I’ve used my Oura Ring the previous few years to track my sleep, restoration and stress. I am continually experimenting with the most recent well being tech, so I used to be naturally intrigued when Oura Ring just lately partnered with Dexcom’s Stelo, a continuous glucose monitor designed for folks with out diabetes. The purpose of this collaboration is to assist on a regular basis folks like me perceive how meals and normal consuming habits affect our blood sugar and general well being. 

“By combining Stelo knowledge with Oura’s current insights, we’re empowering members to higher perceive the cause-and-effect relationships between consuming patterns, vitality, temper and restoration — and finally make sustainable, science-backed life-style modifications,” Maz Brumand, vice chairman of product for Oura, instructed CNET.

I examined the Stelo CGM with my Oura Ring for 2 weeks, and it modified the way in which I eat and transfer. This kind of biofeedback is useful for everybody, even these with out diabetes.

What’s steady glucose monitoring, and why is it vital?

Your blood sugar, or blood glucose, refers back to the measurement of sugar in your blood. In accordance with the Cleveland Clinic, glucose is the main source of energy to your physique — it is what powers your muscle tissues, mind and even your cells. Once you eat sure meals (notably carbohydrates), your glucose rises, and your physique responds by releasing insulin to shuttle that sugar into cells for vitality or storage. However should you expertise frequent spikes or crashes — even when you do not have diabetes — it will probably have an effect on your vitality, sleep, temper and even long-term metabolic well being. When your physique does not want glucose instantly, it stores it as glycogen in your muscle tissues and liver.

For folks with diabetes, monitoring glucose ranges is essential. However is it vital to do the identical for the remainder of us with no analysis? To an extent, I feel so. Monitoring your blood sugar all through the day and seeing how your physique reacts to completely different meals can reveal so much about your cravings, sleep and metabolic well being. “Glucose is a real-time window into metabolic well being, which underpins how we really feel each day — our vitality, focus, temper and sleep — and the way resilient we’re over time,” Brumand says.

Can I purchase a glucose monitor over-the-counter?

You need not have a prescription to buy a glucose monitor, just like the one I attempted out from Stelo. With the rise of over-the-counter wearable glucose sensors like te Stelo, these with out diabetes can now get insights into how their consuming habits have an effect on their our bodies (with out finger pricks or a prescription).

Dexcom and Stelo are two massive gamers within the wearable glucose monitor market, however there are many different choices with numerous options and costs in our information to the best continuous glucose monitors.

What’s a ‘regular’ glucose vary, and are spikes unhealthy?

Earlier than utilizing a CGM, I believed blood sugar was both secure or erratic, with no room for in-between spikes. As soon as I started monitoring my glucose day by day, I rapidly discovered that spikes are fully regular, particularly after meals and snacks.

Most individuals will see glucose ranges rise and drop all through the day. In accordance with the American Diabetes Association, a normal goal vary for adults with out prediabetes or diabetes is between 70 and 140mg/dL (observe that Oura additionally follows this vary, and it is what customers can count on to see of their graphs). It is also value highlighting that 70 to 100mg/dL is taken into account regular for fasting (notably within the morning earlier than having meals), and below 140 mg/dL is widespread, particularly after meals.

“Scientific research present that even in wholesome people, a average glucose spike (rise above 140mg/dL) can happen each day. Actually, analysis means that wholesome adults will stay above 140mg/dL for about half-hour, as much as 2 hours a day, which is normally one to 3 short-lived glucose spikes,” says Renee Fitton, registered dietitian and director of schooling at L-Nutra, a vitamin expertise firm.

Fitton additional defined that the quantity and frequency of glucose spikes depend upon numerous components, primarily what and whenever you’re consuming. These spiked can be affected by different components like stress degree, train, dehydration and even whether or not you will have a sunburn.

Many glucose screens use a customized vary that adapts to your physique’s baseline and patterns over time. When your graph, it is vital to remember the fact that context and tendencies matter greater than one-off spikes. For instance, seeing a spike after dessert is not an indication that one thing is improper. It is a signal that your physique is doing its job. What issues most is how rapidly your glucose returns to baseline and the way typically your ranges keep elevated over time.

“I’d not see indicators for concern for infrequent (one to 3 instances per day) average spikes (lower than 160mg/dL) that resolve inside about half-hour. When reaching extra frequent, particularly if they’re greater spikes (for instance, above 180mg/dL), that take a very long time to resolve (over 60 minutes), then there could also be considerations about metabolic well being,” Fitton defined. “A totally flat glucose curve just isn’t one thing that we purpose for; you need some mild ups and downs as an indication of wholesome metabolic flexibility.”

How I arrange the Stelo monitor with my Oura Ring

You may order the Stelo sensor directly from Oura ($99 for 2 sensors). I obtained a small field with the sensors and simple directions. Making use of it to the again of my higher arm took lower than 2 minutes and was surprisingly painless. And sure, there’s a small needle concerned. I am scared of needles, so I spent a while mentally getting ready to prick myself, however to my disbelief, I did not really feel it in any respect. The sound the ejector makes is fairly loud, although. I typically assume the sound acted as a diversion to my mind, and that is why I did not really feel something. However, nonetheless, it was a pain-free expertise.

As soon as in place, I paired it to the Stelo app, and it robotically mirrored inside the Oura app. Every sensor tracks your glucose degree 24/7 for as much as 15 days.

From the Oura app, I might see how my glucose ranges fluctuated all through the day. You may simply entry it on the prime of the app, the place you additionally see different knowledge metrics like sleep, heart rate, exercise and readiness rating (a personalised rating, starting from 0 to 100, that gives a snapshot of how effectively your physique has recovered from the day before today’s actions and sleep).

Even my ‘wholesome’ meals decisions raised my blood sugar (and that is OK)

Probably the most eye-opening components of my testing was seeing how a few of my favourite wholesome staples performed out on the glucose graph. A terrific instance of this was my favourite pressed juice.

I had a pressed juice within the morning that contained pineapple, beets, carrots, ginger, cucumber and lemon. It is nutrient-dense, but it surely additionally spiked my glucose above what’s thought of my wholesome vary for about 6 minutes (a small window and nonetheless thought of optimum for my age and general metabolic well being). This was sufficient to make me rethink how and after I devour fruit-heavy drinks.

The subsequent day, I experimented with having a fruit smoothie as a substitute of juice. I made a home made smoothie with berries, banana, plant-based protein powder, peanut butter, soy milk and oats. This smoothie saved my glucose fully in vary (zero minutes above my private threshold). The added protein and fiber from the fruit, oatmeal, peanut butter and protein powder helped sluggish the absorption of pure sugars into my bloodstream.

What I discovered: Even pure fruit juices could cause glucose spikes, particularly when consumed on an empty abdomen and with none protein or fiber. Smoothies that embody protein, fats and fiber may also help maintain spikes at bay and assist stabilize your vitality ranges.

Steadiness your meals with protein, fat and fiber 

Later that week, I had sushi rolls with a aspect of edamame for dinner. To my shock, my glucose ranges stayed inside vary the entire time. Oura Advisor (Oura’s AI coach) even identified that this meals mixture provided protein and fiber, which possible contributed to the regular glucose ranges. This second was actually encouraging for me. It made me notice that I need not drastically change what I eat. By simply being extra intentional about how I pair my meals, I can drastically enhance the influence they’ve on my blood glucose. Pairing your meals with wholesome fat like avocados, nuts, seeds and olive oil can even sluggish digestion and subsequently the absorption of sugars. 

Fitton explains that that is primarily because of what occurs in our digestive tract, even earlier than the vitamins get to our bloodstream. Protein, fiber and wholesome fat work in their very own solution to sluggish the absorption of easy carbohydrates into the bloodstream, making a slower, extra gradual launch of sugars into the blood. These components flip what may very well be a glucose spike into a gentle rise that your physique can clear progressively.

“The most important space of concern when managing our blood sugar ranges is limiting refined carbohydrates. Once you do select a refined-carb merchandise (a plain cracker, white flour tortilla, cookies and so forth), attempt to pair it as a substitute of consuming it solo: add cheese, nut butter or a handful of edamame to blunt the glucose rise, and select a higher-fiber model of your carbohydrate supply when potential (for instance, whole-grain crackers) so the carbs come packaged with their very own velocity restrict,” Fitton says.

Cake and a stroll equal regular blood sugar?

One of many extra stunning issues I discovered was that blood sugar stability is not nearly what you eat. It is also about what you do after you eat. One afternoon, I had a slice of cake for a snack. No fiber or protein added, simply the cake (I had lunch just a few hours earlier than).

As a substitute of my blood sugar spiking, my glucose ranges remained steadily in vary. The caveat? I took a brisk stroll after having my dessert. It wasn’t something strenuous, only a brief 15-minute stroll round my neighborhood. Nevertheless it was sufficient to assist my physique course of and use the glucose extra effectively.

“The physique is aware of that train calls for extra vitality, and so it helps open up our cells to absorb sugar (vitality) and take away it from our blood. A ten-minute stroll burns about 30 to 40 energy, and your physique will get that vitality from circulating glucose or saved glycogen,” Fitton defined.

Taking a walk after meals has lengthy been really useful by specialists for metabolic well being, however seeing the impact in actual time made it click on for me. I do assume that having the cake after having a balanced meal with protein and fiber additionally contributed to my regular ranges of blood sugar.

Typically, it is not about fully eliminating our favourite treats or carbs, however extra so about timing, meals pairing and motion.

3 methods I discovered to flatten my glucose curve with out sacrificing my favourite meals

Earlier than utilizing the glucose sensor with Oura, I assumed blood sugar spikes have been principally about meals and the way they influence your physique. I additionally thought the one solution to handle them was to chop carbs or drastically change my weight loss plan. However over these two weeks, I skilled firsthand how and after I eat (and transfer) matter simply as a lot as what I eat. I discovered that these three methods helped maintain my glucose ranges in examine.

Pair carbs and sweets with protein, fiber and wholesome fat

Once I had a berry smoothie with protein powder and soy milk, my glucose ranges stayed regular. In distinction, after I had a fruit smoothie earlier that week, my blood sugar ranges spiked and crashed extra rapidly.

Takeaway: Carbs on their very own, particularly refined and processed carbs, can spike blood sugar rapidly, however including protein or fats slows digestion and results in a extra mild spike.

Meals pairing examples: Apples and peanut butter, toast with avocado, rice with beans or one other protein.

Stroll it out (particularly after sweets)

Once I had cake as a snack, I used to be positive my graph would spike dramatically, but it surely did not due to my stroll (and consuming a balanced meal earlier than).

A easy stroll, even simply 10 to fifteen minutes, may also help offset blood sugar spikes. This small however easy behavior helps me now take pleasure in treats with out the crash later.

Timing your meals issues

I additionally observed that after I ate higher-carb meals earlier within the day, my physique processed them higher than after I had them later at night time. Breakfast smoothies and bowls saved my ranges secure, whereas the identical smoothie after 9 p.m. prompted extra spikes.

“With regards to blood sugar administration, we see that within the morning our physique normally has a spike in cortisol (a stress hormone) that may really assist our physique take up sugar in a short time and rapidly handle blood sugar. Consuming within the morning can even calm the cortisol response, lowering the stress in your physique. Should you wait too lengthy to eat, extra cortisol can create irritation and likewise produce bigger glucose spikes whenever you do eat,” defined Fitton. 

Fitton additional defined that, conversely, within the night, the sugar administration methods in our our bodies begin powering down and should not nearly as good at serving to blood sugar get into the cells. So it is very important attempt to not eat too late; in any other case, you may in all probability see blood sugar go up and look forward to longer.

That does not imply you’ll be able to’t eat carbs or treats at night time, however consuming them earlier within the day when insulin sensitivity tends to be greater could make an actual distinction.