Your body has the answers – here’s how to listen

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Want to take away the guesswork about how food and life’s daily stresses impact your body? Now you can (Picture: Supplied)

Given every human being is totally unique, it’s no surprise our bodies often behave in different ways.

So, while you should always follow the fundamentals of healthy living – like exercising and eating a balanced diet – sometimes it pays to take a more personalised approach. Your glucose levels can be an important indicator of what’s happening inside your body and can impact how you’re feeling.

Glucose is a molecule that circulates in your body and provides your cells with energy. As a result, it plays a key role in metabolism – the complex series of chemical reactions and processes that keep your body functioning.

But the amount of glucose in circulation isn’t static: it constantly changes based on the food and drink you consume as well as the exercise or activities you carry out. Even the stress you feel can influence your glucose levels.

Lingo by Abbott, a glucose biosensor, app, and coaching programme, helps you to understand your glucose levels and how your lifestyle impacts them – supporting you to build healthier habits.

Below, we look at the importance of learning about glucose, the role it plays within your body, and how you could use this knowledge to make proactive changes aimed at improving your wellbeing.

Understanding your glucose levels

Lingo is a biosensor, app and coaching programme designed to empower people to better understand their body’s glucose levels (Picture: Supplied)

Glucose is an important fuel for the body, powering key functions, from the working of vital organs like the heart and brain to the movement of your muscles. When needed, the liver and kidneys can make glucose to fuel the body. It is also obtained when your body breaks down the carbohydrates contained in food and drink. So, when you consume carbohydrates, your glucose levels naturally rise.

However, ‘simple’ carbohydrates like table sugar are converted into glucose faster than ‘complex’ ones, such as vegetables and wholegrains. This means your glucose levels increase much faster if you eat a bag of sweets or a slice of cake with sugary icing compared to a heartier alternative, like a slice of wholegrain toast with a savoury spread.

Pairing carbs with protein and healthy fats, like avocado or olive oil, can also slow down the rate carbohydrates are processed into glucose, slowing down the rise of glucose within the body.

Increases in your glucose levels can also be caused by lifestyle factors such as stress, which prompts a ‘fight or flight’ response from your body. Poor sleep¹ can also impact your body’s glucose.

Exercise can have different effects on glucose. Low intensity exercise can help lower high glucose, while high intensity exercise might increase glucose levels to ensure fuel gets to the working muscles.

What your glucose levels can tell you

The information you see empowers you to make decisions that help you live healthier and better (Picture: Supplied)

Understanding how and why your glucose levels change provides a window into what’s going on in your body. But everyone’s glucose response to certain foods or activities is different, so a one-size-fits-all approach isn’t the answer.

A continuous glucose monitor (CGM) is a wearable biosensor that tracks your glucose levels 24 hours a day.

With Lingo, this data is automatically streamed to the Lingo app, which provides personal insights into your unique glucose response to food, activity and other lifestyle factors.

Keeping glucose levels more stable in response to food is linked to a series of wellbeing benefits, including improved energy levels, mood regulation and focus.²

Lingo is a wearable biosensor that tracks your glucose levels 24 hours a day. It connects to the Lingo app, which provides personal insights into your unique glucose response to food, activity, and other lifestyle factors (Picture: Supplied)

And because glucose spikes followed by dips are linked to hunger and excess intake, keeping your glucose levels steady could lead to fewer food cravings³.

Sleep and glucose influence one another. Higher and more fluctuating glucose levels is linked to fewer hours of sleep⁴. Going to bed late and spending more time awake in bed might result in bigger glucose spikes at breakfast the next day.⁵

How to keep your glucose levels steady

Exercising for at least 30 minutes a day can help regulate your glucose levels (Picture: Supplied)

Knowing what causes your glucose to spike means you can start to build healthier habits. For example, if you find that a particular food causes your glucose to rise especially quickly, you may choose to eat less of it, pair it with protein and healthy fats, or take some light exercise after consuming it.

Eating sugary foods in moderation is always a good idea to help keep your glucose levels stable, as is staying within the recommended limits for alcohol – which can be carb heavy and can disrupt your sleep.

Exercising for at least 30 minutes a day can help regulate your glucose levels. To incorporate more exercise into your day, try to put yourself in situations where you need to move around – such as by getting off the bus one stop early and walking the rest of the way to your destination.

Reducing stress and focusing on getting good quality sleep could also be beneficial.

Lingo: Helping you listen to your body

Lingo’s biosensor tracks glucose before the app provides personalised insights and customised coaching, helping you to pursue better sleep, mood, focus and energy (Picture: Supplied)

Lingo is created and designed by Abbott, a leader in global healthcare* that has put science and health innovation to work for over 135 years (Picture: Supplied)

The biosensor tracks glucose and the app provides personal insights and coaching, helping you pursue better sleep, mood, focus and energy.​ Rooted in decades of research, Lingo by Abbott is science-backed system offering a new view of your metabolic health — and a plan for how to improve it.

Over 10 years ago, Abbott introduced FreeStyle Libre — a continuous glucose monitor now used by 6 million people worldwide. Lingo is made by Abbott, built on that proven technology.

Visit hellolingo.com/uk TODAY to find out more.

The Lingo system is not for medical use and intended for users 18 years and older. Lingo is not intended for diagnosis or management of any disease including diabetes.

The Lingo programme does not guarantee that everyone will achieve the same results as individual responses may vary. It is best to speak to your doctor for advice on starting any diet or exercise regime or if you have an
eating disorder or a history of eating disorders.

© 2024 Abbott. All rights reserved. The biosensor housing, Lingo, and related marks are marks of the Abbott group of companies. Other marks are the property of their respective owners.

Craving an unhealthy snack? Four ways to manage your hunger

Hunger can often strike at inconvenient times and send you reaching for something sweet, but by following a few simple tips you can get back in control.

1. Plan – Having high-protein, high-fibre snacks and meals readily available to combat hunger when it comes will help you avoid being tempted by unhealthy options that might make you want to reach for even more.

2. Balance your meals – A ‘glucose friendly’ meal is all about balance. Try dividing up your plate to include a quarter protein, a quarter complex carbohydrate (wholegrains like quinoa or starchy vegetables like lentils and squash), and half non-starchy vegetables (like spinach, broccoli, asparagus and tomatoes).

3. Drink lots of water – Sometimes, when you feel hungry, you might just be thirsty. Drinking enough water that your urine is light in colour (think lemonade, not apple juice) keeps you hydrated. And skipping sugar sweetened beverages can help avoid dips in glucose that are linked to hunger.³

4. Take time out – Ask yourself whether you are actually hungry or just stressed, bored, frustrated, or tired. Take a few minutes out to do something else, like have a walk or read a book, and see if you are still hungry afterwards.

*Data on file, Abbott Diabetes Care, Inc. Based on the number of users worldwide for the FreeStyle Libre portfolio compared to the number of users for other leading personal use sensor-based glucose monitoring systems

¹ Sondrup N, Termannsen AD, Eriksen JN, et al. Effects of sleep manipulation on markers of insulin sensitivity: A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. Sleep Med Rev. 2022;62:101594 https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35189549/

²Jarvis PRE, et al. Continuous glucose monitoring in a healthy population: understanding the post-prandial glycemic response in individuals without diabetes mellitus. Metabolism. 2023 Sep;146:155640. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37356796/

³Wyatt P, et al. Postprandial glycaemic dips predict appetite and energy intake in healthy individuals. Nat Metab. 2021 Apr;3(4):523-529. doi: 10.1038/s42255-021-00383-x. Epub 2021 Apr 12. Erratum in: Nat Metab. 2021 Jul;3(7):1032. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33846643/

⁴ Yoshimura E, Hamada Y, Hatanaka M, et al. Relationship between intra-individual variability in nutrition-related lifestyle behaviors and blood glucose outcomes under free-living conditions in adults without type 2 diabetes. Diabetes Res Clin Pract. 2023;196:110231. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36565723/

⁵ Tsereteli N, Vallat R, Fernandez-Tajes J, et al. Impact of insufficient sleep on dysregulated blood glucose control under standardised meal conditions. Diabetologia. 2022;65(2):356-365. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34845532/