Observations from using a continuous glucose monitor - Jessie Inchauspé

[David PS]

Jessie's comments:
Did you know that oat milk is one of the types of milk with more carbs? So it can lead to glucose spikes.

To avoid spikes, choose a milk with fat and/or protein, like whole milk or, if you are looking for a plant-based option, unsweetened coconut, almond and soy milk

 

[Atman]

Why not eat only the pulp of the orange? This way you get all of the precious fiber without any of the harmful sugar. Perfectly flat blood sugar levels --> Optimal health!
And while you are at it, start eating your bananas with the peel, which will dramatically reduce the blood sugar spike.

 

[Runenight201]

Why not eat only the pulp of the orange? This way you get all of the precious fiber without any of the harmful sugar. Perfectly flat blood sugar levels --> Optimal health!
And while you are at it, start eating your bananas with the peel, which will dramatically reduce the blood sugar spike.

Something about eating a banana with a peel just does not seem right to me… do people actually do this?

 

[David PS]

I eat most of my carrots as part of my raw carrot salad.

Jessie's comments:
Carrots fall in the “not a good veggie to juice” category because of their high sugar content.

Most veggie juices are fine for our glucose, except carrot and beetroot.

You can still drink them, of course, but know that for your glucose they will create a spike- try to use some hacks to reduce it

 

[David PS]

Something about eating a banana with a peel just does not seem right to me… do people actually do this?

It seems that some people might.

Why You Should Consider Eating the Whole Banana — skin and All

When we throw away banana peels, we throw away a lot of health benefits.

www.treehugger.com

But watch this video before you take a leap of faith.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gBI6Ozw2TKU

 

[Runenight201]

It seems that some people might.

Why You Should Consider Eating the Whole Banana — skin and All

When we throw away banana peels, we throw away a lot of health benefits.

www.treehugger.com

But watch this video before you take a leap of faith.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gBI6Ozw2TKU

Is any fruit truly good for us anymore? Seems like unless we live right next to vine ripened fruit we’re screwed.

Ah so they recommend cooking it first. That seems a lot more sensible. Perhaps if Im out and about and I notice the dish I’d try it, but I don’t think I’ll be going out of my way to prepare that at home!

 

[David PS]

Jessie's comments:
We often think that eating something sweet at breakfast is the best way to gives us energy… but it’s not the case!

a sweet breakfast gives us *pleasure* in the brain by releasing dopamine. But it gives us *less energy* than a savoury breakfast.

Chew on that

Restricting carbohydrates at breakfast is sufficient to reduce 24-hour exposure to postprandial hyperglycemia and improve glycemic variability

The breakfast meal often results in the largest postprandial hyperglycemic excursion in people with type 2 diabetes.Our purpose was to investigate whether restricting carbohydrates at breakfast would be a simple and feasible strategy to reduce daily exposure ...

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

 

[Apple]

Refined granulated sugar is extremely pure, but it lacks all of the essential nutrients, so it should be considered as a temporary therapeutic material, or as an occasional substitute when good fruit isn't available, or when available honey is allergenic."

Does Ray Peat take his coffee with sugar ? (if yes...how many spoons of sugar ? )

 

[David PS]

Jessie's comments:

All fruit aren't created equal... Berries (strawberries, blueberries, raspberries...) are one of the best options for low-glucose-spiking fruit. Tropical fruit (like mangoes, bananas, pineapple...) can send our glucose levels through the roof though! ⠀⠀⠀⠀

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[David PS]

Jessie's comments:

It can be confusing to compare two people's glucose response to the same foods.

Depending on our age, sex, activity, microbiome, genetics, health status, levels of circulating insulin, ability to put on fat, stress levels, sleep levels, hydration levels, and more, we can have completely different glucose curves.

Just remember this: the hacks always work on everyone. So if both Luna and I had had some almonds before these cookies and ice cream, both of our curves would be smaller.

Jessie's comments:

All fruit aren't created equal... Berries (strawberries, blueberries, raspberries...) are one of the best options for low-glucose-spiking fruit. Tropical fruit (like mangoes, bananas, pineapple...) can send our glucose levels through the roof though! ⠀⠀⠀⠀

View attachment 44692⠀⠀⠀

 

[David PS]

Jessie's comments:

Same meal, different effects on the body!

We can eat the exact same thing, but with a smaller glucose spikes we:
reduce our hunger for the rest of the day
reduce our cravings for the rest of the day
give our body more time in fat-burning mode
age more slowly
help our long-term health

 

[David PS]

Jessies's comments:
Two rules for grocery shopping:
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If any of the names of sugar is in the top 3 ingredients, it will spike you.
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When you’re looking at food in a box, like cereal, cookies, pasta, rice, cereal bars.... : if there is less than 1 gram of fiber per each 5 grams of total carbohydrates, it will spike you. Try to find things as close to 1 gram of fiber for 5 grams of carbs.

 

[David PS]

Having a savoury breakfast instead of a sweet one is a really important thing to do to help our glucose levels and have a day full of energy.

I recommend staying away from sweet breakfasts, like cereal, but if that’s not possible for you, there is a trick you can do: add protein to your sweet breakfast. You can eat the protein before the sweet stuff - and it can come in any form (eggs, meat, yogurts, protein powder, tofu, nuts…)

This example is a little weird and probably not that appetizing but it’s just to show you how it works on our glucose!

 

[David PS]

Jessie's comments:
The GG community has tested many different types of "low sugar" chocolates. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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Some seem to keep our glucose levels steady (like Lily's), while others (Like Choc Zero), spike our glucose levels. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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It all comes down to ingredients. Unfortunately it's hard to know from the nutrition label whether the "soluble fibers" that are used in the product will spike our glucose levels or not. Best way is to test. ⠀⠀⠀⠀

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[David PS]

Jessie's comments:
Science shows that cinnamon improves long-term blood glucose levels. But I haven’t been able to show this myself in my glucose data. ⁣
⁣
Here’s why: in the scientific studies, participants take 500 mg to 6 g of cinnamon *per day* for a duration lasting from *40 days to 4 months*. That’s a lot of cinnamon. Only then is there an improvement in their glucose levels.⁣
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Just adding cinnamon once on top of a meal will have no effect on glucose. ⁣But it’s still delicious and can have other positive effects so go for it if you like it

 

[David PS]

Jessie's comments:
Corn: a vegetable? Nope. Corn is a grain ! Just like rice or wheat. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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Nowadays, corn is also bred to be extra sweet, and its sugar content is through the roof. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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All grains turn to glucose as we digest them. A better option is a real veggie, like cauliflower. When chopped up into tiny pieces it seems just like rice! Try it out :)⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

thanks to @nutrimind20 for sharing her corn test
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Why is steady glucose important? Steady glucose reduced cravings. Many people experience cravings for high-calorie foods when blood glucose levels drop.

 

[David PS]

️

Eat your holiday food in the right order and then afterwards get some movement.

 

[Ras]

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone. Remember this thread today (and tomorrow, for leftovers). Thanks again, @David PS: for this helpful and timely thread.

 

[David PS]

Jessie's comments:
Should you drink during meals?

Studies have shown that the best way to keep glucose stable is:
Do not drink water from 30 minutes before eating until the end of the meal.
Why? Because drinking water during a meal high in carbohydrates and sugars can increase the glucose spike by up to 33%.

Be sure to drink plenty of water outside of meals.
In fact, being properly hydrated has many benefits:
It is important for our overall health
Helps eliminate excess glucose through urine
Both long-term and short-term studies show that drinking water reduces the risk of developing type 2 diabetes.

How much water should I drink?
The recommended intake is around 2 liters per day.
Ideally, you have to drink this amount of water during the day and not during meals.

How to reconcile the vinegar and the water studies: have the vinegar drink 10minutes (or 30minutes if you can!) before the meal. Then during the meal don’t drink too much. Tada!

The study: « Drinking water with consumption of a jelly filled doughnut has a time dependent effect on the postprandiale blood glucose level in healthy young individuals » (2018)
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[David PS]

Glycemic Variability and CNS Inflammation: Reviewing the Connection

Glucose is the primary energy source for the brain, and exposure to both high and low levels of glucose has been associated with numerous adverse central nervous system (CNS) outcomes. While a large body of work has highlighted the impact of hyperglycemia on peripheral and central measures of...

www.mdpi.com

The mechanisms of glycemic variability accelerate diabetic central neuropathy and diabetic peripheral neuropathy in diabetic rats

The effect of glycemic variability (GV) on diabetic neuropathy, including diabetic central neuropathy and diabetic peripheral neuropathy (DPN), and th…

www.sciencedirect.com

Glycemic variability: A strong independent predictor of... : Critical Care Medicine

g: Fourteen-bed medical surgical adult intensive care unit of a university affiliated community hospital. Patients: Three thousand two hundred fifty-two patients consecutively admitted between October 1999 and October 2007 with at least three venous glucose samples. Interventions: None...

journals.lww.com