The holiday season can be a wonderful time of year — but it can also throw a wrench into your metabolic health.
Over 75% of people eat more during the holidays, and 90% of us gain between one and 10 pounds. With all the cookies, candies, and holiday treats, keeping your eating habits in check can feel like an impossible task.
It can also feel difficult to control your blood sugar levels, particularly if you have a history of high glucose. A whopping 86% of people have worse glycemic control in the last six weeks of the year, which aggravates inflammation, insulin sensitivity, and metabolic syndrome.
I firmly believe keeping an eye on your blood sugar is a great way to hold yourself accountable to better habits. Fortunately, traditional ‘finger stick’ monitors are no longer your only option. With the advent of continuous glucose monitors (CGMs), it’s easier than ever to keep tabs on your blood sugar.
The power of continuous glucose monitors for the holiday season
Continuous glucose monitors are a type of medical device you can use to track your blood sugar levels. Unlike finger stick tests or venipuncture draws, they provide a continuous stream of information before, during, and after meals.
The best CGMs compile your glucose information into a chart so you can see how the numbers change over time. All you need to do is attach the monitor to your skin — from there, you can see how the numbers move up or down based on what you eat or how you exercise.
Equipped with a CGM during the holiday season, you can:
Track the impact of different foods
Finger sticks require manual testing before and after you eat. This is rarely convenient during the holiday season, where guests and festivities require your focus and energy.
A CGM can help you monitor your blood sugar before, during, and after your holiday feasts. This can help you get a better idea of how certain foods impact your body.
Let’s say you’re following a carnivore diet and want to test the impact of eggnog on your blood sugar. If you notice a huge spike a few hours after drinking, you can largely assume it’s a food needing moderation.
Make better choices with better control
CGMs are excellent accountability partners for out-of-the-ordinary meals. You could have a second piece of pie with extra whipped cream — but what would your CGM say?
That’s not to say you can’t eat anything fun during the holidays. That’s neither realistic nor practical. But a CGM can help you make conscious decisions about the fuel you’re putting into your body.
Roughly 87% of CGM users say they’ve modified their food choices simply by using the device. Even with the pressure of the holiday season, a glucose monitor is a faithful dietary companion.
Look beyond the food
Some CGMs offer metabolic insights that go beyond the food you eat. Others track your sleep quality and physical activity so you can connect the dots back to blood sugar spikes.
Noticing a correlation between poor sleep and high blood sugar? You may want to spend more time resting. Could holiday stress be affecting your glucose? A good CGM can help you find out.
Other suggestions for holiday blood sugar management
CGMs may be a powerful tool, but they’re even more powerful when paired with good choices. During the holidays, I encourage my clients to try:
Limiting desserts to a smaller amount
An ‘off-limits’ mindset is rarely helpful during the holidays. You may have every intention of avoiding those sugar cookies, but an oven-ready batch somehow worms its way through your defenses.
Forbidding yourself from holiday food could set you up for failure. Rather than disappointing yourself when you ‘fall’ for temptation, set expectations up-front so you feel better equipped.
Instead of saying, ‘I can’t have those cookies,’ try saying, ‘I can have X number of cookies and then take a walk to balance my sugar.’
Again, continuous glucose monitors are an excellent tool for making these decisions.
Eating less frequently
From holiday parties to work events, food has a constant presence during the holidays. We’re likely to eat more frequently during the day and snack at times we usually wouldn’t.
This could impact our metabolic health by spiking our blood sugar at inopportune times (like right before bed). The solution? Eating less frequently keeps your glucose in check while reducing inflammation and improving circadian rhythms.
Infrequent eating is especially useful if your schedule is full of holiday parties. You know you have a big meal on the horizon, so you opt to fast most of the day or reduce your feeding window.
Again, the data stored in your CGM can help you determine how to proceed.
Prioritizing satiating foods
Standard American Diet holiday foods are typically nutrient-thin and highly processed. They may cause you to feel hungrier and eat more often, spiking your blood sugar.
My advice is to focus on whole, real foods that come from the ground or were fed by the ground. Prioritizing protein and fat can help you feel full and satisfied so you don’t feel a need to binge on prepackaged sweets. They’re also far less likely to spike your blood sugar.
Again, this is something you can monitor with a CGM.
My recommendation for an effective CGM
Not all CGMs are built alike. Some stick poorly or fall off during periods of activity, while others create friction when trapped between clothing and your skin.
I’ve seen a number of different models over the years, but they aren’t all equal. To be sure my clients get the right quality, I can prescribe a CGM within my Elite coaching program to people within the USA.
If you’re outside of the USA I recommend the Ultrahuman M1. In addition to tracking your blood glucose, you can set up fasting schedules, track physical activity, and measure stress levels and sleep quality. It’s a well-rounded tool on anyone’s journey to better metabolic health.