TL;DR
Between meals, glucose can be nudged up or down by different “movers”. Some act fast (minutes), others are frustratingly slow (hours). Prioritising the FAST movers changed everything for me: better time in range, fewer rollercoasters, and far less mental load. This concept underpins Dynamic Glucose Management.
Simple
Watch the video or read on:
Deep
Prioritising FAST movers of glucose between meals to nudge levels up or down was the best diabetes decision I ever made.
It only took me twelve years to work it out.
Once I stopped leaning on slow, blunt tools and started using fast, precise ones, my time in range (4.0–10.0 mmol/L or 70–180 mg/dL) rose from about 85% to 99% in under three months.
Learning how to use FAST movers between meals is the overarching theme of Dynamic Glucose Management.
Leaving behind the SLOW movers improved my mental health immeasurably. No more giving correction insulin and being frustrated by its pedestrian effect. No more treating hypos with repeated sugary snacks, then raiding the fridge later after the delayed rebound.
Learning why FAST movers beat SLOW movers between meals is vital for people with type 1 diabetes.
Why isn’t this taught clearly?
- The benefits have only become obvious with widespread CGM use and real-world pattern visibility.
- There’s still a belief that people won’t use short bursts of activity to correct between meals.
- Structured education is often taught by people who haven’t lived the “why won’t this high move?” or “why is this hypo not fixing?” frustration.
- It isn’t embedded in consensus or national guidelines — and those are usually years behind the cutting edge.
- Paradigm shifts need someone with skin in the game to take the reputational risk first. Every major advance looks “crazy” until it becomes normal.
It may be a mix of all of these. Who knows.
I know that if Grace and Jude ever do get diabetes, they’ll be able to access this framework and save themselves a decade of avoidable frustration.
Summary graphics
Here are the core visuals that assimilate what we have learned so far.
FAST and SLOW movers that drop glucose between meals
FAST and SLOW movers that increase glucose between meals
Putting them together
Make sure you understand these graphs intimately. They underpin Dynamic Glucose Management, and they are the mental model you’ll keep coming back to.
What’s next
Before we head into Dynamic Glucose Management, we need a quick brush-up on food and type 1 diabetes.
Next step: Carbohydrate counting.
