If I had to identify one intervention that offers the greatest return on effort for brain health, glucose control would be near the top of the list.

Many people assume that blood sugar problems only affect individuals with diabetes or overweight people. I certainly did. As it turns out, the story is much more nuanced. Long before a diagnosis of diabetes is made, elevated glucose, insulin resistance, and repeated glucose spikes may already be contributing to inflammation, vascular damage, and metabolic dysfunction throughout the body – including the brain.

For APOE4 carriers, this matters even more. The APOE4 brain appears to be less efficient at utilizing glucose, making metabolic health a particularly important area of focus.

My Own Wake-Up Call

When I started this journey, my A1C was 5.6% – right at the border of what many consider pre-diabetes.

At the time, I had no idea what my average glucose was, nor did I understand what a glucose spike actually looked like. In my mind, glucose spikes happened after drinking a Coke or eating a piece of cake. Since I hadn’t touched a soft drink in forty years, I assumed I was doing just fine.

My functional medicine physician prescribed a Freestyle Libre continuous glucose monitor (CGM), and within days I realized how wrong I was.

Seeing my glucose levels in real time was a complete (and shocking) eye-opener.

Foods I considered perfectly healthy sometimes produced glucose responses I never expected. I began to understand why so many people were talking about ketogenic diets and metabolic health.

My Keto Experiment

Like many people newly introduced to CGMs, I jumped in with both feet.

I embraced a strict ketogenic approach, eliminating most carbohydrate-containing foods and focusing almost exclusively on foods considered keto-friendly.

My glucose readings improved quickly.

My weight did not.

In fact, I began losing weight rapidly.

For someone trying to lose weight, that might sound wonderful. For me, it wasn’t. I have never carried excess weight, and watching the scale continue to drop became increasingly concerning.

I experimented with different foods and different approaches, trying to find a balance between maintaining healthy glucose levels and maintaining a healthy body weight. The entire process became very frustrating.

Eventually, I decided to take a step back.

I stopped wearing the CGM and returned to a more normal eating pattern while working to regain the weight I had lost. I decided that glucose control had to take backseat to a healthy weight and BMI.

An Unexpected Discovery

Around that time, my husband and I traveled to Turkey.

While exploring one of Istanbul’s famous spice markets, we stopped at a saffron vendor. Like many enthusiastic salespeople, he had a long list of claimed benefits for his products. One claim caught my attention: saffron’s potential role in supporting glucose control. I bought a big bag of high quality saffron.

My husband and I began steeping a small amount (10-15 threads) daily and sharing about 2 oz. each every morning. At the time, I viewed it as an interesting experiment – not something I expected would have a dramatic effect.

The Surprise

Several months later, my weight had returned to normal and I decided it was time to revisit my glucose situation.

I put on another CGM.

The results were so shocking that I actually pulled the sensor off after two days, convinced it had to be defective. I replaced it with a new one, fully expecting different numbers.

To my surprise, the results remained the same.

My glucose response had changed dramatically.

My fasting glucose was now consistently between 82 and 87 mg/dL.

Still skeptical, I purchased a finger-stick glucose meter to verify the CGM readings. The numbers matched.

Even more surprising was the way my body responded to food.

Meals that had previously produced significant glucose spikes were now generating far more modest responses. My average glucose was lower, my glucose variability was reduced, and the overall picture looked dramatically different from what I had experienced before.

Could saffron have been responsible?

Perhaps.

Could there have been other contributing factors?

Certainly.

This remains an N=1 experiment, and I cannot prove cause and effect. The only other meaningful change during that same time period was the addition of approximately one-half teaspoon of MCT C8 powder to my morning coffee.

What I can say is that the change was significant enough to get my attention. In many ways, it was life-changing. For the first time, I felt I had found an approach that allowed me to maintain healthy glucose control without sacrificing weight, enjoyment of food, or long-term sustainability.

What I Learned

The most important lesson wasn’t about saffron.

It was about measurement.

Until I wore a CGM, I was making assumptions.

The monitor allowed me to see what was actually happening rather than what I thought was happening.

That information changed the way I think about food, meal timing, exercise, sleep, and metabolic health.

It also taught me that there is no single dietary approach that works perfectly for everyone.

Some people thrive on ketogenic diets.

Others do better with a more flexible approach.

The goal isn’t to win a dietary philosophy debate.

The goal is to achieve healthy glucose control while maintaining a lifestyle that is sustainable for the long term.

The Markers I Watch

Today, the metrics I pay closest attention to include:

• Hemoglobin A1C
• Fasting glucose
• Fasting insulin
• HOMA-IR
• Average glucose
• Glucose variability
• Post-meal glucose excursions
• Time in range (CGM)

Together, these provide a much clearer picture than any single number alone.

My Takeaway

If you’ve never worn a continuous glucose monitor, it may be one of the most educational health tools available.

You don’t need to wear one forever.

Even a few weeks can reveal patterns that might otherwise remain hidden for years.

For me, glucose control became one of the most powerful and actionable areas of prevention. It transformed the way I think about nutrition, metabolic health, and ultimately brain health itself.

You cannot manage what you do not measure.

For many of us, glucose is the perfect place to start.

Footnote: While A1C is a useful screening tool, it is not always an accurate reflection of average glucose for every individual. The test assumes that red blood cells live for approximately 120 days. If red blood cells survive longer than average, they are exposed to glucose for a longer period of time and may accumulate more glycation, resulting in an artificially elevated A1C. Conversely, shorter red blood cell lifespan can produce an artificially low result. In my own case, both continuous glucose monitoring and finger-stick testing consistently suggest lower average glucose levels than my A1C would predict, leading me to suspect that red blood cell lifespan may be influencing the result. For this reason, I place greater emphasis on CGM data, fasting insulin, HOMA-IR, and overall glucose trends rather than relying on A1C alone.