Leveling Down: Levels Health, CGMs and the False Promises of Data-Driven Health with Selena Salfen and Meghan Cichy

Would you ever add chia seeds to your latte? Levels Health, a health-tech startup co-founded by presumptive Surgeon General Casey Means, is a deeply unserious company and provides both hilarious and irresponsible guidance on its app.

Public health dietitians Selena Salfen and Meghan Cichy return to the show to discuss our 30 days of using a CGM paired with the Levels app.

Jessica didn't find what she was looking for in her CGM data and laughed at the app's inaccuracies.

Meghan thought she was working harder than Levels, and found both more helpful and nicer CGM feedback with ChatGPT.

Selena shared her history with health anxiety and her longer term use of a Stelo CGM. She shares how her experience was impacted when Levels provided her with incorrect data and biometric analyses.

The three get into whether we should be using CGMs and if so, under what conditions.

The three also discuss the most recent Levels podcast #280 and how it seems to answer a lot of concerns Selena and Jessica had in the CGM intro episode. The episode also discussed a lack of research to back up claims made by Levels and Casey Means herself. Host Ben Grynol and guest Dom D'Agostino, PhD took an unexpected turn and veered into the closed off "adult" section of Blockbuster; could there be a tie to food choices and curiosity?

Imprecision Nutrition? Intraindividual Variability of Glucose Responses to Duplicate Presented Meals in Adults Without Diabetes

Casey's Instagram post with her food scores

Like this episode? You can rate, review, subscribe, follow, share and comment!

Questions about the show? Guest pitches? Email makingitawkwardpod@gmail.com

You can buy awkward merch!

You can become a Patreon member!

You can watch this episode at https://www.youtube.com/@MakingItAwkwardPod

Follow Jessica Wilson on Instagram @jessicawilson.msrd and TikTok @byjessicawilson

Jessica Wilson's book: It's Always Been Ours; Rewriting the Story of Black Women's Bodies

Tämä jakso on lisätty Podme-palveluun avoimen RSS-syötteen kautta eikä se ole Podmen omaa tuotantoa. Siksi jakso saattaa sisältää mainontaa.

Jaksot(139)

"Poor People Food", Sponsorship, and Semantics; Is Health Science Up for Debate? Part 2 With Dr. Bethany Johnson

Cigarettes, bacon, raw milk, raccoon, pork, chicken and The Conscious Lee! Today's guest, medical historian Dr. Bethany Johnson, returns to the show for the first follow up episode following the episo...

13 Elo 49min

Re-release! Eating Disorders, Dopamine, Salience, & The Status Quo with Molly Robbins

Molly Robbins joins the show for a follow-up interview to Jessica's conversation with Dr. David Wiss, about his article, "Dismantling the Myth of 'All Foods Fit' in Eating Disorder Treatment." Dr. Wis...

6 Elo 55min

Is Health Science Up for Debate? Part 1 with The Conscious Lee

The Conscious Lee joins the show to debate the merits of his recent video about cured meats causing cancer and Jessica's video reply questioning the honesty of his presentation of the evidence. Both ...

30 Heinä 58min

Gay the Pray Away; Film Review: "Leviticus" with Blake Flaugher, MPH and Caleb Haven Draper

Blake Flaugher, MPH and Caleb Haven Draper return to the show to review the horror film Leviticus from first time writer and director Adrian Chiarella. The film follows two queer teenage boys who li...

23 Heinä 1h 7min

Self-Medicating ADHD with Exercise, Disordered Eating, Gender Identity and More! with Calvin Gilbert

Calvin Gilbert returns to the show to talk about self-medicating ADHD with exercise and the intersections with gender and disordered eating. Calvin talks about their all-or-nothing thinking, their his...

16 Heinä 51min

Unfiltered and Uncensored: Reflections on Speaking at the ADA Conference with Sherene Chou, MS RDN

Dietitian Sherene Chou and Jessica had a drastically different experience at the ADA Scientific Sessions than the researchers who were removed! Sherene may have been the first person to include a Subw...

9 Heinä 48min

Re-release: 5G, Conspiracies and the Post-Truth Era with Dr. Eoin Flaherty of Maynooth University

Have you wondered how 5G conspiracies developed or what makes some people more vulnerable to conspiracy theories? Today Jessica talks with Dr. Eoin Flaherty, assistant professor at Maynooth Universit...

2 Heinä 47min

Queer Men and Body Image: Peptides, Peacocking, and Pick Mes

Closing out Pride Month with a conversation about body image in queer men. Blake Flaugher MPH returns to the show and joins Caleb Draper to talk about gym culture among queer men including a selfie-sp...

25 Kesä 57min