Wellness and technology, the quantified self movement

Think there's more to it than that like how quickly your blood glucose returns to normal after a meal.

My Zoe results are in! My blood glucose management is good, as suspected my blood fat management is poor and although my good Vs bad gut bacteria is excellent, I'm severely lacking diversity. My current diet is rated good and apparently the worst thing I can eat is polenta so that's easy enough to avoid! Only sad thing is most bread, including brown is bad for my gut health. Rye is ok which I do like but I'd have to ensure I combine it properly as it's sugar spiking.

Also I have a coeliac gene, haven't been tested for a while but seems everything containing gluten is bad for my gut health. Would explain a few things!

Looking forward to delving in to the next step.

I’m ten days in…any sort of carbs send my sugar sky high, whereas fat keeps it super steady. Have changed my morning porridge for yoghurt with berries and nuts and def feel better for it. Would probably buy another CGM in future, it’s been interesting

Also been trying a whoop, I’m trying to use the HRV as a means of tracking my long Covid recovery. Coming to the end of the trial, and am conflicted as for the same price of an annual membership I could buy a decent used device. Can anyone recommend a wearable particularly good for HRV? I heard Fitbit aren’t accurate, and I don’t really want an Apple Watch. So maybe garmin vs withings? I imagine a withings will be uncomfortable overnight. Thanks :)

I’ve been using the HRV 4 Training app for the past year:

https://www.hrv4training.com/

It measures my HRV using the phone camera, but the website also recommends some wearables that record this well. I think the Apple Watch and the Oura ring are their recommended devices.

To be honest, for my needs, which is to record training load and recovery for being less shit at cyclocross, the phone camera has been more than adequate.

I have a Garmin epix and my wife has a venu. They’re both pretty good IMHO and very comfortable to wear. The epix isn’t cheap though.

I’ve used HRV4Training before and it works ok but sometimes the phone camera reading can be a bit frustrating. I stopped using it when I got a Garmin Fenix that records it overnight too. Might be worth giving the HRV4Training app a go first though as the outlay is a lot less!

Does anyone have any experience with personal ECG monitors?

I have (currently) undiagnosed, suspected exercise induced super ventricular tachycardia and have been advised to try a personal ECG monitor to try and catch an episode in action. So far as I can tell there are several possibilities none without their drawbacks for my use case (I have made some notes on personal pros and cons below). Any thoughts or alternatives welcomed.

KardiaMobile

A little device that clips to the back of your phone, you touch the two pads to get a 30s reading. They seem to have a 1 lead (£84) and 6 lead (£125) options. Pros: cheapest option, recommended by NICE, 6-lead version may be a more detailed diagnostic tool (or may not be... who knows, I'm not a doctor). Cons: It attaches to the phone and I'm always trying to look for ways to carry less stuff not more - I hate the idea of being tied to my phone and you need the app open to use it. I think there is a high risk I'd either lose it or simply not have it with me when needed. I imagine fumbling with the app on a cold and rainy ride would be a PITA.

Apple Watch

Apple Watch series 4 and later, plus the Apple Watch Ultra have ECG capability. you put a finger on the big button and get a 30s reading. Apple Watch 9 are currently £399 and the Ultra is £799. Pros: watch mounted ECG probably maximises the chances I'll have the watch on me... but... Cons: the Apple Watch is a comparatively poor sports watch so I'd likely not wear it for running/cycling and I deeply don't want to let any more notifications into my life.

Garmin Watches

Fenix 7 Pro and other higher spec models (including epix) (£650-£750+). 30s reading via placing one finger on the bezel and another on one of the buttons. Pros: I already wear a Garmin 935 all the time and so this would be a straight swap and I'd be almost guaranteed to have it on me when needed, high quality exercise watch with lots of other features (some of which I'd use, others I wouldn't). Cons: Expensive and the ECG monitor is turned off in the UK so I'd need to find someone to buy one for me in the US and bring it over... not impossible, I have plenty of colleagues who travel trans Atlantic frequently, but a faff. Or, I just found a spoof GPS workaround.

Fourth Frontier

ECG heart rate strap acts like a regular heart rate strap but records continuous ECG during exercise. £429. Pros: continuous egg during exercise so I wouldn't need to worry about stopping to carefully and correctly activate the ECG to get a reading. This might also provide added detail about what was happening before or after an episode (but I don't know if this is useful), or record episodes that I fail to notice. Cons: it's a heart rate strap so I wouldn't have it with me 24/7 - so far all my known episodes have been during or immediately after exercise, but who knows about the future.

Just an update on my Zoe experience. I got through the whole Christmas period without any IBS symptoms, I've not randomly come out in hives since I started, I've lost weight as a bonus and generally feel bloody brilliant. Would recommend.

Looks like Supersapiens is closing down, having terminated all memberships.

https://www.cyclingweekly.com/news/supersapiens-alludes-to-closure-citing-an-an-increasingly-challenging-business-environment

Just seen this. I started doing Zoe in January.

One thing that got me interested in it was that I had a pre-diabetic blood test result a couple of years ago. It was a few weeks after I had done the Transcontinental, then been on a family holiday with booze every day (not loads but more than I'd normally drink). A retest a few weeks later was back in normal range but I wanted to understand more about it.

Test results were interesting. My fat management was good - but that is entirely down to medication so no credit to me - it would be very bad without. And my blood sugar was bad. It turns out that if I do so much as look at a potato, rice, pasta, bread, beer or white wine, my blood sugar spikes right up.

I did a 5-6 hour ride while I had the blood sugar monitor on and that was really interesting. It showed that the bars that I normally eat were really spiking my blood sugar, and I could keep it in a normal / performance range by eating way less than I normally would.

I'm planning to explore that more. I was thinking of doing a couple of months of supersapiens but clearly won't now - but I think the latest BS monitors can give you data straight to your phone (probably undermining the SuperSapiens business model) so will look to try that instead. I'd like to think that I am not doing something that over the long term, will push me into diabetes.

Otherwise, I'm enjoying Zoe, enjoying the food, not missing carby stuff. Lost a few kg - not all due to Zoe but maybe a bit more than i would have expected to at this time of year anyway. I can eat some stuff that I always thought was a bit indulgent - like I now regularly have kippers or a (vegetarian) fry up for breakfast - both score way better than porridge or museli. And dark chocolate scores way better for me than virtually all fruit.

Only problem is eating out, for which I pretty much have to forget Zoe as hardly anything works. Especially with a glass of wine or a beer.

any sort of carbs send my sugar sky high, whereas fat keeps it super steady. Have changed my morning porridge for yoghurt with berries and nuts and def feel better for it. Would probably buy another CGM in future, it’s been interesting

I had to check hard to make sure I didn't write this as exactly the same for me!

I did keep thinking I'd try Supersapiens too, but never got around to it. I'm going to have a look at Zoe, being coeliac complicates things a bit though, so I do wonder if it's worth it.

Edit: from their FAQ

Unfortunately, if you have a gut disease (e.g. Crohn’s disease, ulcerative colitis, or celiac disease) then you are not eligible for the ZOE membership.

Does anyone use a blood pressure monitor? I want one that can send data to Apple Health, garmin would be ideal but they dont sell it in the UK.

Most importantly though - what impact has it had on your riding?

I have an OMRON M4 which has Bluetooth capabilities (was £55 from Boots). I use the proprietary app to track BP but I just had a fiddle with settings and it will connect to Apple health without a subscription.