When I developed the Glucose Goddess Method, I never envisioned it as a weight loss diet.
As a biochemist, I was intrigued by the discovery that a few simple — and sometimes surprising — “hacks” could smooth out the rollercoaster of peaks and troughs that our blood sugar levels go through throughout the day. And I’ve been very focused on the positive effects that this leveling has on our mental and physical health.
But when I conducted a pilot experiment last year with nearly 3,000 people trying the method for a month, more than a third of the participants who wanted to lose weight did so and, incredibly, ate more than usual without counting calories or cutting out calories food, even dessert.
In yesterday’s Daily Mail I explained how important it is to start the day with a hearty breakfast to keep your blood sugar levels balanced from the start.
Today, in the second excerpt from my new book, I’m going to explain the science behind how eating more food can improve your health and lead to fat loss.
It may seem completely illogical. But a groundbreaking new book from a top biochemist offers important health advice based on studies of blood sugar levels
“I’m going to explain the science behind how eating more can improve your health and lead to fat loss.”
The key is to take on board two of my other “hacks”: eat a bowl of salad or a plate of veggies before you eat lunch or dinner; and add a little protein, fat, or fiber to “naked” carbs. I’ll show you how later. But first, let’s deal with why.
Our blood sugar (also called glucose) levels are designed to naturally rise after eating foods high in sugar and starch, and fall once the cells in the body have absorbed glucose from those foods for fuel. But when we eat a lot of sweet and starchy foods at once, glucose levels can rise too quickly and too high. 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 divert it to fat stores. Often this insulin surge works so efficiently that blood sugar levels remain fairly low, which is why you can experience an energy slump a few hours after a fast food meal or snack, triggering a strong craving for something sweet while your body struggles to build itself up the blood sugar level rises again.
Many people live with erratically fluctuating glucose levels throughout the day, big spikes and big dips, and increases in the total amount of glucose in the body. Over the long term, this restless state puts the body in a state of stress that has been shown to increase the risk of heart disease, type 2 diabetes, some cancers and Alzheimer’s.
It’s little wonder that people struggling to lose fat as the food they eat is directed into fat stores and irresistible cravings push them to eat unhealthy foods. Taking action to flatten those glucose peaks and valleys will help break this cycle.
And the result, as my experiment has shown, is weight loss, even if you end up eating more than before, without restrictions and certainly not without counting calories.
That’s because when we flatten those glucose curves, cravings subside and we regain control of what and when we eat.
Hormones are rebalanced, and with less insulin, our bodies are able to switch from fat-storing mode to a more natural fat-burning mode more frequently and for longer periods of time. Of the 2,700 participants in my study, 38 percent wanted to lose weight – without restrictions and certainly without counting calories. All through the power of my glucose hacks.
A look at some of the delicious puddings that flatten the glucose curve, including this Lemon Ricotta Cheesecake
A berry ice cream is also recommended as a delicious dessert
Or, alternatively, try the very simple chocolate mousse
Other scientific studies support this finding with evidence showing that people who focus on flattening their glucose curves 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 University of Michigan study showed that people who focused on flattening their glucose curves (even when they ate more calories than the other group) lost more weight (17 pounds versus 4 pounds) than they did those who ate fewer calories and didn’t care about their blood sugar levels.
The action of insulin is crucial. When blood sugar levels are stable, insulin levels drop. A 2021 review analyzing 60 weight loss studies proved that insulin reduction always precedes weight loss.
The feedback from my 1.8 million followers on Instagram is also pretty universal: if you take care not to raise your blood sugar levels, you can eat until you feel full without counting calories and this not only improves your health, but often also naturally leads to in resulting in fat loss. The key is adding the right calories to your meals—calories that keep you full and reduce cravings, insulin secretion, and inflammation.
One of my favorite – and most powerful – hacks is to have a vegetable or salad-based dish as an appetizer for your lunch or dinner. You’ll find that anything you eat after this appetizer is much less likely to cause blood sugar spikes.
Because if you eat fibrous foods such as lettuce or vegetables on a relatively empty stomach, the fiber attaches itself to the intestinal walls and forms a viscous 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 get through the gut lining and into the bloodstream. Therefore, the speed at which glucose enters the blood is reduced, making glucose spikes less likely.
As long as you have a salad or vegetable appetizer, you can eat whatever you normally have, safe in the knowledge that your meal will cause fewer glucose spikes due to the protective fiber network.
To give you an idea of the effect, one study of simply reversing the order in which foods were eaten during a meal showed that by putting vegetables first (and carbohydrates last) the glucose peak of the meal was reduced by up to 75 per cent. This has been achieved without altering the content of the meal, simply by placing the vegetables first and harnessing the power of the fiber within. It’s pretty remarkable.
So if your meal is usually high in vegetables, you can turn it into a vegetarian appetizer by eating the greens first before eating anything else.
But for this trick to work best, serve a vegetable “starter” that’s 30 percent the size of the subsequent meal. Lentils and legumes count as vegetables, and a chunky vegetable soup is a great stomach liner. (A smooth blended soup won’t be as effective because the fibrous particles will be pulverized by the blending, making them less effective at creating that protective web.)
Snacking on carrot sticks while you’re preparing your meal is just as effective. Your vegetable appetizer can be as simple as ten olives.
Tossing your salad in a vinegar-based dressing ticks off two hacks 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 will work – cooked, raw, dressed or plain. At a restaurant, ask for a side salad to start your meal, or choose a vegetable dish from the “Side Dishes” section of the menu. When you’re out, grab a bag of baby carrots, cherry tomatoes, or cucumber sticks to nibble on before eating your next meal.
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