★★★★★ 4
Worth reading to better understand blood sugar, but don’t limit yourself to this one resource
Format: Hardcover
My mother had type 2 diabetes and ultimately died from related kidney failure. For years I have exercised and managed my diet in an effort to avoid a similar fate. I was therefore stunned during a recent doctor's appointment when it was revealed that my hemoglobin A1c was above normal limits. I immediately ordered a continous glucose monitor and was dismayed to see that my blood glucose levels were regularly exceeding what would be considered normal. I am now trying to learn as much as possible about preventing these elevated glucose levels.
In my research I was led to Jessie Inchauspe (Glucose Goddess on Instagram) and decided to buy her book, The Glucose Revolution. I will say that the majority of the information in this book is available for free on her Instagram account. However, I like the simplicity of reading through the book rather than scrolling through posts and reels.
The author gives a thorough overview of glucose, explaining the different forms and how they act in our bodies. She explains glucose spikes and has a really good explanation of what the hemoglobin A1c test is measuring. She then shares 10 hacks to help lower your blood sugar levels that I feel are relatively easy to incorporate into your eating plan. Some of them, like eating dessert over a sweet snack (eat a sweet food after a meal rather than on its own) were things that I have already been doing intuitively.
I do wonder at the description of our stomachs as a sink and the intestine as the pipe below. She claims that when we eat carbs first, they flow uninterrupted into the intestine. Drawing on information from my college nutrition classes many years ago, I seem to remember that chemical digestion begins in your mouth and that because of the churning in your stomach, the food that you eat will all be mixed around and therefore it doesn't really matter what order you eat your foods in. That being said, it's a relatively minor thing to eat a veggie starter and/or eat foods in the described order.
I also question the idea that our blood sugar shouldn't rise more than 30 points after eating. If my blood sugar is at 80, that means after eating my glucose level should not be above 110. That is well below the generally accepted rise to 140. I'm not saying that we should always be going to that level, but even a modest rise to 120 would not be accepable according to the standards presented in the book.
Of note, the author does not have diabetes or prediabetes and started the Glucose Goddess after working for a company that was developing continuous glucose monitors.
Overall, I do think this book is worth reading to better understand blood sugar. I wouldn't limit your knowledge to just this one source of information though. I've been slowly working through articles and videos published on the Nourished by Science website. I really appreciate the perspective offered there. Women entering menoupause might want to investigate the effects of decling estrogen on their blood glucose levels too. The New Menopause by Dr. Mary Claire Haver is a fantastic book on this stage of life.
WAS THIS REVIEW HELPFUL?YesReportShare
Reviewed in the United States on September 18, 2024
