The 4-Hour Body_ An Uncommon Guide to Ra - Timothy Ferriss [61]
Blood sugar is a very personal thing.
There are some predictable results—eating doughnuts will spike blood sugar more than an equal volume of melon—but what of the more subtle choices? What of the old folk remedies and bodybuilding anecdotes? Here’s a short list of questions the DexCom allows us to put to the test:
Does lemon or vinegar really decrease the GL of a meal?
Which lowers glucose response more, if either: protein or vegetables and fiber?
Does eating fat and protein with a high-carb meal lower GL more than eating either before the meal?
Does drinking water with a meal increase or decrease its GL?
How I Used It and What I Learned
September 23 was one of the first test days with the implant.
I tried everything, as I wanted to see highs and lows. The following graphs show my data for that 24-hour period, and the downward arrows in the first graph indicate where I inputted glucometer readings.
Taking the blood glucometer readings is the only pain-in-the-ass part.
The SEVEN is designed to show trends and alert you when the upward or downward changes are too dramatic. To ensure that the displayed number is close to accurate, you need to calibrate with a glucometer at least twice a day.
Don’t want to become diabetic? Want to curb things like eating sweets, which can lead to adult-onset diabetes? Try using a glucometer for 24 hours. For each glucometer calibration, you stick a lancet (needle) into your finger and put a drop of blood on a test strip, which is read by a hand-held device (the glucometer) to display your number. Many type 1 diabetics prick their fingers more than four times per day.
I started off using a OneTouch UltraMini® glucometer, one of the most popular glucometers in the United States, but abandoned it after three weeks. It was so erratic as to be unbelievable. For each calibration, I wanted to get two readings within five points (milligrams per deciliter [mg/dL]) of each other, and then input the average in the DexCom device. This would minimize the likelihood of using an error for calibration. I expected this process to take two or three jabs, but it often took more than eight needle sticks. DexCom recommends calibrating twice daily, but I tended to do it at least three times daily (meaning up to 24 needle sticks). Not fun if you have to use your hands for anything.
Everything from humidity and sweat to temperature and air exposure can screw up readings. I ended up depending on the WaveSense® Jazz glucometer, the best device I could find that corrected for these variables. It brought the number of sticks per calibration from 8+ down to two to three sticks. I recommend this device.
But tracking glucose levels 24/7 was just one half of the puzzle.
I recorded everything I ate, and just about everything I did, in a Moleskine journal, which I then had transcribed.
Here is September 23, verbatim with comments in brackets, which corresponds to the graphs on the previous page. I used the OneTouch here, and finger names followed by numbers indicate repeated glucometer jabs:
Wednesday 9/23
12:22 am
Glucometer: [I would often swab multiple fingers with alcohol, wait 30 seconds, then go down the line with multiple lancets]
Middle 102
Ring 88
Pinky 94
Index 95
1:42 am rib-eye .5 lbs.
1:54 am 74 glucose (CGM)
1:40–2:30 am 3 glasses wine (Stag’s Leap red)
2:13–2:30 am 200g steak
Sleep
10:57 am Er 5 [this was a glucometer error]
Pinky 90 (air exposed 5 sec.)
Index 96
Index 114 (same needle)
Mid 93 (new needle)
11:11 am 20 almonds
11:16 am 67 glucose
11:19 am 2 tbl athletic greens + 2g vit. C
Break: 11:37 am:
2 scrambled eggs
4 tblsp olive oil
hot sauce
11:56 am:
1 cup spinach
133g lentils (first legumes since 9/5, 18 days)24
12:10 pm: 2–2.5 tbs almond butter with celery
1:10 pm: 400 ml cold water
1:54 pm: 40 air squat
Out of range 10 mins [I left the receiver on a table and wandered off]
2:35 pm: 128 dexcom ——>94–96 glucose
2:37