Dexcom Stelo Review Part Two

[@fatdogproductions1962]

I'm type 1 since 1955. I now use a Libre 3 CGM and have found that spreading carbohydrate intake out into two or more ingestions works better. My last a1c was 5.3 and I applaud your scientific process investigation.

[@parristx]

You have quite the lifetime of experience monitoring blood glucose- and having an a1c of 5.3- you have done an excellent job! I will try out splitting the carbs as you suggested- thanks!

[@enicnarflefebvre1]

I have been eating oats for years and I did not know that would raise my blood sugar that much. The fruits also raise the blood sugar and you eat quite a bit. There are fruits worse than others (bananas, cherries, tangerines) The best fruits that won’t raise the blood sugar too much are berries (raspberries, strawberries, blueberries, etc). A salted breakfast of eggs or other protein is much more glucose friendly. Bread is also high carb but there is low carb bread on the market. Also, with too many meals/snacks in a day, you will develop insulin resistance.

[@samanthawest2401]

I was diagnosed with T2 almost 6 years ago. The ADA diet for diabetics is a joke. I started following it immediately but surprise surprise my numbers were still high. I thankfully found LCHF.

[@Groovylu3]

I’m surprised that people are surprised that oatmeal will increase your sugar levels. 😮

[@heidiwatts6535]

Oatmeal and bananas are a no go for me. Eggs and bacon keep my BG steady.

[@rancid216]

Mine was reading 15 to 20 points high. On another channel person that wears a Dexcom G7 said that they get the best readings by placing it on the thigh. So I took off the sensor on my arm and placed the second one on my thigh. Have to see how that works. I contacted Stelo and said I had a defected sensor. So hopefully, they replace the first sensor.

[@rancid216]

Now getting much more accurate readings from the sensor I placed on my upper thigh. Did I have a defective sensor, or for me the thigh works better than the arm. Either way I'm sticking with the thigh. Stelo is going to send me a replacement for the sensor that wasn't working right.

[@MrSpinnerbug]

Nice summary of your results with Stelo….my Stelo arrives today😊

[@sandramorton5510]

Download the glycemic load index chart, you will move faster with the CGM to understand your metabolic system.

[@SpyderRTL]

Oats are full of carbs. Try eggs and bacon. Mine didn't rise more than a couple points.

[@RBzee112]

A meter reading of 100 is equal to ONE tsp of glucose in your bloodstream. Insulin controls this level very tightly, until it can't anymore (T2D).

[@feltedwitch4118]

This is very common with that breakfast. BUT, there are some hacks you can do, to still consume this breakfast but have it better impact your blood glucose and your body. Look at the Glucose Goddesses hacks. I have had great success with adding a tablespoon of apple cider vinegar to water and consuming at least 20 min before you eat. Also front load those carbohydrates with a cup of veggies instead of the fruit. I bet you will see some amazing results :) happy monitoring!

[@niecek.6473]

I’ll take those numbers! 😁 3 days on Stelos learning how to control my insulin with no meds, my glucose goes high with Oatmeal.

[@kinpatu]

I’ve been wearing mine for about 30 hours. For the first 24 or so, stelo was 10-15mg/dL higher than a standard meter. Now it seems to be 10mg/dL low. I’m non diabetic, on very low carbohydrate diet. BG stays in the 80-110 range almost always. Occasional peaks to 120.

[@charlescottrell8377]

Mine is 20 points or more low almost all the time. A little disappointing. It still shows changes, however. That’s all I can use it for.

[@gonebyrv9748]

Over the course of 15 days the Stelo read (on average) 15 points higher than my finger stick meter. Not sure whether is was a bad CGM, but 15 points seem a bit inaccurate to me.

[@kateh.7868]

Try eating a breakfast of protein, fat and fiber. The breakfast you describe is high carb which would spike your insulin, especially first thing in the morning. If you’re going to eat fruit stick to the berries and then check your monitor.

[@gonebyrv9748]

Absolutely. That oats and banana stuff is going to spike your readings.

[@jamesmcmahonii8433]

Oats, good/bad. They are high in amylose, which breaks down into sugar. Corn will do the same. Bananas are a disaster of sugar

[@charlescottrell8377]

Oats are bad for humans.

[@josemilian4167]

honestly i think there is so much potential with cgm. once we collect enough data i see us taking a term of monitoring and taking info to dr who will advise for your specific body chemistry as it relates to diet. Given enough input and logged foods it may be possible to determine what foods you're susceptible to or perhaps best times to eat or how many times a day to eat, etc. I really want to get one because I know with hard data in hand I, would make better decisions. easy to eat when you have no clue how your body is impacted but bit harder when you can see it.

[@eileenb2012]

I started wearing a libre 2 a few weeks ago for the same reasons! Libre has a great report center that gives me detailed information the app doesn't have- I wonder if Stelo has the same thing? I eat mostly wfpb and I was shocked that my glucose went up to 158 after I had steel cut oats with chia seeds and protein powder- no fruit. Beans on my salad also spiked my number! I'm working with a dietician and playing around with serving sizes and macro combos. I had air popped pop corn for dinner one night, I ate a lot of it, and my glucose was high all night. Learning a lot!!

[@josebrivera1716]

You need to cut all high carb foods from your diet. That includes most fruits except for berries, pasta, popcorn, bread, cake, beans, flour. Portions control has nothing to do with not putting high carbs into your body. Please, look into Keto. It will lower your blood sugar, reverse diabetes and as an added benefit you will loose weight. Go low carb.

[@kerrissedai6857]

Yeah, I love popcorn! It does not love me.

[@jamesmaher8595]

Ye, Parristx. Cut out the tangerines and banana - and add more "bitter" e.g. grapefruit, lemon drink, natural Greek yogurt and kefir. Also eggs are terrific. James

[@asfd74]

Wifey was shocked (and me) to find out that Canadian Bacon is full of sugar! This is a great device.

[@MrBearitall]

It’s the oatmeal brother. Those are quick carbs that blast your glucose. The fruit do as well, if you want that glucose to be stable, have a breakfast that consists of protein and fats and then eat a small amount of carbs with it but AFTER the protein and fats.

[@evlnte]

It is not better to split fiber from carbs. Better together. Even better to avoid both and eat more protein.

[@silloh888]

I have similar results in my 10 days. Apparently I did not position it well and kept hitting door jambs, car door jambs and it ripped off. Also had the compression reading low, had to put my hand under my arm to prop it up. I've been on keto/low carb for over 5 years now. Wanted to see how different protein powders/bars affected my glucose level. Similar to what you have seen. Interestingly I also do 16/8 fasting and my morning walk would drive it up over 100. My asleep hours in the 80/90s, awake 90-100 while fasting, very interesting. I'll do the second sensor a bit later to do more testing, might buy another month kit. We don't have the monthly option where I live, so will just buy every now/then.

[@rossacohen314]

Parris, you look fantastic!!!

[@Vam1500]

mine has been wildly off. I wish they allowed you to calibrate it with a finger stick.

[@BillYovino]

Mine is too. It's generally 15 to 35 points higher than my finger sticks. I tested my regular meter (Contour Next) with the testing solution and it is in range, so it's the Stelo that's way off.

[@theimagequestphotography]

I tried. Stella seems to be accurate for me, but the most disappointing part is customer service. The first unit didn't work it went too 70 low and and stay there, I filled out the forms on the website to get a replacement twice, but never heard back.

[@maricelrocha3767]

It's the oatmeal, that same thing happened to me and I figured it out, I now have only 1/8 of a cup of oatmeal in organic soy milk (high in protein), and this is the only way that I do not see a glucose spike (all other things are similar: protein powder, berries, and even pecans). If you have those foods too close you are impacting your average glucose, I would eat all together as long as you get back to normal within 2 hours of your last bite.

[@user-kd7ig7cy5k]

I found the accuracy of spikes for me are off by as much as 45 points as compared to a finger stick

[@johnmackey7721]

The concept is great. And it’s much cheaper that jumping through the hoops for a G7. But it can’t be calibrated and my first sensor reported under 70 starting on day 8 until I gave up and inserted a new one. Support was no help.

[@johnmackey7721]

Pressure lows are supposed to self correct after you get up. Ugh.

[@tamarac2267]

It can be calibrated. You can take it on a traditional meter, then input that for calibration.

[@johnmackey7721]

@@tamarac2267 You can enter a glucose value in the Stelo app but there’s no indication that it’s being used for calibration. Did you see the readout move in response to a manual input in the app? I didn’t, but then my unit was in the process of failing at the time.

[@charlescottrell8377]

@@tamarac2267please explain in more detail the steps to do a calibration. I have it working with Clarity and Apple Health, but have no idea how to calibrate it if it is possible. I suppose it could be done manually in a spreadsheet but if there is a way to do it in the software that would be great.

[@charlescottrell8377]

@@tamarac2267please explain in detail. This would be so useful.

[@ColPopcorn65]

Oats will spike glucose. The good news is that it looks like the spike resolved pretty quickly

[@parristx]

I am considering trying whole oat groats- they should digest more slowly than any kind of cut oats.

[@tommyrq180]

I eat steel-cut oats with added chopped walnuts for fat and blueberries/raspberries and protein mix-very similar to your breakfast (no banana). But, I always take a 10-15 minute walk after eating to reduce the spike. You might think about that, it’s a fairly well-understood mitigation method. Oatmeal helps me stay regular…😅 Lots of tradeoffs in diet and health!

[@danwaters7915]

I eat low carb (probably under 30 carbs per day or less) and keep bg under 120. The Stelo is helpful.

[@johnroman907]

After two weeks of using the Dexcom Stelo, I found it fell short of my expectations. Since I am not diabetic, my goal was to use the device to understand how different foods affected my body, with the hope of making healthier choices and reducing the risk of developing sugar intolerance in the future. However, when I compared Stelo’s readings to actual fingerstick tests, I noticed a consistent discrepancy: the Stelo was always 30 to 50 points higher. This inaccuracy meant it constantly triggered alarms for glucose spikes, no matter how healthy my meals were. Its daily reports even suggested I was diabetic, which was far from the truth. Because of these inconsistencies, I couldn’t reliably track how specific foods impacted my body. Instead, the device seemed only to detect that I had eaten, assigning glucose levels almost randomly. Frustration set in as it became clear that the Stelo provided little more than general tendencies, making it impossible for me to draw any meaningful conclusions about my diet. In the end, I was left questioning whether it was measuring anything beyond when I ate, with the actual glucose readings feeling almost arbitrary.

[@cintikevin1]

This makes me sad. My Stelo is on the way. And I am exactly like you......not diabetic and just wanting to find out how different food affect my blood sugar. I will keep you posted on what my results are. I'm so disappointed that the Stelo didn't work for you.

[@kahlanicayo6962]

Is there another means of receiving the data? My phone's OS is an older version and I don't want to have to get a new phone just for this.

[@j14kworks46]

diabetics don't eat oats OR bananas

[@gardengirl7258]

My app updates every 15 minutes. How are you getting every 5 minutes and such detail?

[@gonebyrv9748]

The app updates every 15 minutes, but it takes readings every 5 minutes. Touch on all of the dots in your app and you'll be able to see the 5 minute readings.

[@SUSANREEDER-l1b]

@@gonebyrv9748 Good to know. Thank you.

[@parristx]

It takes readings every five minutes- but only reports them to the app every 15 minutes- all three previous readings get sent at once.

[@parristx]

Good point- if you drag your finger across the graph it will show the time stamp and blood sugar reading with each little dot.

[@charlescottrell8377]

The Stelo is pretty consistently 20 points or more lower than my finger prick results. It does work great for showing spikes though. I ate a meal that included steak and eggs but also some bread and potatoes. (and 2 mimosas) Shot up a bit over 150. Also, the myth that oats are a good breakfast needs to be busted.

[@200Nora]

I keep telling people oats will raise blood sugar. Many do not believe me because they rather believe the dietician than check and prick their finger. I love bananas, but I had to stop eating too much only eat one small one once in a while now.

[@grumpyinbrooklyn6347]

COMPRESSION Lows is the term!

[@awonderfultimewithgod]

Very interesting, Sir. Did you take any meds while you are doing these tests?

[@Rvilla2279]

Thank you for your time and effort, don't forget the glacemic index to build a great meal taking fiber in consideration before the hikes and power walks can't wait for the followup

[@saul_bloom]

Put some almond or peanut butter in your oatmeal and skip all the other stuff. You could even double the serving size. But before you eat your oatmeal have some eggs or other protein and or fiber. I skip most fruit except berries and green apples. I think of most other fruits, like oranges and bananas, more like dessert. Yeh, Stelo app is really lacking. Nothing like Levels. Also, I find the Stelo CGM device far less accurate versus G6 and G7. I'm on my third. First one was ridiculously high, second and third unusually low. Consistently off by at least 10mg.

[@grumpyinbrooklyn6347]

Just drop the oatmeal for god! This obsession with oatmeal is the biggest scam ever!

[@KymGFit]

But I sooooo love the steel cut overnight oats.. its like crack😂

[@grumpyinbrooklyn6347]

@@KymGFit Addiction is a real thing for many when it comes to "carby" foods! Which is why moderation has zero chances of working for them!

[@wilhelmtaylor9863]

ALL plants are sugar molecules - some digestible, some not. A vegetarian, esp as they age, will inevitably fight the type2 battle. I would love to see what your results are if you switch to a diet that does not include GMO fruits and vegetables but real food instead. Concentrate on fats and a little protein.,

[@lynncaraher8625]

I think you've drawn the wrong conclusion from your early results. Steel cut oats plus blueberries, a banana, and two tangerines. This is a breakfast of pure carbs. You should be eating protein for breakfast: eggs, maybe meat. Just because you've been eating this same breakfast for years doesn't mean it is healthy. I ate grapenuts for breakfast for years. So what? I changed. Now I don't eat breakfast - no spike. You shouldn't be eating all those sugar sources (blueberries, banana, and tangerines) all at one meal. Especially not first thing in the morning. Checkout the "Glucose Goddess." She has some great suggestions for keeping blood glucose low. (I have no affiliation with her)

[@21pstem65]

Try black beans or pinto beans as a breakfast side

[@josebrivera1716]

You need to be aware of foods that are high glycemic. All oats and most fruits are too high carb. This information is available online.

[@BillYovino]

Give up the bananas and the oatmeal.

[@debhouckscraftycottage]

I've learned that bananas and cherries are high in sugars as far as fruits go. The blueberries shouldn't have spiked it like that. I have no experience with the steel cut oats though.

[@Rvilla2279]

tart cherries, grapefruit ftw

[@KetoCaveMan]

Watch the bittersweet truth!

[@gigigarcia3691]

Oats and bananas makes my sugars o up too.

[@GermanCarFan22]

breakfast - bacon and eggs. lose the oatmeal

[@ThinkEagle7]

Thats not true. Sometimes, you can spike your glocuse to 190. Just don't do it all of the time. The average glucose per day is more important.

[@JA-fw6lp]

Eat a hamburger patty for breakfast and see what happens. Add a couple eggs, too.

[@DougParks]

Shouldn't really ever sleep on the monitor, actually...

[@Sarahbee-o8t]

I sleep on my right side so I will put it on my left side

[@Ricky-f3e]

you eating to much carbs that's why your blood reading spikes

[@josebrivera1716]

Oats are high carb!! I am surprised you did not know that. Cut the high cup foods! Especially the fruits. Go keto!

[@polycrystallinecandy]

That doesn't matter in this case. Eating low carb doesn't tell you whether you are diabetic, since both diabetics and non-diabetics will have similar response on low-carb meals. If you are not diabetic, then your levels shouldn't be >140 for substantial periods of time, even on high-carb meals

[@NorKavon]

He had steel cut oats. They they are about 75% less impact than regular oats.

[@josebrivera1716]

@@polycrystallinecandy My point was not about being able to tell if one is diabetic. It's just that high carbs are not good for anyone. I am on Keto and my blood sugar rarely goes above 110. I have eliminated anything which spikes my blood sugar any where near 120. I was diabetic and reverse it with Keto.

[@josebrivera1716]

@@NorKavon That's still too high. If he is not Pre-Diabetic or Diabetic then he can eat that. But for those of us who are Pre-Diabetic or Diabetic, any oat, bread, cake, flour, pasta, rice are not good to eat and will spike blood sugars to a high level. Please check out food and their glycemic index for further information. If one wants to keep from ever having to take metformin or insulin, go Keto.

[@polycrystallinecandy]

@@josebrivera1716 how did you check if you reversed it? If you are on keto, your glucose won't spike, but that doesn't mean you aren't diabetic.