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Stuart Tutler on Minimizing Glucose Spikes Using a CGM

Stuart Tutler on Minimizing Glucose Spikes Using a CGM
"I think the Nutrisense CGM program is a great value for what you're getting. Especially since you can also talk to a nutritionist while using the service."
Stuart Tutler on Minimizing Glucose Spikes Using a CGM

Tell us about yourself and how you found Nutrisense. 

I live in Tennessee; I’ve lived here for about 26 years and am currently in real estate. I was having some health challenges, and around the same time, a friend saw an ad for Nutrisense and suggested I try it.

I read about it and thought the Nutrisense CGM Program might help me understand more about my A1C.

So, you’d never used a CGM before you started with Nutrisense’s CGM Program? 

Nope. It was my first time using something that would show me the impact of food on my body.

You mention having some health challenges. Did you want to monitor the impact of food on your body to focus on any of these specifically?

Yes. In March 2022, I got results from lab tests that said I was prediabetic. The doctors offered to write me a prescription for medicine, and I asked if there were any other options, and believe it or not, they actually said no. Still, I decided I wanted to try some dietary changes first.

I started immediately, and I was making some changes from the time of my diagnosis. I found Nutrisense in June, and it made a much better impact on my eating habits than everything I was doing before that.

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What were some things you did to make these changes before you found the CGM Program? 

I have a friend who works as a clinical dietitian, so I was asking her questions and, of course, reading up on getting the A1C down.

But using the CGM with Nutrisense's support showed me things that no article or clinical dietitian, or my own research could help me with. It made a massive difference for me in just a month.

Since it was your first-time tracking numbers like this, when you first put the CGM on, was it easy to read and understand your data? 

It took a little bit of education on what some of the numbers meant, but it's all explained so well in the Nutrisense app itself.

And, of course, Yvonne, my Nutrisense nutritionist, added a layer of understanding to it that I didn't realize before. I also sat in on a webinar Nutrisense did, which taught me what I needed to know about using the app with the CGM.

The most significant learning curve was recognizing what my numbers meant for my health. The first few days, I really spiked—my blood glucose numbers were as high as 169. But I was seeing what impact my regular food had on me, which was helpful.

Tell us a bit about the changes you were able to make using the CGM. 

First, it helped me identify foods that I thought were or that anybody would consider healthy foods, but that didn’t do too well for me.

I learned that the impact on my body might be totally different than on someone else's. For example, I was eating oatmeal because it's supposed to be healthy. But there are different types of oatmeal, and each was having a significant effect on my body. 

Yvonne also showed me—or I should say the data from the CGM showed me, and she explained—how with certain foods, it also depends on what time of day I eat them.

So, for example, I had one meal in the morning and the same meal later in the day on a separate day. And it spiked; it was a different reaction. It had something to do with how my body burned carbs in the morning versus how it worked with the carbs in the evening.

That time of day makes such a difference. It’s crazy to be able to see all that in real-time.

I also learned that my fasting window needs to be a fasting window. In the beginning, I’d be grabbing a snack at 11 p.m. but seeing my numbers spike in the middle of the night was an excellent way to start working on breaking the habit.

How did you change that; did you avoid it or change how you were eating it? 

My goal initially was to find out what I could eat that didn’t affect my levels and then eliminate what did affect them.

But working with Yvonne changed my approach. It was exciting because she said I could eliminate those foods, or she could teach me how to eat them! She showed me several things like meal sequencing and eating fatty foods before eating foods that increase glucose levels...

I still tend to lean towards trying not to eat those foods, but I know now that if I want to, I know how to eat them.

So, you don’t have to cut out foods you enjoy…  

Yes, exactly. I mean, in my opinion, I think pizza, peach cobbler, and tequila should all be healthy items to eat for my glucose, but of course, that's not the case!

But I did figure out that Blanco Tequila does not have a disastrous effect so I can afford the occasional treat. At least the monitor doesn't pick up anything for it.

Good tip! Yes, alcohol and sugar can be tough ones.

Yes. The good thing, though, is that I don't crave things anymore with the diet I’m on now, especially sweets. Nutrisense helped me a lot with that one too.

Based on what Yvonne taught me, I know I can eat desserts and I know how to eat them so my sugar doesn't spike. But I don't have a craving for them.

That's great. And what about things like exercise, sleep, and stress; any other lifestyle factors you noticed affecting your numbers? 

Yes, exercise was an interesting one for me. And, of course, Yvonne helped me with that as well. She explained activity will shoot insulin in the body, and it helped me understand things better.

Because initially, you just see the spike, which can be alarming. But now I know what it all means and why it’s happening, which helps.

I also saw that my numbers are pretty steady during the week, but the weekend is when my numbers go up. I realized I have more of a stable pattern on weekdays: wake up, work, eat. The weekends are a bit different and can mess up my numbers.   

And did you begin to see those numbers decrease as you tweaked things?

Oh yes. I was also able to see the progression, going from a morning average of blood glucose levels way above 100 to a morning average below 100.

I’m told it takes three months to see whether I’m out of the prediabetic range, but with the CGM, I know how I’m doing every day because I see real-time glucose data. 

And I know my glucose levels are lower than when I first started, which I'm hoping translates into seeing my A1C decrease as well.  

What did you find worked best for you?

The app helps—it keeps a good record of the meals so you can see what’s working, tweak it, and go back and see what responses everything had and when. I’ve been developing my diet from that.

I find that simple meat and vegetable meals work best. Cheese works well, too, although I have to watch that a bit because my cholesterol numbers were high too. The best part is I’ve been able to experiment.

Tell us about that. 

I created a recipe (though I’m sure it exists somewhere) based on my results with egg whites, turmeric, onions, and peppers. Sometimes I add some breakfast meat. That meal is a ten on my breakfast scale.

Another thing was blending avocados into my protein shake. I usually hate avocados because of the texture, but by blending them into my shake, that issue doesn’t come up for me, and I can get all the healthy fats from the fruit. 

So just learning that there are better ways to eat my foods and add in things, even if I don’t like them was very helpful.

stuart's breakfast experiment
Stuart worked 1:1 with his Nutrisense nutritionist to adjust the ingredients of his smoothie for a better glucose response. Learn more about how avocado helped lower the peak in this article.

Going back to the subscription, what did you think about the price of the program?

For me, it was well worth it. It's helping me help myself. I did so much research—I broke down the items to see how much everything would cost.

And if you add it all together, I think the Nutrisense CGM program is a great value for what you're getting. Especially since you can also talk to a nutritionist while using the service.

Because I know you can buy just the sensor, but when you add in the support, the app, everything that Nutrisense offers… it’s such good value.  

That’s wonderful to hear. Do you have any key takeaways you’d like to share with us? 

I would summarize by saying that Nutrisense (no pun intended here) makes sense. It's well worth the value, and Yvonne is amazing; the access to an expert nutritionist for 1:1 support and guidance is so necessary. Her helpfulness, friendliness, and ability to guide me in my eating habits were all so valuable.

And again, it's the fact that she didn't just show me what I can eat. She showed me how to eat the things I like to eat, even if they impacted my glucose response.

To me, the whole process of my health journey: from the program down to technology, everything has been perfect.

#joinnutrisense

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