Achieving balanced blood sugar levels might sound like just another health buzzword, but let me tell you, it’s far more than that. It’s about unlocking the key to sustained energy, mental clarity, and overall vitality. My journey towards understanding the significance of balanced blood sugar levels began innocently enough, with a routine physical examination revealing a fasting glucose level of 96 – technically within the “normal” range, but my intuition whispered otherwise.

Like many of us, I turned to Google for all my health questions. I read a heard a lot of the Keto diet and thought that if carbs were potentially the problem, maybe limiting them would lower my fasting glucose! Spoiler alert: Keto was the worst thing for me, I lost weight I didn’t need to lose and elevated my liver enzymes so high I ended up getting an ultrasound to make sure I didn’t have fatty liver disease. Completely eliminating a food group was not a good idea for my body.

I had only tried the Keto thing for about a month before I decided to start working with a naturopath who opened my eyes to many lifestyle changes outside of just blood sugar management. She gave me some food and lifestyle recommendations that fit me and my labs.

We test my labs every so often and the fasting glucose was not going down or changing really at all. Sometimes it went up to 102. I decided that tracking with a glucometer would be my next move. I wrote in my journal everything I ate, the time, if I walked or exercised, how much I slept etc to see if I could start to find some patterns. I did start to notice timing of carbohydrates mattered, sleep hygiene, stress and more were all huge factors in why my levels were not changing.

The turning point came when I discovered Levels Health, a platform offering a comprehensive view of my metabolic health through continuous glucose monitoring (CGM). Embracing this technology, I dove into a world of personalized data, uncovering more patterns and food pairings that worked for me so I could make better meal and snack choices.

Over months of diligent tracking, I witnessed tangible improvements in my fasting glucose levels and other metabolic markers, setting the stage for a healthy pregnancy. Even during this pivotal time, I continued to wear a CGM, gaining insights that not only benefited me but also shaped my approach to nourishing new life.

In many ways, I’m thankful that I was forced to learn about insulin resistance because it opened my eyes to so many things I never knew and was never taught.