Podcast Summary
Hacks to Keep Glucose Levels Steady and Extend Your Lifespan: Overconsumption of sugar or starch can lead to accelerated aging. Adopting simple hacks such as having a savory breakfast and using your muscles after meals can help keep glucose levels steady and promote longevity.
Sugar and starch are the biggest problems that affect our longevity switch. Overconsumption of sugar or starch can cause a rapid acceleration of aging. However, one does not have to give up all the food they love, as there are ten principles that allow us to keep glucose levels steady. A simple hack for this is to have a savory breakfast instead of a sweet one to avoid spiking glucose levels. Using your muscles for ten minutes after meals also helps in reducing glucose spikes. Other hacks include having vinegar before sweets, having sweets after meals, and putting clothes on your carbs. These hacks are mentioned in the book 'Glucose Revolution.'
How to Regulate Blood Sugar Levels and Reduce the Risk of Health Issues: Adding protein, fat, or fiber to meals can regulate blood sugar levels and reduce the risk of diabetes or insulin resistance. Personalizing your approach and promoting good gut health can also be helpful.
To avoid a big glucose spike after eating something sweet or starchy, it's important to "put clothes" on your carbs by adding protein, fat, or fiber to your meal. This can help regulate your blood sugar levels and prevent health issues like diabetes or insulin resistance. However, everyone's glucose metabolism is different and can be affected by factors like genetics, microbiome, hydration, and stress levels. Using a glucose monitor can help personalize your approach to managing your blood sugar levels. Additionally, the microbiome in our gut plays a significant role in our metabolic health, and absorbing toxins from bad gut bacteria can improve blood sugar levels.
The Importance of Regulating Blood Sugar Levels: Keeping blood sugar levels in check is crucial for healthy aging and preventing inflammatory diseases. High blood sugar can lead to abnormal protein formation and inflammation, which increases the risk of various diseases. Regular monitoring and regulation is necessary to prevent chronic inflammation.
Regulating your blood sugar is crucial for healthy aging and preventing inflammatory diseases. Glucose spikes lead to "toasting" of proteins in your body, causing abnormal proteins to form and gum things up. Hemoglobin A1c is used to measure average blood sugar levels in the body. Overwhelming mitochondria with too much glucose can shut them down, leading to the release of harmful free radicals that cause inflammation. Chronic inflammation increases the risk of various diseases, so it is important to keep blood sugar levels in check. Insulin levels can increase for years before fasting glucose levels increase, so it is important to regularly monitor and regulate blood sugar levels.
The Importance of Meal Timing for Optimal Health.: Eating an earlier dinner, avoiding heavy meals before bed, and practicing time-restricted feeding can lead to improvements in blood pressure, blood sugar, and weight management. Focusing on when we eat can benefit our health in the long run.
Timing of meals is just as important as what we eat and how much we eat. Eating an earlier dinner, avoiding heavy meals before bed and not eating for an hour or two after waking up can lead to improvements in blood pressure and blood sugar levels, independent of weight loss. Late night eating can disrupt our body's circadian rhythm, negatively affecting hormones involved in energy metabolism and hunger, leading to weight gain. Intermittent fasting and time-restricted eating can also extend lifespan and reduce the risk for diseases. Thus, we need to focus on when we eat and practice early time restricted feeding for optimal health.
Late Night Eating and Weight Gain: Setting a cutoff time for eating, and avoiding too many carbohydrates in the evening, can help with weight management. Pairing carbs with fat, protein, and fiber can manage blood sugar. Walking after eating lowers glucose responses.
Late night eating can increase weight gain by reducing the levels of leptin, a metabolic throttle, and increasing levels of ghrelin, a hormone involved in hunger. Giving yourself an 8:00 PM or 9:00 PM cutoff for eating and considering the kitchen closed can help with weight management. Eating too many carbohydrates in the evening can cause insulin to spike and negatively affect hormones like growth hormone, and interact with insulin degrading enzyme, which is associated with Alzheimer's disease. Pairing carbohydrates with fat, protein, and fiber can help with blood sugar management. Walking after eating can significantly reduce glucose responses.
Walking After Meals Lowers Glucose Spikes: Walking for just 15-20 minutes after meals can prevent reactive hypoglycemia and improve glucose levels, while avoiding sugary foods like Skittles and cereals can prevent post-meal slumps and improve overall health.
Walking after meals, even if it's just a 15-20 minute stroll around the block, can significantly lower glucose spikes and prevent reactive hypoglycemia, which can make you feel tired and shaky. Candy, specifically Skittles, cereals, soda, fast food, and common takeout are foods to avoid as they cause significant glucose spikes and crashes, leading to a post-meal slump. Skittles are the worst offender with an average glucose rise of 83 milligrams per deciliter. Eating a Snickers bar instead of Skittles can cause half the glucose spike, and adding fat and protein to your meals can prevent such spikes. Sugary foods like candy are often used as pain management tools in hospitals, which is unhealthy. Removing sugary foods like candy and cereals can improve glucose levels and prevent reactive hypoglycemia.
The Importance of Choosing Nutrient-Dense Breakfast Options: Prioritizing breakfast options that are high in protein and healthy fats, and low in refined carbohydrates and sugars, can stabilize blood sugar levels and provide sustained energy throughout the day. Opt for frittatas, avocado and egg, chia pudding, Greek yogurt and berries, or the fab four smoothie.
Many common American breakfast foods, such as cereals, bagels with cream cheese, french toast, and Poptarts, can cause a spike in blood glucose levels, which can lead to crashes later in the day. It's important to prioritize nutrient dense breakfast options that are low in refined carbohydrates and sugars, such as frittatas, avocado and egg, chia pudding, Greek yogurt and berries, and the fab four smoothie. Eating a breakfast high in protein and healthy fats, and low in sugar and carbs, can help stabilize blood sugar levels and provide sustained energy throughout the day.
