Dexcom G6 CGM. From left to right: inserter, receiver, transmitter in sensor pod, iPhone app, apple watch.

The G6 is not new, it’s just the latest iteration of Dexcom’s continuous glucose monitor. There are lots of reviews online about how people like it. Basically, it’s an upgrade and the big advantage cited is it doesn’t require calibration. However, I still find I can’t let go of checking it against my meter now and then, and sometimes it needs to be calibrated. I was told by a Dexcom rep to do so if there’s more than a 30% discrepancy.

Other than that, for me, the G6 pluses are not terribly significant – yes the sensor and transmitter make a slimmer and sleeker package, the sensor is easier to insert, but that humongous insertion device pains me to discard. It’s got a predictive alert which I like – it warns you at 70 mg/dl that in 20 minutes you’ll be 55 mg/dl, but I don’t care for the pastel colored screen (I only use my iPhone to see my readings).I wonder if that is to keep us calm looking at our numbers?

Three times last week I had to call customer service and get Dexcom to send me a replacement sensor, which they do without argument. First, I bled under the sensor pod, likely due to a too heavy-handed insertion, and the sensor stopped working. I’ve forgotten why I needed to replace the second sensor, but why I had to replace the third sensor came as a complete surprise. With the G5 you can put the sensor on and wait a day before you activate it. If your first day numbers are not accurate, as mine never were, letting the sensor sit on your body for a day before you start a new session helps. When you activate it, its had some time to read its new environment, you, and it’s more accurate. This way you don’t waste the first day of use.

So, I did the same thing with my G6 sensor. I put it on and didn’t “start new session” until the next morning, when it told me I could not reuse my sensor and needed to put on a new one. Of course I’d not activated it, it had only been on my body a day. But when I called Dexcom to ask about this, I was told as soon as you put the G6 sensor on your body it starts starting up, even though you haven’t clicked “start new session.”

So, a tip to the wise – if you’ve done this with your G5 you cannot do it with a G6. If you use the G5 and never heard of this tip, it’s a smart move if for you your first 24 hour readings are not trustworthy.

The ADA conference, the largest scientific U.S. diabetes conference, took place last week in San Francisco. I wasn’t there but diaTribe and DiabetesMine, run by Kelly Close and Amy Tenderich respectively, were. They posted highlights from the event that I followed and now share with you. The recaps cover new technology, trials and medicines.

DiaTribe – “The Biggest News in Diabetes Technology, Drugs, and Nutrition: Highlights from ADA 2019”

DiabetesMine Healthline – “What’s new in Diabetes Research”

After years of avoiding dairy, I think only because everyone seemed to be and we always heard how fattening it was, cheese and yogurt have come zooming back into my life. Eating Keto, these higher fat foods are back on the menu, and I’m loving them. So it was with some nostalgia I read Catherine Newman’s article in this week’s diaTribe about yogurt.

Yes, I well remember the days when Dannon was the only yogurt on the shelf. I even remember when I worked for a few months during college at my neighborhood Waldbaums as a supermarket cashier, I was privy to grabbing a yogurt out of the refrigerator section for my lunch break. Dannon cherry and coffee were always in my hands.

These days I only eat plain, whole milk yogurt. I want the fuller fat and don’t want the extra carbs. It’s part of eating keto and delicious. I’m enjoying various brands including Brown Cow (very fresh with cream on top) Fage 5% (thick Greek yogurt with more fat than their other yogurts), Icelandic Provisions (thick, thick, thick) and my latest pick up, Organic Valley Grassmilk. Also cream on top and 100% from grass fed cows. It’s produced by a consortium of farmers in Wisconsin whose mission is to create healthy products. I have learned, from a little investigation, that when a label says “Grassfed” the cows are not necessarily only eating grass, they can be ruminating on grass and being fed grain back in the feedlot.

Whatever your preference, today there are so many different yogurts to try and each has its own uniqueness. Eating keto, I’m especially grateful full fat products like whole milk yogurt is available. When the husband first came over to live here from Holland almost twenty years ago he couldn’t believe everything in the supermarket was low fat.

As Newman says in her article, check the carb count on any yogurt you pick up, and you’re better off adding your own toppings than getting yogurt with fruit and add-ons already in it.

My simple yogurt bowl is a few heaping spoonfuls of yogurt with tahini and almond butter. When I want more of a cereal concoction, I add flax and chia seeds, roasted nuts, coconut flakes, salt, stevia, cinnamon, tahini and almond milk.

And like Jerry Steinfeld, there are many days I’d rather eat this breakfast cereal for dinner than dinner. 😉