It's absolutely worth the experiment of getting a continuous glucose monitor for a couple of weeks to see where your lifestyle is at.
I quite liked the Freestyle Libre 3, which you can buy online without a prescription. The software is rudimentary but it'll give you the information that you need. A single device will last for (up to) 2 weeks, which is better than the alternatives I looked at, hence my recommendation.
IIRC from Peter Attia's book Outlive, you are aiming to keep blood glucose at an average of 100, with very few spikes above X (I think he said 160, but would need to check). He does suggest once you have measured for a few days to push the envelope with carbs, sugars, etc and see how your body reacts.
I had a hard time reading Attia's book because something seemed so extreme and vigilant about his approach. The last chapter really blew that all open in the dramatic portrayal of how psychologically unhealthy many aspects of his life are, for seemingly tragic reasons. For me, the trauma driving his perfectionism brought into question the ethos of his whole approach, regardless of how sound or not the science may be.
Stelo (https://www.stelo.com/) and Lingo (https://www.hellolingo.com/) are the two non prescription ones. It's definitely worth it to try 2 weeks and see how different foods/environments spike you.
Those do not require a prescription, but they are also not a CGM. They are blood sugar test kits, you can order them on Amazon. You could poke your fingers every hour or 15min to replicate the continuous sampling of a CGM, but that's tedious and makes your fingers sore...
CGMs (in the US) just recently (this year) are allowed to be sold OTC without a prescription, now you can buy them online too.
They do require blood samples. The device sticks to the back of your arm, and a small sensor is embedded in your skin. It's painless, and the sensor continuously samples the blood in your skin to measure blood sugar levels.
They are accurate enough - they are FDA approved (in the US).
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The sensor is a tiny piece of material that measures real-time glucose levels in your interstitial fluid. You’ll insert the sensor under your skin with an applicator. It uses a needle to pierce your skin. You remove the needle, and it leaves the sensor in place.
There is a very interesting book on sugar. Pure, white and deadly by John Yudkin. Is backed by research. Also of interest it might be this talk by Robert Lustig: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=kOCPyheVesM
I took a guided tour of the London Zoo this summer. The zoologist said that they had to procure vegetables from special sources and that they couldn't give fruits to the animals at the zoo.
When asked why, she said, "When we give animals fruits that humans eat, they all develop diabetes."
Big +1 to Robert Lustig - I haven't read his books, but his conference talks are excellent. It looks like one of the older ones might have been taken lost to the Internet Gods, but the linked one is great, and there are plenty of others.
An older pop science take "That Sugar Film" [1] also provides some interesting perspectives, and a more day-in-the-life practical example of what we're putting into our bodies.
Several years on and I'm still struggling to take a lot of these messages to heart, even though I know so much of what I eat is bad for me and hurting my metabolism.
Readers beware: Peter Lustig is infamous for making up conclusions and citing papers that do not support his claims.
Would steer clear of everything that involves his name.
See eg his wildly debunked claims on hubermans podcast.
I wonder: if you eat carbs or suger in smaller portions but more often throughout the day, can you "flatten the curve" this way and reduce the spikes. Is this good for you?
I think is not about accepting that fact. They probably know this. It's all about palatability. Once you taste something sweet and like it, you remember that and come back to it. An icecream, a soda, a croissant, chocolate, cookie, donuts. You name it. Is simple as that. You barely think about that the soda you drink is bad a thing, you like it and you drink it. Some people do think about this though and refrain from making sugary food a habit and I think that's the key. Making any of those sweet things an exception and not a rule.
For me, I'm not overweight at all (quite the opposite, actually), but I'm totally addicted to sugar. To the point that food other than carbs/sugar is really uninteresting to me. Doesn't help that I don't like meat. What else can I eat? I can't survive on just vegetables
eating chips (fat/oil, salts, carbs) is also better than sugary stuff, it's just very easy to overeat by snacking (and then usually people still go and have full meals)
It's also so very difficult to avoid. I opened yesterday a can of tuna and beans salad - it tasted almost like dessert. Are the producers really crazy? Or are they onto something? Sweet bread for sandwiches, sweet bbq on grilled meat, jam with cheese, so much of the (modern?) cuisine is just disgusting to me. Note, desserts are fine and good, I'd love a tiramisu right now. But sweet corn soup??? Ew.
This was an interesting film that talked about how fat was demonised in the 1960s(?) so food companies started taking it out as much as possible but replacing it with sugar to retain taste: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/That_Sugar_Film It certainly matches your experience.
True! As a real addicted to sugar (but under control), I prefer to eat a lot of sugar intentionally, a proper dessert. Nothing is more waste of biological clocks than added sugar.
One of my least favorite games to play these days is trying to find ham that doesn't have glucose or its relatives added to it. My understanding is that it's added simply because it makes the product more addictive, gives bigger spikes of energy which many people enjoy, but it's the polar opposite of what I'm trying to find.
Blood sugar is not affected by only "sugar" (sucrose). All carbohydrates are converted into sugars by your body, thus potatoes, grains (rice, bread, pasta, etc), fruit (and juice) also cause your blood sugar to spike.
It's not only people who drink lots of soda and eat candy, sweets, and desserts...it's also people who have a carb-heavy diet with lots of bread, pasta, tortillas, chips, etc.
The advantage of those foods over sugar is they usually come with fiber, which buffers their absorption and reduces the blood sugar spikes & insulin response.
I can eat a bagel with cream cheese and see a massive blood sugar spike in my CGM, it's definitely something to be avoided or moderated.
Because as stated, it's not true. As with most things in diets, it's about what amounts you eat, not so much what you eat. In other words, this is a good example of how oversimplifying your argument makes it weaker. Similarly, lactose is a sugar, yet it has numerous health benefits, especially in young kids. I think a better wording of what you mean would be to say that consuming too much sugar is bad for your health, because that is both more accurate and has less holes you can poke in it.
I've seen this discourse all over the internet and IRL. People are simply not honest with themselves. Take for example that the US government essentially cuts a check every year to the tune of billions to soda companies via EBT/food stamp programs. Whenever this comes up, "let poor people enjoy things" is the general consensus. They have such poor quality of life that a little soda here and there is an enjoyment that we cannot take away. Imagine if we allowed people to buy cigs or booze on government assistance. I use to have libertarian views on fast food and junk food but at this point, we should ban it all, esp if we are providing reduced/free healthcare to a population where we fund food/grocery purchases.
Flip side of this is the very high cost of true organic and pesticide-minimal/free foods. And yeah, not being honest is somewhat commonplace, regrettably. I for one don't always like wiping off the mirror for a better look.
In the study they use Mankai Duckweed, which is a proprietary strand of Duckweed that is no longer sold to consumers as of 2022 or so. The corporate website still has an intake form for distributors and restaurants/businesses.
Studies that use proprietary plants are always suspicious to me.
"What predicts drug-free type 2 diabetes remission? Insights from an 8-year general practice service evaluation of a lower carbohydrate diet with weight loss "
"Methods Advice on a lower carbohydrate diet and weight loss was offered routinely to people with T2D between 2013 and 2021, in a suburban practice with 9800 patients. (...)"
"Results (...) Remission of diabetes was achieved in 77% with T2D duration less than 1 year, falling to 20% for duration greater than 15 years. Overall, remission was achieved in 51% of the cohort. (...)"
It's the weight loss that leads to "remission" (experts outside of companies promoting low-carb interventions would argue about the use of this term here).
No, that was just the part where a lot of supposed "blue zones" (regions where average lifespan is significantly higher than average) happened to be islands in the Mediterranean. A lot of which was indeed due to pension fraud rather than above-average age, which is easier on those remote islands.
The Mediterranean diet is still backed up by dietary science, which has actively tried out various interventions and compared results. This paper apparently being one of them.
Readit News
I quite liked the Freestyle Libre 3, which you can buy online without a prescription. The software is rudimentary but it'll give you the information that you need. A single device will last for (up to) 2 weeks, which is better than the alternatives I looked at, hence my recommendation.
IIRC from Peter Attia's book Outlive, you are aiming to keep blood glucose at an average of 100, with very few spikes above X (I think he said 160, but would need to check). He does suggest once you have measured for a few days to push the envelope with carbs, sugars, etc and see how your body reacts.
You could go with the Dexcom G7 instead, which I've read favorable things about.
https://www.totaldiabetessupply.com/products/dexcom-g7
Those do not require a prescription, but they are also not a CGM. They are blood sugar test kits, you can order them on Amazon. You could poke your fingers every hour or 15min to replicate the continuous sampling of a CGM, but that's tedious and makes your fingers sore...
CGMs (in the US) just recently (this year) are allowed to be sold OTC without a prescription, now you can buy them online too.
They are accurate enough - they are FDA approved (in the US).
https://www.nutrisense.io/what-is-a-cgm/how-to (see the stop-motion video showing the application)
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""" The sensor is a tiny piece of material that measures real-time glucose levels in your interstitial fluid. You’ll insert the sensor under your skin with an applicator. It uses a needle to pierce your skin. You remove the needle, and it leaves the sensor in place.
"""
https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/articles/continuous-gl...
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this is the one mentioned, you can see the small filament/needle on the animation
https://www.freestyle.abbott/us-en/compare-cgms.html
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and R&D is - of course - ongoing to have a completely non-invasive solution
https://spectrum.ieee.org/skinlike-biosensor-offers-needlefr...
When asked why, she said, "When we give animals fruits that humans eat, they all develop diabetes."
https://www.npr.org/2018/10/07/655345630/how-fruit-became-so...
An older pop science take "That Sugar Film" [1] also provides some interesting perspectives, and a more day-in-the-life practical example of what we're putting into our bodies.
Several years on and I'm still struggling to take a lot of these messages to heart, even though I know so much of what I eat is bad for me and hurting my metabolism.
[1] https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3892434/
See eg his wildly debunked claims on hubermans podcast.
https://web.archive.org/web/20241105075317/https://www.bgu.a...
For example carbs include fiber, which can stabilize blood sugar. fat can also help.
I listened to the audiobook for "the glucose revolution" and it was pretty educational. glucose spikes are what you want to prevent.
I’ve been thinking about it the whole day and your reply made me wonder about getting in the business of sugar
If you don’t eat meat then your sugar and carbs probably are processed from a vegetable in the first place.
Be an adult and eat your fruits and veggies.
A pretty easy solution would be to mix vanilla whey protein into a fruit smoothie to boost your protein.
Another would be to just abstain from sugar for a few weeks before slowly reintroducing foods. [0]
[0] https://philmaffetone.com/method/nutrition/
eating chips (fat/oil, salts, carbs) is also better than sugary stuff, it's just very easy to overeat by snacking (and then usually people still go and have full meals)
It's not only people who drink lots of soda and eat candy, sweets, and desserts...it's also people who have a carb-heavy diet with lots of bread, pasta, tortillas, chips, etc.
The advantage of those foods over sugar is they usually come with fiber, which buffers their absorption and reduces the blood sugar spikes & insulin response.
I can eat a bagel with cream cheese and see a massive blood sugar spike in my CGM, it's definitely something to be avoided or moderated.
Even when I was super fit, and literally with 4% body fat, it was still something I should not have been doing
Studies that use proprietary plants are always suspicious to me.
https://nutrition.bmj.com/content/early/2023/01/02/bmjnph-20...
"What predicts drug-free type 2 diabetes remission? Insights from an 8-year general practice service evaluation of a lower carbohydrate diet with weight loss "
"Methods Advice on a lower carbohydrate diet and weight loss was offered routinely to people with T2D between 2013 and 2021, in a suburban practice with 9800 patients. (...)"
"Results (...) Remission of diabetes was achieved in 77% with T2D duration less than 1 year, falling to 20% for duration greater than 15 years. Overall, remission was achieved in 51% of the cohort. (...)"
Note: most read paper in BMJ history according to https://bmj.altmetric.com/details/140757393
The Mediterranean diet is still backed up by dietary science, which has actively tried out various interventions and compared results. This paper apparently being one of them.
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