18 posts
A normal HbA1c with high glucose readings is common and usually explained by red cell turnover, postprandial spikes averaging out, or assay interference. Here is how to tell which, and what to measure next.
One fasting glucose of 100 sits at the edge of a threshold that was drawn by committee, and a single draw carries more measurement noise than most people expect. Here is how to read the number, what to measure next, and how to analyze the data yourself.
The thresholds that define a high glucose value, why a CGM reading and a lab draw disagree, and how to analyze your own glucose export instead of reacting to single numbers.
Current out-of-pocket prices for continuous glucose monitors, the cost per day of usable data, and what the data looks like when you export it yourself.
A technical guide to prescription-free continuous glucose monitors in the US — Stelo, Lingo, Libre Rio — with real accuracy numbers, cost per month, interference modes, and how to get the raw data out.
85 mg/dL fasting sits comfortably inside the normal range. The more useful question is how much your own fasting glucose varies day to day, which a single venous draw cannot answer and CGM can.
A fasting glucose of 93 mg/dL sits comfortably in the normal range. The more useful question is what the rest of your glucose curve looks like, and how to measure it yourself.
A functional biomarker measures how well a system is working — a ratio, a rate, or a response to a challenge — rather than a single resting concentration. Here is how to build them from CGM, blood panels, proteomics, and RNA-seq, and where they break.
What fasting, post-meal, and 24-hour continuous glucose numbers look like in people without diabetes, what the reference data say, and how to analyze your own CGM export.
What post-meal glucose looks like in people without diabetes, where the 140 and 180 mg/dL thresholds come from, and a protocol for extracting real numbers from your own CGM export.
A continuous glucose monitor measures how you eat. It does not cause fat loss. What the data supports, and how to run your own meal experiments.
A practical account of continuous glucose monitor insertion, comfort, accuracy limits, and how to work with the exported data if you are not diabetic and want a metabolic baseline.
Why a post-meal glucose reading in the 80s is usually a healthy result, why you can feel shaky at that number anyway, and how to tell a real reading from sensor noise using your own CGM and lab data.
A practical guide to wearing a CGM without diabetes. Covers which sensors to buy, how accurate they are and what a normal glucose curve looks like.
What a post-meal glucose of 83, 87, or 94 mg/dL means, why the timing of the reading matters more than the number, and how to measure your own postprandial response properly with CGM and blood work.
A working method for turning a raw Libre or Dexcom export into an ambulatory glucose profile, per-meal response curves, and metrics you can defend — including what the numbers can and cannot tell you.
What the post-meal glucose numbers are for people without diabetes, where the thresholds come from, and how to compute peak, time-to-peak, and incremental AUC from your own CGM export.
A CGM measures the output of your glucose system. It does not measure the input. What a sensor can and cannot tell you about insulin sensitivity.