Coach's Corner With Justin and Ethan
Welcome to "Coach's Corner with Justin and Ethan," where your health and fitness journey gets a simplified makeover! Join Justin and Ethan, two seasoned coaches with a combined 30 years of experience, as they navigate the labyrinth of health and fitness, unraveling myths from facts to guide you towards success.
In each episode, we dive headfirst into the vast world of well-being, shedding light on weight loss, dissecting diet fads, exploring diverse workout styles, and fine-tuning the often overlooked aspect of mindset. Our mission is to demystify the complexities surrounding health, making your journey not only effective but enjoyable.
Get ready for a lively and informative conversation that feels like a chat with your favorite fitness buddies. Justin and Ethan draw upon their extensive experience, sharing real-life stories from working with thousands of clients. No stone is left unturned as they break down what really works and what's just another fitness fad.
Whether you're a fitness enthusiast or a beginner taking the first steps toward a healthier lifestyle, "Coache's Corner" is your go-to source for practical insights, debunking myths, and embracing the joy of the journey. Tune in for a fun and engaging exploration of the truth behind health and fitness, and let Justin and Ethan be your trusted guides to a healthier, happier you!
Coach's Corner With Justin and Ethan
Glucose Spikes: Should You Be Concerned?
Are glucose monitors really necessary for everyone? Discover the truth behind this rising health trend as we sift through the marketing hype and delve into the physiological realities of blood glucose regulation. We'll challenge the notion that these devices are essential for the general population, scrutinizing whether they're more of a marketing ploy than a genuine health necessity. Alongside our guest Ethan Wolfe, we share our initial reactions to seeing glucose monitors all over social media and discuss why post-meal glucose spikes might not be as alarming as they seem.
We'll break down the complex interplay between carbohydrate intake, physical activity, and insulin sensitivity, emphasizing the critical balance between calories consumed and calories burned. Understand the significance of maintaining insulin sensitivity and how a sedentary lifestyle can lead to metabolic issues like type 2 diabetes. We'll also cover the glycemic index and its impact on blood sugar levels, advocating for the benefits of consuming fibrous and complex carbohydrates over refined ones.
Finally, we explore practical strategies for managing diabetes with movement and diet, comparing the health outcomes of individuals with different activity levels but similar BMIs. Touching on the concept of temporary hypoglycemia after large meals, we debate the utility of glucose monitors for non-diabetics and offer actionable advice on maintaining overall health through balanced sleep, diet, and exercise. Join us for a thorough, thought-provoking discussion that challenges conventional wisdom and offers a fresh perspective on blood glucose monitoring.
Welcome to episode 19 of Coach's Corner. I am your host, Justin Scullard. The man of the man, the myth, the legend, the international man of mystery. And who are you?
Speaker 2:The intrepid time traveler. I am Ethan Wolfe.
Speaker 1:And today we got a juicy little nugget of we're going to be talking about glucose monitors. Oh yeah, which really is a conversation of how important is it that your glucose levels spike or don't spike post meal? What is their value?
Speaker 2:is their value? Is their concern? Is wearing a monitor necessary?
Speaker 1:because I think if you're going to be, if you're, if you're wearing a glucose monitor, you're concerned that there must be an inherent belief that you have that having elevated levels of glucose is dangerous yeah, and it is 100.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah that there's some value to measuring all the time as long as if you, if you're like a population who has, like, insulin sensitivity or resistance, excuse me, um you are pre-diabetic or diabetic, then yeah, you know what? Maybe that would be a good idea. But I think that what we want to dig into in this episode, is it important? Is it necessary to wear this thing? What is this information actually telling us? So I eat a lunch with a tortilla and some rice and some beans and my blood sugar levels spike. Like what information does that tell us that we can actually apply to our life, and how necessary is that in the grand scheme of things? So that's what we're going to be trying to dig into and unravel for you guys Pop trend they're everywhere.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you know. And why should you care? Why should you listen to us? Well, we've got about 20 years of experience each, so 40 years total, that's right, I gotta clump that number together.
Speaker 2:You have a 40 years experience with a combined um we've been trainers for a long time.
Speaker 1:All all the certs um ethan went to school for this stuff. We've been applying it hands-on every single day for 20 years. Every single day Soul career is nutrition, exercise, weight loss, muscle building, you name it. Ethan and I have owned gyms together, that's right. Ethan currently has a studio here in Los Angeles. I currently have a business online, but we're both actively coaching and working with people on this stuff. That's right, and so you know.
Speaker 1:I would say that we're qualified to at least have a discussion on what one should do share our opinions and our ability to kind of look at the science of things so your take what was your first, what's your first impression when you first started seeing on instagram or youtube people popping these like glucose monitors on and, like you know, showing their results after they ate lunch?
Speaker 2:you know, it's like when I, when I first saw them come on the scene, I was kind of like, oh, that's neat. Like you know, I want to be like almost like a curiosity of like oh, that's cool, like that could be valuable information, or, like you know, there's some part of me that was curious about, just like in the flash. But you know, just when you think about it I think it's a little silly. I fundamentally think that you know they used to be only available through prescription to get the continuous glucose monitor the CGM they call them but now you can get them over the counter and you know, really what I see now is just a bunch of companies profiteering off of a fad and creating, you know, this value, creating like an idea of a value set that isn't really necessary, right?
Speaker 1:I was. You know it's funny. You said that because I had the same thought. I actually made some notes on it here. It's like any good marketer. Of course you create a problem.
Speaker 2:Yes, you create the fear around a reason.
Speaker 1:You're yeah, you're fixing something you just so happen to sell the solution exactly.
Speaker 2:You know all these pictures of, like you know a something, and then you just so happen to sell the solution, exactly All these pictures of, like you know, a woman in the gym, you know, and you're clearly getting a workout on, like putting a glucose monitor on her arm and it's just like, oh, that's healthy, that's looking healthy, that's going to help me, you know and fundamentally I think it's just a little silly, I think.
Speaker 1:Well, you know, and I think of a video with some guy and he's sitting there with a chipotle burrito. So, like I was saying earlier, it's like okay, so he's got this burrito, which is a calorie bomb.
Speaker 1:I mean, I think like a chipotle burrito is like 1500 calories so yeah, like, hopefully that's occasions are few and far between, unless you're like a super skinny young guy trying to put on size like it's half your meal. If that's, occasions are few and far between, unless you're like a super skinny young guy trying to put on size If that's half your meal, if that's half your day's worth yeah, right but it's tough to get through a full one of those.
Speaker 2:It is no. If you do, you're done. Yeah, that's like but anyway.
Speaker 1:So the video is this guy and he's got the glucose monitor on and he had just finished his Chipotle burrito, and then he shows his levels and he goes see, blood sugar levels are spiked, and it's just like yo.
Speaker 2:Well, no, that my thing was like no shit of like duh you just ate what?
Speaker 1:two cups of rice and a big flour yeah, like, oh, you mean there's carbohydrates in your meal because there's carbohydrates in the meal.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I don't know.
Speaker 1:But like, think about animals, think we're an animal, like like we. This is what happens when we come across food. Yes, we eat very few and far between and like if we eat a meal, let's okay. So we were awake for 16 hours. We probably each meal takes us seven to 12 minutes to consume, so we're eating for maybe 20 minutes total of eating time, yeah, and so it's like well, it stands to reason.
Speaker 1:Then there's gonna be blood sugar and glucose in our bloodstream after we consume, because we have to eat enough in these little tiny intervals to sustain us for a 16, 24 hour day. It's just how things work. So just to me, yeah, same with you. It's like is anyone surprised that your blood sugar levels are higher after well, that's what that is really.
Speaker 2:What's interesting is the the immunization of just having a glucose spike and I think we know we'll get into that later of like you know the physiological effects and what's going on a little bit, but it's interesting because, kind of like you're saying, it's like this is just how the body works. We have mechanisms and processes that are built into us to process carbohydrate and get it into our body to use for fuel or store it for later. It's just physiologically what happens and has always been happening. And just because it had, like I, when did the natural processes of the body become so villainized? In a way, it's confusing to me because, to your point, it's like oh, I ate a burrito with carbohydrates. Look, my blood glucose is going up. And it's like yes, because when you break down carbohydrates it's reduced to glucose and glucose is what enters your bloodstream.
Speaker 1:When you eat. Yeah, exactly, you know, like that's how that works. Carbohydrates are glucose and then glucose turns into blood sugar and then, if your body's working, I think the caveat, and I think what we're going to enter into here, is, assuming we're a healthy individual. Now, if you're unhealthy, or diabetes, or pre-diabetic, you're chronically sleep deprived or you know some version of that, then, yeah, you know what? Maybe this wouldn't be the worst thing in the world to keep an eye on that Right.
Speaker 2:Well, I think that's the thing to consider is that, like I said, it used to have with the prescription only, and so, like you can kind of consider this a medical device, right, and the purpose of this medical device is to monitor your blood sugar for people that are diabetic, and then I'll you know, I think pre-diabetes would kind of qualify to that, because that has to be externally regulated. You have to inject insulin to make sure that you regulate your blood sugar, and if you don't do that naturally, like most of us do, that don't have diabetes, then there's really not a reason. But that's a medical device that absolutely has a purpose and it's for people that are diabetic, because they need to know what their blood sugar is and how much insulin and all this kind of stuff yeah, it sure beats like pricking your finger with a needle and having to do that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, no, the technology is amazing.
Speaker 2:You get direct live feedback and I think for people with those metabolic conditions it's it's amazing, it's completely what's necessary and it's an amazing tool to use and I'm sure it helps people participate with diabetes much more efficiently versus a blood prick test and you know, I gotta like prick your finger all the time, you know, and also like.
Speaker 1:I think it's like blood sugar levels and, oh it, psychology is very binary, like we. We, like our minds, operate in a very binary way. Okay, blood sugar level bad, you know, low Blood sugar good. But not necessarily. It depends on the individual right? Because if you're training, then you're like performing at anything, whether it be martial arts or weights or endurance training or whatever Sport. You would just be better off if you, if you, ate more carbohydrate and that might mean that post meal your blood sugar levels might be higher than they would maybe two, three, four hours later. So it's all relative. Like if you're an endurance cyclist, six, seven hundred grams of carbohydrates a day is not uncommon. If you're a professional bodybuilder, seven, seven, eight hundred grams of carbohydrate a day is not.
Speaker 2:It's not uncommon because you're using it, it's fuel I mean, if you've talked about it's like fats, right, and carbohydrates are the primary fuel sources for the body. Carbohydrates are going to be those ones that are used for anything that has some form of intensity, as an easy way to look at it think about like this, right, okay.
Speaker 1:Think of like carbohydrate is like gas in your car. Yeah, that's right. So if I told you, dude, I put three tanks of gas in my car a week and you'd be like what? Like I barely get through one tank a month. Right, we would just assume that means that I drive more than you. Yeah, because obviously I'm not just sitting there you're using the fuel pumping the gas while it's pouring out of the sidewalk.
Speaker 1:Yes, right, I'm using I'm using up, I'm burning that fuel, and that's kind of how people with glucose need to look at this too. Or people in blood sugar and carbohydrate intake need to look at this too. Like if you're like running and then maybe going to like a martial arts class three times a week and then lifting four or five days a week and walking 10,000 steps every day, then 400 grams of carbohydrate probably pretty appropriate, but if you are sedentary, you don't exercise like that might be crazy high blood sugar levels for someone else who's sedentary. And so it's so relative to understand that, like blood glucose depends on the person. It's relative.
Speaker 2:Well, and I would say even that, though, fundamentally, if it's a healthy individual with no issues with insulin sensitivity, even if they over consume carbohydrate, it's just going to get stored as fat, right. It's not like it's going to just float around in your blood if you're not using it right. So you might have your endurance athlete that can utilize all that carbohydrate. You might have somebody sedentary that is going to utilize it by fat storage for later. But it's not like just because they're not an athlete that they're like eating over eating carbohydrate and it's just like, oh just, high blood sugar levels all day. You know we had the efficiency of the process is still there. It just won't get used for performance. It'll just be stored as fat, right exactly good.
Speaker 1:Good clarification on that, for sure.
Speaker 2:Yeah, because it's one of those things. It's like, I think again, it's just all the natural processes of the body. So let's I mean, I guess, just in case, let's talk about physiology a little bit, let's break it down just in case people aren't quite sure. We ran by it real quick, but the idea is that when you eat carbohydrate whether it's a complex carb or fructose or sugar, whatever it only enters the bloodstream as glucose is the easy way to think about that and that's your blood sugar level. In response to blood sugar, insulin is released. I'm sure you've all heard of insulin and insulin is a storage hormone. Hence it pulls the blood sugar out of the blood.
Speaker 2:But not just carbohydrates released it pulls all calories, all calories, yes, it is, but you, but you know, in this context we'll talk about it with through blood sugar, and then it stores it in your muscles as glycogen, which is a form of stored form of carbohydrate, as well as your liver, which holds a lot of glycogen. And then, you know, as we've talked about, it's like you can look at it as a bucket, and once the buckets of the glycogen are full and the water spills over, the water that spills over gets stored as fat because, again, our body does not like to waste calories, it doesn't want to die and starve. It's been a long time that we have been living in a severe deficit because we didn't have modern day food surplus.
Speaker 1:We were starving for 99% of human existence.
Speaker 2:Yeah, exactly so it gets stored as fat to be saved for later, and so that's the general process, and so as insulin pulls that nutrition out of your blood, your blood sugar drops, and that is kind of the very simplified kind of idea of the blood sugar spike. And drop.
Speaker 1:So where it can go wrong, then, just so we can kind of take this to its logical conclusion, I guess biological conclusion is assuming the drain matches the faucet, meaning you're however much carbohydrate you're consuming, or calories in general you're consuming, as long as the drain matches that and you're exerting yourself, you're walking, you're lifting weights, then it's all relative and you know it's an even ratio.
Speaker 2:Yeah, your muscles are getting rid of it through movement and exercise, and then they get filled back up.
Speaker 1:But let's just say that you stop the movement, you clog the drain, so to speak, and you're more sedentary now, but the faucet keeps going. You're still eating, you're still consuming that much.
Speaker 1:Then, immediately, what will happen is your liver, your glycogen stores in your, in your muscles, they're full yep and then eventually, all the instead of going into your muscles, the your body will start making fat deposits through insulin receptors in your fat cells. Then eventually, those get tapped and eventually what happens is your muscle insulin receptors are tapped and they start to wither away because they're no longer needed. And that's just the way that it works. Use it or lose it. It's a.
Speaker 1:It's a in fitness, One of the first things we learn as trainers. Use it or lose it. So if we're not needing these insulin receptors in our muscles anymore because our muscles are constantly full of glycogen, there's just no need to pull more glycogen in the muscle.
Speaker 1:You're never emptying the bucket, and that what ends up happening is we become hyperinsulinemic, right when now there's all this insulin in our system, because there's nowhere to go, because the muscles are saying we're tapped, the liver is like we're done exactly, fat cells are full, and then that's when we start to develop uh type 2 diabetes.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so, yeah, exactly. So, basically, as those receptors start to die out, the insulin's still flowing around, but you become less insulin sensitive because the insulin has nowhere to go there's less receptors, and so that's the whole idea of insulin sensitivity. And as that insulin sensitivity goes down, meaning your body is less participatory with the insulin that's floating, then you start getting pre-diabetic, and then there we go.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and you got extra glucose in your bloodstream. So I think that if we think about where this idea originated of, like, okay, blood glucose is bad, insulin is bad, it's because too extreme. Yes, as with anything in life, you know it's dangerous because, more of what it signifies in and of itself, it's. It's, it's benign, it is what it is.
Speaker 2:It's just your body's physiological processes to assimilate food but, but, if, but.
Speaker 1:if my 24-hour baseline blood sugar levels are elevated, which is the true test, not immediately after you eat a meal, but the true test is a 24-hour baseline it can spike, but does it go down? Yes, and if it doesn't go down, it's not because the carbohydrate you ate was evil, it's because there's the lack of insulin sensitivity.
Speaker 2:yes, and there's nowhere for it to go. Your body doesn't care that there's insulin floating around yeah, and so that's the problem yep, and so I think that is probably where the perceived value of the monitors came into play. Is that consistently elevated blood glucose is bad news? No doubt about it.
Speaker 1:But it's not because of the blood glucose, it's not because glucose is bad or carbohydrates are bad.
Speaker 2:It's because your organism is kind of out of whack. For some reason. Some people are born with diabetes, but type 2 is acquired, and in some faculty. In a nutshell, you're pretty much just not moving enough, and or you're eating too much, or both.
Speaker 2:Both, but in this context we're talking about it with the drain is that you're just not moving enough. You know you're not using your muscles, you're not taking a walk, you're not exercising, you're not breaking a sweat, you're fundamentally sedentary in the textbook definition. You know it's like if you have a car that sits in the garage for a year and you go to turn it on, it's probably not going to turn on. You haven't used it, you know. So it's one of those things that it's just. It is the use it or lose it situation, and so it's really just a reflection, I think, of physical activity.
Speaker 1:And that's the first thing that any but any one will tell somebody who's pre-diabetic is. You got to just move and in fact you can be very metabolically fit still, even if you're heavier. But if you just build some lean muscle mass and you exercise like I think we've talked about this in a previous episode but basically like you could take somebody with the exact same bmi let's just say one like person a is 250 pounds and five foot ten, and then person b is 250 pounds and five foot 10, but person a lifts weights three or four days a week, walks 10 000 steps and maybe even like does a little cardio versus person b, who is the same bmi but is sedentary and let's just say they're eating the same amount of calories yeah, control for calories maintenance.
Speaker 2:So neither of them are losing or gaining weight yeah, they're just right there, but.
Speaker 1:But the difference is that person A probably has more muscle in their extremities, absolutely Less visceral body fat, because they're consuming a lot of food, even though they're eating a lot and they're clearly obese as far as a BMI standard would go. The fact is that they're keeping their channel cleared, and what I mean by that is the channel through which we consume food and process, assimilate and then expel.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we're clearing that channel system is flowing, the drain is open, you're, you empty, you refill it, and so, even though this person's bigger and could be healthy if they lost weight objectively but is probably going to live a fine life and be metabolically fit, versus the other person who has the same bmi and weight but doesn't move at all because it's stagnant.
Speaker 2:Yeah, absolutely, and so avoiding insulin sensitivity is really going to come down to, yes, how much food you eat, because if you don't introduce a lot of carbohydrate, you're not going to overload it. But fundamentally, you want those receptors on your muscles to be able to grab on to the insulin, and the nutrients it's carrying with it.
Speaker 1:Right. So this also presupposes, I think too, that then is lower carb better or slower carb, as, like a Tim Ferriss would say, where it's more like you know, carbohydrates that are lower on the glycemic index. So you have, like you know, white rice, white bread, sugar those are like high glycemic index kind of carbohydrates. Then you have like beans and quinoa and I don't know, maybe like Ezekiel bread or something like that. That's lower on the glycemic index. And the idea here is that the more fibrous and the more, the more complex a carbohydrate is, the slower it's going to release in your bloodstream, which means it's not. You're not going to get the crazy insulin spikes versus if all you ever ate was like what we would call refined yeah, or processed carbohydrates that are higher in the glycemic index and then when you eat it you're in a spike your blood sugar levels faster, and that's the argument here for why glucose monitors. You can make sure that you avoid foods that spike your blood sugar.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and I think, I mean I think there are complexities to this because in one sense, if you were to consume you know so again, we talked about that once the glycogen stores are full, it gets stored as fat and so in some capacity, I think if you were to eat 200 grams of white bread, let's say, you have some room in your muscles but not 200 grams worth of carbohydrate in your muscles and your blood sugar spikes, and so there's all 200 grams trying to get in. No fiber, no protein, just 200 grams of carbohydrate and white bread. Your muscles only have so much to take in and in that moment there's going to be leftover calories that will inevitably be stored as fat in that moment because they're not being used, whereas if you ate 200 grams worth of lentils, which have protein and fiber with them, like like just same way a steak is digested and protein assimilated over time.
Speaker 2:You don't just assimilate all the grams of protein in the steak that the blood sugar would be more even. And if, let say, you're living your life and the muscles are slowly emptying with glycogen, they can be kind of slowly refilled with glycogen and you don't necessarily have fat storage from this acute moment of too much carbohydrate at one time. Now that conversation is kind of a nuance because fundamentally, if you're in a calorie deficit or in calorie maintenance, it really isn't going to matter Exactly.
Speaker 1:Whatever micro deposit of adipose tissue fat you might experience from that one meal, it gets kind of evened out in the wash over the course of that day, evened out in the wash over the course of that day. If you burn 2000 and you only ended up eating 1800, then it doesn't matter how much you spiked in any one meal, Because once in the wash it's all going to net out to where you're still in a calorie deficit Exactly, and whatever fat you had deposited is going to be then mobilized and burned again, absolutely.
Speaker 2:And so you know it's like I don't, you know, because I do think that there is value to eating fibrous foods, and I do think you know I heard a description of that like you want your blood sugar levels to be like rolling hills, that there's going to be peaks and valleys to them, but that you want them as rolling hills and that mountain ranges aren't as optimal as a rolling hill, right? So that extreme spikes and then extreme, you know, deficits of your blood sugar isn't necessarily going to be optimal, but in the grand scheme of things, that's going to still, in my opinion, come secondary to total calories consumed and your movement level. Totally, you know.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and and also like, what is the objective that you're going for too? Like, are you to lose weight? Because I think hunger management is one of the biggest struggles for folks trying to lose weight. Yes, because if you're trying to lose weight, then hopefully we all understand you have to be in a calorie deficit. You got to eat less food. And if you're used to eating a lot and then you go and you eat a little, it's tough, you feel you get cranky, you get tired food. And if you're used to eating a lot and then you go and you eat a little, it's tough, it's you feel you get cranky, you get tired, you want to take a nap. So food choice in that regard is super important. So if you did start eating more lentils and quinoa and ezekiel breads and these type of things vegetables and lots of veggies full of fiber but low calorie.
Speaker 1:Because, okay, right now you know I'm on um. I went from 3 800 calories a day and now I'm at 2300, so I've pulled 1500 calories off um within the last couple of weeks. And, like, when you're eating 3 800 because your goal is to try to build muscle, then you kind of have to go for the simple carbohydrates, you kind of have to go.
Speaker 2:There's a. There's a degree. Yeah, because it's just too hard to just chew all that food. You're not ever going to fit that many lentils, but yeah.
Speaker 1:But then but they flipped it around and now I'm in a fat loss phase. Now it's like man, I got to stay away from the simple carbohydrates it's only gonna be the quinoa and the lentils and that kind of thing because I can eat a lunch that's like 500 calories loaded with these complex carbohydrates and I'm satiated, like I feel completely fine for hours, and that's the objective. Yes, that's the thing we've all heard a million people say. But it's so true, and so that's the benefit of like eating carbohydrates that are lower in the glycemic index, especially if you're trying to lose weight.
Speaker 2:Absolutely To Ethan's point, those rolling hills are an analogy to your energy levels, absolutely, and because one of the things that actually induces hunger and the hunger hormones is low blood sugar. Yep, so it's one of those things that if you did eat a completely fiberless lump of white bread, you are going to spike your blood sugar. It's going to come down pretty quick because insulin is going to do its job and then, fundamentally, your blood sugar will be low again sooner and then that will potentially induce hunger. So it's not like food choices don't matter in their effect of blood sugar, but one. It's the cliches of eat whole fibrous foods, right, I mean, just eat whole foods, eat some vegetables.
Speaker 2:You know, I don't think you have to go down to like the nitty gritty science of your exact blood sugar level, but also you know, so it's in that capacity. But fundamentally, I think what we're saying is that an average person that has no medical condition doesn't really need to have that specificity of information Agreed, right. So there's nuances to all of this, but the I think I'll speak for both of us that the fundamental takeaway is that it's adding unnecessary detail and metrics into your life that you don't really need. You know, and the observation of your blood sugar rising is literally just what's supposed to happen.
Speaker 2:Because, it's just like, does that?
Speaker 1:our bodies work Exactly and like, think about it, like, like, let's just go back to that chipotle example, right, so maybe you? So let's go to pull examples like maybe that burrito is 1500 calories and maybe your nutritionist, your coach, says, hey, I need you at 1800 calories right now. Right, and you had your coffee and maybe like a protein shake, and then the day just blew the fuck up in your face and next thing you know, it's 6 pm and you've, and you're like I haven't eaten anything. I only had 300 calories from my coffee and my protein shake this morning and I'm starving. Will that chipotle burrito spike your glucose levels? Does it also just so happen to perfectly fit into your calorie targets for the day that you know you need to eat over over the long haul?
Speaker 1:over the 24 hour period over day after day would like so, if you ate that and you hit your numbers, even if it spiked your blood sugar more and even maybe you even had a little food come after at the end of the day, like consistency is so important and that that's, that's the objective example, that would be a probably a wise choice yeah, there's a condition that I cannot remember of it right now, but it's something, something like hypoglycemic, right.
Speaker 2:So hypoglycemic people are people that have low blood sugar in a bad way, so opposite of high blood sugar, and you know it can cause, you know, blurred vision and you know, crash, can't operate machinery, all types of odd stuff.
Speaker 2:But, um, there's a condition that is for people that aren't actually hypoglycemic, but it's a temporary state of hypoglycemia that comes after eating food and so, basically, you eat food, your your blood sugar goes up, insulin's released pulls it all out and you fall into what would be considered a hypoglycemic range.
Speaker 2:I forget what it's called, but it exists, and so it's like a condition and I thought that that would be the case from the example I gave before of consuming a lot of carbohydrate without much fiber or anything of that nature, and it happen very quickly and I'm not saying it doesn't.
Speaker 2:I couldn't find any research to say that it doesn't happen in that situation and I could see it, and I think that's what sometimes can cause people to crash if they have a bunch of sugar on an empty stomach or something like that.
Speaker 2:But fundamentally, all of the science and references I talked about was saying that it normally happens four hours after a large meal, so that the large meal introduces a lot of nutrition into your body and you're working on it. And you're working on it and you've had some type of probably consistent blood sugar or higher blood sugar. You've had some rolling hills and then all of a sudden, the insulin does its job and pulls it all out and all of a sudden you're hypoglycemic, your blood sugar is too low, and so I was like, oh, that's interesting. Interesting four hours after a meal doesn't seem to fit any type of narrative of like, oh well, lentils or not, you know, it was just very interesting to me, yeah right and so then I was looking into solutions to this because I was like, okay, well, this is something where maybe blood sugar would matter.
Speaker 2:And you know, it was every kind of cliche like eat a serving of fruit every day, eat one to three servings of vegetables every day, make sure you have protein in your meals, god I know, and do your best to choose whole food carbohydrates.
Speaker 1:Well, okay, there you go yeah, it's funny because that's just all you ever like. It's so funny like researching these episodes because I'm you and I we want to like. You want to tell people something different.
Speaker 2:I actually was looking into that as a justification for having the monitor. I was trying to find a legitimate reason for a non-diabetic individual to have the monitor, but I don't think that condition really affects that many people. I mean, look, we've all eaten lunch and crashed after lunch. I know it's happened to me and I think that certain foods probably will contribute to that more or less. But in terms of body composition that won't matter as much. But I couldn't even find really any legitimate reason for a non-diabetic person to have it.
Speaker 1:I was looking because, like, because like the other day it's like also, we got to like, look at, we got a profile that the archetype here like is the person who's gonna wear, who's conscious and and proactive to the point we're gonna to purchase a glucose monitor and be checking it. Is that type of person that's going to also be then binging on processed carbohydrates to the point to where it's going to put them into like a state of diabetic state Probably not, probably not.
Speaker 2:But you have those people that are of the mindset of oh, this will fix everything, the information I need, and a pseudo kind of delusion that this one piece of information will make the changes happen that they need. And it's that kind of delusion. I also find that are people that aren't. They're focusing on the wrong thing, like maybe adding a fifth workout when you've had 10 drinks in a day, right, so that person thinks that fifth workout in the week is going to make all the difference, but they're putting you know 40 drinks down every week.
Speaker 2:Yeah, exactly. Oh, the blood glucose monitor or measuring my heart rate workout. That's going to make sure my workouts are what I need.
Speaker 1:Well, exactly, and that kind of goes into, just like self-quantification in general, you know.
Speaker 2:I remember you had that client. That would always be like oh, I'm falling out of my heart rate zone, I'm not in the I'm not in the zone anymore. It's like well, we're doing resistance training yeah, you don't need your heart rate to be a certain place.
Speaker 1:You're not an endurance athlete training for an endurance event or you're just a 50 year old man who's frail and needs to put on muscle, and so we're going to be doing some strength training. That requires a two minute rest between every set.
Speaker 2:So you know, yeah, it's interesting. One of the reasons I said that from might want it is a sense of control, that having the information might give them a sense of control, even if they take no immediate action.
Speaker 1:And I'm like I guess that's a reason Like I don't know, I don't want to actually control anything, I just want to have a sense of it, right, but this is.
Speaker 1:I was like what are you going to do with that information now? Yeah, because life is dynamic, life is in the grays, it's not so cut and dry and like okay, back to my scenario, my case study of like the person who just has a small little breakfast and then just gets really busy with work and then all of a sudden it's 6, 7 pm and they need to hit their calorie targets, targets. If they were, by the book, strict on their glucose monitor, they probably wouldn't make that choice to have a big meal because that, in their mind, it's more important to keep glucose levels down than it is to just hit your nutrient numbers for the day, right. And so it's like this is where self-quantification can really sabotage us, because if, if we're too reactionary on all these various metrics and don't get me wrong, I think we should track a few good things consistently but like heart rate variability, uh, recovery percentages, uh, blood glucose levels, it's like to what end?
Speaker 1:and like what do we know? Big picture okay, so you can get caught up in the weeds and you're not. But, like you, just punch out a few levels and what's most important is your consistency. Some days you're going to sleep poorly, other days you're going to have to skip lunch, have a bigger dinner, other days, um, you're going to still be sore from your last workout, but you know you got to work out today because you might not get another chance for a few days.
Speaker 2:Maybe you take it. Maybe you lift lighter that day you know, it's not that, it's not that maybe you can tell you have to be rigid, right, maybe? Maybe you take a little easy, maybe you focus on body weight movements and do a little more stretching, but you still show up to the gym.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you still do your thing yeah, because it's like, okay, my whoop watch said that I'm only 40 recovered, so I might as well skip my workout today. Oh, that whoop watch, I might as well sleep in, even though I told myself I'm going to get up early every day. Yeah, so it's like you break these rituals and commitments that you've made with yourself that actually, in the long term, make you a better person, because of some micro data in the mind that gives you this impression that something's happening. But it's such an acute scenario that it doesn't necessarily dictate long-term outcomes, because, if you can make the argument like this, well, exercise increases your blood pressure in the moment, releases more cortisol and and releases oxidation or causes oxidation causes. Those are all things negative. But what happens if you exercise regularly is that you experience an acute dosage of you know some sort of negative perceived thing, but then the adaptation makes you a stronger, more resilient person. What doesn't kill you makes you stronger To some extent. To some extent, yeah, that's my issue of quantification.
Speaker 2:Well, I think that's the thing right. Again, it's not black or white, because metrics and data are important. I know we both tell our clients that we can't manage what you don't measure, and there are certain things that provide high value. I think scale steps, exercise frequency and even maybe heart rate would be something that could have some type of int that could be valuable, that's easily accessible, that you can just measure yourself. So I think quantifying certain aspects of our life are going to have a big bang for your buck and that they'll make a big difference when you start to pay attention to them.
Speaker 2:And then after that it really is getting nitty gritty to a degree that I think the average individual doesn't need to go there. Are there people that might be able to really maximize sport performance by monitoring their blood glucose or crash all the time from eating certain foods and then find out that if they eat four or five small meals throughout the day if they can versus two big ones, they don't crash as much and they witness that somehow on their CGM. Fine, so be it. But I think most of the population just doesn't need to go there and you're just adding unnecessary numbers to your mind to filter through and interpret and assign value to and then make judgment calls on your own practices around your own health because of these metrics that may or may not mean anything.
Speaker 1:Yep the end of the day, it's your 24-hour baseline glucose numbers that you need to see. Period right.
Speaker 2:Fasted glucose test Now.
Speaker 1:obviously, make good food choices. Eat your fruits and veggies.
Speaker 2:Eat protein, eat whole foods. Make good complex carbohydrate choices.
Speaker 1:But like also Stay away from processed and ultra-processed foods right, but then, but no matter what, does your blood sugar level spike after you eat a meal, because that's what your body's supposed to do?
Speaker 1:It's how it works, because that blood sugar level then signals to your insulin to get released, and then the insulin then puts it where it needs to be. And as long as you're taking care of what you need to be taking care of as far as getting out for a walk, lifting some weights, doing some training, getting good sleep, gardening something, let your body do what it does. This is a million years of evolution. This is a million years of evolution. This is 5,000 years of evolution.
Speaker 2:I was about to say man, no, that's really good.
Speaker 2:Well, it's interesting because, in relation to previous episodes we've talked about with social media, it's ripe on social media. So you also have companies advertising, creating or making us think that there's a value for it, media, fitness influencers and health food gurus and all these individuals on social media latching on to this kind of fad that's hot in the zeitgeist and getting clicks and views. And you know, it's like I wonder sometimes if they really believe this, because you see these people like the guy eating the burrito. You know, I've seen multiple videos of these influencers that are like, look, I ate this X Y Z and it could even be like rice. And they're just like look, I ate this X Y Z and it could even be like rice. And they're just like, look, my blood glucose went up. You know, don't eat rice. And I'm just like, do they really believe this? People do believe it. It's like how?
Speaker 1:can you present?
Speaker 2:yourself as someone who's knowledgeable in the field and then go there with this kind of like, hogwash, clickbait video.
Speaker 1:Well, I know a guy who's a pretty big influencer and a glucose monitor approached him, said they'd give him 10 grand if he made a post.
Speaker 2:Oh, surprise, surprise.
Speaker 1:So all these influencers who are wearing that, they probably got paid to do that post, so don't.
Speaker 2:No conflict of interest there, might as well follow those influencers.
Speaker 1:Well, you know, and it's like it's marketing, there's another woman. Her name's the glucose goddess, so obviously very credible, because we're just humans and what do we know? She's a goddess. Goddess, not even a demigod. A goddess. Well, I'm working my way up. Yeah, we have a long ways to go, but she is. She says that you know, blood poison, it's toxic, it's gonna kill you, and she is. Her whole thing is like you, god, you have to make sure that you don't let your blood glucose level spike. And thank god for this goddess, because she also just so happens to sell, thank god thank god for this.
Speaker 1:Goddess that happens to sell a pill that is called anti-spike. Oh interesting, so she's created the problem and then she then gets everyone afraid and then sells you the solution to it after she's created a following.
Speaker 2:Just FYI, guys, I don't know about that product. I guarantee you that it has berberine in it and if you are interested in actually regulating your blood sugar externally with a natural product, just look up the compound berberine. It's got a nickname of nature's ozempic, yeah, so I would guarantee that the primary ingredient in that individual's product is berberine. So there you go. You can go buy it bulk free, buy it much cheaper than I'm sure she's marking it up for her sure proprietary blend which we've talked about in our supplement.
Speaker 1:Yeah right, I'm sure, I'm sure we should look up. I'm sure it's a proprietary blend, of course, and, uh, I bet it has ashwagandha in it of course, which is a great thing, but magnesium maybe, and then you know, so you can do that and ignore the food you eat, or you can just try to make some better food choices. You can uh make sure you're exercising a few good days a week just sleep is super, super important. I mean um just regulating glycemic effect in your bloodstream. It's sleep is just crucial and so if you're.
Speaker 1:If you go through any sort of sleep deprivation, even if for even just for a short time, you can like double your body's um inability to process glycogen properly. So sleep is super important, it just always regulates our endocrine or hormonal system.
Speaker 2:Yep, insulin is a hormone. All that good stuff just keeps coming back to this.
Speaker 1:It's like it's like guys like, don't get so caught up in emotional sensationalism, dogma. It's like eat good, eat healthy food the best of your ability, keep a lid on it. I recommend tracking your calories. It just sets you free and then lift weights and train and live your life and don't worry about it. Like if you have a problem then fine, worry about it, but if you don't have a problem, then why fucking?
Speaker 2:create one. Yeah, don't listen to their dogma. Listen to our dog, listen exactly, and even just measure your food.
Speaker 2:I mean, I was kind of talking about this like, look, I get, maybe not counting calories is the thing for everybody, but just again, another metric is measuring food and that can be done with eyeballing like fist for your carbohydrates, palm for your protein, thumb for your fats very common visual measurement. So I think, just like paying some type of attention to the amount of food that you're eating, to not overconsume. But I would agree, getting into the calorie game is going to be your best bet.
Speaker 1:So interesting study was that they were on this sort of glucose blood glucose carbohydrate kick. Is eating a carbohydrate diet better for weight loss? I think it's a really interesting topic Is eating a lower carbohydrate diet better for weight loss versus a non-lower carbohydrate diet? So this study group called Medrixiv.
Speaker 2:Oh, medrixiv, you've heard of them. Oh, absolutely.
Speaker 1:I read their studies so I'll link to the study in the show notes, but you guys can check it out for yourself. But basically the skinny on it is no pun intended. They had a controlled group where they controlled a group with everybody ate the same amount of calories, everybody ate the same amount of protein and everyone exercised the same amount, and to the point to where they actually provided the food to these people as well. So truly controlled. It wasn't like a what they call a free living study where you're supposed to just eat this, like um, for example. Um, you are what you eat.
Speaker 2:documentary is a free living study?
Speaker 1:yeah exactly so we have to just take your word for it. Most people are foolish it, but this one. They gave the food to the participants and they controlled it against someone on a 50% carbohydrate diet, which is actually normal, believe it or not. 50% of your calories from carbohydrate is considered more normal and they went 10%, 15%, 20%, 25% and 30%. So they had all these different groups and each person had 10% of their calories from carbohydrate. Another group had 15% of their calories from carbohydrate.
Speaker 1:Another group had 15 of their total calories and they tracked them all over, I think, a 12-week period to see if everyone eats the same amount of calories, but just lower carb versus, you know, a slow um incline of higher carbohydrate. Is that actually better for weight loss, right? So as long as you controlled for calories and controlled for protein, does the carbohydrate that you're eating matter? So at the end of the study it turns out there's. No. There's no significant difference. No significant difference doesn't matter if you are 10 carbohydrate or 40 carbohydrate.
Speaker 1:What matters is how many calories did you eat in a 24-hour period? Number one get your protein levels up and then exercise. As long as you can do that, whatever floats your boat, whatever tickles your fancy 10, 20, 30, 40 of your total calories from carbs. Tasters, choice on that one. But as far as what's going to improve your insulin sensitivity, lower your body fat levels, improve pretty much all biomarkers, it's not how many carbs you eat up to 50 percent of your total calories, it's your total calories. Total calories and your protein levels and your exercise. Looky there.
Speaker 2:So I thought that was pretty interesting it is what a modern day conundrum we've created for ourselves by having all the food we can want, just then, and then happen to not let ourselves eat it I know exactly and be like well, that's actually the issue that's killing us. Yeah, number one cause of death in the world. Yeah, you know like.
Speaker 1:So I think the takeaway, guys, is, like you know, everybody kind of has to learn for themselves. I think 100. I can listen to a podcast and I can truly agree with everything I'm hearing, but then have to learn my my own.
Speaker 2:So do what you gotta do, but.
Speaker 1:I think the the what you should be tracking is how much you're eating, what time you go to bed and wake up. You know how many days a week you're exercising, how many steps you take.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think outside of exercise.
Speaker 1:Yeah, exercise. Yeah, I think that if you, if you eat single ingredient foods, I think if eight, seventy five percent of what you eat is single ingredient foods lean proteins, fruits and veggies yeah the complex carbohydrates perishables at the out, the outside edge of your grocery store, not the middle aisle stuff, things that have one ingredient, yeah rice, rice, fruit app.
Speaker 2:It's a hundred percent apple you know it's a single ingredient. I love those hundred percent, yeah, yeah, that's my favorite proprietary blend of apples, of apple stuff.
Speaker 1:But if, if 75 of the food you eat single ingredient foods, you lean more into the protein stuff, yeah, you get some weights in your hands. At least three days a week swim basically you're you're gonna be preset you need a glucose monitor for man, in other words, if you're wearing one right now.
Speaker 2:I just want you to rip it out of your arm.
Speaker 2:Yeah, just rip a gaping hole of flesh off of you no but it's true, it's just not inherently necessary and it almost goes back to like the genetic conversation about being concerned with your genetics should only come to be if you're truly fulfilling your potential with the things you can control. Right then I guess you can bark about your genetics. If you've done absolutely everything before then and I think it's kind of the same here it's like start with the fundamentals. You know it's always. I always use this analogy of like you have to bake your cake before you can ice it. And baking the cake is moving your body, exercising, fundamentally, eating well, getting some good sleep, drinking some water. Those, those simple things are going to take care of a majority of your health concerns. And if you need to or want to start icing your cake, adaptogens or you I would even say checking your heart rate, but even then I would say the glucose monitor is so it's not even on the cake.
Speaker 1:Yeah, like if you're going out and drinking a 12-pack that multivitamin the next day is a good thing. There's a lot we need to clean up first before any of the you know tip of the iceberg type of stuff is going to make any noticeable change in your life. So always go after the core of it. But that was fun, that was a good episode. I think that, um, we'll do another episode strictly on hormones and we talked a lot about insulin. We talked a lot about that kind of stuff today, so I think we'll do another episode in the future on just dialing in exactly what these hormones are, what they're responsible for how they're influenced.
Speaker 1:Yeah, how they don't hurt you. Yeah, all right. So that was episode 19 of Coach's Corner with Justin and Ethan. We'll catch y'all next time, peace.