For people with diabetes or pre-diabetes, the order in which you eat your foods matters. Specifically, the order in which you consume different food groups during a meal can have a remarkable impact on your blood glucose management, medication needs, and even weight control.
The Blood Sugar Rollercoaster
When carbohydrates are consumed first at a meal, blood glucose levels rise rapidly and drop fast. For someone with diabetes, this sudden spike creates a challenging situation for the body. The pancreas must produce a large amount of insulin quickly to handle the sugar surge, but in diabetes, this response is often impaired.
This explains why I am hypoglycemic when I eat a slice of buttered toast for breakfast. My hypoglycemic event occurs within three hours. I always get the shakes with a rapid heart rate.
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The Strategic Eating Approach
Research has shown that simply rearranging the sequence in which you eat food groups can lead to significantly better blood glucose control. Here’s what Dr. Jason Fung and other clinicians and researchers recommend.
Front-load your meals and eat protein, fats, and vegetables up front, and leave the carbohydrates for last.
After eating your protein, fats, and vegetables, it’s wise to pause for 10 minutes before continuing your meal. This 10-minute pause serves two purposes: it allows digestion to begin and often results in reduced appetite for carbohydrates. Many people find they naturally consume fewer carbs without feeling deprived.
If you’re still hungry, eat your carbohydrate foods last, whether that’s bread, pasta, rice, potatoes, or fruit.
The Science Behind the Sequence
The speed at which food is consumed also appears to play a role in blood sugar control. Slow down when eating, enjoy your meals, and have better blood sugar control as a bonus.
Studies have shown that eating protein and vegetables before carbohydrates can reduce post-meal blood glucose levels by up to 40% compared to eating the same foods in the reverse order.
If you are wondering why or how, it’s all about the composition of the foods involved. Complex carbohydrates are high in fiber. As they are digested, this category of food creates a kind of gel matrix that slows absorption in the small intestine. Fats and protein help to moderate the pace at which food moves through the digestive system; this also puts the brakes on absorption. When eaten last, simple carbs enter your digestive system, which discourages fast absorption…
Additional Benefits
Reduced Medication Needs:
Many people following this eating strategy report needing less medication to control their diabetes.
Weight Management:
Eating carbs last after protein, fat, and vegetables might help with weight loss by slowing down digestion, making you feel fuller, and keeping your blood sugar under control.
Decreased Hunger and Cravings:
Stable blood sugar levels help prevent the rebound hunger that often follows rapid drops in glucose.
Prevention Potential:
For those at risk of developing type 2 diabetes, adopting this eating pattern could delay or prevent the onset of the disease.
Practical Implementation
Incorporating this approach into daily life doesn’t require complex meal planning or eliminating favorite foods. It simply means restructuring the order in which you eat foods already on your plate. How easy is that?
For example, instead of starting breakfast with toast, begin with eggs and avocado. At lunch, eat your protein and salad first, then consider whether you still want the bread or pasta. For dinner, start with protein and vegetables, waiting before consuming any rice, potatoes, or other starches.
Conclusion
The simple strategy of eating food groups in a specific order is an additional tool that does not require special foods, supplements, or a lot of willpower. By changing the order in which you eat foods you already enjoy, you may be able to improve your glycemic control, reduce medication needs, and support weight management goals. Let’s not forget a better A1C!
Note: If you have a CGM continuous glucose monitor, you can easily test this strategy yourself.
As with any diabetes management strategy, it’s important to monitor blood glucose levels regularly and work with your healthcare team to adjust medication as needed when implementing changes to eating patterns.
Check out Dr. Fung’s video here.
Love, tolerance, and peace,
Harriette and Ronda
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