Month: November 2023

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Originally posted at: Brynn Whitfield’s Houndstooth Blazer

In the realm of health and wellness, new tech is always emerging to provide insight into our inner workings. One such innovation that has gained popularity, and some controversy, is the continuous glucose monitor (CGM).

CGMs measure glucose levels in the interstitial fluid, providing real-time data about blood sugar fluctuations. Designed for those with diabetes to manage their blood sugar levels, CGMs are now being embraced, though not necessarily encouraged, by a broader audience.

Why? Wearing a continuous glucose monitor can offer valuable insights into our metabolic health, helping us make informed choices for overall well-being.

Insulin Sensitivity

Insulin sensitivity refers to how well the body’s cells respond to insulin, a hormone that regulates blood sugar levels. Higher insulin sensitivity is generally considered good because it means cells efficiently take in glucose, helping to maintain stable blood sugar levels.

I’m participating in a comprehensive, long-term health program at Optispan. The purpose of this new company is to embrace preventive health care and ultimately, to make it more available to the average person.

My doctor recommended I wear a CGM because I’m borderline pre-diabetic, based on A1C levels, which came as a huge shock to me because I consider myself very healthy. There are many reasons however, that you can have poor insulin sensitivity*, including a genetic pre-disposition, chronic stress, sleep patterns, and low muscle mass, to name a few.

In addition, some seemingly healthy foods may contain hidden sugars or carbohydrates that can affect blood sugar levels. Some low-fat or fat-free products replace the fat with sugar to enhance flavor. This can include certain yogurts, snacks, and desserts.

Many packaged snacks like energy bars, even those marketed as healthy, can contain hidden sugars and carbohydrates. Some “whole wheat” or “multigrain” products may still have a significant amount of refined carbohydrates. This is why checking the ingredient list for all your foods is so important.

Insulin Resistance

On the other hand, low insulin sensitivity, known as insulin resistance, can lead to elevated blood sugar levels and an increased risk of conditions like type 2 diabetes.

Approximately 1/3 of U.S. citizens are diabetic or prediabetic, and so I know I’m not alone. My doctor asked me to wear the monitor for two weeks, to see if I learned anything. And I did; really quite a lot. I’m sharing it with you now, because it made such a huge impact on my daily habits.

Lessons Learned from Continuous Glucose Monitoring

I Have to Rest When Sick

Being sick and on antibiotics drastically changes your body’s glucose response. It’s always important to take care of yourself, right? But when you’re sick, your body needs it even more. Don’t power through unless you have no other choice. Eat, rest, repeat.

Movement Helps Me

Moving, even a little, after meals is a good idea. Washing dishes, household chores or a brisk walk after meals helps regulate blood sugar levels more effectively than sedentary behavior.

This awareness has changed the order in which I do things during the day. Whereas before I would eat, get some computer work done, then get up and move, I’ve switched to eat, move, computer work.

Always Transition to Exercise

Warming up before and cooling down after exercise significantly helps your body maintain better glucose levels. My glucose drops significantly when I work out, so transitioning into and out of it gradually gives my body the time to adjust without dramatic changes.

Monitoring My Triggers

Even a salad and whole grain bread causes a spike in blood sugar for me, but not for my husband. It’s the bread, every single time. Everyone is different. His is pretzels.

Knowing What I Eat

Read the labels and avoid foods high in added sugar. We hear this so many times that we tend to stop listening. It matters. A lot. Even chewable vitamins can influence your body’s insulin response.

I Listen to My Body

While traditional advice often emphasizes the importance of regular meal schedules, the reality is that optimal meal timing can vary among individuals. For instance, I found that I maintained more consistent blood sugar levels with many small, balanced meals throughout the day and my body’s response to glucose is better in the afternoon than it is in the morning. I knew this going in, just never thought much about it. The days I listen to my body are always better than the days I don’t.

Beyond diet, lifestyle factors play a significant role in blood sugar regulation. Exercise, stress, and sleep patterns all influence glucose levels, and wearing a continuous glucose monitor can unveil these connections.

Observing how your body responds to different stress levels or varying exercise routines can empower you to tailor your lifestyle to promote stable blood sugar. It certainly did for me.

Ways to Improve Insulin Sensitivity

Improving insulin sensitivity is important for nearly everyone’s overall health. Here are some more things you can do.

1. Engage in regular physical activity, including both aerobic exercises and resistance training.
2. Achieve and maintain a healthy weight to positively impact glucose homeostasis.
3. Focus on a well-balanced diet that includes a variety of nutrient-dense foods and sources of omega-3 fatty acids in your diet, such as fatty fish (salmon, mackerel, sardines), flaxseeds, and walnuts.
4. Avoid excessive consumption of refined carbohydrates, sugars, and processed foods.
5. Foods high in fiber, such as fruits, vegetables, and whole grains, can help regulate blood sugar levels, among many other positive benefits.
6. Stay adequately hydrated as dehydration can affect blood sugar levels.
7. Ensure you get enough quality sleep each night, as inadequate sleep can negatively impact insulin sensitivity.
8. Practice stress-reducing techniques such as meditation, yoga, deep breathing, or mindfulness.

These are some of the key steps in our journey to health, ones that we often forget in our busy lives.

My Glucose Tolerance Test Results

Recently, I underwent a Glucose Tolerance Test while wearing a Continuous Glucose Monitor (CGM) to gain a better understanding of my glucose metabolism. Surprisingly, the results revealed a fascinating discrepancy between my A1C levels (indicating borderline pre-diabetes) and the findings of the GTT, suggesting no significant glucose metabolism issues.

The GTT is a diagnostic test that involves fasting, followed by the consumption of a standard amount of glucose, with subsequent blood draws to measure how the body processes the sugar.

To my surprise, the GTT results indicated good glucose tolerance!

This contradicted the borderline pre-diabetes diagnosis suggested by the A1C levels, raising questions about the accuracy of either one as the sole diagnostic tool.

What Does This Mean?

Good question and there are a few possible answers:

• My new diet, since my original blood draw and AC1 results, has made a positive difference for me.
• It’s important to use multiple diagnostic tools to assess glucose metabolism comprehensively.
• Another overnight fasting blood draw will be necessary to obtain a new AC1. It captures an image of overall blood glucose levels over a 3-month period, so I’ll wait 3 months from the first one in order to re-assess.

Should You Use a CGM?

As mentioned previously, CGMs are primarily designed and marketed for individuals with diabetes to help them manage and monitor their blood glucose levels effectively. The controversy over where people without diabetes should use them is based on a few undeniable facts.

Invasiveness

CGMs involve the insertion of a small sensor under the skin, which continuously measures glucose levels. This process can be perceived as invasive for individuals without diabetes.

Cost

The cost of CGM systems, including the sensors and the monitoring device, may be a deterrent for those who don’t have a medical necessity for continuous glucose monitoring.

Psychological Impact

The psychological impact of seeing fluctuating glucose levels, even within the normal range, could potentially lead to unwarranted concerns and behaviors.

Medical Professional Supervision

Non-diabetic individuals may not have the necessary guidance to interpret and act on the CGM data appropriately.

Misinformation

Certain “influencers” and marketers promote questionable advice, like the belief that all glucose spikes are harmful or that individuals should strive for extremely low blood glucose levels.

However, glucose spikes are a natural response to various foods, and the advantages of maintaining very low average glucose levels over normal range levels remain unclear. Recent research indicates that insulin sensitivity is a more reliable predictor of overall metabolic health than average blood glucose or spike frequency.

If you are considering using a CGM as a non-diabetic, it’s crucial to consult with your healthcare provider to discuss potential benefits and risks in your specific case. They are only available by prescription in the U.S., so discussing this with your doctor is inevitable. And a good thing.

Let’s Have a Conversation:

Have you ever noticed how certain foods impact your energy levels or mood? How do you currently structure your meals, and do you think it aligns with your body’s natural rhythms? Do you currently use any health monitoring tools or devices? Are you open to incorporating technology like continuous glucose monitors into your health routine? Why or why not?

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Originally posted at: Shop Real Housewives of Potomac Season 8 Episode 4 Fashion

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Originally posted at: Big Blonde Hair Cyber Monday Picks 2023

In the past year, I have had several car accidents. Three to be exact. Spoiler alert, no one was hurt, in any of the incidents. Each time I was barely driving 2 mph. In one, I was parked and not even in the car. The second involved pulling into my driveway. In the finale, the big one, I was pulling out from a parking spot and hit another parked car, that was the trickiest.

Upfront, I will tell you I have a technologically advanced car, and despite a backup camera, front-end camera, sensor detectors set on sensitive, and wide-view mirrors, there are blind spots. There were no mind-altering substances involved, and I haven’t taken a drink in four years and several months.

Before this, I had been in two accidents in my 46 years of driving. Both happened last year, and both times the Police Report validated: Not my fault. I love those three words, not my fault.

An accident as defined to me by Alexa: “An accident is an unintended undesirable event that results in harm, injury, or loss. Can occur unexpectedly, caused by human error or external factors.”

Two of the three accidents this year were my errors. Although entirely unintended.

So, what happened?

The First Accident: Parking Way Too Close

The first one was in late March. I was coming home after a long day, and it was dark. I pulled in, in a rush to hop out of the car and pee. That’s the usual reason for the rush! I was about to get out of the car, parked in the middle of my driveway, and a thought crossed my mind.

Everyone is hunkering down for snow. It smells like snow. I am too lazy to come back out in the dark and move the car. So, I decided it was best if I pulled closer to the tree line for the snowplow to have more room to turn around. I live in New England and up here March comes in and out like a Lion. April fools you into thinking it will be warmer. The last two years I had both a light dusting of snow and the first tulips springing forth on Mother’s Day in early May.

The whole idea of making more room for the snowplow is ridiculous. I live alone and have a huge drive. My ex-boyfriend’s truck was parked with a dead battery. (If you are wondering, he did take the truck, and left by my tree a 75-pound battery he promised to pick up six months ago.)

I wanted to blame him for leaving the truck. It was not his fault. I decided to rush and back up again to get closer to the truck. I scraped my passenger side hind quarter to get as close to the truck as possible. It is about a 12-inch gash, only one inch thick in one spot, the rest is a fine line. The estimate was USD 1,600. Ouch.

The whole panel had to come off. The good news is it’s purely cosmetic, with no future damage to be expected, no rusting, or peeling. I decided to live with it. Depending on the light, I don’t even notice it.

The Second Accident: Luggage Cart

In the second incident, I was on a spiritual retreat. My 86-year-old friend Laura and I were checking into the hotel. It took both of us to wield the luggage cart. We left it at the curb and went to open the trunk and get our bags out of the car. A huge gust of wind came out of nowhere. It was so forceful it knocked the cart over and the decorative spiral on top went right into the passenger side door, making a hole and a dent.

The side poles of the cart scaped the paint off in the two places where it brushed down on its way to the ground. Laura and I were both thankful the rack didn’t fall on us! Both of us are about 5 feet tall and would have had no good defense against an 80-pound luggage rack diving on top of us.

I am going to also label that a success. I didn’t take it as a sign that the retreat was a mistake, or that we shouldn’t have come a night early. Surprisingly, I let it go, and as I was there to focus on my calm, serenity, and becoming the person I wanted to be, I focused on my calm and serenity.

The Final Straw

That brings us to my latest incident. I’d spent a lovely evening with a friend and her husband, and then off we went to hear our friend Toni Bergins perform songs from her new album. All signs were good. The music was phenomenal, seeing old friends, meeting new people. The night ended with a delicious treat from our local chocolate shop.

I got in, warmed the car and as I pulled out, apparently started cutting to the right, way too early trying to avoid a circular curb in front of me. By the time I realized what that noise was, I was more than halfway out of the spot.

I got out and looked at the damage to the other car. Not much, scraped paint on the bumper. My first thought? No one saw it. No one heard it, no one came outside. There were tons of people still inside. The thought of going in and announcing I hit someone’s car was too overwhelming. I pulled out a piece of paper and left my name and number very legibly. That’s important because there may have been a time when I would have left a note, and hoped I never heard from the person I hurt.

I then realized I didn’t know what it did to my car. I thought: “How bad can it be?” I pulled into the first well-lit gas station I could find to assess the damage. A big sigh of relief as the front right bumper was clear. That big sigh turned into a big cry when I walked around the side and looked. Both passenger doors were dented and scraped.

I don’t know much about accidents, given my safe driver discount – now in jeopardy! – although I could easily tell that fixing it was going to be more than my deductible. I called the police and reported the accident, taking full blame.

And then returned the call to the owner of the car I hit. I profusely apologized and relayed my plan to make a police report and place an insurance claim in the morning. They thanked me for being honest.

What All This Taught Me

Instead of overthinking it, I sat down to write this. Here’s what I have learned.

Accidents Are Accidents

I have been blessed to drive without accidents all these years. Now there will be a monetary hit for sure. And I can accept that transfer of currency for a lesson. If not spent on this, it would be something else. Frankly, I am just thankful it is not for my daughter, dog, or my health. Could this have been avoided? Maybe.

Should I spend time going down that rabbit hole? Absolutely not!

I Am Older and Have More Insurance or at Least a Financing Mechanism

When the Police Officer, came to take pictures for the report, I said, “Thank goodness I have insurance.” She said, “More like a loan.” I didn’t understand what she meant and was too tired to question her. In the light of day, I realized what she’d meant. Either I pay out of pocket for the damage and don’t report it to my insurance, or I do report it and see a massive increase in my policy premium over the next few years.

There is the loan: I get the car paid and fixed now and pay later through the premium increase. Either way, I pay. Once again, I am grateful that even though I live on a fixed budget, it won’t keep me from meeting my other responsibilities and still getting some of what I want and don’t always need.

Maximum Tolerable Downtime – MTD

Taken from the Disaster Recovery World, I ask myself these questions:

• How long can I wait till I can’t wait anymore to fix the car?
• How much time can go by without fixing it until I will miss something important?

My car is running, just dented. I have the coverage that includes a rental when the car is in the shop. An annoying distraction, but minimal effort. My only job is to do the emotionally hard work to keep my thoughts right there. I cannot turn to my old friends fault and blame and dwell on what went wrong. This situation has a high level of maximum tolerable downtime.

NO Universalizing or Catastrophizing

Universalizing as a Social Work term has two meanings. First, your feelings are a normal reaction to a situation. I am not the only person that has ever had a car accident. In this situation, these feelings are not unusual. Others have been in car accidents, accepted responsibly, and paid higher insurance premiums. It helps to know that I am like others.

The second meaning of universalizing is to not make it bigger than it is. What does that mean? To not catastrophize it to the worst possible outcome.

The colloquialism is: Do not make a mountain out of a molehill. It is one problem, one issue, not the whole universe. I can’t go down the rabbit hole of “if onlys,” such as if only I hadn’t parked there because my feet hurt… if only I hadn’t gone out that night… Nor can I turn this small matter into a bigger universal issue: It was a mistake to go out, I am a mistake, my whole life sucks, and nothing ever turns out my way.

There was none of that. It was an unfortunate accident. An unintended event. Full Stop.

Ability to Move on, Not Judge

I am so grateful that other than my pride, nobody got hurt.

What’s Next for Me

Given my remote living location, I must drive. Abandoning my car is not an option. And while it is always preferable to not have an accident, my ability to accept it, deal with it, and move on is a direct accomplishment of all the “emotional” growth I have worked hard for. If growth comes via a price tag and a car fix, I’ll take it.

Let’s Have a Conversation:

Have you been in a car accident lately? How big was it? Were you at fault? What lessons did you learn? Did you go down the rabbit hole of “if onlys?