When I created the Glucose Goddess Method, I didn’t envision it as a weight loss diet.
As a biochemist, I was intrigued to discover that a few simple—and sometimes surprising—”hacks” can flatten the roller coaster of high and low blood sugar levels during the day. I was very focused on the positive impact of this settlement on our mental and physical health.
But when I ran a pilot trial last year with nearly 3,000 people who tried the method for a month, more than a third of the participants who wanted to lose weight did and, incredibly, ate more food than usual, without counting calories or cutting out any. foods, even candy.
In yesterday’s post I explained how important it is to start the day with a delicious breakfast to keep your blood sugar levels on an even keel from the start.
Today, in the second excerpt from my new book, I’m going to explain the science behind how eating more can improve your health and can lead to fat loss.
It may seem completely illogical. But a groundbreaking new book by a top-level biochemist provides vital health advice based on studies of blood sugar levels.
I will explain the science behind how eating more can improve your health and can lead to fat loss.
The key is to take on board two of my other “tricks”: eat a bowl of salad or a plate with vegetables before lunch or dinner; And add a little protein, fat or fiber to any “naked” carbs. Later, I’ll show you how. But first, let’s deal with why.
Our blood sugar levels (also called glucose levels) are designed to rise naturally after eating sugary and starchy foods and fall once cells throughout the body have taken up the glucose from those foods for fuel. But if we eat too many sweet and starchy foods at once, our glucose levels can rise too high, too quickly. This can trigger a harmful inflammatory response in the body as it struggles to bring glucose levels back to normal.
One response is to pump out the hormone insulin to extract glucose from the blood and turn it into fat reserves. This rush of insulin often works so efficiently that it leaves blood glucose levels rather low, which is why you may experience a slump in energy a few hours after eating a quick meal or snack, leading to cravings for something. Sweet while your body is struggling to build. Blood sugar levels come back up again.
Many people live with glucose levels fluctuating erratically throughout the day, large highs and lows, and an increase in the total amount of glucose in the body. In the long run, this unsettled state puts the body into a state of stress that has been shown to increase the risk of heart disease, type 2 diabetes, some types of cancer, and Alzheimer’s disease.
It is not surprising that people who want to lose fat struggle to do so when the food they eat is converted into fat reserves and it is impossible for them to resist the cravings for unhealthy food. Taking steps to flatten these glucose peaks and troughs helps break free from this vicious cycle.
The result, as my experience has shown, is weight loss, although you may end up eating more food than before, without restriction and certainly without counting calories.
This is because when we flatten those glucose curves, cravings dissipate, putting us back in control of what and when we eat.
Hormones regain their balance, and with less insulin washout, our body can go out of fat storage mode into natural fat burning mode more frequently and for longer periods of time. Of the 2,700 participants in my study, 38 percent of those who wanted to lose weight did so — without restriction and certainly without counting calories. All through the power of my glucose tricks.
A look at some delicious desserts that will flatten the glucose curve, including lemon ricotta cheesecake
Also recommended as a sweet dessert is the berry hard ice cream
Alternatively, you can try a very simple chocolate mousse
Other scientific studies support this finding with evidence showing that people who focus on flattening their glucose curves can eat more calories and lose fat more easily than people who eat fewer calories but don’t flatten their glucose curves. For example, a 2017 study from the University of Michigan showed that when people focused on flattening their glucose curves (even if they ate more calories than the other group), they lost more weight (17 pounds vs. 4 pounds) than those who ate fewer calories. . And they didn’t care about their blood sugar levels.
Insulin action is key. When blood glucose levels are stable, insulin levels drop. A 2021 review that analyzed 60 weight loss studies demonstrated that reducing insulin almost always precedes weight loss.
The feedback from our 1.8 million Instagram followers was universal, too: If you make sure your glucose levels don’t get too high, you can eat until you feel full, without counting calories, which will not only improve your health but also often naturally lead to Fat loss as a result. The key is to add the right calories to your meals — calories that keep you satiated and reduce cravings that trigger insulin and inflammation.
One of my favorite — and most impactful — hacks is to eat a vegetable dish or salad as an appetizer for lunch or dinner. You will find that whatever you eat after that food is less likely to cause any kind of spike in blood glucose.
This is because when you eat a fiber-containing food such as salad or vegetables on a relatively empty stomach, the same fiber spreads over the walls of your intestines, forming a sticky protective net that stays in place for a few hours. This network makes it difficult for glucose molecules from the rest of the meal to pass through the lining of the intestines into the bloodstream. Therefore, the speed at which glucose enters the blood is reduced, which reduces the likelihood of glucose spikes.
As long as you have a salad or vegetable appetizer, you can eat whatever you normally would, knowing that there will be less glucose spike from your meal because of the protective fiber network.
To give you an idea of the effect, one study that simply flipped the order of eating foods during a meal showed that by putting vegetables first (and carbohydrates last), the glucose spike in a meal was reduced by up to 75 per meal. cent. This was achieved without changing the contents of the meal, just by putting the vegetables first and harnessing the power of the fiber they contain. It’s very cool.
So, if your meal usually includes a lot of vegetables, you can turn it into a vegetable appetizer by eating the greens first before eating anything else.
But for this hack to work even better, make a vegetarian “appetizer” that’s 30 percent the size of your next meal. Lentils and pulses are vegetables, and the chunky vegetable soup is a great stomach liner. (A smooth, blended soup will not be as effective because the fiber particles are pulverized by blending, making them less effective at creating that protective web.)
Snacking on carrot sticks while preparing your meal is just as effective. Your vegetable garnish can be as simple as ten olives.
If you toss your salad in a vinaigrette dressing, you’ll be getting rid of two in one. (In tomorrow’s Daily Mail, I’ll explain how the acetic acid in vinegar slows the rate at which glucose is released.)
Any vegetable works – cooked, raw, boiled or plain. When you’re at a restaurant, order a side salad at the start of your meal or choose a vegetable dish from the “sides” section of the menu. If you’re out and about, carry a bag of baby carrots, cherry tomatoes, or cucumber sticks to nibble on before your next meal.