Blog Post

I have been wearing a CGM (Continuous Glucose Monitor) for the last week and noticed something interesting last night. But first I need to give you some background.
It has been at least a couple years since I last wore a CGM. I don’t have diabetes. I am wearing one for two weeks to see if I can get any insight into how my body responds to different foods and events. It also ends up providing diet accountability as I am trying to lose a few pounds before a professional photo shoot in a couple weeks.

I am currently eating one meal a day (OMAD) at 6 p.m. I have determined that works best for me to avoid hunger as it is also a calorie-restricted diet that should let me lose a pound or two a week. For me, if I start eating in the morning I want to keep eating and snacking all day. So, I do better to not eat until the end of the day. I also eat low carb high fat with my vegetables focused on leafy greens (Keto). I can also see on the CGM that my blood sugar stays fairly level all day. Other people may need to eat three meals a day. We are all different.

Yesterday’s experiment was to eat grass-fed beef for my dinner protein instead of Bison. The CGM response was flat like Bison so my initial observation was they gave me the same CGM reaction for a low-carb meal. However, around 9PM I decided I was feeling “snackishâ€. (My adult daughter likes that word.) So, I had several handfuls of mixed nuts, chicken, and a couple bananas. I have been normally eating Bison as my protein because it sticks with me longer and I don’t feel hungry in the evening. (The reason for that is a whole separate topic.) Now finally the interesting part.

When I got up this morning and checked, I saw my glucose for last night had not fallen as low as normal. Typically, my glucose goes up and down several times at night with lows of 50 to 60. My CGM flags anything less than 70 as concerning. My low last night was around 80-85mg/dl. This reminded me of some of my FDN training from the foundation course on things affecting sleep at night.

• Low blood sugar or other hidden stressors elevate cortisol, promotes waking during the night.
• Eating a small snack, before bed, containing protein, low glycemic carbohydrates, and healthy fats prevents a drop in blood sugar levels during the night.

The next night I delayed eating my meal until 8 PM. My lowest glucose reading around 11-12 PM was about 80 so that was a success. Now I don’t know if I slept any better, but I feel that I sleep fine, and wake rested. So, this sort of tweak may have been more impactful for someone with sleep issues.