2023-06-05 09:00:00
Pro-aging expert Wies Verbeek regularly talks to an expert for Nouveau about how you can grow older in a fun way. This time: glucose and your health.
Recent discoveries about the health effects of sugar peaks in the body represented a true revolution. But how do you get that blood sugar under control? Wies discusses the six rules of the French biochemist Jessie Inchauspé.
Sugar management
But first: what about that sugar balance? The carbohydrates (sugars and starches) that we ingest through our diet are converted into glucose in the stomach and intestines. We really need that glucose as fuel to function properly.
As soon as the glucose enters our blood from the intestines, the pancreas receives a signal to produce the hormone insulin. This ensures that the glucose is absorbed faster and better by the cells. Muscles, brain and other organs run on glucose. If you consume little or no carbohydrates, the body can also convert proteins into glucose, but that takes much more effort.
Once the cells have picked up the glucose, the level of glucose in the blood drops. If more glucose enters than the body needs, insulin causes the excess glucose to be converted into body fat.
Sweet appetite
If you consume a lot of carbohydrates and often, you will get high peaks in your blood sugar (glucose) and insulin will be produced again and again. Besides the fact that the excess glucose is converted into body fat, the production of large amounts of insulin is not good for your health.
A lot of insulin also causes your blood sugar to drop quickly. And just then you get extra – especially sweet – appetite. You start eating again and so the process repeats.
These peaks and troughs have consequences for your weight, your endocrine system, your digestion and increase the risk of diabetes and other chronic diseases such as heart disease, dementia and cancer. High sugar peaks are also associated with silent inflammation and faster ageing.
Jessie and the glucose meter
We must therefore prevent high blood sugar and glucose peaks. That is obvious. Jessie Inchauspé learned a lot about apps and self-trackers that can monitor all kinds of bodily functions through her employer in Silicon Valley.
That employer also developed a glucose meter. Ideal for people with diabetes. They no longer had to prick their finger to check their glucose, but only had to have a minuscule electrode placed under the skin of their upper arm, which transmitted the current sugar level to their telephone 24/7.
Although Inchauspé does not have diabetes, she still found it interesting to keep track of her blood sugar levels and see what that did to her feeling and health.
She soon noticed strange patterns. Nachos on Monday: big peak, nachos on Sunday: no peak. M&Ms after lunch: no peak, M&Ms before dinner: a peak. If she was tired in the afternoon, her glucose levels would have been high at lunch. If she had energy, her glucose level would have been stable. Bread: peak. Bread with butter: no peak.
Croissants with chocolate spread
She noticed that when she didn’t have high peaks and deep valleys, she felt the best. Based on her own tests and experiences and existing research, she learned how to keep her blood sugar stable.
For example, she discovered that it is better to have sweets as a dessert after a meal than as a snack and that it is better to pay attention to your sugar balance than to the number of calories.
She also discovered that people can differ enormously in their sensitivity to blood sugar fluctuations and their reaction to foods: one person can start the day without any problems with croissants with chocolate spread, the other is worthless two hours after such a breakfast.
Eventually she developed nutritional advice that benefits everyone and that has become so popular that it is followed worldwide.
THE HACKS OF THE GLUCOSE GODDESS
Eat foods in the correct order
Fibers, proteins, fats and then starches and sugars. According to Inchauspé, when we eat vegetables first, the fiber in them forms a ‘mesh’ in the stomach and intestines, which helps prevent the rapid absorption of sugars into the bloodstream.
Add a green starter
This is similar to the first advice, but is different. It involves adding a vegetable entrée – say, a salad – to your meals. Although you will eat more than you are used to, your blood sugar level will remain balanced due to the fiber in the vegetables.
Avoid a breakfast peak
Breakfast cereals, smoothies, granola, bread, orange juice: all foods high in sugar and carbohydrates. They immediately give a huge sugar peak, which also makes you hungry again quickly.
For example, a sugary breakfast disrupts the glucose level for the rest of the day, because you want to eat again quickly, which means you end up on a blood sugar roller coaster.
Therefore, opt for a savory breakfast with a lot of proteins, fibers and fats. Inchauspé likes to eat scrambled eggs with spinach and mushrooms, possibly with a toasted avocado sandwich.
Take a tablespoon of vinegar before eating anything
Your body experiences fewer sugar spikes if you drink a large glass of water with a tablespoon of vinegar a few minutes before you eat something sweet or carbohydrate-rich.
Exercise after eating
Get moving if you’ve eaten carbohydrates. Your muscles will absorb the excess glucose from your blood, reducing your glucose peak. This way you reduce the chance of weight gain and a drowsy feeling.
Dress up the carbs
When you combine carbohydrates with other molecules, whether you have diabetes or not, your body receives those carbohydrates at a more natural and manageable rate. This way you can flatten the glucose peaks. So if you opt for carbohydrates (bread, pasta, cake, fruit, couscous, polenta, etc.) combine them with fibres, fat and/or proteins (vegetables, avocado, beans, butter, fish, yogurt, nuts).
Minder moodswings
Jessie Inchauspé is adored by her rules by all her followers. Many say they feel so much better, have lost weight and have less mood swings and cravings. A good reason to give it a try.
Caveats
Although Jessie Inchauspé is praised from all sides, there are some reservations from the scientific community.
- For example, many experts believe that ‘coating’ carbohydrates with protein and fiber is very good, but that combining carbohydrates with fat leads to obesity.
- Focusing excessively on blood sugar alone is not good. People may overshoot or overlook the weight loss goal.
- There is too little scientific support for the effect of vinegar before meals.
- The order in which you eat the components of your meal doesn’t matter, according to many scientists, because all food is combined and mixed in the stomach.
Glucose Revolution
Jessie Inchauspé’s international bestseller Glucose Revolution has been translated into more than forty languages. With her Instagram account @glucosegoddess Inchauspé reaches more than 1.4 million followers, including celebrities such as Gwyneth Paltrow, Jessica Alba, Marion Cotillard, Ellen Pompeo and Karlie Kloss.
Glucose Goddess has now become a true movement of people who want to help each other reconnect with their bodies. Glucose revolution appeared in practice on May 16, with recipes and weekly menus.
You can find more about Aging A Little Nicely at BLOWthe site of health journalist Wies Verbeek.
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