Glucose is essential for life. Your mind and body have been configured by evolution to maintain glucose homeostasis and provide a steady supply of glucose to your muscles, brain and vital organs whenever it is needed. Blood sugar volatility however, can indicate glucose dysregulation, which can lead to short-term and long-term health issues and shorten your lifespan.

Glucose dysregulation increases your risk of Type 2 Diabetes, obesity and heart disease, along with nephropathy, neuropathy, retinopathy, cataracts, glaucoma, inflammation, immune dysfunction, infections, Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of cognitive decline, poor wound healing, mood swings, along with symptoms such as fatigue, shakiness, irritability, and dizziness.

Continuous glucose monitors can now inform you of moment-to-moment blood glucose changes and provide personal guidance on how your blood sugar levels vary with different diets or activities, yet there are some simple, practical recommendations that everyone can follow to help to reduce glucose spikes.

The following poem outlines "20 Essential Sugar Hacks" aimed at improving blood sugar regulation and enhancing the way we approach food. Each ‘hack’ is backed by scientific evidence and aligns with principles of mindful eating, optimising metabolism, gut health, and maintaining a diverse, balanced, and nutritious diet.

Biohacking Sugar: 20 ESSENTIAL SUGAR HACKS  

Eat food in the right order

Fibre, fat and protein first

Add a dash of vinegar

Let filtered water quench your thirst

There is no need for counting calories

Just leave the sweets till last

Move your body after meals

Avoid those naked carbs

Only eat when hungry

Extend your fast at night

Eat with grace and colour

Enjoy the feast in the first bite

Try eating with the seasons,

Enjoy different cuisines

Eat all the different parts of plants

Fungi, roots, flowers, fruits, and greens

Enjoy foods of many flavours

Bitter, salty, spicey, sour and sweet

Eat living ferments with each meal

Give your gut biome a treat

Don’t be rigid with your choices

And when push becomes a shove

Do what feels right in each moment

And eat the foods you love

 #professorialpoetry 

Let’s break these sugar hacks down.

1. Eat food in the right order: fibre, fat, and protein first

Eating food in a specific order starting with foods that take longer to digest such as fibre, fat, and protein has a profound effect on blood sugar. Complex foods take longer to digest, which delays gastric emptying and releases glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1), which acts on the hypothalamus to suppresses appetite.

2. Add a dash of vinegar

Acetic acid inhibits amylase and thereby slows the digestion of starches into sugars. Vinegar also slows gastric emptying and improves insulin sensitivity, which further slows glucose absorption and reduces post-prandial glucose spikes. These effects are enhanced by a high polyphenol content in kombucha, apple cider, red wine, or pomegranate vinegar.

3. Let filtered water quench your thirst

Adequate hydration can reduce cravings and caloric intake, yet water often contains toxicants like chlorine and heavy metals along with endocrine disruptors and obesogens such as pesticides, fire retardants and microplastics. Drinking filtered water is essential to reduce toxic exposures, because if you don’t use a filter, you are one.

4. There is no need for counting calories

Rather than focusing on calorie counting, it’s better to focus on the relaxed enjoyment of nutrient-dense foods. Counting calories shifts the focus of eating from pleasure and nourishment to a chore that requires calibrating calories to metabolic needs, which can then lead to anxiety, cortisol release and subsequent glucose dysregulation.

5. Just leave the sweets till last

Consuming sugar at the start of a meal can cause rapid rises in blood glucose and insulin followed by a crash that triggers hunger and cravings. Saving sweets for last helps stabilize blood sugar and makes it less likely to overeat sugary foods thereby fostering a healthier relationship with food.

6. Move your body after meals

Physical activity that activates large muscle groups can help regulate blood sugar levels as active muscles absorb glucose from the bloodstream. Engaging in short bursts of physical activity after meals, such as walking or light stretching can significantly lower blood glucose spikes, prevent insulin resistance, and promote overall metabolic health.

7. Avoid those naked carbs

"Naked carbs" refer to refined, simple carbohydrates like white bread, pasta, pastries and candy, which are quickly broken down into sugar and cause rapid spikes in blood glucose. Eating carbs with fibre, fat or protein offers a more balanced source of energy by slowing glucose absorption and promoting lasting satiety.

8. Only eat when hungry

The body's hunger signals are an essential part of energy regulation and tuning into these signals helps avoid unnecessary snacking or overeating by promoting mindful eating rather than eating out of habit or boredom. Mindful eating improves your relationship with food and leads to better glucose regulation and overall health.

9. Extend your fast at night

Extending the fasting period overnight (intermittent fasting) ensures your body has sufficient time to fully digest, eliminate and prepare to fully receive and process the next meal. This can improve insulin sensitivity and glucose control, promote cellular repair, fat burning and weight loss, and reduce the risk of chronic disease.

10. Eat with grace

Eating with grace includes giving thanks before meals as well as eating mindfully in a relaxed and unhurried setting, rather than gulping down fast food while doing other tasks. Such graceful eating can lead to greater enjoyment along with better digestion and satisfaction, potentially reducing overeating and improving nutrient intake.

11. And colour

Colorful fruits and vegetables tend to be low in calories and high in fibre, vitamins, minerals and beneficial phytochemicals. Eating foods of many colours often referred to as "eating the rainbow" ensures you are consuming a diverse range of phytonutrients with health promoting effects such as flavonoids, anthocyanins, and carotenoids.

12. Enjoy the feast in the first bite

The first bite of any meal, snack or treat is always the best with diminishing returns for every subsequent bite. Savouring the different flavours of each bite of food helps improve digestion, prevents overeating, and enhances the body's ability to recognize satiety signals leading to the consumption of less calories.

13. Try eating with the seasons

Seasonal eating promotes eating foods at their peak ripeness when they are often cheaper, fresher, tastier and richer in diverse nutrients. Nutrients are often diminished through processing, storage and transportation and seasonal eating is likely to be more locally based and have a smaller carbon footprint due to less transportation. 

14. Enjoy different cuisines 

Traditional cuisines are usually based on plant-rich, nutrient-dense foods that support a diverse and balanced diet. While dietary recommendations often come and go with the latest fad or trend, cuisines are time-tested ways of eating that expose you to a wide array of flavors, textures, plant groups and cooking methods.

15. Eat all the different parts of plants: Fungi, roots, flowers, fruits, and greens

Each part of a plant offers different phytonutrients, fiber types and antioxidants, along with different flavour and texture profiles. Regularly eating fungi along with a diverse range of plant parts ensures you are consuming a diverse range of macro and micro-nutrients, and promotes gut microbiota diversity and better metabolic health.

16. Enjoy foods of many flavours: Bitter, salty, spicy, sour, and sweet

A balanced approach to flavours ensures a satisfying and enjoyable eating experience as each flavour offers unique benefits. Balancing flavours increases enjoyment and satiety and reduces cravings. For example, bitter flavours can reduce sweet cravings and help stimulate appetite and improve digestion, hence the traditional use of ‘aperitifs’ or ‘digestifs’.   

17. Eat living ferments with each meal, give your gut biome a treat

Fermented foods, such as kimchi, yogurt, sauerkraut, and kombucha are rich in probiotics, which enhance the diversity and activity of gut bacteria. The gut microbiome plays a crucial role in digestion, immune function, and mood regulation and a healthy gut microbiome is linked to better glucose metabolism and reduced inflammation.

18. Don’t be rigid with your choices

Rigid dietary regimens can lead to stress, anxiety, and feelings of deprivation, which may cause overeating, binge eating and cortisol release and subsequent glucose dysregulation.  Maintaining flexibility in dietary choices and allowing for occasional indulgences is a more sustainable approach that leads to better weight management and healthier eating habits.

19. And when a push becomes a shove, do what feels right in each moment

Being able to tune in, trust your instincts and select foods that feel right in each moment builds self-confidence and enables you to overcome unhealthy impulses, marketing-hype or peer-pressure that seeks to control or limit your choices. Staying true to yourself is empowering and will help improve your eating habits. 

20. And eat the foods you love

Preventing yourself from eating foods that bring you joy can create resentment and make it more likely you’ll be unsatisfied, make poor choices and binge. Eating is an inherently enjoyable activity and listening to your body and enjoying foods you love is the key to a healthy relationship with food.

#professorialpoetry