Week 1
Challenge Update: almost succeeded!
Time in range
Welcome to the first week of the 90% time in range challenge!
Mid-week (left): yes, I’ve been on a 3-day streak of perfect blood glucose levels!
End of week (right). A few overnight hyperglycaemic events interrupted the streak, but the results are still solid.
Not 90% yet, but already a big improvement!!😁
Food: calories and macros
Below the nutrition that fuels me on a typical day (note that I am currently on a calorie deficit), as reported in Cronometer:
Breaking it down. Some notes
Blood glucose: nice and steady!
lower trends (around 90), especially during the fasting windows: a good sign that my usual insulin dosage was too much (insulin sensitivity improved!). Next week I’ll reduce my Lantus!
higher trends (two big overnight spikes, around 260) after dinner in the second half of the week: not sure what caused it, but I should mention that my insulin pen broke and it was not injecting properly. I’ll keep an eye on it.
On days when the quality of my sleep was a bit worse, my blood glucose increased during the morning, despite not eating any food. I did some research, and it looks like this is due to cortisol. Cortisol is a stress hormone: lack of sleep and physical exercise are perceived as a stress factors, and that would explain the spikes in blood glucose. (Cortisol is also the reason why we experience rising blood glucose when we are stressed).
Food: carb-up for the win!
Fats: on days when I ate more fats (when I have cacao oatmeal with chocolate, for instance), I usually had to add a few units a couple of hours after the meal, to control the spike. Indeed, more fats delayed the blood glucose spike, which also remained slightly higher than average through the day, around 150.
Carbohydrates: No matter how much fruit (mainly apples and bananas), legumes (chickpeas and lentils) or potatoes I ate, there were no major spikes in the hours after the meals. This seems consistent with the claim that whole, plant-based carbohydrates are your friends, as long as you control your fats.
Intermittent fasting: game changer!
Early concerns of starvation were quickly dismantled.
In fact, I ended up fasting for an average of 18.5 hours a day instead of 16. Despite high-effort training in the early morning (I usually train from 6 to 8), I had no problems waiting until 2pm to break my fast.The blood glucose was incredibly stable all throughout the fasting window (usually between 90 and 130).
I was surprised to observe how easier it was to do hard, focused work in the morning. Not only could I focus faster, but also for longer! I found myself deep working with little interruptions from 8am to 2pm without much trouble, something that almost never happened when I used to eat breakfast. A nice perk of intermittent fasting! Glucose spikes are the cause of the infamous crushes and slumps we often experience after a meal, so the lack of breakfast-induced up-and-downs seems to explain why I could maintain better focus at work. Let’s see how this progresses.
Exercise: still grinding!
No major updates here. I could easily stick to my protocol:
1.5 hours of strenght training in the early morning every day
3-4 hours of Z2 cardio (biking or running) through the week
dedicated stretching and mobility sessions
Food pics
Disclaimer: if you’re trying to persuade someone about the benefits of a plant-based diet based on aesthetics, perhaps you should show them other pictures…I eat for fuel!
Next steps
For next week (week 2), I plan the following:
reduce my Lantus intake from 10 to 9 units, to avoid hypoglycaemia during the fasting window.
keep going with intermittent fasting. An 16-hours window is still the target, but I think I’ll stick to my 18/19 hours window, since it worked well so far.
explore how to handle higher-intensity endurance training during the fasting window.
Deep Dive
Looks like intermittent fasting really plays a big role when it comes to focus…can’t argue with Andrew Huberman!
