Glucose Revolution: The Life-Changing Power of Balancing Your Blood Sugar

by Jessie Inchauspé

Glucose is our body’s main source of energy. We get most of it from the food we eat, and it’s then carried in our bloodstream to our cells.

Similarly, plants have a solution to round up glucose. They enlist tiny helpers called enzymes—teacher’s aides, if you will—that grab glucose molecules by the hand and attach them to each other: left hand with right hand, left hand with right hand, hundreds and thousands of times over. The result is a long chain of glucose, no longer racing and dashing in random directions.

This form of glucose is called starch. It can be stored in small amounts throughout the plant, but mostly in its roots.

Beets, potatoes, carrots, celeriac, parsnips, turnips, jicama, and yams are all roots, and all contain starch. Seeds also contain starch, which provides the necessary energy to help them grow into a plant. Rice, oatmeal, corn, wheat, barley, beans, peas, lentils, soybeans, and chickpeas are all seeds, and all of them contain starch, too.

fructose, which is about 2.3 times as sweet as glucose.

Carbohydrates = Starch and Fiber and Sugars (glucose, fructose, sucrose)

Today, however, the vast majority of supermarket shelves are packed with products that contain mostly starch and sugar. From white bread to ice cream, candy, fruit juices, and sweetened yogurts, fiber is nowhere to be seen. And this is on purpose: fiber is often removed in the creation of processed foods, because its presence is problematic if you’re trying to preserve things for a long time.

Fiber is often removed from processed foods so that they can be frozen, thawed, and last on shelves for years without losing their texture.

Something else is done to foods to turn them into successful supermarket products: their sweetness is increased. The basis of food processing is to first strip away the fiber, then concentrate the starch and sugars.

You may wonder: Why do we like sweetness so much? It’s because in Stone Age times the taste of sweetness signaled foods that were both safe (there are no foods that are both sweet and poisonous) and packed with energy.

When we do, a hit of a chemical called dopamine floods our brain. This is the same chemical that is released when we have sex, play video games, scroll social media or, with more dangerous consequences, drink alcohol, smoke cigarettes, or use illegal drugs. And we can never get enough of it.

But what the ADA describes as “normal” may not actually be optimal. Early studies showed that the thriving range for fasting glucose may be between 72 and 85 mg/dL. That’s because there is more likelihood of developing health problems from 85 mg/dL and up.

The ADA states that our glucose levels shouldn’t increase above 140 mg/dL after eating. But again, that’s “normal,” not optimal. Studies in nondiabetics give more precise information: we should strive to avoid increasing our glucose levels by more than 30 mg/dL after eating. So in this book I will define a glucose spike as an increase in glucose in our body of more than 30 mg/dL after eating.

Until they do, remember that if the food you ate was sweet and it created a glucose spike, it also created an invisible fructose spike, and that’s what makes a sweet spike more harmful than a starchy spike.

When there are too many free radicals to be neutralized, our body is said to be in a state of oxidative stress.

Oxidative stress is a driver of heart disease, type 2 diabetes, cognitive decline, and general aging. And fructose increases oxidative stress even more than glucose alone. That’s one of the reasons that sweet foods (which contain fructose) are worse than starchy foods (which don’t). Too much fat can also increase oxidative stress.

Fructose molecules glycate things 10 times as fast as glucose, generating that much more damage. Again, this is another reason why spikes from sugary foods such as cookies (which contain fructose) make us age faster than do spikes from starchy foods such as pasta (which doesn’t).

The combination of too many free radicals, oxidative stress, and glycation leads to a generalized state of inflammation in the body.

Inflammation is a protective measure; it’s the result of the body trying to defend against invaders. But chronic inflammation is harmful because it turns against our own body. From the outside, you might see redness and swelling, and on the inside, tissues and organs are slowly getting damaged.

Once insulin has stored all the glucose it can in our liver and muscles, any glucose beyond that is turned into fat and stored in our fat reserves. And that’s one of the ways we put on weight. And then some. Because it’s not just glucose that our body has to deal with, it must also dispose of fructose. And unfortunately, fructose cannot be turned into glycogen and stored in the liver and the muscles. The only thing that fructose can be stored as is fat.

We shouldn’t be mad at our body for putting on fat; instead, we should thank it for trying to protect us from oxidative stress, glycation, and inflammation.

When we eat something that tastes sweet, we may think that we are helping our body get energized, but it’s just an impression caused by the dopamine rush in our brain that makes us feel high.

The more often we spike, the faster we age. Glycation, free radicals, and the subsequent inflammation are responsible for the slow degradation of our cells—what we call aging.

Glucose spikes, as I explained in the previous chapter, result in glycation—and glycation makes us age faster and look older.

What is the right order? It’s fiber first, protein and fat second, starches and sugars last.

According to the researchers, the effect of this sequencing is comparable to the effects of diabetes medications that are prescribed to diabetics to lower their glucose spikes.

Fiber has three superpowers: First, it reduces the action of alpha-amylase, the enzyme that breaks starch down into glucose molecules. Second, it slows down gastric emptying: when fiber is present, food trickles from sink to pipe more slowly. Finally, it creates a viscous mesh in the small intestine; this mesh makes it harder for glucose to make it through to the bloodstream. Through these mechanisms, fiber slows down the breakdown and absorption of any glucose that lands in the sink after it; the result is that fiber flattens our glucose curves.

Any starch or sugar that we eat after fiber will have a reduced effect on our body.

Foods containing fat also slow down gastric emptying, so eating them before rather than after carbs also helps flatten our glucose curves. The takeaway? Eating carbs after everything else is the best move.

What’s more, when we eat foods in the right order, our pancreas produces less insulin.

There’s a scientific explanation for this improvement in her hunger: the Cornell research team showed that if we eat our food in the wrong order (starches and sugars first), ghrelin, our hunger hormone, returns to premeal levels after just two hours. If we eat our food in the right order (starches and sugars last), ghrelin stays suppressed for much longer. (They didn’t measure past three hours, but looking at the trends, I think it fair to say that it stays down for five to six hours.)

However, it is still beneficial to start with veggies and have protein and fats second.

Based on the science, I love any meal that starts with a salad. Unfortunately, many dining experiences don’t set us up for success: restaurants serve bread while you’re waiting for food. Starting with starch is the absolute opposite of what you ought to do. It will lead to a glucose spike that you won’t be able to tame, then a crash later on—which will intensify your cravings.

The amount of fiber we eat these days is much lower than what we should be eating. Only 5 percent of Americans meet the recommended daily amount: 25 grams per day.

One of the reasons a diet high in fruit and vegetables is healthy is because of the fiber it provides.

As mentioned in the last hack, fiber is also good for our glucose levels for several reasons, notably because it creates a viscous mesh in our intestine. The mesh slows down and reduces the absorption of molecules from food across the intestinal lining.

beneficial and that eating it before all the other foods is even more so (see previous hack). That’s why adding a green starter to each of our meals has a powerful effect on our glucose curves.

How big should this green starter be? As big as you like. I’ve found that the sweet spot is a one-to-one ratio to the carbs you’ll eat after.

So if you’ve ever heard that to get healthy you just need to cut calories, now you know that’s not true. You can do much to heal your body by changing the molecules you eat but keeping the calories the same.

What if, instead of trying so hard to resist it, we were to be thoughtful about when we eat it and accept—joyfully—that it’s part of our lives?

Vinegar has been touted as a health remedy for centuries. In the eighteenth century it was even prescribed in tea form to diabetics.

Scientists have found that the acetic acid in vinegar temporarily inactivates alpha-amylase. As a result, sugar and starch are transformed into glucose more slowly, and the glucose hits our system more softly.

once acetic acid gets into the bloodstream, it penetrates our muscles: there, it encourages our muscles to make glycogen faster than they usually would, which in turn leads to more efficient uptake of glucose.

Grab a tall glass of water (some people find that hot water is more soothing), and pour 1 tablespoon of vinegar into it. If you don’t like the taste, start with a teaspoon or even less, and build up to it. Grab a straw, down the drink either less than 20 minutes before, during the course of, or less than 20 minutes after eating the glucose-spiking food.

We feel more satiated when there is fat in our diet, but we must be conscious of this dance: if we add tons of fat, our glucose spikes will be severely curbed, but we may start putting on weight. Add some fat, such as a tablespoon or two at a meal, but don’t pour the entire bottle of olive oil onto your pasta.

When we are hungry, naked carbs look very appealing. But I keep in mind that the hungrier I am, the emptier my stomach is, the bigger the spike those naked carbs will cause.

Alcohols that keep our levels steady are wine (red, white, rosé, sparkling) as well as spirits (gin, vodka, tequila, whiskey, and even rum). We can drink these on an empty stomach, and they don’t cause a glucose spike. Watch out for mixers: adding fruit juice, something sweet, or tonic will cause a glucose spike.

sugar is in the top five ingredients, that means a hefty proportion of that food consists of sugar—a

When assessing dry foods, such as cookies, pasta, bread, cereal, cereal bars, crackers, and chips, head to the Total Carbohydrate section. The grams next to Total Carbohydrate and Total Sugars represent the molecules that cause a glucose spike: starches and sugars. The more grams of these, the more the food will lead to a rise in your glucose, fructose, and insulin levels and set off the chain reaction that keeps you craving sweet things.

So here’s a tip: for dry foods, look at the ratio of Total Carbohydrate to Dietary Fiber.