It’s all the rage in Silicon Valley these days. Blood glucose monitors that monitor your blood sugar 24/7 and provide real-time data for every meal you eat. Many people would think this a pointless piece of technology but what an average dieter doesn’t know is how this can target their personal diet goals. That broccoli that’s so healthy for you, may be spiking your blood sugar higher than ice cream and keeping the pounds on!
I ran my own N-1 experiment years ago when I was dialing in my diet. My goal was 5% body fat and I managed to get there following some very simply bio-hacks that didn’t make me feel deprived. I still ate desserts and drank alcohol. What I found about the foods I ate was my personal microbiome caused certain “health” foods to send my blood sugar through the roof. In doing so my body had to work overtime to shuttle that sugar into fat cells in order to clear the blood.
One particular drink I recall clearly, coffee! The much needed drug of choice for all Americans. Since I was in medical school I was drinking quite a bit of it. I took post-prandial readings 30 minutes, 1 hour, 1.5 hours, and 2 hours after drinking 8oz of coffee. Coffee has many positive health benefits so I did not anticipate finding anything out of the ordinary. What my blood glucose meter showed me was shocking. At 30 minutes by blood sugar was at 140. Ok, not terribly high or out of the ordinary eating a regular meal. At 1 hour it was 190. At 1.5 hours and 2 hours it rose above 220! That’s equivalent to me eating a slice of chocolate cake.
The take away is everyone’s gut microbiome is different and as such, reacts differently to different foods. Just because a food is a “health” food does not mean its the best food for your health. We have a test that determines what foods can spike your blood sugar and which will not. Imagine being able to eat cookies if they don’t spike your blood sugar. Or finally not have to eat your broccoli because its actually not as good for you as a vegetable you actually enjoy. Contact us to learn more about how to optimize your life.