Practical Ways to Balance Blood Glucose (Without a Continuous Glucose Monitor)

If you’ve read my previous blog article about the 5 Reasons You Don’t Need a Continuous Glucose Monitor (CGM), you’d know there are many considerations before you jump into using a CGM. If you haven’t read it, here’s a brief recap of the highlights:

1. There is plenty of evidence for the use of CGMs in those with diabetes, and some with pre-diabetes, though not much evidence for the use of them in the “generally healthy” population. 

2. CGMs don’t teach you about how food affects and interacts with your body, and the data is often misinterpreted.

3. They also don’t teach you about proper nutrition, and how to balance blood glucose using diet and lifestyle. 

4. They often create and exacerbate fear of carbohydrates and add to the misunderstanding of the hormone insulin.

5. They can give rise to rigid, diet-like eating behaviors and food rules/beliefs, which negatively impact your relationship with food and your body.

Aside from these considerations, it is perhaps more important to know how you can balance your blood glucose and improve your health without a CGM (in a bit more detail than what was mentioned in my previous post). Let’s explore these recommendations more in-depth:

Practical Ways to Balance Blood Glucose (Without a Continuous Glucose Monitor) and support chronic disease prevention

1. Stay up-to-date on your yearly labs 

Yes, yearly labs. The goal of yearly labs is to take a preventative approach, versus a reactive approach. The benefit of this is the opportunity to track trends. For example, tracking your A1c on a yearly basis could give you valuable insight into whether your A1c is relatively stable in a “healthy” range, trending up towards pre-diabetes or diabetes ranges, or trending down towards a healthy range. This particular lab value is also covered by insurance, and if needed, it can be tested every 2-3 months. No CGM required.

2. Eat balanced meals and snacks and pair your carbs with a buddy

To put this simply, a balanced meal is one that includes sufficient protein, carbohydrates, fat, fiber and color. Together, these components provide adequate nutrition and compliment each other in more ways than one. For example, the fat, fiber, and protein compliment the carbohydrates in a meal by slowing the digestion of the carbohydrates. This translates to a “trickle” effect of the food into the small intestine, and likewise with glucose into the bloodstream. The result is a more gradual increase in blood glucose over time accompanied by a gradual influx of insulin to meet glucose demands. What follows after this is a gradual decline over the course of a few hours until you eat again. This pattern is ideal, compared to the “peaks and valleys'' that are a result of inconsistent eating patterns (such as skipping meals) and having carbohydrate-rich foods without adequate fat, protein, or fiber. *Caveat alert: having a carbohydrate by itself here and there isn’t going to seal the deal and cause pre-diabetes or diabetes.

3. Eat consistently throughout the day (starting with breakfast) and do not skip meals

Studies show that skipping breakfast in the morning can cause higher blood glucose after lunch and dinner. Additionally, skipping meals can often result in overeating at meals (when you DO finally eat), fatigue or brain fog, and/or feeling “out of control” with eating behaviors and food choices later in the day as hunger increases. These variables can cause suboptimal blood glucose patterns by promoting larger fluctuations in blood glucose and can often lead to making more “imbalanced” food choices or eating more than what is needed over the course of the day. Aim to eat a balanced meal or snack every 3-4 hours to promote optimal blood glucose patterns and avoid side effects of eating too infrequently.

4. Consistently move your body in ways you enjoy and reduce sedentary time

This point is such an important one, with emphasis on the “in ways you enjoy”. After all, not many people stick with something they hate doing, and is more stress from doing something we hate really what we need?

Being physically active consistently each week helps to balance blood glucose, especially after meals and snacks, support insulin sensitivity, and reduce insulin resistance (and yes, walking counts!).

Similarly, it is important to reduce the time you spend sitting during the day. If you tend to sit in one spot for most of the day, consider creative ways to get up and move your body more often. In addition to better blood glucose balance, you might end up feeling more alert and energized during the day as an added bonus.

5. Eat before and after exercise

Your body uses a lot of fuel when you exercise, some of which comes from the glucose in your blood. By eating before and after exercise, you are ensuring there is sufficient glucose in the blood to help fuel a workout and recover from a workout. This also helps to prevent low blood sugar and sensations such as lightheadedness and like you are losing steam (or as some call it, “hitting the wall”) during exercise.

6. Manage stress and take care of your mental health

You’ve likely heard that stress, more specifically, chronic stress, can wreak havoc on the body both mentally and physically. One of the ways it can do this is by causing or exacerbating high blood glucose and high glucose variability (meaning, larger than ideal fluctuations in blood glucose). Chronic stress can also make it difficult for people to engage in the aforementioned health behaviors - including getting enough sleep - and increase the drive to eat (oftentimes something carbohydrate-rich). Other mechanisms by which chronic stress can cause high blood glucose and increase risk for diabetes is still under investigation, though irregular patterns of cortisol could play a role in this risk. If you don’t already have helpful coping skills and tools for managing stress and practicing self-care, working with a therapist and a Dietitian who specializes in nutrition therapy can help.

Similarly, if you suffer from depression and/or anxiety it is important to work with your providers to determine the best ways to manage your condition(s) to improve your quality of life and overall health, including lowering your risk for diabetes.

All-in-all, it is absolutely possible to be healthy, balance your blood glucose, and support disease prevention (including diabetes) without a CGM. In fact, you’ll likely be happier and less stressed when you don’t have a tracking device chirping at you every waking moment, feeding you information that you may not have any actual use for.

If you have additional questions and need an individualized approach to balancing your blood glucose and improving your health, work with a non-diet Dietitian to create a plan that works best for you and your lifestyle.

References:

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7. Ogata, H., Hatamoto, Y., Goto, Y., Tajiri, E., Yoshimura, E., Kiyono, K., Uehara, Y., Kawanaka, K., Omi, N., & Tanaka, H. (2019). Association between breakfast skipping and postprandial hyperglycaemia after lunch in healthy young individuals. The British journal of nutrition, 122(4), 431–440. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0007114519001235

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