teaming up for belly fat bullies,' as we like to call them. And that, by the way, I can't take credit for. Jade Teta actually first said that, or I read it in an article he wrote a long time ago. And so shout out where credit is due. I want to make sure that you actually go visit his profile. He's been fairly quiet lately, or at least I'm not being served up, but he's got just common sense advice. And if you're blown away by all of the information, the options, the variety, the controversy, the, oh, but she says this, he says that, he comes back and, and he anchors in traditional and basics are best. Don't make it complicated. We're getting so crazy with, oh, but I want to go to that and I want to do this move and I was doing that when I was 20. And it's like, I know you only have the same body parts that you had when you were 20. It's just how you do them and the time you do them. So I digress. Let's jump in here. The CGM monitors basically are easier to use. They give immediate feedback, meaning I've got my phone right here beside me. If you happen to be watching this on video, you're seeing it. But if I put on a CGM, I don't have one on right now at the moment, and I just wanted to open up my app, I would be seeing it. The old way is I would have to open up my app and then I would have to go, boom, tell me what my blood glucose is. Just so I was getting this window, this thing right now. I don't have to do that anymore. I can just see it and then I can look later today and see where was I this morning and at noon and when did it spike. Lovely. But even better, I now use one with clients, whether I'm doing one-on-one and it's a part of their package, they actually get a month long because we want to dive into that. Or for groups and programs, I give people the option. And even you, dear listener, if you're not in a program or the membership or working with me privately, you also can do this if you want to, and it is so extremely valuable. So one of the things that I would want for you to do is to realize you can also learn a lot about what you should do anyway, but many of us need to see it on paper. But the use of this link that I will put in the show notes allows you to say, I'll give you permission to see my data so that when you say I I did a sauna. I had an argument. I had ice cream. We can see together, how did you do with that? And what can we do about it is the problem solve that we get to later. We can see that there's a pattern in your days or your nights. We can break that down and come up with a plan so that you're going to learn enough in 28 days to last you all year. And potentially, if it lasts all year, you will then have figured out and broken that spell. So it is eye-opening to wear it. And I say that as a 42-year health and fitness professional, somebody who's actually been doing the health and fitness for herself for 44 years. We still don't know everything we need to know. It's be a lifetime student. That is a gift if you can say that. And it shouldn't humble you at all. It's if when we say, well, I already knew that, that's where we start limiting ourselves and we kind of close off our mind to yes, but what else is there? What nuance is there now? And hearing things again that you even heard decades ago can be super supportive in that serendipity. I think the universe working on your behalf that all of a sudden you will hear something that you knew you'd heard, but it is exactly the piece of the puzzle that you needed right now. And you didn't have that puzzle piece put together enough before this for that thing you knew to really resonate? That's what CGM is like. So it's human nature that many of us need data and feedback. Seeing the finish line makes it really easy to sprint to the end, right? But if somebody tells you in the middle, "You're almost there, you're around the corner, sprint, go harder," you're like, "I don't think so. I got to conserve energy just to see if I make it there." 6 years ago now it has been, I voluntarily did a VO2 max test. So generally you're going to go into a lab. You— they can be done on a treadmill, but generally they're done on a bike because you are basically nose plugged and you're breathing not out of your mouth but in and out. Um, or I'm sorry, nose plugged, you are breathing out of your mouth, but you're breathing in controlled air and oxygen, and then it's expired, and they're measuring how much oxygen did you actually use. And it's done because of hoses on one side of your mouth or mask in the other. Running disturbs the hose. There's lots of shaking up and down. We can't really control a lot for that. So when you're on a bicycle, things are much more stable. So generally it is on a bike. And if you're not a biker, that's much more painful of a test because your quads are not ready for that. And so there's a lot of things not to I love about a VO2 max test. I hadn't had one for over a decade. It'd been that long since I had been teaching at the university, and each semester I had multiple sections of classes where that was part of my job. We brought the students in, taught them how to do a VO2 max either on me or student volunteers from the classroom, and just over and over we would run through. Okay, because it doesn't take that long during a class, even you can get 2 or 3 in if you're efficient and warmed up with people ready to go. But it's not fun, right? I don't believe, you know, checking it regularly makes sense. I think checking it in December of 2018, it was— or '19, '18, I'm sorry, digress, you don't really care. But I did it in order to set up and establish my training zones because I was training for an Ironman, one that I thought, I want this to be the best one I ever do. Did the year kind of went a different ways, sideways if you might. I flipped the car 3 times. I don't mean I verbally really did that, it just felt like I did. So it— I ended up not having the best fit of my year. In fact, it was really bad. But, um, the reason you would do a VO2 max is to change your training, and then I would retest again. You can change your VO2 within 6 months if you're training well. You don't want to wait decade to decade. That's like waiting till you're 65 to do a DEXA scan to find out it was bad. And you're not going to run hard for 10 years thinking, oh, this is really going to help me and I'm increasing my VO2 max. You're going to want that feedback. So if you're going to go through the pain of doing it once, I would schedule that second one for 6 months later, or at least, um, no, no longer than 12, because you're not going to run for that goal if you don't do it. So with the CGM, similarly, it's if you can't see the results, you can't get the immediate reward of, oh, I went for a walk after meals. I can see that every day that I did that, my blood sugar levels were better than when I didn't. That's what this does. So my goal here is that you understand the value of CGMs in the words of our participants. Rather than me telling you, you're going to understand what causes you to spike and what causes you to drop and we change it. Let me describe instead the way it works in case you're interested. So the way we— I run this and the way we operate as a group is we do a pop-up group in a WhatsApp group so that everybody can drop in no matter where they're at in the world. They can text a question in there. I will answer it either in text or in a voice message responding and give everyone something to think about if they're a little confused. But we were on the first 4 or 5 days just doing normal, no changes. Don't impose changes because you, you want to see what, what's my blood sugar level regularly from my regular normal habits. And you want to start just being curious, just do it. Then you want to assess, okay, where were spikes, where did it drop? And I How was my energy on those days as well? So you are taking notes and journaling and/or taking a picture of food that you see spiked or the meal you had so that, you know, it dropped after this meal. You have data. And then we have them choose from a list of, based on what you're doing now, here's where you go. And then we have nuances so that people are asking more of a custom supported question. So they might be saying, you know, my blood sugar woke me up, my alarm 'Woke me up at 2 AM. I didn't like that.' So yeah, disclaimer, that could happen. It's a good thing because you didn't know that was happening before, potentially. And, uh, we want to know that. We don't want them going extremely low because your body then goes into stress. It will release adrenaline, which releases sugar, and so you're in a vicious cycle and not what you want to be happening at night. So that's how it works. This Menopause Awareness Month, I want to ask you something. Have you tried talking to your doctor about your menopause symptoms only to be met with crickets or, well, this is just how it goes? If so, you're not alone. Every woman will go through menopause, yet only 30% of OB-GYNs are trained in menopause care. That means too many of us go without real answers. 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That's forhers.com/flipping. Not available in all 50 states. Perimenopause and Menopause by HERS includes hormone health support, educational resources, digital tools, and prescription options if appropriate. See website for full details, important safety information, and restrictions. Here's what happened on day 29. I asked our CGM group What were your biggest takeaways? What did you learn if you could summarize it? Most of these are short. There's a couple that are a little bit longer. There's a couple that actually almost put me in tears because they were so powerful. So I hope these things help. There will be a mixture here of this helped me, and so you'll get these tangible things, but also understand a little more about the value of wearing the monitor in case you've contemplated it but wondered, is it worth investment. So they're not free, by the way, but again, you don't have to have one and wear it forever and ever and ever. You just need to have one. And if you wear it for— each of them lasts 14 days. If you wear them 2 in a row, 28 days, you pretty much have established what your habits were and made small tweaks to see. Not if you change your food, you don't have to turn your world upside down, but changing some habits, simple ones, can really help. So first, I'll start with Carolyn. I have figured I figured out that my 3 and 4 AM nightly wakeups seemed to be tied to my blood sugar dipping low. In the beginning of the month, I had dips frequently, especially at night. I focused on eating a bit more at each meal, especially dinnertime, and also using Debra's exact suggestion of almonds as a good snack. I have 4 almonds about an hour before bed. It's helped me to keep my blood sugar stable through the night. No dips, no spikes, and I have been sleeping much better now. She didn't say so, but I'll say so. That's life-changing if you're sleeping better, right? Because not sleeping, number one, accelerates age. But sleeping better alone, if you don't change your exercise, improves your ability to gain lean muscle tissue and lose fat if you stand to need to. Suzanne says, I've noticed I tend to run hypo— that means low blood sugar especially overnight. Since being more careful to have lower carbs and higher protein and fat at dinner, 7:30 or 8 PM, I sleep much better. And also during the day, I can now recognize my blood sugar is low and that I need to top up, so to speak, with protein and fat. I'd assumed before this challenge that I ran high in my blood sugar because I have a fat tummy. I have been really working on reducing stress. So, Courtney, have that one already read. And then Elizabeth says, you, um, oh, well, and this is not because of the CGM, by the way, this is something else, but she said, well, my period returned, um, as did the spikes for meals with the slightest hint of carb. I definitely need to get a handle on this. And lastly, as we wind down, I've been working on my fiber, namely playing around with adding psyllium husk to things like the mushroom broth I like to drink in the morning and the seed cracker recipe I just tried. My two takeaways from this month are demystifying the impact the food I'd been eating has had on my body. To that, unless you are eating, drinking something sweet on purpose, even the healthiest sounding foods can send you spiking. So unless you make it yourself. Also eating more, making sure the protein and veggies are on point because usually by the time I finish these two items, I'm kind of done, so I don't feel the urge to consume a lot of carbs. Thanks, Elizabeth. Shirley said it was good to see the positive impact deep breathing and walking have on glucose. I was a week behind in getting started. It's been rocky readings. This week is a little more stable. 'Not as much extreme fluctuation. I knew before starting that my poor sleep was a problem, but this exercise confirmed the sleep issue. Friday I get a home sleep study.' Susan said, 'This has been one of the best educational experiences I've had. I learned my blood sugar is highly dependent on my stress level. Learning the sequencing is key to adding carbohydrates eating the protein first, then veggies, with the carbs last, and adding healthy fats also stabilized my blood sugar. I now have the proof that eating a snack in the evening impacts my blood sugar, thus impacting my sleep, and I learned so much how influential all aspects of my life impact health. I'm excited to continue incorporating all that I've learned and begin to become less stress Awesome. Jenny said, personally, I've learned what I thought was a balanced diet was not right for me. My low glucose alarm was consistently going off, not only at night, throughout the day. I was able to get a handle on why. I was definitely not getting enough protein, but was really surprised to learn not consuming enough fat was also an issue. Red meat is my arch enemy, and dairy and I aren't good friends, but I was able to work some coconut milk and more avocado into my meals, which I didn't mind at all. My other takeaway was how much paying attention and adjusting my diet and exercise routines improved my sleep. Prior to this challenge, I'd been working my way through the Stronger 3 routines. That's a Flipping 50 program for those that aren't familiar. Been walking and yoga as weather and time allows. I felt pretty good, was gaining muscle, enjoying almost nightly— or whoops— gaining muscle, enjoying the energy I was gaining and the fit of my clothing. However, my sleep was still interrupted almost nightly. About 2 to 3 weeks ago, I started sleeping through the night more often. Over the last 11 days, I've only had one night of interrupted sleep. This challenge has been an improvement on my quality of life, and I thank you for sharing it. So true. So I want to encourage you— I think there's two things here I'm going to interrupt before I read the rest. With sleep, your blood sugar level, if it's generally— if it's dropping too low, is going to wake you up. It's like your body just sending an alarm. It's like, we have to protect her, we, we need blood sugar. So to wake you up, the alarm goes off and you're like, ah, and you release blood sugar. So it does protect you. But that disrupted sleep does not help you with brain fog the next day. It doesn't help with muscle mass or bone density, either one. And so we don't want that. But I want you to realize that sometimes I think we get confused and we think that it's always about eating less or never eat before bedtime, but never and always are really terrible words, right? So it's really good, or we could say this, never trust something that starts with always or never, or always, you know, give something a second thought. Those statements would be true. And sleep is really very closely connected to your blood sugar levels. So when you stabilize blood sugar, you're gonna sleep better, more soundly, and ironically or not, your blood sugar will be more stable the next day. Elizabeth says, "I joined this challenge with curiosity, not knowing what to expect, and honestly, I feel as though I'm just getting started in understanding my body's relationship with food and its reaction to stress. We talk about this a lot, and to see a spike even when we don't feel that we are stressed has been a real wake-up call." Totally agree. Data is data. She goes on to say, "I'm more thoughtful about my food choices." choices and in control. Sometimes I don't want cheese with my crackers, so I hunted down a recipe that's just seeds and psyllium husk. I know in what order to eat. I'm making better and different shopping choices, prep a lot of foods to have on hand to keep me steady, and as a result of my protein intake has been over 100 grams a day and I eat a lot more veggies and legumes. I'm still working on consistently bumping up my fat, though. Jerry said, "I guess my biggest takeaway has been— has come at the last day, wondering if I need further testing to understand why I don't see a natural rise of my blood sugar in the morning. The whole month I'd been happy to see a steadier line." And I, I let Jerry know, as well as everyone, that normally you have a blood sugar rise after you wake when— and we're talking about cortisol rises, not necessarily blood sugar, but generally blood sugar rises when cortisol does. But if you haven't eaten anything, you're robbing yourself of nutrients, you will see very low blood sugar. So it may be dependent on that. So it's been great to see how food choices affect the body by watching the numbers, but stressful situations, not feeling well, also produces spikes. Very obtainable things like apple cider vinegar, box breathing, and walking help to bring down the numbers. And now that I've been seeing that in real time, I remember the importance and continue those practices. It's been another aspect of all the tidbits of information I've learned from following Debra over the years, helping myself age more optimally. I feel like I'm learning in baby steps and maybe adding one new change a year or every 6 months, making it a part of a lifestyle change rather than a fad. Even if I had only made 5 changes to my habits over the last 5 years. I'm sure there's been more. Looking back, that's a healthier me in the future. This CGM challenge is another piece to learning and implementing change. Then Carolyn says, I too have experienced what the others have shared. As I think I've mentioned before, the 2 things stand out for me the most are: 1, I need to meet more, more increased protein, fiber, and healthy fats has really helped stabilize my blood sugar. I not eating enough prior or to properly nurture my body. I have learned that eating dinner at 5:30 or 6, not eating again until 10 AM was not serving me and was the reason I was wide awake, not able to go back to sleep at 3 or 4 AM. Movement is also a powerful tool as I watch my blood sugar rise due to prescribed meds. So I took quicker 5 or 10-minute walks because my longer walks didn't help during that time. They stressed me, I suppose. And in the evening, even after having a very active day and eating well and balanced, sitting for just an hour watching TV made my blood sugar spike. But getting up, walking around my house, I brought it back down in range. I really have such gratitude for Debra and Flipping 50. I have benefited so much from this challenge and all the other tools in the Flipping 50 membership. I I wish the standard medical approach was to give everybody the opportunity to wear a CGM for a month, as we did, to learn about their own body and reactions to all things. I would bet that would help the rates of diabetes and heart disease go down. I've heard Debra say all the things, but to see in real time and specifically for me, it made it all click and stick, and I'm really stealing that Wow, click and stick. I love it. Thank you. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, she finishes with. Stacy said, I've learned that taking, uh, apple cider vinegar gummies before meals keeps my spikes below 140 no matter what I'm eating. Also, I made coconut nice cream with dark chocolate and coconut cream, and it did not spike my blood sugar like regular chocolate ice cream did. That's a game changer for me. I'm addicted to chocolate ice cream all year round. I think it's gonna save me from gaining weight from my addiction. Drinking champagne after eat— after I've eaten some protein only spiked my blood sugar slightly higher, but drinking champagne beforehand spiked it over 170. I made sure I tested it with the same foods and portions 3 different nights in a row with nothing else within. The surprising thing I learned from this CGM challenge is that coffee does not raise my blood sugar. The best things I've learned is that if I'm not mindful, I'll have low blood sugar, and the anecdote is more protein and fat with lower carbs. As a result of the previous, the second best things I've learned is how to greatly improve my sleep, prevent overnight dips by having a few almonds before bed. So awesome. All right, I'm gonna leave in resources just if you want to get started. The next one we will do— how rude that I would disrupt December. I'm not gonna do that. But if you'd like to participate, the next CGM challenge that we'll do will be January, and we'll go ahead and start January 1st even if you're still traveling. I'd like to start clean at the beginning of the month. And there's nothing wrong with you. Oh, I'm traveling, so I shouldn't do it now. You know, I think the opposite, maybe if that's your first thought. And my thought is it's life. You don't want to like have this little box of it's convenient and I can control things. And so I'm going to test now. I would test just like life when you are traveling. When you are socializing and begin putting it on, see where you are. And let's look at the things that are not obtrusive or intrusive. They're not obnoxious. You don't have to like not go out to eat and you don't have to not go over to someone's house. You don't necessarily have to, as you've just heard the enabler here about drinking champagne, right? But that's a part of her life. So testing it to see when can I have it this where it has the least negative impact. So smart, right? So you're welcome, right, as you go into your holidays. I will put in the resources if you want to join, how, how it works. That'll be in the show notes today. And if you have questions from this one, first of all, we'd love to hear from you. So if you're seeing the podcast posted because you saw it on a Facebook or in an Instagram post, please reach out, just say hello. All of the direct messages in Instagram. Though we're not in Messenger, we cannot be. We don't connect that way. We don't respond that way. You'll just get an automatic message that says we don't respond that way. So you really have to reach out personally to us at support@flipping50.com if you want to do that. We're all spelled out words, but you can also come over to the show notes and see the link if you'd like to. Thank you so much for being here. If the Flipping 50 podcast is helpful to you, would you please share it with a friend or two? And just a simple disclaimer, I'm not a physician, and I am a medical exercise specialist, but I'm not yours. And you are taking advice from here as a health coach educating you on unique tools, not meant to replace any medical advice. So please consult your own medical physician if there's anything you should worry about. I do believe that we can take control back into our own hands. And some of our trackers and tools, just like this one, put it in our hands or on our arms, if you will. And we get direct feedback from what we're doing day to day, not just a once in a while blood test at a physician's office, but you get to see what are the impacts of the habits that you have right now. And then you have the choice of what do I wanna change?