Foodhappy 🖐 (#2: easy blood sugar hacks)
Today I have 5 easy hacks for balancing blood sugar that will BLOW. YOUR. MIND. 🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯
But before we jump in, let’s first learn a little about the link between blood sugar and overall health.
Blood Sugar 🤝 Health & Longevity
Glucose is our cells' preferred energy source. When we eat something sweet, our blood sugar rises, and insulin is released to deliver it to our cells for fuel, and an hour or two later, our blood sugar returns back to baseline — this is a totally normal response that we want to happen.
The problem is that most people consume sugar morning, noon, and night. They’ll start the day with a mocha iced latte and a pastry, donut, or bagel. For lunch, it's a sandwich with french fries, pretzels, or potato chips, and for dinner, it's noodles or rice with a glass of red wine and a side of ice cream or cookies for dessert.
Throughout the day, blood sugar goes up and down, kind of like a roller coaster. 🎢 When blood sugar spikes, insulin spikes — and sometimes, insulin overshoots, and our blood sugar swings in the opposite direction, causing low blood sugar.
In the short term, this manifests as:
Fatigue 🥱
Cravings 😵💫
Anxiety; and 😣
Mood swings 😤 🔄 😊 🔄 😡
After years of spikes, our cells become insulin resistant, a major risk factor for:
Prediabetes
Type 2 diabetes
Obesity
Heart disease
Alzheimer’s
Non-alcoholic fatty liver
PCOS
And more
Curbing glucose spikes is the best way to prevent and reverse these conditions.
Here are 5 tips I’ve learned from writing about blood sugar ad nauseam and listening to Jessie Inchauspé's (aka Glucose Goddess) on my bosses, Dhru Purohit and Max Lugavere’s podcasts.
1. Veggie starter. When you want to eat something rich in carbs or sugar (e.g., pasta, baked potato, rice, or a piece of cake), plan to have some vegetables first. This helps blunt blood glucose spikes by helping to slow sugar absorption in the gut.
This could be a small plate of cooked greens, raw veggies with hummus, or a salad with vinegar (see # 2 for how vinegar can help curb glucose spikes, too!).
Example: We went out to sushi a few weeks ago, and I ordered a side of mixed veggies to munch on before our sushi came out. I’d say sushi is generally a healthy option, but sushi rice is already starchy, and it's typically sweetened even more, which can contribute to a glucose spike.
Example: We went out to sushi a few weeks ago, and I ordered a side of mixed veggies to munch on before our sushi came out. I’d say sushi is generally a healthy option, but sushi rice is already starchy, and it's typically sweetened even more, which can contribute to a glucose spike.
2. Have vinegar before something sweet. Research shows that the acetic acid in vinegar can curb a blood sugar spike significantly by slowing the absorption of glucose and improving insulin sensitivity. You can either have the vinegar with your veggie starter or mix a tablespoon or two into a tall glass of water
Any type of vinegar will work. I prefer apple cider vinegar in water or balsamic vinegar on a salad. If you drink the vinegar, just to be safe, do it through a straw to protect your teeth’s enamel.
Example: In a study of healthy individuals, having two tablespoons of ACV with a high-glycemic meal (i.e., bagel and juice) and a low-glycemic meal (i.e., chicken and rice) resulted in a 55 percent lower blood glucose spike than having those same meals without vinegar.
3. Eat protein and fat before sugar. After you eat your veggie starter and have your vinegar (if you so choose), the next glucose hack is to eat protein and fat on your plate before the starch and sugar. I know this sounds simple, but protein and fat provide extra insurance that will help curb the glucose spike.
Real-world example: You’re out to dinner with friends, and the waiter brings bread to the table. Snag a piece, leave it aside, and order a veggie starter first — Brussels sprouts, a Harvest salad with a vinaigrette, or broccoli rabe. For your entree, order a dish with protein. Say you order the short rib pasta. Great! When your plate comes out, eat the meat first, then the pasta and the bread, and if you still want it after, dessert.
Eat your food in this order: veggie starter (+ vinegar) → protein & fat → bread, pasta, fruit, and/or dessert to significantly blunt a glucose spike.
4. Move after meals. After you eat or drink something sweet, try to go for a short walk after if you can. This is a tradition that’s been widely practiced in other cultures because it can help with digestion, but the benefits for blood sugar are pretty incredible, too.
When we move our bodies (run, walk, hike, dance), our muscles act like a 🧽, soaking up the glucose from the bloodstream to power movement🚶♀️.
Studies show that a post-meal walk, especially after eating dessert or something sweet, improves insulin sensitivity and can help reduce the risk of type 2 diabetes.
Note #1: Don’t go crazy. Just a lap around the block, a dance party in your kitchen, or walking a couple of hundred steps is enough to have an impact.
Note #2: I’m not saying to go for a walk after every meal. We’re not trying to instill any obsessive-compulsive-like behavior. It’s all about balance. If you can, walk to your favorite ice cream spot or bakery or take a stroll with your pup after dinner.
5. Start the day with a savory breakfast. I know we’ve talked about this before, but it's worth mentioning again. Starting the day out with protein helps keep us fuller for longer, our blood sugar balanced, and prevents us from riding the blood sugar roller coaster for the rest of the day.
Examples: Eggs benedict, salmon lox, a protein shake, or leftover meat/protein from dinner the night before.
Scrambled eggs with salmon lox and a side of collard greens. Not pictured: the bowl of mixed fruit I had afterward 🫐🍓🍌 ;)
Balanced blood sugar won’t solve all of your health woes, but it does play an important role in weight loss, disease prevention, hormone imbalances, mood challenges, and so much more.
And if you have one or more of the conditions above, balancing your blood sugar is a major stepping stone on your path to healing.
Remember: it’s not about being perfect. It’s about knowing how sugary foods impact your well-being in the short and long term. You can still enjoy these foods, just do so intentionally. And when you do, try these hacks can help you balance your blood sugar so you can feel good and live your best life. You deserve that!
Give these hacks a try, and let me know what you think! And if there’s a topic you’d like to see my cover in the next Foodhappy 5, reply back to this email and let me know!
Sending love and kindness
Taylor 🫶🌱
