Biochemist and author of the Glucose Revolution Jessie Inchauspé says tweaking your diet can change your life.
Among her recommendations in the mainstream media and on Instagram, the founder of the “Glucose Goddess movement” says eating your food in a particular order is the key.
By eating salads first, before proteins, and finishing the meal with starchy carbohydrates, she says blood glucose spikes will be flattened, which is better for you. Scientifically speaking, does this make sense? It turns out, yes, partially.
What is a glucose spike? A glucose spike occurs in your bloodstream about 30-60 minutes after you eat carbohydrate. Many things determine how high and how long the peak lasts. These include what you ate with or before the carbohydrate, how much fiber is in the carbohydrate, and your body’s ability to secrete, and use, the hormone insulin.
Different foods, different spikes Does eating different food types before carbs affect glucose spikes? Turns out, yes. This isn’t new evidence either. Scientists have known for a long time that high-fiber foods, such as salads, slow gastric emptying, or the rate at which food exits the stomach. So high-fiber foods slow the delivery of glucose and other nutrients to the small intestine for absorption into the blood.
What about eating food in sequence? Most of the scientific research on whether eating food in a particular order makes a difference to glucose spikes involves giving a fiber, fat or protein “preload” before the meal. Typically, the preload is a liquid and given around 30 minutes before the carbohydrate.
In one study, drinking a whey protein shake 30 minutes before—rather than with—a mashed potato meal was better at slowing gastric emptying. Either option was better at reducing the glucose spike than drinking water before the meal.
The take-home message Watching those glucose spikes is particularly important if you have diabetes or a handful of other medical conditions. If that’s the case, your treating doctor or dietitian will advise how to modify your meals or food intake to avoid glucose spikes. Food ordering may be part of that advice.
For the rest of us, don’t tie yourself up in knots trying to eat your meal in a particular order. But do consider removing sugary beverages, and adding fiber, proteins or fats to carbohydrates to slow gastric emptying and flatten glucose spikes. The Conversation