Which continuous glucose monitor (CGM) is best?

A tale of trying out different CGM devices

Beware: once you start tracking your glucose levels, then you’ll have a quantification as to how those Sausalito or girl scout cookies are impacting your health! :)

So, you’ve read about whether you should / should not get a continuous glucose monitor. You’ve decided you will bite the bullet and pay the price to methodically understand how the foods and activities you eat impact your health over the next 2–4 weeks.

But which brand of CGM will you choose?

As of February 2021, there are several new companies starting to come out with these continuous glucose monitors (CGMs). Below are some of the most popular ones out there: Levels Health, Nutrisense , Veri.

Please note,

1. I’m not a doctor and am writing this strictly from a user’s perspective
2. I received each of these monitors and told the companies that I would be doing a review; I don’t receive any paid promotion from them; I was curious to try each of them out because of the link between glucose and brain health and hormone health (two things that we talk a lot about in our Women’s Biohacking Community, WhealthCo).
3. I also wanted to test them out to see which one we would like to partner with in Powher Program, our women’s biohacking and health program. (DM if you’d like to participate and / or sponsor as a company)

Quick primer before we start.

• Continuous glucose monitors track the glucose in your bloodstream real time. Historically this has been used for patients with prediabetes/diabetes. There are different monitors available on the market: Dexcom, Freestyle Libre are the two most common. These companies have their own apps, however they are quite difficult to work with and / or rudimentary.
• The companies listed below all use and interface with the Freestyle Libre sensor. You can get a FS Libre for around $50 and use their free app. By using the companies below, you will have access to their apps which will help you a) see data clearly, b) track activities as well as food, c) get recommendations and reports, d) be able to compare specific foods versus each other. If you are serious about a health change then using one of these apps below is worth the extra $$. If you are a data nerd and like inputting data into spreadsheets, then just get the cheaper one direct from FS Libre itself…