Know how ‘food sequencing’ help glucose levels

Leonie Heilbronn, College of Adelaide

Biochemist and creator of the Glucose Revolution Jessie Inchauspé says tweaking your weight loss program can change your life.

Amongst her suggestions within the mainstream media and on Instagram, the founding father of the “Glucose Goddess motion” says consuming your meals in a selected order is the important thing.

By consuming salads first, earlier than proteins, and ending the meal with starchy carbohydrates, she says blood glucose spikes can be flattened, which is healthier for you.

Scientifically talking, does this make sense? It seems, sure, partially.

What’s a glucose spike?

A glucose spike happens in your bloodstream about 30-60 minutes after you eat carbohydrate. Many issues decide how excessive and the way lengthy the height lasts. These embrace what you ate with or earlier than the carbohydrate, how a lot fibre is within the carbohydrate, and your physique’s capability to secrete, and use, the hormone insulin.

For individuals with sure medical situations, any tactic to flatten the glucose peak is extremely vital. These situations embrace:

• diabetes
• reactive hypoglycaemia (a selected sort of recurring sugar crash)
• postprandial hypotension (low blood strain after consuming) or
• in case you’ve had bariatric surgical procedure.

That’s as a result of excessive and extended glucose spikes have lasting and detrimental impacts on many hormones and proteins, together with people who set off irritation. Irritation is linked with a spread of situations together with diabetes and coronary heart illness.

Totally different meals, completely different spikes

Does consuming completely different meals varieties earlier than carbs have an effect on glucose spikes? Seems, sure. This isn’t new proof both.

Scientists have identified for a very long time that high-fibre meals, similar to salads, sluggish gastric emptying (the speed at which meals exits the abdomen). So high-fibre meals sluggish the supply of glucose and different vitamins to the small gut for absorption into the blood.

Proteins and fat additionally sluggish gastric emptying. Protein has the additional benefit of stimulating a hormone known as glucagon-like-peptide 1 (or GLP1). When protein out of your meals hits the cells in your intestines, this hormone is secreted, slowing gastric emptying even additional. The hormone additionally impacts the pancreas the place it helps secretion of the hormone insulin that mops up the glucose in your blood.

Actually, medicine that mimic how GLP1 works (often called GLP1 receptor agonists) are a brand new and really efficient class of remedy for individuals with sort 2 diabetes. They’re making an actual distinction to enhance their blood sugar management.

What about consuming meals in sequence?

Many of the scientific analysis on whether or not consuming meals in a selected order makes a distinction to glucose spikes includes giving a fibre, fats or protein “preload” earlier than the meal. Usually, the preload is a liquid and given round half-hour earlier than the carbohydrate.

In a single examine, consuming a whey protein shake half-hour earlier than (reasonably than with) a mashed potato meal was higher at slowing gastric emptying. Both choice was higher at lowering the glucose spike than consuming water earlier than the meal.

Whereas this proof reveals consuming protein earlier than carbohydrates helps scale back glucose spikes, the proof for consuming different meals teams individually, and in sequence, throughout a mean meal shouldn’t be so robust.

Inchauspé says fibre, fat, and proteins don’t combine within the abdomen – they do. However vitamins don’t exit the abdomen till they’ve been churned right into a effective particle dimension.

Steak takes longer than mash to be churned right into a effective particle. Given the extra proven fact that liquids empty quicker than solids, and folks have a tendency to finish their total dinner in round quarter-hour, is there any actual proof that consuming a meal inside a selected sequence can be extra helpful than consuming the meals, as you want, and all blended up on the plate?

Sure, however it isn’t very robust.

One small examine examined 5 completely different meal sequences in 16 individuals with out diabetes. Contributors needed to eat their meal inside quarter-hour.

There was no general distinction in glucose spikes between teams that ate their greens earlier than meat and rice versus the opposite sequences.

What’s the take-home message?

Watching these glucose spikes is especially vital if in case you have
diabetes or a handful of different medical situations. If that’s the case, your treating physician or dietitian will advise methods to modify your meals or meals consumption to keep away from glucose spikes. Meals ordering could also be a part of that recommendation.

For the remainder of us, don’t tie your self up in knots attempting to eat your meal in a selected order. However do take into account eradicating sugary drinks, and including fibre, proteins or fat to carbohydrates to sluggish gastric emptying and flatten glucose spikes.

Leonie Heilbronn, Professor and Group Chief, Weight problems & Metabolism, College of Adelaide

This text is republished from The Dialog underneath a Inventive Commons license. Learn the unique article.