Do You Have an Eating Misorder?

No, that’s not a typo in the title. I did mean to use the word “misorder” rather than “disorder.”

You may be aware that consuming carbohydrates (bread, pasta, sweets, etc.) will cause your blood sugar to rise sharply, or “spike,” as compared to low-carb foods. It’s still not well-understood how these spikes impact health versus just chronically high blood sugar due to insulin resistance and diabetes, but at least when they occur frequently, it is highly likely that they have negative effects on health.

Poor blood sugar control is associated with cravings, fatigue, skin problems (such as acne), hormonal imbalances, sleep disturbances, and brain fog. Eventually, it often leads to Type II diabetes and the serious health issues associated with it, such as cardiovascular disease.

Obviously, it’s important to maintain healthy blood sugar. There are a lot of ways to do that, including exercise and dietary modifications, but some recent research suggests there may be a very simple and easy way to dramatically reduce blood sugar spikes – when eating the exact same meal!

Basically, what was discovered is that eating the carbohydrate-rich foods in a meal last results in a much lower spike in blood sugar when compared to eating them first.

Specifically, a meal of vegetables, chicken, bread, and orange juice – consumed in that order – had a 73% reduction in the post-meal blood glucose spike as the same foods and quantities consumed in the opposite order (orange juice, bread, chicken and vegetables)!

Other studies have had similar results – eating carbs last has a significantly-reduced blood glucose spike as compared to eating them first. There’s various explanations as to why this is the case, but the main takeaway is that it’s probably healthier to eat this way – eating carbs last.

Now, “eating carbs last” is not intended to be advice to always eat dessert! The greater the sugar consumption, the higher the blood glucose, but if you are going to eat something sweet, it’s better to have it after some foods with protein and even some fat, so that your blood sugar stays more even.

In the real world, this means things like skipping the complementary bread or chips served at restaurants while you’re waiting for your order, or holding off on the juice at breakfast until you’ve had some protein. Simple doesn’t always mean easy – and there may be rare occasions where it might be worth a cheat! But those small changes in your eating habits done more or less consistently are probably worth it in the long-run, particularly if you are already aware that you have blood sugar control issues.

Until next time…

George F. Best, D.C.