BG Report: My 3-day trip to Nara, Japan

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(the article below accompanies this video)

I spent three days traveling around Nara Prefecture, Japan. To create my schedule, I used ChatGPT, the AI bot from OpenAI. I told it to create a detailed itinerary, with estimated prices, and I printed it out and followed it exactly.

Well, where possible.

As you can see in the video, the travel plan from ChatGPT was a little eccentric. But overall it was a really great trip; I saw things that I otherwise wouldn’t have seen.

My blood sugars in Nara

Overall I was quite pleased with my blood sugar control over the three days. I wasn’t always in range, certainly, but I did walk way over 10,000 steps each day. A lot more exercise than normal, and some unusual food choices, but my control was pretty good.

Day 1

My first check was at 5:53 am; I was 193. By the time I left the house I was 146, and when I arrived in Nara for the first spot on the itinerary, Todaiji Temple, I was at 175. This was a good number; I knew I’d be walking so a bit higher was ideal.

I had noodles for lunch and soon afterwards, as I fed the deer in Nara Park, the OneDrop meter showed that I was 103. A bit low for the beginning of more exercise; I had some Calorie Mate chocolate bars. After walking all around Nara Park, then paddling a boat in a little lake by a pavilion, it was down to 70. More food to bolster it.

After finishing at Kasuga-Taisha, a Shinto shrine, I found a guesthouse. (Not the one ChatGPT recommended, which was full and much more expensive anyway.) Blood sugar was now an excellent 96, and I found a great curry place, with a beer, for dinner.

This food was later in the day, and heavier, than I’m used to. I normally go a little easy on my dinnertime shot, because overnight I tend to glide down. I like it to actually be a bit over 200 before bed. That, plus all the walking I’d done, made the 253 before bed seem not so bad. I left it alone, figuring it would end up around 100 by the time I woke up.

Day 2

I was wrong; it was 301 at 7:41 am. Sometimes the exertion does unexpected things to your body and blood. I went to Starbucks for a (free) breakfast, took a big shot, and found a bus (as ChatGPT instructed) to visit Horyuji Temple, home of the world’s oldest wooden buildings. (Depending on how you define that, anyway.)

After walking around the amazing old structures (and cursing the “NO PHOTO” signs), I was a reasonable 72. I found some cold soba noodles for lunch at an excellent little restaurant, then took a train to Koriyama to see the castle ruins. Around 2 pm there, I checked and was 176. Pretty great, for all the ups and downs of the morning and the continued exercise. (Koriyama is hilly, and I walked a lot around the town and the ruins.)

I stopped at a tiny, old-style cafe for an afternoon snack of coffee and bread with sweet kinako powder. It was thicker than I thought; my BG before dinner was 245 and I wasn’t surprised at all. Should have had another couple units at the cafe.

Dinner was in my guesthouse room, from a convenience store. Before bed I was 87. I wanted it up a little before sleeping so I had a small juice and, exhausted, fell asleep in the town of Sakurai.

Day 3

Worried, I woke up at 3:15 am and checked – the OneDrop screen said 157, and I relaxed. Still good when I got up for breakfast – 134. The home-cooked meal in the attached restaurant was great, though the lady who runs the place ranted at me for about ten minutes about the best way to explore the area’s sites. (It was in rapid-fire Japanese, most of which sailed right on by me.)

I bought some cookies from her for a souvenir for later, and took the train to the village of Asuka. ChatGPT had told me to rent a bike and ride around, so I did. Surprisingly, around 11:00 am I was 258. Wasn’t quite sure why; this was perhaps the most annoying reading of the Nara trip because it was the one I could explain least.

After more biking, lunch of chicken and rice in Asuka, and even more biking (including a mad dash in the rain to just barely catch a train), it was 163 at 2:30. The final part of ChatGPT’s itinerary was to visit the town of Tenri, home of a “new religion” in Japan called Tenri-kyo.

I wandered around the religion’s headquarters, vast buildings that are new but in the traditional Buddhist style. Back at Tenri station, I was 115. Pure excellence.

Even better, my dinner of KFC (and a small dinner at that) didn’t even derail me: at 10 pm, after all this activity over three days, I ended up at 126. Had a bit of juice to strengthen it, then fell asleep.

And then…

Woke up at 3:30 am low; I was 47. Sigh. Back to normal, such as it is. BG can be predictable, but not always.

The trip itself was fantastic. Check the video out to see all the details and the history I learned in one of Japan’s most important historical areas.

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