Before we begin discussing your health journey—tell us a bit about yourself and why you chose Nutrisense.
I’m married with grown kids—my boys are 30 and 31 years old—and I work for our church.
I typically follow a lot of healthy lifestyle and wellness pages on social media. I follow Glucose Goddess, and I was listening to her book [Glucose Revolution]; then I bought the book so that I could take notes in it because I was so fascinated by some of the things she was talking about.
And it led me to this search for a CGM. Just by doing a little research online, I found a lot of really great reviews for Nutrisense, and I thought I’d give it a try; I'm so happy with it!
So, you’d never used a CGM before the program?
No! I’ve never tracked anything like this, and I am what my friends and family would consider a pretty big health nerd. I’m knocking on the door of 50, and I'm just trying to do everything I can to stay healthy.
It's been a great resource and an excellent addition to my toolbox to help me see what's going on in my body.
Was staying healthy as you age your main goal with the program?
Yes. I lead a very active lifestyle; I hike, work out, and do yoga. My husband and I like to travel. Our kids are grown and thinking about when they have grandkids… this is another way to stay healthy.
And, as we begin to age and hopefully do that, not just gracefully, but also do it well, I think this can help teach people we don't have to become sedentary. And that it's not a part of life where you have to get old and get sick and not live a full life. The CGM has been such a great tool to add to what I already try to do to keep myself healthy.
Absolutely. And since you already had some health knowledge going in, what was it like seeing all your data when you first put on the CGM?
Oh, exciting. I sort of knew what it all meant, and I think the Nutrisense app is fantastic. But if it were not for my nutritionist, Patrick, I wouldn't have been able to really understand. I think you can look at the app and see things and think, you know, "here's this number."
But he's been so great behind the scenes, helping me understand and saying things like, "Hey, look at these numbers," and "this is what it all really means." So now, understanding all that, it’s almost like reading the fine print. It’s been so much easier being able to communicate with him 1:1, and it helped me learn so many things.
Tell us a little bit about that.
I try to stay within a good weight. But what I realize after using the CGM is that it doesn't matter what your build is, how tall, how short, how skinny, or heavy; your glucose just has such an effect on you. It’s so helpful to track your glucose levels and nutrition. Everyone can benefit from a CGM.
Speaking of nutrition, what were some interesting things you found out related to your dietary habits?
I eat pretty well, so my numbers are typically quite good. But then there were times when we went out for my husband’s company dinners or entertained people.
And so, even in those settings, I try to eat appropriately or, as Glucose Goddess says, try to eat some greens first. But there were a few times when I would drink a glass of wine or have some alcohol with something that I thought would not spike my glucose. And it did.
I realized my numbers from a Thursday and Friday were usually crazy, even if I waited until the end of a meal to eat something sugary.
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Did you work with your nutritionist to figure out how to blunt those spikes?
Oh, yes. It's been great. Patrick is so great, he sent me lots of really good resources and articles, and we’re now talking about setting me up to start playing with some experiments.
I'm pretty basic when it comes to the foods that I eat. Usually, if a breakfast works for me, I tend to eat that for a while every day. But I have started to step out a bit now that I feel like I've got a baseline, and I know what's consistent for me. It's fun to see what happens when I play around with it.
The things Patrick’s taught me and the things I've learned by wearing the CGM have made me look at how I eat differently.
Can you give us some examples of what's changed?
I think the time between my meals has changed based on my conversations with my Nutrisense nutritionist. Definitely, the order in which I eat my food and starting to go for walks after I eat.
It's incredible because there are things that we think would not spike glucose that will. For example, I had a charcuterie board for my son and his girlfriend a couple of weeks ago, and it had some cheeses and some gluten-free crackers—all pretty healthy stuff. But it also had some dried fruits, and I learned that having that before dinner spiked my glucose.
That was so good for me to see, so I knew next time to eat a little green before. Because I love dried fruit, but I need to watch the glucose spikes there.
I even look at certain foods differently. If I’m going to eat a banana, for example, I understand now what that could do to my glucose levels if I don't mix that with something else. But in combination with other things, like putting nut butter on it, it makes such a difference. So, I don’t have to cut out foods, I just eat them differently.
I'm excited to learn new things, step out of my comfort zone of what I typically eat, and see how that affects my glucose going forward.
What about exercise, sleep, and stress?
Two days out of five, I just do yoga. But the three days I work out intensely, I do a HIIT workout, which is some cardio but also a lot of weights. And I definitely see a spike then, but I’m learning more about that too.
I have some time off from my job over the summer, so I’m already in low-stress mode, but my sleep has been incredible since I started using the CGM. The things I've learned taught me how to eat differently, especially regarding sugar. And so, I'm sleeping wonderfully.
So, would you say you’re on your way to meeting those goals you set for yourself when you started using the CGM?
Oh, absolutely. I've spent a lot of time over the last several years trying to educate myself on health and wellness, and finding new tools, just like the CGM, taught me even more.
My knowledge of not just glucose but overall health has been boosted. It’s been fun to learn things and communicate that to others like my friends and family. My husband is fascinated by it, so I hope he will also join me on this journey soon.
I'm just very grateful that I found Nutrisense. It’s really been such a gift to me.
