As a wellness editor and author, I am consistently experimenting with the newest well being tech, so I used to be naturally intrigued once I realized that Oura Ring partnered with Dexcom’s Stelo, a steady glucose monitor designed for folks with out diabetes. The objective of this collaboration is to assist on a regular basis folks like me perceive how meals and common consuming habits influence blood sugar and total well being.
“By combining Stelo information with Oura’s current insights, we’re empowering members to higher perceive the cause-and-effect relationships between consuming patterns, power, temper and restoration — and finally make sustainable, science-backed way of life modifications,” Maz Brumand, vice chairman of product for Oura, advised CNET.
I’ve used my Oura ring each day for the previous three years to monitor my sleep, restoration and stress. But it surely was the primary time I heard {that a} health tracker can monitor blood sugar ranges. I examined the Stelo CGM with my Oura Ring for 2 weeks, and I can say that it modified the way in which I eat and transfer, and I believe this sort of biofeedback is useful for everybody, even if you happen to would not have diabetes.
What’s steady glucose monitoring, and why is it essential?
Your blood sugar, or blood glucose, refers back to the measurement of sugar in your blood. In response to the Cleveland Clinic, glucose is the primary supply of power in your physique — it is what powers your muscle tissues, mind and even your cells. Whenever you eat sure meals (significantly carbohydrates), your glucose rises, and your physique responds by releasing insulin to shuttle that sugar into cells for power or storage. On the flip facet, if you happen to expertise frequent spikes or crashes (even when you do not have diabetes ), it might influence your power, sleep, temper and even long-term metabolic well being. When your physique does not want glucose instantly, it shops it as glycogen in your muscle tissues and liver.
For folks with diabetes, monitoring glucose ranges is essential. However is it essential to do the identical for the remainder of us with no prognosis? To an extent, I believe so. Monitoring your blood sugar all through the day and seeing how your physique reacts to completely different meals can reveal lots 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 power, focus, temper and sleep — and the way resilient we’re over time,” Brumand says.
With the rise of wearable glucose sensors like Stelo, these with out diabetes can now get insights into how their consuming habits influence their our bodies (with out finger pricks or a prescription).
What’s a ‘regular’ glucose vary, and are spikes unhealthy?
Earlier than utilizing a CGM, I assumed blood sugar was both steady or erratic, with no room for in-between spikes. As soon as I started monitoring my glucose each day, I rapidly realized that spikes are fully regular, particularly after meals and snacks.
Most individuals will see glucose ranges rise and drop all through the day. In response to the American Diabetes Affiliation, a common goal vary for adults with out pre-diabetes or diabetes is between 70 and 140mg/dL (be aware 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 (significantly within the morning earlier than having meals), and underneath 140 mg/dL is frequent, particularly after meals.
“Scientific research present that even in wholesome people, a reasonable glucose spike (rise above 140mg/dL) can happen each day. In reality, analysis means that wholesome adults will reside above 140mg/dL for about half-hour, as much as 2 hours a day, which is often 1 to three short-lived glucose spikes”, says Renee Fitton, registered dietitian and director of training at L-Nutra, a diet know-how firm.
Fitton additional defined that the quantity and frequency of glucose spikes rely on numerous components, primarily what and once you’re consuming. These spiked will also be affected by different components like stress degree, train, dehydration and even whether or not you might have a sunburn.
Many glucose displays use a customized vary that adapts to your physique’s baseline and patterns over time. When taking a look at your graph, it is essential to take into account that context and traits 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 might not see indicators for concern for infrequent (one to 3 instances per day) reasonable spikes (lower than 160mg/dL) that resolve inside about 30 minutes. When reaching extra frequent, particularly if they’re increased 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 will not be one thing that we goal for; you need some light 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 by means of ouraring.com ($99 for 2 sensors). I acquired a small field with the sensors and straightforward 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 making 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 reasonably 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.
Left Picture: CGM within the self-injector. Proper picture: CGM on the again of my proper arm.
From the Oura app, I might see how my glucose ranges fluctuated all through the day. You may simply entry it on the high of the app, the place you additionally see different information metrics like sleep, coronary heart fee, exercise and readiness rating (a personalised rating, starting from 0 to 100, that gives a snapshot of how nicely your physique has recovered from yesterday’s actions and sleep).
How even my ‘wholesome’ meals selections raised my blood sugar (and that is OK)
Some of the eye-opening components of my testing was seeing how a few of my favourite wholesome staples performed out on the glucose graph. An incredible 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, nevertheless it 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 total metabolic well being). This was sufficient to make me rethink how and once I devour fruit-heavy drinks.
The subsequent day, I experimented with having a fruit smoothie as an alternative 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 realized: Even pure fruit juices may cause glucose spikes, particularly when consumed on an empty abdomen and with none protein or fiber. Smoothies that embrace protein, fats and fiber may also help maintain spikes at bay and assist stabilize your power ranges.
Steadiness your meals with protein, fat and fiber
Later that week, I had sushi rolls with a facet 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 seemingly contributed to the regular glucose ranges. This second was actually encouraging for me. It made me understand that I needn’t 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 may sluggish digestion and subsequently the absorption of sugars.
Fitton explains that that is primarily as a consequence 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 approach 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 gradual rise that your physique can clear regularly.
“The largest space of concern when managing our blood sugar ranges is limiting refined carbohydrates. Whenever you do select a refined-carb merchandise (a plain cracker, white flour tortilla, cookies, and so on.), attempt to pair it as an alternative 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 doable (for instance, whole-grain crackers) so the carbs come packaged with their very own pace restrict,” Fitton says.
Cake and a stroll equal regular blood sugar?
One of many extra shocking issues I realized 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 an alternative 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. But it surely was sufficient to assist my physique course of and use the glucose extra effectively.
“The physique is aware of that train calls for extra power, and so it helps open up our cells to take in sugar (power) and take away it from our blood. A ten-minute stroll burns about 30 to 40 energy, and your physique will get that power from circulating glucose or saved glycogen,” Fitton defined.
After consuming cake and going for a stroll, my blood sugar noticed a slight spike, however stayed inside vary.
Taking a stroll after meals has lengthy been really helpful 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.
Generally, it isn’t about fully eliminating our favourite treats or carbs, however extra so about timing, meals pairing and motion.
3 methods I realized to flatten my glucose curve with out sacrificing my favourite meals
Earlier than utilizing the glucose sensor with Oura, I assumed blood sugar spikes had been principally about meals and the way they influence your physique. I additionally thought the one approach to handle them was to chop carbs or drastically change my food regimen. However over these two weeks, I skilled firsthand how and once I eat (and transfer) matter simply as a lot as what I eat. I realized that these three methods helped maintain my glucose ranges in examine.
Pair carbs and sweets with protein, fiber and wholesome fat
After I had a berry smoothie with protein powder and soy milk, my glucose ranges stayed regular. In distinction, once 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 light spike.
Meals pairing examples: Apples and peanut butter, toast with avocado, rice with beans or one other protein.
Stroll it out (particularly after sweets)
After I had cake as a snack, I used to be certain my graph would spike dramatically, nevertheless it 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 get pleasure from treats with out the crash later.
Timing your meals issues
I additionally seen that once I ate higher-carb meals earlier within the day, my physique processed them higher than once I had them later at night time. Breakfast smoothies and bowls saved my ranges steady, whereas the identical smoothie after 9 p.m. brought about extra spikes.
“In the case of blood sugar administration, we see that within the morning our physique often 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 may even calm the cortisol response, lowering the stress in your physique. In case you wait too lengthy to eat, extra cortisol can create irritation and likewise produce bigger glucose spikes once you do eat,” defined Fitton.
Fitton additional defined that, conversely, within the night, the sugar administration techniques in our our bodies begin powering down and aren’t pretty much 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 will most likely see blood sugar go up and wait for longer.
That does not imply you may’t eat carbs or treats at night time, however consuming them earlier within the day when insulin sensitivity tends to be increased could make an actual distinction.
