What This Continuous Glucose Tracker Taught Me About Health

If you asked me a month ago how to best evaluate my health and fitness, I’d talk about logging meals, counting steps, tracking sleep, documenting water intake, and recording workouts. What else is there, right? Turns out, you can learn a lot more by doing less.

The key might be glucose tracking. By examining your glucose patterns, you can better understand your metabolism and adjust your diet and activity in order to avoid glucose spikes. While that sounds nice in theory, I didn’t think accessing your glucose levels was something the average person could easily do — at least not on their own from the comfort of home. That changed when I tried Lingo*, a science-backed system made by Abbott designed to power healthy habit change. In wearing a Lingo biosensor for two weeks and tracking my glucose in the Lingo app, I unlocked a new level of nutritional and bodily insights that changed the way I understood my health and fitness.

Before experiencing the Lingo system firsthand, I wanted to dive deeper into why glucose, a fuel that provides energy to your cells, is important to one’s wellness. Here’s what I learned: Throughout the day, glucose rises and falls, usually going up after high-carb meals, intense exercise, or stress. When your glucose rises, your body releases insulin, which helps turn that glucose into energy. However, frequent spikes and dips can affect how you feel, impacting things like sleep, mood, hunger, and focus. As someone who regularly thinks about getting a sounder sleep, sharpening my focus, improving my mood, and, sure, sometimes weight loss, discovering which foods could cause the biggest spikes became invaluable. In monitoring these glucose patterns, you can observe the impact that your eating and exercise habits have on your body — data that goes far beyond the capabilities of a fitness band or smart watch.

The Lingo system consists of a biosensor, a small device I attached to the back of my upper arm (the application was virtually painless**) and a handy app to track my glucose patterns in detail. The biosensor works by monitoring your glucose via a tiny filament that sits just below the skin. Whereas some sensors refresh every 15 minutes, the Lingo biosensor streams real-time data every minute of every day. I appreciated how discreet the biosensor itself is, too — once it was applied, I essentially forgot about it for 14 days. It’s also water resistant, so I had no worries showering and working out (you can also swim with it). After two weeks, simply peel off the expired biosensor and apply a new one for the next two weeks (or whenever you want to start tracking again).

Once applied, it took one hour for the biosensor to adjust and “get to know” me. I was then able to view my real-time glucose data in the app, including spikes, throughout the day — according to the Lingo app, a typical healthy glucose range is 70-140 mg/dL. My journey toward a healthier me had begun. Because I’m a skeptic at heart (and had yet to have my daily treat), I immediately put Lingo to the test. After eating a dark chocolate peanut butter cup, my reading jumped from 110 mg/dL to 115 mg/dL. Two minutes later, it decreased to 108 mg/dL. I was hooked. I suddenly needed to know how my glucose would respond to everything I ate and did.

For two weeks, I checked my glucose numbers religiously and learned a lot. I saw my glucose rise after consuming high-carb and high-sugar foods. I saw my glucose level out after going for a run. The in-app coaching program pointed out that my glucose tended to elevate in the evenings, which helped me curb my habit of eating a late dinner. Content in the app also explained that my daily walks helped keep my glucose steady throughout the mornings, so walking became something I tried to do as often as I could. During dips in my glucose, I felt low energy, so I learned to eat some protein during those times to avoid a drastic glucose shift.

According to the app, when your body experiences frequent glucose spikes and dips, it may negatively affect your hunger, mood, energy, sleep, and focus. Keeping a close eye on your glucose patterns can help you avoid this dreaded glucose turbulence. As the Lingo biosensor decodes your personal glucose response to food and exercise, the Lingo app then translates that data into actionable insights, sharing tips on how to improve your habits. This new approach to health and nutrition felt refreshing to me and much more individual than, say, blindly counting macros.

According to Lingo, a view of your glucose responses can help you take control of your health. After experiencing the Lingo system for myself, I agree. For those two weeks, I felt in sync with my body. Oftentimes, my health journey feels like a guessing game — but this simple addition to my life made it nearly foolproof. It’s an empowering and exciting notion — one that I believe will drive the future of both our health and wellness practices and journeys, which, just like us, are nuanced and deeply personal. Get started on your own path to a healthier you with the two-week plan, four-week plan, or 12-week subscription from Lingo.

*The Lingo Glucose System is for users 18 years and older not on insulin. It is NOT intended for diagnosis of diseases, including diabetes.

The Lingo program does not guarantee that everyone will achieve the same results as individual responses may vary. Consult your healthcare professional before making changes to your diet or exercise regimen or if you have an eating disorder or a history of eating disorders.

© 2024 Abbott. The biosensor housing, Lingo, and related marks are marks of the Abbott group of companies. Other marks are the property of their respective owners. If you’d like more information on this, please click here.

**In a study conducted by Abbott, 91.6 % of users surveyed (n=119) agree that it was painless to apply the biosensor.

***This article is for informational purposes only, and does not substitute professional medical advice.