I’ve been hearing a lot about glucose flattening from friends. It’s basically using hacks to keep your blood glucose spike as low as possible after you eat a meal. The purported benefits are fewer cravings and less hunger, less inflammation, healthier heart and brain, and reduced risk of AD, cancer, and fatty liver disease.
These hacks include eating only savory breakfasts, consuming your meals in a particular order, eating whole fruit not juiced or dried, “clothing” your carbs with protein, fat or fiber, walking for 15 minutes after a meal, and never eating dessert on an empty stomach. Following these hacks can supposed lower your blood glucose spikes by up to 75%. I haven’t been able to test it myself, but that’s a different thread. A proponent of this concept is Jessie Inchauspe (https://www.glucosegoddess.com/), a published author and French biochemist living in the US.
When I first heard about glucose flattening I was skeptical, but the arguments she makes are backed by studies and appear plausible to me. OTOH, there is so much hype and BS floating around it’s hard the separate the “wheat from the chaff”. This may be just a money-making diet fad that disappears in a few years.
If you have any knowledge or understanding of glucose flattening let me know if you think there is something to it, it’s pure bunk, or it’s something in between.
I’m no dietician, and I haven’t heard of the specific term ‘glucose flattening’ before, but I understand the principle, and it seems to make intuitive sense to me. If you eat an orange, you’re getting fiber with the fructose and it results in a slower release of sugar into your blood than if you drink a glass of orange juice alone (also that glass might have 3 oranges worth of juice in it). If you eat a bowl of white rice alone, you’re going to get a quicker release of sugar in your blood than if you eat the rice in a stir-fry with lots of high-fiber vegetables.
As for cravings and hunger, when I was on keto a few years ago one thing that really struck me was the fact I did not have hunger cravings at all like I used to. I’d think, I “could eat”, but it wasn’t an urgent thing, unlike before, when I’d get so hungry I was ready to chew my own arm off if I didn’t get something to eat soon. It was like a superpower. I remember being in an all-day meeting once (back when I still worked in an office), and they were very late bringing in lunch. My coworkers were ravenously mowing through the little bags of potato chips and doritos on the snack table, while I was just fine. Of course, when lunch finally did come, it was pizza, so I was kinda SOL while my coworkers happily ate. Oh well, I had brought some almonds from home, and I scraped the cheese and toppings off a couple slices and ate that.
I also lost my hunger and cravings on Keto. I was on IF and Keto for four months earlier this year and lost 40 lbs., or 22% of my body weight. It was easy to lose that weight because like you I wasn’t hungry, and quickly got down to one meal a day and did a 48-hour fast once a week.
Yes, severe caloric restriction helped me lose that weight, but I couldn’t have done it without turning off my hunger and cravings, which Keto did for me. This post isn’t about losing weight reducing by my hunger. That’s no longer a problem for me now that I am on a sensible maintenance program.
The question is whether reducing glucose spikes benefits my health in the long run, or can my body deal with it without leading to insulin resistance, type 2 diabetes, or metabolic syndrome? It takes training and effort to do these hacks and I am more than willing to do them if it benefits me in the long run. If it also helps me keep my weight where I want it that’s just a nice plus.
Please forgive me while I piggyback a related question I’ve been wondering about for a while. I understand about juice, because it’s easy to consume a lot of calories fast and most of the fiber has been removed. But why is dried fruit supposed to be so bad? It has all the fiber of the original fruit and it requires, if anything, more chewing. Raisins are too dry to eat plain, so I usually consume them with a glass of water or some other beverage that’s mostly water, like coffee. So how is 58 grams of raisins plus 110 grams of water (168 grams, 100 calories, 2 grams fiber) any worse than the equivalent in fresh grapes (also 168 grams, also 100 calories, also 2 grams fiber)?
I was wondering this to, and at least in some cases, it’s because they add sugar to dried fruit to make it more palatable/sweeter. I verified this yesterday with dried cranberries and there was quite a bit of added sugar to he dried version. If you’re trying to avoid added sugars, which I am, eating dried fruits may be problematic.
Well, you did mention in your OP that the “The purported benefits [of glucose flattening] are fewer cravings and less hunger”, so I was speaking to that in general. Keto is basically the ultimate glucose flattening.
Again, not a dietician so no expert, but it seems to me that most of the methods you mention in the OP that lead to ‘glucose flattening’ are closer to how we should be behaving: a sensible, well-rounded diet and moderate exercise. For most of human history we didn’t typically get sugar in our diet without also taking in a lot of fiber. We also got a lot more exercise. I think processed foods that allow us to mainline sugar and create glucose spikes are what cause insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes.
Not an expert. I’m a type 1.diabetic. Sometimes sugars are added to dried fruit. Gotta be careful with it.
It’s all about balance balance balance.
I have to be very restricted and time things as perfect as I can. Doesn’t always work out. My dialysis makes it difficult. Fluids are hard to manage as well.
For weight management I don’t know why any one would suffer through food flattening. Gotta be an easier way.
IMO. It may not be all that healthy for someone needing foods I can’t have.
I’m not talking about weight management here, although if it helps with that so be it. I’ve lost all the weight I want to lose and I’m happily in maintenance mode with few restrictions, and I appreciate that your world is very different than mine. This thread is about whether “glucose flattening” in general is a good idea or a complete waste of time. I’m hoping some expert on the board can help me tilt the balance one way or another.
This is undeniably true. When I lost all that weight and tried to transition to maintenance mode things went completely off the rails. In short, I had starved myself for so long that when I started eating while still maintaining a low carb/high fat diet, I immediately started to gain back the pounds I had worked so hard to lose. I was hungry and depressed most of the time, which certainly didn’t help.
I finally met with a dietician and she explained what I had done wrong and how to fix it. The bottom line was that I needed to get back into balance in terms of macros, calories in, exercise, sleep, and stress levels.
Within a few days of achieving this balance my weight stabilized, my hunger went away, and I have easily been able to get back down to my goal weight without having to starve myself or run marathons. It’s all about balance.
Thanks. I know about Dr. Ekberg and I used his advice to lose weight through Intermittent Fasting and Healthy Keto. I’ll see if I can find a video where he talks about glucose spikes…
Peple eat more dried fruit than fresh in a serving as well. Think 1-2 apricots vs. a handful of dried apricots.
Following a glucose flattening plan does regulate my blood sugar somewhat, but I haven’t been able to do itconsistently for long enough to test it well.
I hadn’t thought of that. I just checked the dried fruit in my pantry. The raisins, prunes, and apricots I buy have no added sugar, but the mangoes do. I’ve been eating the same dry mangoes for several years without ever suspecting they had added sugar. It’s probably a good think I don’t eat them very often.
My guess? Combining glucose with protein and fibre, and reducing table sugar and overall sugars might be the best things? But these are worth looking at in detail.
Many of the suggestions are plausible, and some are reasonable for other health reasons - reducing table sugar and juice consumption could help with fatty liver, a post-meal walk is said to reduce peak levels, etc. I would be surprised if they led to such a large reduction, but will look forward to seeing what your monitoring shows. There are times you might want an increase in insulin, such as during weight training.
Similar suggestions for mindful eating, stopping eating when you are full (which takes the discipline to ask this of oneself, maybe several times, during a meal), chewing a certain number of times (I’m not gonna do this), etc. may also work. But eating is also a pleasure. If there are easy things that help, great, so much the better, but I personally don’t want to count my chewing. I don’t know the people quoted and am not going to further research this or comment. But I look forward to your follow-up.
Just out of curiosity, how do you know it regulates your blood sugar? Do you wear a CGM or manually check your glucose frequently? Also, if it’s not too personal, does something keep you from doing it consistently, i.e. you travel a lot or have a crazy work schedule?
I’ve ordered a CGM so I should be able to test this myself fairly soon.
When I’m in my routine, frequent glucose testing and ultimatrly A1c if I could do it that long. Disruptions have included travel, dinner out or at friends’ houses (which can sometimes be managed), and travel (again, sometimes doable but not always).
Good news. I think I found the answer to my question. Mario Kratz, a PhD nutrition researcher in Seattle has a website called “Nourished by Science” which produces YouTube videos. I found a Q&A video where he addresses questions related specifically to blood glucose spikes. It’s an authoritative video I think I can trust. If you’re interested in watching it you can find it here. It’s 26 minutes long.
If you don’t want to watch the video, the short answer has to do with extremely large spikes versus normal spikes. In a nutshell, if you are seeing blood glucose spikes at or below 140 mg/ml they would be considered in the normal range and you don’t have to worry about them. Of course that assumes you are checking your blood sugar level after most of your meals which isn’t practical for most people.
However if you are checking and seeing spikes at or above 180 mg/ml, even if your fasting glucose and A1C levels are normal, that can be problematic. We know that people regularly having spikes at or above 180 mg/ml have a much greater chance of cardiac disease, kidney disease, and cancer. The bottom line is it’s good to know what your blood sugar is doing to ensure you aren’t having abnormally large spikes due to insulin resistance or for some other reason. It can be happening and you may not notice, and your fasting glucose and A1C may be normal.
Assuming your blood sugar always stays in the “normal” range, between 70 and 140 mg/ml, there should be nothing to worry about, however using strategies to lower your spikes is still a good idea to ensure you stay in the normal range. This video of his talks about how to avoid large blood sugar spikes without reducing carbohydrates. According to Mario, you can do six things to reduce your blood sugar spikes.
Avoid high glycemic index foods
Leverage retrogradation to make resistant starch
Don’t eat naked carbs
Add some vinegar to your meal
Use the second meal effect to your advantage
Go on a 15 - 30 minute walk after your meal
For the record, I am currently doing all of these things on a regular basis, and as soon as I get my CGM I should be able to confirm I’m living in the normal blood sugar range 100% of the time. If you do even some of these strategies who will probably never have a problem with blood sugar spikes no matter what you eat.
If you’re diabetic and you don’t follow the program bad things happen.
I was under tight control back when I finger pricked several times a day and took insulin several times a day. Til I wasn’t.
Hormones, age, external events, kidney disease all threw the cart off the trail. I am still trying to regain control. Many many things have stood in the way. My CGM helps. My insulin pump helps. My CNA, Ivy helps. My daughter keeping me eating helps. But I’m afraid I’ll never be totally under control again.
If you balance yourself and get check ups regularly and pay attention to changes maybe you won’t be mostly housebound and subject to any upset.
Travel and restaurants are not something I can look forward to, anymore.
I don’t wish that on anyone.
I applaud you for caring about your health and taking steps.