The New Science of Precision Diabetes Diet Revealed Millets May Not Be Healthy for Everyone – Thanks to Diabefly

“I tried everything I could to get my blood sugars in control like eating healthy, doing yoga and walking, but nothing worked for me as well as Diabefly did. Infact, I was so shocked when I discovered that the foods like jowar, ragi etc. that I first thought are good for me were actually not! This was REALLY a big eye-opener”, said Mrs Neelu Pandey, a homemaker from Mumbai. 

Mrs Neelu Pandey is a 57-year-old woman who has been struggling to control her blood sugars for the last 10 years. She also had high blood cholesterol and central obesity (higher waistline). But, with the help of Diabefly’s latest science and technology, she understood what EXACTLY caused a rise in her blood sugars and how to get her numbers in a healthy range. 

Here are her outcomes:  

A flashback into Mrs Pandey’s life before enrolling into Diabefly

She is a homemaker who was diagnosed with diabetes in 2010. She was overweight and complained of fatigue, weakness, palpitations, and low energy levels. Due to her health issues, she had disturbed sleep and moderate stress levels. She had a positive family history of diabetes in her father. 

Due to religious reasons, she kept frequent fasts. She skipped or delayed her breakfast until she completed her morning pooja. Although she had no sweet cravings, she drank 4-5 cups of tea or coffee (with sugar) throughout the day. 

Before enrolling on the program, she tried all she could to control her blood sugars – she ate healthy foods like millets, salad, curd etc., gave up on her favourite junk foods, did yoga and walked, and took her medications on time. But despite all her efforts, nothing worked for her. 

Mrs Pandey wanted to get her blood sugars in control. Additionally, she wanted to understand where exactly was she going wrong! And when her friend told her about the positive outcomes of Diabefly and how it has helped so many people living with diabetes, she thought of giving it a try! 

How did Diabefly help Mrs Pandey

Mrs Pandey joined Diabefly to get her diabetes in control. Mrs Neelu’s case was assigned to 3 expert Coaches, including a Nutritionist, a Physiotherapist and a Psychologist. 

After joining the program, a CGM (Continuous Glucose Monitoring) sensor was placed on Mrs Pandey’s forearm for 14 days. The CGM device took multiple readings throughout this period that gave a complete understanding of what EXACTLY caused the fluctuations in her blood sugar levels. Coaches correlated these blood sugar fluctuations with her diet, exercise schedule, sleep, and stress pattern, giving her Personalised Glycemic Response (PGR).

After gauging and analysing her PGR, Coaches understood what worked and did not work in managing her diabetes. Accordingly, they curated a science-backed precision diabetes plan and not a run-over-the-mill generic plan for Mrs Pandey. 

Why were millets not healthy for Mrs Pandey?

A Senior Nutritionist and a Certified Diabetes Educator, Dr Rupal Agrawal, closely worked with Mrs Pandey to understand her dietary patterns. Based on her food choices, her Coach gave her a Maharashtrian diet plan that included healthy carbs, protein and fibre.  

Mrs Pandey did her food diary entries in the Fitterfly Wellness App. These entries were correlated with CGM sensor blood sugar readings. 

Surprisingly, the CGM readings of Mrs Pandey revealed that the so-called healthy millets were causing a massive post-meal spike in her blood sugars. Here are a few screenshots of the food diary and her blood sugar readings as recorded by the CGM sensor. 

Fig 1: Blood sugars spiked by 107 mg/dL – 1 hour after having 1 jowar bhakri (a millet) for lunch. 

The maximum difference in blood sugar readings 1 hour after a meal should be less than 40mg/dL – Ideal value

Fig 2: Blood sugars spiked by 146 mg/dL – 1 hour after having 1 jowar bhakri for dinner. 

Fig 3: Blood sugars spiked by 87 mg/dL – 1 hour after having 1 bajra and Makki roti (millets) for dinner.

Fig 4: Blood sugars spiked by 76 mg/dL – 1 hour after having a balanced meal that included curd, salad, dry vegetable, dal and jowar bhakri for dinner.

Fig 5: Blood sugars spiked by 89 mg/dL – 1 hour after having quinoa for dinner. 

The above readings suggested that millets like jowar, bajra, makka and other healthy cereals like quinoa caused a massive spike in her blood sugars post-meal. So her Coach substituted the millet rotis with multigrain cereal-based rotis for Mrs Pandey.

Achieving the outcomes:

1. Nutritional intervention: Based on the insights from the food diary and CGM data, Dr Rupal understood what worked and did not work for Mrs Pandey in managing her diabetes. 

So here is how she helped her: 

• Reduced dairy products & millets that caused a spike in her blood sugars.
• Increased fibre intake by including a variety of salads in her diet.
• Increased daily water intake by 2.5L.
• Advised not to skip or delay her breakfast
• Replaced biscuits, cookies etc., in evening snacks with protein-rich options.
  

2. Physiotherapy interventions: Under the supervision of a trained Physiotherapist – Dr Priyanka Dabkare, Mrs Pandey started exercising regularly, her energy levels improved, and her fitness score improved by 56%. 

3. Psychology interventions: Shreyash Chhajed, her Psychologist, conducted one-on-one guided psychology sessions and taught Mrs Pandey the breathing techniques that helped her overcome the day-to-day stresses in life. Additionally, her quality of sleep also improved.  

Joining Diabefly was a game-changer for Mrs Pandey in managing her diabetes. In this program, she learnt that some foods (like millets) that she thought were ‘healthy’ can actually be bad for her. Similarly, some of the foods she had been avoiding for a long time due to diabetes may not be bad for her.

To learn more about Diabefly and its new science of precision diabetes diet, visit https://www.fitterfly.com/diabefly or speak to our counsellors on 022 48971077 (Ext -1).