We're Wearing a New Language: Why Glucose Fluency Is the Next Skill Wellness Professionals Need
On October 17, 2026, I gave a talk at TEDxBillings called The Skill We Forgot to Teach in the Age of Wearables. The heart of it was one sentence I've carried for years:
We are wearing a new language.
This post is the longer version of that idea, written for professionals already hearing that language in their sessions: functional and holistic nutrition practitioners, online nutrition and fitness coaches, and registered dietitians in private practice.
What Changed
In March 2024, the FDA cleared the first continuous glucose monitor sold over the counter, for adults who do not use insulin.¹ No prescription. No endocrinologist. Just a sensor on the back of the arm and an app on the phone.
That single decision moved glucose data out of the clinic and into everyday life. Your clients can now see a continuous stream of readings, day and night, for as long as they choose to wear a sensor.
And many of them are bringing that stream to you.
Why It's A Language, Not A Number
A finger-stick reading is a snapshot. A CGM is a story told over time. It has rhythm, rise and fall, and context. Like any language, its meaning lives in how the parts relate.
Research keeps confirming how much is hidden in that story. A Stanford study using CGMs found that people classified as having normal glucose by standard tests still showed meaningful variability, reaching prediabetic ranges about 15% of the time.² A one-time lab value never would have shown that.
The story is also personal. When researchers in Israel tracked 800 adults across nearly 47,000 meals, they found people responded very differently to identical foods.³ The PREDICT 1 study, which followed 1,002 adults in the UK, saw the same thing: glucose responses to the exact same meals varied widely from person to person.⁴
In plain terms, there is no universal translation. You have to learn to read the person in front of you.
The Dictionary Most People Reach For Was Written For Someone Else
Here's where well-meaning professionals get into trouble.
The glucose targets most widely published online come from an international consensus on CGM use that was developed for people with diabetes.⁵ Those targets are valuable in diabetes care. They were not built to judge a healthy client's lunch.
For comparison, a multicenter study of 153 healthy, nondiabetic participants found average glucose around 98 to 99 mg/dL for most age groups, with a median of roughly 30 minutes a day spent above 140 mg/dL.⁶ Normal life includes rises and falls. A professional who borrows the diabetes dictionary for a nondiabetic client can create worry where none is warranted.
Fluency includes knowing which dictionary applies.
What Fluency Actually Looks Like
I've been reading CGM data for over 20 years, starting long before it was a consumer product. Fluency didn't come from memorizing numbers. It came in layers:
Words. Understanding a single reading, its trend arrow, and its limits.
Sentences. Connecting a reading to what happened around it: food, movement, sleep, stress.
Paragraphs. Recognizing patterns that repeat across days and weeks, which is where real coaching happens.
Knowing when to stop. Recognizing when something in the data belongs with a physician, and referring with clear, calm language.
That last layer matters as much as the first three. A fluent professional knows the edges of their scope and respects them.
Why I Think About This The Way I Do
Before BioFit, I served as a NASA Certified Payload Operations Controller for the International Space Station at Marshall Space Flight Center. Then I traded space station telemetry for glucose telemetry, and I brought that lesson with me. Controllers aren't handed a telemetry screen and wished good luck. We were trained until reading the data was second nature, because decisions depended on it.
Our clients deserve professionals trained with that same seriousness. The sensors are already on their arms. The question is whether the people they trust can understand what those sensors are saying.
What Comes Next
This is the first post in a series called We're Wearing a New Language. Next, we'll look at why a single glucose number never tells the whole story.
To see what glucose fluency looks like in practice, watch the free masterclass. It shows what's possible when a professional can understand a client's glucose patterns. The certification teaches you how to do it.
References
U.S. Food and Drug Administration. FDA clears first over-the-counter continuous glucose monitor [press release]. March 5, 2024.
Hall H, Perelman D, Breschi A, et al. Glucotypes reveal new patterns of glucose dysregulation. PLoS Biol. 2018;16(7):e2005143. doi:10.1371/journal.pbio.2005143
Zeevi D, Korem T, Zmora N, et al. Personalized nutrition by prediction of glycemic responses. Cell. 2015;163(5):1079-1094. doi:10.1016/j.cell.2015.11.001
Berry SE, Valdes AM, Drew DA, et al. Human postprandial responses to food and potential for precision nutrition. Nat Med. 2020;26(6):964-973. doi:10.1038/s41591-020-0934-0
Battelino T, Danne T, Bergenstal RM, et al. Clinical targets for continuous glucose monitoring data interpretation: recommendations from the international consensus on time in range. Diabetes Care. 2019;42(8):1593-1603. doi:10.2337/dci19-0028
Shah VN, DuBose SN, Li Z, et al. Continuous glucose monitoring profiles in healthy nondiabetic participants: a multicenter prospective study. J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2019;104(10):4356-4364. doi:10.1210/jc.2018-02763
