Glucose monitoring for people without diabetes

olivebeanhealthy

Hello! I don't have diabetes. I am considering getting a glucose monitor, to develop awareness of my blood sugar levels and how different foods affect them. I am also curious to know if when I feel like I have low blood sugar, if that's always actually the case.

I am curious to hear from people without diabetes who have monitored their glucose; how has it helped you, and what are your tips and tricks?

And from anyone; what monitors do you recommend and why?

Thank you (:

KenSmith108

The meter might still be on sale at Walmart for $9. if not then $16
50 test strip are $9.

I drag mine around everywhere & if I lose it it's not the end of the world.
I have 1 in my car, 1 in my lunch box & another in my gym bag.

or

phxteach

Agreed, the Walmart meter is as cheap as you can find without insurance.

cenright0

I think its one of the smartest things you can do to take control of your health. I started a keto/ low carb woe back in mid Feb. It wasn't until end of March that I decided based on embracing this woe and trying to figure out how & what I eat effects my energy, weight, satiety, etc to begin checking my blood glucose levels out of curiosity.

I have never been diagnosed with diabetes in fact I never in a million years thought I would discover what I did. I began testing my fasting blood sugar and found I am defiantly in the zone in relation to pre diabetes. And this is AFTER 1.5 months of eating very low carb! I can't imagine what my fasting levels were prior to Feb 15th. My fast levels have been anywhere from 99-126. I'm not concerned about my levels after meals as they don't go really high (probably because I am eating low carb) and they return to normal levels within an hour or so after eating. They also are highest in the morning and continue to drop through the day and hover around 88-98.

This new health information has me somewhat concerned but happy that I started checking. I have an appt on Wed with my doctor to discuss this. Im going to request to have a A1c1 test done which gives me my average of my blood sugar level over the last 3 months. Still I wish I could go back further and find out what the fasting levels were before starting low carb on Feb 15th.

If you do some reading or listening to Jimmy Moore (low carb livin la vita podcast and several books) he talks about the importance of being involved in your health and knowing your numbers.

I bought the Reli On prime micro at walmart also and really like it.

Good luck!

Twibbly

I have the ReliOn Prime as well. I have tested my blood sugar with it, then on a OneTouch Ultra II, and they're always within 5 of each other. I'd much rather use the 100 strips for $17 than the %$#!%$#^& expensive strips.

I've realized that as long as I stay away from certain foods, my after-meal blood sugar doesn't go nuts. It'll be anywhere from 99 to 130 or so 2 hours after I eat. After oatmeal, it hit 160-something, and that was THREE hours after. Yeah, no more oatmeal for me.

My fasting blood sugar is slowly dropping - it was around 123, and now it's normally around 111 or 112. I'm not exceedingly low carb (100g is my limit), but I'm eating low carb enough to make the numbers change (plus, vegetables!).

Now, I'm mostly tracking just the fasting blood sugar unless I'm curious about a food.

olivebeanhealthy

Thanks for the feedback!

olivebeanhealthy

Just saw this when digging back a bit; things get buried so fast it's easy to post repeats without realizing it!

http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10372970/anyone-non-diabetic-using-a-glucometer-to-monitor-blood-sugar-effects#latest