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

by Jessie Inchauspé

So whether it’s a piece of fruit, a smoothie, a candy bar, or a cookie, if you’re going to eat it, do it at the end of a meal.

If you feel the urge to eat something sweet between meals, put it aside—in the fridge or somewhere else—and enjoy it for dessert after your next meal instead.

A drink consisting of a tablespoon of vinegar in a tall glass of water, drunk a few minutes before eating something sweet, flattens the ensuing glucose and insulin spikes. With that, cravings are curbed, hunger is tamed, and more fat is burned.

Among all the vinegars, though, one is most popular for this hack: apple cider vinegar (ACV). The reason is that most people find that it tastes better than the other vinegars when diluted in that tall glass of water. But all vinegars work identically on our glucose, so pick the one you please.

What researchers found was that by adding vinegar before meals for three months, the subjects lost two to four pounds and reduced their visceral fat, waist and hip measurements, and triglyceride levels. In one study, both groups were put on a strict weight-loss diet, and the vinegar group lost twice as much weight (11 versus 5 pounds), even though they ate the same number of calories as the nonvinegar group.

Here’s what happened in all these participants’ bodies: when they drank vinegar before eating a meal rich in carbohydrates, the glucose spike from that meal was reduced by 8 to 30 percent. To understand how this happens, we have an important clue: the amount of insulin also decreases when vinegar is consumed before eating (by about 20 percent in one study). This tells us that drinking vinegar does not flatten glucose curves by increasing the amount of insulin in the body. And this is a very good thing.

This hack works for both sweet and starchy foods. Maybe you’re ready to dig into a big bowl of pasta. Maybe you’re about to eat the slice of cherry pie you’ve set aside for your dessert. Or maybe you’re at a birthday party and you must have chocolate cake in the middle of the afternoon (and you’re thankful they didn’t serve brussel sprouts instead). Reach for vinegar first to counter some of the side effects of a glucose spike.

Any type of vinegar works. One tablespoon of rice vinegar in a bowl of white rice (as per Japanese tradition) will help steady your glucose levels.

Here’s an even easier way to use this hack: now that you’re adding a green starter to all your meals, you can add some vinegar to your dressing. In the first ever study looking at vinegar and glucose spikes, two meals were consumed: one group ate a salad with olive oil, then bread, and the other group ate a salad with olive oil and vinegar, then bread. In participants who had the dressing with vinegar, the glucose spike was 31 percent smaller.

Even though diluted vinegar is not acidic enough to damage your teeth’s enamel, I would suggest you drink it with a straw just to be safe. Never swig it straight from the bottle. As part of other foods, such as vinaigrette, it’s fine.

How much time should I wait between the vinegar and the food? Ideally, drink it 20 minutes (or less) before eating. You can also drink it during, or up to 20 minutes after, eating, and it will work almost as well.

Here are some recipes from Glucose Goddess community members: A cup of hot cinnamon tea and 1 tablespoon of apple cider vinegar A glass of water, a pinch of salt, a pinch of cinnamon, and 1 teaspoon of apple cider vinegar A glass of water, a pinch of salt, 1 teaspoon of liquid aminos, and 1 tablespoon of apple cider vinegar A teapot of hot water, with a wedge of lemon, some ginger root, 1 tablespoon of apple cider vinegar, and a pinch of allulose, monk fruit, stevia extract or erythritol for sweetness Sparkling water, ice, and 1 teaspoon of apple cider vinegar Vegetables fermented in a jar full of apple cider vinegar

A large 2018 research review looked at 135 people with type 2 diabetes and found that aerobic exercise (walking) after eating decreased their glucose spike by up to 27 percent.

Resistance exercise (weight lifting) has been shown to decrease the glucose spike by up to 30 percent and the size of further spikes over the following 24 hours by 35 percent.

you can exercise anytime within 70 minutes after eating to see an effect. As mentioned above, you want your muscles to start contracting before the glucose spike reaches its peak.

How many minutes of exercise do I need? It’s up to you to find what works. Studies usually look at 10 to 20 minutes of walking or 10-minute strength or resistance sessions. I’ve found that I have to do about 30 squats to see any change to my glucose level.

THE 30-SECOND NO-GLUCOSE-SPIKE SAVORY SNACK Apple slices smeared with nut butter Apple slices with a hunk of cheese Bell pepper slices dipped in a spoonful of guacamole Celery smeared with nut butter A cup of 5% Greek yogurt topped with a handful of pecans A cup of 5% Greek yogurt with nut butter swirled into it A handful of baby carrots and a spoonful of hummus A handful of macadamia nuts and a square of 90% dark chocolate A handful of pork rinds A hard-boiled egg with a dash of hot sauce A hunk of cheese Lightly salted coconut slivers Seeded crackers with a slice of cheese A slice of ham A soft-boiled egg with a dash of salt and pepper A spoonful of nut butter

When you do enjoy carbs (and you will and should and must), make it a habit to add fiber, protein, or fat and, if you can, eat those first. Even savory snacks—which are already better for your glucose curves but may still contain starch—should have clothes on: add avocado and cheese to toast, spread nut butter on rice cakes, and eat some almonds before your croissant.

What did she learn to do? To put some clothes on her carbs: she added nut butter to a banana, and she ate a hard-boiled egg before a candy bar.

Combine your fruit—top favorite partners in the Glucose Goddess community are nut butter, nuts, full-fat yogurt, eggs, and cheddar cheese.

Dried dates are some of the biggest glucose bombs in the fruit kingdom and spike us high even with clothes on them. Yet they are said to help with managing diabetes. Go figure. Really, it’s best to avoid them or eat them in small quantities.

We often think that if grains are whole (brown rice, brown pasta, etc.), they are much better for us. The truth is, they are only very slightly better—starch is still starch. Pasta or bread that boasts “whole grain” on its package has still been milled—which means that some of its fiber is gone. If you want bread that contains beneficial fiber, choose a very dark bread, such as seed bread or pumpernickel

Brown rice is better than white rice for your glucose, but it’s still rice. Try to give it some clothes to flatten its curve.

Good fats are saturated (fat from animals, butter, ghee, and coconut oil) or monounsaturated (from fruit and nuts such as avocados, macadamia nuts, and olives). For cooking, use saturated fats—they’re less likely to oxidize with heat. Monounsaturated fats, such as olive and avocado, can’t stand the heat as well. A good rule of thumb to distinguish between them: cook with fats that are solid at room temperature when you can.

Bad fats (which inflame us, hurt our heart health, make us gain visceral fat, and increase our insulin resistance) are polyunsaturated and trans fats, which are found in processed oils—soybean oil, corn oil, canola oil, safflower oil, rice bran oil, fried foods, and fast foods. (The one seed oil that isn’t as bad is flaxseed oil.)

I developed the habit of dressing up that baguette: these days I’ll snack on almonds from the corner store before my first bite of baguette, and when I get home, I’ll spread some salted butter on it.