If you’ve spent any time on Instagram lately, you’ve probably seen them. Those little white plastic discs stuck to the back of people's arms. They look like high-tech nicotine patches, but they aren't for quitting smoking. They’re Continuous Glucose Monitors (CGMs), and Dr. Casey Means is the reason your favorite wellness influencer is currently obsessed with their blood sugar.
It's kinda wild. Tech that was originally designed to save the lives of Type 1 diabetics is now being used by biohackers to decide if they should eat that sweet potato or skip it.
Honestly, the medical establishment is divided on this. Some doctors think it’s overkill. Others, like Casey Means, argue that we are in the middle of a "metabolic crisis" and that seeing your data in real-time is the only way out. She’s not just some random enthusiast, either. She’s a Stanford-trained physician who actually walked away from a career in head and neck surgery because she felt she was just "mowing the lawn" instead of pulling the weeds of chronic disease.
The Casey Means Glucose Monitor Philosophy: It’s Not Just for Diabetes
Dr. Means co-founded a company called Levels, which basically takes the raw data from a medical-grade CGM and turns it into a "metabolic score" on your phone. The core idea? Your blood sugar isn't just a number for your doctor to check once a year. It’s a live-stream of how your lifestyle is affecting your cells.
She calls it "Good Energy."
In her 2024 book, she explains that nearly every modern ailment—from acne and brain fog to infertility and Alzheimer's—is tied to how our mitochondria process fuel. If your glucose is constantly spiking and crashing like a rollercoaster, your cells get "Bad Energy." They get overwhelmed. They stop working.
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Why the prick-test doesn't cut it
Most of us get a fasting glucose test at the doctor. You show up, they draw blood, and they tell you you're "normal" if you’re under 100 mg/dL. Casey Means argues this is a huge mistake.
Why?
Because you could have a "normal" fasting glucose but still be spiking to 180 mg/dL every time you eat a bowl of oatmeal. These massive swings—what experts call glycemic variability—are what actually cause the damage. Think of it like a car. You might have a low idle (fasting glucose), but if you’re redlining the engine every time you hit the gas, that engine is going to explode way sooner than it should.
What Casey Means Wants You to See on Your CGM
When you wear a Casey Means glucose monitor setup, the goal isn't just to watch the line move. It’s to close the "loop" between what you do and how you feel. Most people are shocked by what they find.
- The "Healthy" Food Trap: You might find out that the "healthy" brown rice your trainer recommended sends your sugar higher than a Snickers bar.
- The Sleep Connection: If you only get five hours of sleep, your morning coffee (even black) might cause a massive spike because your cortisol is through the roof.
- The Power of the Post-Meal Walk: This is one of her biggest tips. If you see a spike starting after lunch, walking for just 10 or 15 minutes can literally "sop up" that excess sugar into your muscles without needing a ton of insulin.
The numbers she actually recommends
Most labs say anything under 140 mg/dL after a meal is "fine."
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Casey is way stricter. She suggests that for optimal health—not just "not being sick" health—you should aim to keep your glucose between 70 and 85 mg/dL while fasting. After you eat, she likes to see a rise of no more than 30 mg/dL from your starting point. Basically, she wants "rolling hills," not "jagged peaks."
Is This Just Expensive Anxiety?
Look, these things aren't cheap. A monthly subscription to a platform like Levels can run you hundreds of dollars. Critics argue that for someone without diabetes, obsessing over whether a banana moved their glucose by 10 points is a recipe for orthorexia—an unhealthy obsession with healthy eating.
But there's nuance here.
Means argues that we are currently "blind" in our own bodies. We eat "low fat" or "keto" or "vegan" because a book told us to, not because we know it works for our specific biology. The CGM is basically a flashlight.
It’s also about accountability. It is a lot harder to reach for that second doughnut when you know your phone is going to scream at you in twenty minutes. It turns the abstract threat of "heart disease in twenty years" into a tangible data point right now.
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Practical Steps to Optimize Your Metabolism
You don't necessarily need to wear a sensor for the rest of your life to benefit from this logic. Dr. Means often talks about "food sequencing." If you’re going to eat carbs, eat them last. Start with fiber (a salad), then move to protein and fats, and save the starch for the end of the meal. This simple trick slows down how fast the sugar hits your bloodstream.
Another big one? Vinegar.
It sounds like old wives' tales, but there's actual data showing that a tablespoon of apple cider vinegar in water before a meal can blunt the glucose response by up to 30%. It’s basically a hack for your enzymes.
If you are going to try a CGM, don't just stare at the numbers. Use it as a four-week experiment. Test your favorite meals. See how a "stressful" meeting at work affects your levels. Notice how your body handles a glass of wine vs. a beer. Once you have that "owner's manual" for your body, you can probably take the sensor off and just live your life with a much better set of intuitions.
Your Metabolic Checklist
- Check your latest bloodwork: Look for your fasting glucose and Triglyceride-to-HDL ratio. Casey says a ratio under 1.5 is the goal.
- Order your carbs: Eat your veggies and protein before the bread or pasta.
- Use your muscles: A 10-minute walk after your biggest meal of the day is non-negotiable for glucose stability.
- Watch the "hidden" sugars: Dr. Means is a vocal critic of seed oils and ultra-processed foods that often contain hidden sweeteners that wreck your metabolic flexibility.
The era of "guessing" what's healthy is ending. Whether you use a sensor or just follow the principles, the goal is the same: keeping your internal "fire" burning steady and clean so you don't burn out the house.