Levels Experiment

- 4 minutes read - 648 words

I’m Sharing My 28 Day Glucose Experiment Here

I signed up for Levels and got a continuous glucose monitor. For the next 28 days, I’m going to monitor the readings and try to optimize them by adjusting the inputs that I control like food, exercise, sleep, and to a certain degree, stress.

I’ll share those results daily, right here.

Why I Chose To Monitor My Glucose Readings

I’m doing this experiment for a few reasons:

  1. I’m trying to improve my health as measured by blood glucose, triglycerides, and body fat

  2. I’m trying to improve my diet so that I can prevent future health issues caused by inflamation such as cancer, diabetes, and heart disease.

  3. A friend of mine did this same type of experiment using the finger stick and strip glucose monitor, and he was able to improve his health by eliminating glucose spikes.

Yeah, But Why Care About Glucose

I’m only going to briefly address this here. I’m not a doctor or nutritionist, and you should consult your medical professionals before making any changes to your diet or exercise.

8 reasons glucose is worth monitoring

I care about my glucose levels because they directly impact my insulin levels. There is an insulin response to glucose in our blood. Too much glucose spikes our insulin.

When we’re sitting on the couch eating pizza and drinking our high sugar beverage of choice, we get more glucose than our body requires at the moment. What isn’t used in the short term by the muscles or brain gets stored. It gets stored in our liver, as fat tissue.

If we do that too often, we can end up with the lifestyle diseases of cancer, diabetes, and heart disease.

Why Don’t You Just Eat Low Sugar Foods

I eat pretty healthy most of the time. But I suspect I’ll learn that I will benefit from eating smaller servings, eating more protein with my meals, and taking a walk after my meals. I’m pretty sure I just don’t move enough after eating regardless if I am rowing or biking that day.

But now I will have data to tell me what is happening in real time. Does oatmeal - even steel cut oatmeal - spike my glucose like it does for some people? Will I benefit from having more protein and less grains for breakfast? Will my glucose be better if I eat my blueberries after I eat yogurt?

We’ll find out. We’ll find out because we have the tools available to do so, and I think that’s pretty cool.

Experiment Parameters

  • Hypothesis: modifying my glucose levels will lower my fasting blood glucose level, lower my triglycerides, and lower my body fat.

  • Method of testing: Measure glucose readings using a continuous glucose monitor (CGM). Store readings using a web application.

  • Duration of experiment: 28 days

Known Factors Affecting Glucose Levels

  • Food

  • Exercise

  • Stress

  • Sleep

I will record what I eat, when I exercise, and make note of stress or sleep issues.

Oddly, I don’t like fitness wearables because I get anxious about my heart rate. I’m not anxious about the data, even though the CGM is more invasive to my body.

I feel empowered and have the knowledge to make positive changes. I can choose what, when, and how much to eat. I can choose to go for a walk after eating. I can choose to manage my stress with meditation, yoga, or by going for a walk.

Information About Levels

Levels has a blog with a lot of useful and practical information. You can read about other people’s experience with Levels, and what they learned about their personal experience to find the right combination of food and exercise that helped them optimize their metabolic health. They also have articles about specific steps you can take to improve your own metabloic health.

Use this link if you’d like to try this experiment yourself.