Open ended question of if and how any forum members are using continuous glucose monitors?
I’ve been hearing more about people using these as nutrition training aids - kind of the latest in “wearables”. My dr diagnosed me as pre-diabetic recently so I started wearing one to disprove him.
A couple observations from my experience:
intense fasted exercise will cause my blood sugar to increase. My hypothesis being the cellular demand cause my liver to start releasing glucose to fuel the work causing an increase in blood sugar (which is why my lab work - post workout but fasted) showed blood glucose a bit over 100)
this one is a huge observation - there is a multi “ ‘cose” blend drink mix on the market that causes me to go HYPERglycemic. Like near 300. Experienced it in a race and thought it was from my breakfast, but then did a couple days intensity workout where the on-bike fuel was the only significant variable and saw it again. Won’t be using that mix anymore.
It’s not much use while on the bike, but incredible insights in planning fueling for long distance events.
Anyone else have thoughts or experience on the topic?
@Danswenson - I have used a CGM in the past “for fun” to see what my glucose did with my normal routine vs. following “standard American diet” routine as well as to see what happened when exercising (did a 100 mile Gran Fondo while using it). It was quite the eye opening experience. Something become very popular right now is “Supersapiens” . Not currently approved for use in the USA, but it is just a Freestyle Libre CGM being rebranded as another sports wearable.
Regarding your observations…
Post-exercise increase in glucose is very common. Your hypothesis is correct.
Like most things in life, it all depends. Everything should be approached as person or patient specific. Everyone responds different to so many different things. If you’ve got data from fingersticks or CGM and can use this to tailor you dietary intake on a daily basis or a fueling strategy on the bike to ensure euglycemia as much as possible, then that is likely the best…for you.
If your doc has diagnosed you as pre-diabetic, then you are experiencing at least some level of insulin resistance. If you haven’t already, I would recommend the excellent nutrition podcasts in the FTL library.
(FYI - background on me…I am a clinical pharmacist practitioner, specializing in metabolic health, with 10 years of experience…metabolic syndrome, prediabetes, diabetes is what I see 80 hours/week!)