A short YouTube monologue by Joy Kong, MD explaining continuous glucose monitors (CGMs) and why tracking blood sugar matters for cardiovascular health, inflammation, aging, fat storage, and cancer risk. The speaker describes how CGMs work (worn on the arm; worn for multi-day periods), gives examples of causes of glucose spikes (simple carbs, white rice vs pasta), lists interventions to lower glucose (medication like metformin, supplements like berberine and cinnamon, apple cider vinegar, and dietary choices), and shares personal experiences using CGMs to change eating behaviour and detect unrecognized hypoglycemia. The piece emphasizes CGMs as a practical accountability tool for stabilizing glucose and slowing glycation-related aging.
Questions this video answers
Some are on for 10 days; some are 14 days.
The speaker says white rice spikes blood sugar about 30 to 40 points higher than pasta.
The speaker claims half the population have insulin resistance and that 80% of them do not know it.
Chapters
So people ask me, what are you wearing on your arm? So these monitors, they can come in different shapes. There are a few different brands. So these are continuous glucose monitors. What they do is to track your blood sugar level continuously while you have them on. So some are on for 10 days, some are 14 days. Why it's important to track your blood sugar level. So first of all, your blood sugar is important, big indicator about your cardiovascular health. So the inflammation level. If you have a high blood sugar level, that blood sugar is going to stick onto everything. It's going to stick onto your DNA, your protein, your cell membrane. It's going to damage and age you. So that process is almost like a toasting process. You know, the, the browning process, the sugar sticking to everything. So just think of yourself getting slowly toasted. By the time you're fully cooked, then you're done. So we don't want to get there so fast. We want to slow down this cooking process. So you want to stabilize your blood sugar so it's not having all these spikes or having this elevated level. So you want to slow down this entire aging process. We can get all kinds of blood sugar spikes from food. Of course, we know sugar, simple carbs, they get broken down really fast and that elevates your blood sugar level. Of course, that sticks onto everything. Cause this, you know, inflammatory, more inflammatory environment, of course also feeds cancer and it also triggers insulin level spike. Of course, heightened insulin will shuffle everything to your cells to, to promote fat storage. So you're having more trouble breaking down fat because you're always trying to store. And of course, increased insulin level also fuels cancer growth. So you really don't want that, that level to be elevated. You want to control that. So one good hack is to track to see if you are actually keeping your blood sugar at a good level. And if you are spiking it, then you know you're triggering the, the, all the sticking process and the insulin highs. I have, you know, used different methods to lower my blood sugar because it's not ideal. I did genetic, genetic testing that I'm more prone to insulin resistance. Half the population have insulin resistance. 80% of them do not know that they have it. So this is a great chance for you to see where your blood sugar is at. And there are different things you can do to help lower your blood sugar. Of course, you know, people heard about metformin, that's a medication that is used to treat diabetics. But it turns out that people with diabetes who takes metformin lives longer than people who don't have diabetes. So this is how we discovered that, you know, this metformin has anti aging properties. Also these people have lowered cancer rates. So it's really fascinating drug. So metformin, berberine, cinnamon, you know, various things that you can do different hacks such as apple cider vinegar and of course choosing what you eat. So one interesting tidbit is that white rice actually spikes blood blood sugar about 30 to 40 points higher than pasta. So I didn't know that. And that was probably why when I eat Asian food I have such a huge spike of blood sugar. So just people be aware and I would have never known that if I didn't have this blood sugar monitor. So it just, it's fascinating. Some people have hypoglycemic episodes when they're sleeping, they have no idea. But your body, you know, there's an imbalance your blood sugar metabolism. So just by one snapshot, when you go to the lab to check your blood sugar level, you have no idea how your level is changing during the day and what's going on in your internal environment. So it's a powerful tool and I love it and I just, I really enjoy it. It actually is a great way to modify my behavior. I sometimes I see something I probably shouldn't eat and if I don't have the monitor on, you know, I don't see the consequence. But if I have the monitor on and I eat that and I see my blood sugar spike and that just is not pleasant for me to look at that for ruining my very nice flat curve. So then I don't eat it. So it turns out to be a very, very good tool to keep me accountable. So with that information, please let me know what your thoughts are and leave your comments. I'm always happy to engage in conversations. Just remember I'm here to help you.
