This Otc Continuous Glucose Monitor Helped Me Track My Meals (without Counting Calories)

ZDNET's cardinal takeaways

• The Abbott Lingo is simply a $49 continuous glucose show that tracks your humor sweetener for 2 weeks
• It tin thief group understand really their diets effect their glucose levels and make changes accordingly
• The app's suggestions and recommendations could beryllium much insightful to beforehand regular use.

There are plentifulness of meal-tracking apps that thief you understand your diet. But logging 3 meals daily, assessing your caloric intake, and reflecting connected really your nutrition impacts your wide wellness tin only spell truthful far. After all, apps specified arsenic MyFitnessPal aliases Lose It! aren't hooked up to your assemblage and don't show nan infinitesimal specifications of really your nutrient impacts your power aliases sleep. 

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These apps don't consciousness nan sweetener successful your bloodstream and item your humor sugar's emergence and autumn passim nan day. A continuous glucose monitor (CGM) does, though.

How CGMs work 

It's almost silly to telephone a CGM a repast tracker. But astatine its core, that's what it does. CGMs were designed for prediabetics and diabetics to way their humor sweetener levels and alert them of spikes aliases lows. However, nan instrumentality is progressively utilized by fittingness and wellness enthusiasts to understand assemblage chemistry and nutrition. Olympic marathoner Abdi Nageeye told Reuters he utilized a CGM to show his body's power up of past summer's Paris Olympics. 

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Glucose influences everything from your mood, weight, and slumber to power levels and illness predisposition, and investigation shows a relationship betwixt debased glucose levels and illness prevention. "It is clear managing glucose levels could use nan wide population. This inspired Abbott to create a merchandise that would bring our glucose monitoring exertion to an assemblage that accepted healthcare companies don't usually target -- nan patient -- to thief them stay healthy," Pamela Nisevich Bede, world nutritionist for Abbott's Lingo business, wrote successful an email to ZDNET. 

Dexcom Stelo, nan first over-the-counter (OTC) CGM, was approved past year, paving nan measurement for different OTC CGMs, for illustration nan Abbott Lingo, to travel suit. As a wellness wearables enthusiast, each this CGM buzz from athletes and assemblage optimizers made maine funny astir testing 1 for myself. 

So, erstwhile Abbott sent maine its Lingo, a CGM designed for group aged 18 and up without glucosuria willing successful search their humor sugar, I decided to effort it out. I wore nan CGM connected my limb for 2 weeks to understand what this wearable could do for nan mean fittingness enthusiast and whether nan instrumentality could switch my smartwatch aliases smart ring. Keep reference to find out. 

My acquisition pinch Lingo 

CGMs aren't for illustration a smartwatch aliases smart ringing that slips connected and passively monitors your vitals. The CGM instrumentality inserts into nan backmost of your arm, and a mini needle takes your humor glucose -- it's much invasive than a emblematic wearable. Even so, nan exertion process was quick, aided by ample instructions connected nan Lingo app, and it didn't wounded to use aliases region -- to my surprise. 

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Once I secured nan CGM to my arm, nan instrumentality took clip to calibrate earlier opening to show my humor sugar. Then, it was business arsenic usual. I'd log my meals and spot really my fare and workout coincided pinch glucose rises and falls. 

Every glucose spike added much information to my "Lingo Count," Abbott's scoring strategy that translates your regular spikes into a number. The nonsubjective is to deed aliases beryllium beneath that number. The less spikes, nan better. In nan first week, nan app group a Lingo Count of 60 for maine to purpose to enactment below. For nan 2nd week, it adjusted to a little Count of 37 based connected my data. 

One day, I ate a fewer dates arsenic a snack, which led to a astonishing spike that added 19 points to my regular score. A dense Valentine's Day meal of scallops, salad, potatoes, and atom pudding boosted my people by 17 points, helping to create a full of 49 Lingo Count for that day. 

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One morning, a meal of pancakes, eggs, and bacon added 20 points to my score, while immoderate beef stew made a smaller impression, pinch only 7 points later that day. Another day, I ate chickenhearted crockery for luncheon and hardly knowledgeable a spike. The key, Lingo tells you successful its app, is to prioritize macromolecule and patient fats -- take vegetables complete fruits, workout regularly, and opt for savory foods complete saccharine ones to debar spikes.

Across 2 weeks of wearing nan device, I learned that astir meals fell wrong nan suggested humor sweetener scope of 70 to 140 mg/dL. Carb-heavy meals, for illustration atom aliases pancakes, would create nan astir important spike. 

The app besides connects to your Apple Watch, truthful each clip you workout and log it done Apple Health, nan information pops up successful your day's timeline and shows your glucose level's reactions. I loved this characteristic and nan compatibility pinch different apps, which saved maine steps successful nan Lingo app. 

What I'd for illustration to spot successful nan Lingo's adjacent update

The app didn't person overmuch problem loading, but viewing humanities information could easy make nan app glitch and nonstop you backmost to nan astir caller day's data, which was frustrating erstwhile trying to understand your humanities spikes. I dream users get further penetration into nan foods they're logging successful early app versions. 

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When I logged my rice, I didn't get immoderate penetration into nan constituent itself, aliases really often different users knowledgeable spikes erstwhile logging achromatic rice. These insights tin spot nan discourse of diets into a greater position and thatch group -- beyond a elemental Lingo Count number -- what foods to debar aliases consume. 

The astir adjuvant insights came successful play reports that elaborate my mean glucose, my play median Lingo Count, really galore days I was wrong nan Lingo Count, erstwhile my glucose spiked nan astir during nan day, and nan meals pinch nan highest counts. On a regular level, I didn't find nan app ace adjuvant because I was usually wrong nan target range, but nan play snapshots provided adjuvant discourse I could use to adjacent week's diet. 

Kerry Wan/ZDNET

I understand why Abbott created nan Lingo Count for glucose spike interpretation. However, a number without immoderate discourse aliases comparison pushes nan study of charts and information connected nan personification alternatively of connected nan package developers who could've created a much digestible and adjuvant app experience. 

For example, much discourse successful nan app could look for illustration a regular study that takes nan nutrient a personification logged nan time before, summarizes what spiked their glucose nan highest, and provides recommendations successful nan greeting connected really they tin brace that nutrient intake with, say, a patient fat, a vegetable, aliases much protein, to support nan spike lower. 

One of nan much challenging parts of utilizing nan Abbott Lingo was remembering to log each snack, meal, solid of vino aliases greeting acold brew. Let's opportunity you tracked each repast you ate for a twelvemonth pinch nan Lingo. You'd beryllium responsible for 1,095 repast entries, not including snacks aliases dessert. That's tedious work. 

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Not that you'd usage nan Lingo for an full year. Two weeks of glucose monitoring will costs you $49, 4 weeks is $89, and 12 weeks is $249. If you utilized nan Lingo for a full year, it would costs you $1,083. The Abbott Lingo is simply a impermanent instrumentality that could supply discourse into your fare for a short capable clip to make meaningful changes and spot results, but possibly not capable to archive a full twelvemonth of blood-sugar highs and lows.

I asked Nisevich Bede if she thought CGMs for illustration nan Abbott Lingo would 1 time beryllium arsenic wide arsenic smartwatches aliases smart rings. She said that while fittingness trackers supply respective wellness metrics, they don't seizure nan insights that spark behavioral changes successful nan measurement a CGM can. 

After testing nan device, I understand wherever she's coming from, but I disagree. The smart rings I person tested supply maine pinch slumber and power scores that promote maine to get amended slumber and workout much to raise my scores. I've been truthful obsessed pinch getting my Oura Ring's resilience level to exceptional aliases a precocious 90 slumber people that I've recovered myself leaving parties early aliases missing societal events to get to furniture connected time. 

That attraction is not because I watch my slumber aliases bosom complaint chart morning, noon, and night. Oura tells maine I've leveled up from a "strong" resilience people to an "exceptional" one, nan highest level you tin get. Numbers are great, but data-led storytelling is important successful this era of wearable technology. 

ZDNET's buying advice

For $49, I'd urge nan Abbott Lingo to anyone who wants to understand really fare impacts their humor sugar. Keep successful mind that it is presently only disposable for iOS users. Maybe they want to spot really their intake of sweetener and carbs impacts their energy. Perhaps they want to cognize why they request a nap each time aft lunch. A two-week CGM is affordable capable for nan bio-wearable-curious. 

However, nan instrumentality mightiness only affirm what you already cognize if you're mostly patient pinch a bully workout regimen and eating habits. 

Looking for nan adjacent champion product? Get master reviews and editor favorites with ZDNET Recommends.

This article was primitively published connected March 6, 2025, and was updated connected April 7, 2025.