What Is The Freestyle Libre 2?
The Freestyle Libre 2 is a continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) device that measures interstitial fluid glucose levels for diabetes management in people 4 years and older. It can be used for insulin or non-insulin-dependent patients suffering from diabetes, pre-diabetes, or obesity.
This system includes a small, water-resistant sensor worn just under the skin of the upper arms for 2 weeks (14 days) at a time. It will continue to record your glucose levels throughout this period, eliminating the need for painful finger pricks and can even scan through clothing.
How does It Support Healthier Lifestyles?
Diabetes can cause daily fluctuations in your glucose levels, which is why regular glucose scanning throughout the day is essential to regulate your blood sugar levels for a healthy lifestyle. The Freestyle Libre 2 Sensor is programmed with features and report-generating functions that help you avoid glucose highs (hyperglycaemia) and lows (hypoglycaemia).
When setting up the Freestyle Libre 2 system using the GluCare app, your care team will specify a target (healthy) glucose range in the reader’s setting. This range acts as a bar for your sensor to track and help you regulate your blood sugar at a healthy level. Usually, your doctor will tell you what your target blood sugar range should be.
It is important to note that some 3rd party apps focused on wellness have an upper glucose limit of 110 mg/dL. This upper limit is not backed by clinical evidence. At GluCare, for those with pre-diabetes or using a CGM for wellness or obesity, the range we use is 70-140 mg/dL, whilst for diabetics, this range is from 70-180 mg/dL.
Alerts And Reports For Diabetes Management
The GluCare app integrates with the Freestyle Libre 2. Separately, the sensor also features optional glucose alarms that alert you of high or low blood sugar, so you can take action quickly if the sugar levels are not in the specified range. You can also check the results and share them anytime with a simple 1-second scan, even through clothing.
They also generate reports every 8-hours, including current glucose levels, a trend graph, and a trend arrow which gives valuable insights on your average blood sugar levels throughout the day. At GluCare, this data is already integrated with your care team via our technology platform and allows us to make important decisions about your care plan, such as changes to your medication or diet for a healthy lifestyle.
How Does It Help With Making Better Food Choices?
The main focus of your body is to convert what you eat and drink into energy to sustain your metabolism. Glucose is the main energy source of the cells, though metabolism. After digestion of a meal, glucose reaches your bloodstream to be taken to the cells. The amount of glucose in your blood fluctuates throughout the day based on many factors like physical activities, sleep quality, stress levels, menstrual cycle, and most importantly, what you eat and how much you eat.
Rather than focusing on only caloric restriction or one-size-fits-all diets, the GluCare team observes your glycemic patterns to evaluate your body’s reactions and optimize your metabolic health. We teach and encourage patients to use the food logging feature on our app to better understand the cause and effect of certain foods on their glycemic response. In this way, you will be able to see the effect of your food choice on your glucose levels which motivates you to make healthy and low glycemic index choices.
Insights To Metabolic Health For a Sustainable Lifestyle
High and low glucose levels can cause various metabolic dysfunctions and even can be life-threatening. The fluctuations in blood glucose can be caused by so many factors such as stress, portion sizes, unhealthy food choices, and physical activity.
Even if you are diabetic or not, CGM gives an accurate representation of your metabolic health by representing your time in range level (TIR), or the amount of time your glucose is in the specified range. It shows real-time and objective information about how food, stress, and different lifestyle factors affect your glucose levels.
Glycemic reactions to the same foods can be completely different from one person to another and can affect the TIR differently. The sensor allows you to understand the metabolic impact of lifestyle choices and other individual factors on your glucose levels, which are very difficult to measure with traditional tools.
The cause-and-effect understanding of your glucose level with every food intake on a real-time basis helps you take better control over food choices, portion sizes, and a healthier lifestyle with a balanced and sustainable diet.
