We created challenges to help you learn in real time how different factors impact your personal blood sugar responses. These blood sugar challenges are completely optional and are designed for your own learning. They do not contribute to your results. We recommend doing these challenges as your first meal of the day on Days 1-5 of ZOE 102.

You'll put some concepts to the test to help you learn about how you can make all the foods you love work for you. Your data will also contribute to helping further science for everyone.

In this article, you'll find:

How to do your blood sugar challenges
How to prepare for your blood sugar challenges
An overview of your blood sugar challenges
Extra credit blood sugar challenges

How to do your blood sugar challenges

Here's what you'll need to do for each of your core blood sugar challenges:

Fast overnight for at least 8 hours
Eat your meal
Log it inside the app
Check your blood sugar readings on your reader (or LibreLink app if you have it), 3 hours after your meal
Complete your blood sugar challenge reflection quiz

To get accurate results that you can compare with your other challenges, we recommend that you:

Eat your meal on an empty stomach
Fast for 3 hours
Limit or avoid exercise during your fast

These restrictions above are optional for more accurate blood sugar comparisons. Your official results won't be affected by whether or not you stick to them.

How to prepare for your blood sugar challenges:

Here's a list of the ingredients you'll need to do your five core blood sugar challenges.

You'll need to pick one carb-rich ingredient and one fat/protein-rich ingredient to test out. These should be kept consistent for all challenges on days 1-5 of ZOE 102 to allow you to compare your blood sugar responses accurately.

Carb-rich ingredient options:

White bread, 2 loaves
(1 oz/28 g per slice)
Bagels, 4 plain
White rice, 1.3 cups (uncooked)
Couscous, 2 cups (uncooked)
Gluten-free bread, 2 loaves
Oats, 2 cups (uncooked)

Fat/protein-rich ingredient options:

Cheddar cheese, 9 slices
(19 g/0.7 oz per slice)
Almonds, 4.5 oz (128 g total)
Avocado, 3 medium (600 g total)
Nut butter (e.g. Almond), 9 tablespoons (144 g total)
Ham, 15 slices
Bacon, 12 slices
Plain Greek yogurt (full fat), 3 cups (855 g total)

Please note: These quantities refer to the total amount of each ingredient you'll need for all your blood sugar challenges.

Overview of your blood sugar challenges

Here's a breakdown of what you'll learn and the ingredients that you'll need for each challenge:

Day	Concepts you'll test	Meal options
ZOE 102 • Day 1	Are all calories equal?	High-carb ingredient options: Plain white bread, 3 slices (1 oz/28 g each) Bagel, 1 plain Gluten-free bread, 3 slices White rice, 1 cup (175 g) cooked (58 g before cooking) Couscous, 1 1/4 cups (200 g) cooked (88 g before cooking) Oats, 1 cup (240 g) cooked (45 g before cooking), prepared with water
ZOE 102 • Day 2	Are all calories equal?	High fat/protein ingredient options: Cheddar cheese, 3 slices (19 g/0.7 oz per slice) Almonds (42 g/1.5 oz) Avocado, 1 medium (200 g/7 oz) Nut butter (e.g. Almond), 3 tablespoons (48 g/1.7 oz total) Ham, 5 slices Bacon, 4 slices Plain, full-fat Greek yogurt, 1 cup (285 g/10 oz)
ZOE 102 • Day 3	Food combinations & blood sugar	Eat carbs with fat/protein (Same options as Days 1 and 2)
ZOE 102 • Day 4	Physical activity & blood sugar	Eat carbs, followed by 30 minutes of activity (e.g. brisk walk) (Same carb as Day 1)
ZOE 102 • Day 5	Food sequencing & blood sugar	Eat fat/protein, wait 10 minutes, then eat carb (Same options as Days 1 and 2)

Please note:

You can pick any of the carbohydrate options that you prefer for your first blood sugar challenge. We recommend keeping it consistent for all of your other core blood sugar challenges on days 2-5 of ZOE 102 for more accurate blood sugar comparisons.

Hungry for more challenges?

We've got a library of over 50 other challenges you can try out with your blood sugar sensor! Check them out here and prepare ingredients for any you would like to try.