015 Diabetic Apps & Technology • Laura Gee

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Happy New Year! How was your first week of 2018? Mine was great. Rob and I survived the Boston blizzard, sadly, we both caught colds and now I’m having fun making sense of my fitness and nutrition from the comfort of my iPhone.

Show Notes

This last year our mobile platforms have begun to surge with novel ways to help us manage our diabetes. Here is a quick review of some Diabetic apps & technology that I love and use regularly.

Dexcom G5 Mobile
Dexcom Follow
Dexcom Clarity Reports

I use the Dexcom continuous glucose monitor (CGM). It monitors my blood sugar around the clock. I can see my blood sugar trend graph on my insulin pump and cell phone using the Dexcom G5 Mobile app. In addition, I have also given my husband access using so he can also see what my blood sugars are doing using the Dexcom Follow app and get notifications if there is a problem. So, if either of us are traveling, we can each have reassurance. Yes! I also keep tabs on Rob. He lives with Type 1 Diabetes too. The Dexcom Clarity Reports app makes sharing my CGM reports with my healthcare team easy.

Fit Bit

As a fitness enthusiast, I adore all things Fitbit. At this time, I am using the Charge 2 Fitbit fitness tracker. It represent my whole well being. Not only does it track my sleep but I also use it to track my nutrition and fitness too. Based on my activity, my daily nutrition needs are adjusted.

The only criticism I have with the Fitbit nutrition tracker is that my carb counts aren’t as easy to see as they are with other apps like MyNetDiary. Although, there are so many fantastic things about Fitbit, I can deal with that. I’m very excited because there are whispers that Fitbit and Dexcom are working on plans to pair up to allow even better diabetes management!I’m so excited about this so as soon as the FitBit integrates with Dexcom, I’m getting a FitBit Ionic. The Fitbit Ionic is the newest FitBit version and offers even more.

Fitbit Coach

In addition to logging sleep, fitness and nutrition, the Fitbit Coach app is a fantastic fitness program platform. I do a daily Fitbit workout from my phone (when I get the Fitbit Ionic the workouts will be accessible from the tracker itself). Last night Rob and I did a Fitbit Coach workout together and we both ended up with plummeting blood-sugars; a sure indicator the 12 minute program did something. I also have the Fitbit Aria 2 scale to help me track my body weight and body fat percentage. As I begin my new strength based fitness program next week, it will be important to ensure that my weight increase is lean body weight from muscle mass, not fat mass. Gaining weight when starting a fitness program is natural, especially with strength training. I will be doing the new 80 Day Obsession by Autumn Calabrese.

MyNetDiary

I hinted about another couple apps I love. Historically, I used MyNetDiary on my iPhone for everything – blood–sugars, nutrition and fitness. It’s a very user friendly app with the ability to scan food labels to record your nutrition and servings. However, since getting my FitBit Charge 2, I have gravitated toward using my Fitbit for this.

Other Apps I Love

Other super cool fitness apps I’ve come across include Sweat, Beachbody on Demand and I especially love all apps by RunTastic. The SixPack add-on app by Runtastic truly helps you develop a strong core from the comfort of your phone. I have found that Runtastic supersedes MapMyRun when it comes to run tracking: I just like it better! It has a much cleaner interface. However, now I prefer to use Fitbit to record my runs.

MyFitnessPal is also awesome. It has a wonderful platform to track nutrition and fitness. As you know, both are critical when you live with diabetes. I especially love the MyFitnessPal recipes on their blog. There’s always something new. Just this week, I was gawking at a the Broccoli Chickpea Burger with Spicy Cashew Mayo recipe!

It’s Still Up to Me

Even though we’ve come a long way with crazy amazing apps and monitoring devices to help us manage our diabetes… at the end of the day it takes dedication to interpret and act on the data we generate. It is up to us to manage our diabetes. BUT, the clarity gained from Diabetic apps & technology like continuous glucose monitors and tracking apps definitely help. We still have to do the work. Today, I cannot imagine living with Type 1 Diabetes and not using some sort of tracker…