Egg + rice cake vs bagel + cream cheese… Which combination results in higher post-meal blood sugar?

The journalist, who turned forty this year, has become increasingly interested in health.

Even the gray hairs that weren't visible started to appear little by little, and I felt like my belly fat was the first to increase even when I gained weight, which made me afraid that I might really "drop dead" someday.

To make matters worse, my physical strength was also declining, and I started to feel that "this can't go on," so I began exercising and managing my diet from March of this year.

During that time, I heard a lot of terms related to blood sugar and insulin through various health information. And there are quite a few people around me who struggle with blood sugar management.

 

 

The continuous glucose monitoring device (CGM) 'Barozen Fit' made by Handok transmits blood sugar levels to a smartphone every five minutes, allowing real-time monitoring of blood sugar levels and trends.

 

The reporter wore the BareJain Fit from July 12 to 26 for a total of two weeks and monitored their blood sugar levels 24 hours a day.

 

Wearing it for 15 days, I felt like I had my own personal health doctor, as I could see the blood sugar graph at a glance and analyze my diet.

 

The 15-day experience will be published in three parts.

 

Blood sugar fluctuations vividly revealed on smartphones

 

=BaroJain Fit is a lightweight sensor weighing 4.5g that can be attached to the fleshy part of the arm.

 

The sensor is attached by pressing the applicator against the arm and simply pressing the button, and it is attached with a clicking sound.

 

The sensor itself is lightweight and slim, so it didn't feel burdensome even during showers or exercise.

 

However, I felt a slight soreness about a day after attaching it.

 

 

Barozen Fit connects the app and sensor to display continuous graphs of blood sugar trends throughout the entire sensor usage period.

 

After the initial wear, the first approximately 3 hours are for the sensor to adapt to your body, during which an alarm prompts you to measure your blood sugar manually and record it in the app.

 

I checked and adjusted my blood sugar levels every time an alarm prompted me to self-measure on the app.

 

Subsequently, a stable blood sugar graph was observed, allowing for accurate blood sugar readings.

 

What is the blood sugar change after breakfast: rice cake, bagel, eggs, yogurt?

 

In the morning, I usually eat quickly prepared foods such as boiled eggs, rice cakes, sweet rice porridge, bagels, and Greek yogurt, changing them daily, along with coffee.

 

When a bagel was eaten with cream cheese, the post-meal blood sugar level rose from 115 mg/dL to 170 mg/dL, whereas when only a bagel was eaten without cream cheese, it was relatively lower at 158 mg/dL.

 

When I ate Greek yogurt with oatmeal and mixed in a little peanut jam, my post-meal blood sugar level was still low at around 114 mg/dL.

 

The problem was with rice cakes rather than bread.

 

I usually eat individually sold frozen rice cakes from the market, but my blood sugar skyrocketed to over 180 mg/dL, higher than a bagel.

 

The warning sound for high blood sugar went off after eating more than this, at 200 mg/dL.

 

I was surprised to see my blood sugar spike despite only eating about 60 grams of rice cakes every morning.

 

I heard that eating eggs before a meal helps with blood sugar management, so the next day I ate two boiled eggs first and then had rice cakes, and my post-meal blood sugar stayed stable within 120 mg/dL.

 

Since then, I changed the order to eat eggs first before eating rice cakes in the morning.

 

◇Why do blood sugar readings vary after meals?

 

After putting on the CGM, I turned on the app while eating and watched my blood sugar during the meal.

 

Watching my blood sugar gradually rise after meals, I started to get a sense of how much it would increase if I ate this much today.

 

Barozen Fit requires a personal blood glucose meter for blood sugar level calibration along with a continuous glucose monitor.

 

When an alarm goes off on the app reminding you to calibrate once or twice a day, you can enter the calibration value using your personal blood glucose meter.

 

When adjusting the correction value measured directly with a blood glucose meter, there was no significant difference compared to the continuous glucose monitor readings, but after meals, the discrepancy ranged from about 10 mg/dL to 20 mg/dL.

 

A HanDok official stated, "Continuous glucose monitors do not involve blood sampling, and..."

 

While extracting and measuring glucose from the interstitial fluid of cells, personal blood glucose measurement involves directly drawing blood, resulting in a difference of about 5 to 10 minutes in the blood glucose reading.

 

The level that rises through the blood takes about 5 minutes to be detected in the intercellular space, so there was an error in blood sugar levels immediately after a meal, but

 

I felt relieved as I watched the graph gradually rise according to the blood sugar levels I measured after some time had passed since the meal.