What I learned this week:  This episode I share all about the book The Glucose Goddess Method by Jessie Inchauspe.  I also confess that I have been saying her last name incorrectly.  So I apologize.  Phonetically is sounds like In-show-pay. 

The Glucose Goddess Method is a sequel to the book The Glucose Revolution.  In that book, Ms. Inchauspe tells us all about glucose, how it works in our body and how all of us would benefit from being aware of a glucose levels.  This book is a way to help those who really want to work on implementing some of the hacks that Jessie tells us all about.   She chooses 4 hacks that have the most benefits for us and turns it into a 4 week program with recipes to go along with each of the week. 

The method looks like this:

Week 1 : Eat a savory breakfast. 

Eating a savory breakfast helps us all start our day with our glucose levels steady.  It is especially important in the morning since our stomach's our empty then we are extra senstivie to sugar and our spikes tend to be larger if we have a typical american breakfast of sweets, cereals, or oatmeal.   She say the important part of the savory breakfast is to have it centered around protein, with some fat and then we can have carbs but they are only a side not the main player of the morning. 

In her book she has 30 recipes to help you get ideas for a savory breakfast.

Week 2:  Introduce vinegar to your life.  Add one tablespoon of vinegar before one meal a day. 

Who knew that vinegar could be so awesome.  It is because of the acetic acid it contains. This acetic acid slow the rate at which our digestive enzymes break down sugar and starches into glucose , which means the glucose hits our system more softly which reduces the spike.  The other thing it does is once acetic acid gets into our bloodstream, it penetrates our muscles.  There it encourages our muscles to soak up glucose molecules that are floating around and to store them for our next exercise. 

What’s more, acetic acid reduces that amount of insulin present - which helps us get back into fat burning mode - it also has a remarkable effect on our DNA.  It tells our DNA to reprogram slightly  so that our mitochondria burn more fat.  

Adding it before we eat has a powerful effect on our glucose levels.  So she says the optimal time to drink it is 10 minutes before you eat.  You can also use pickled veggies or dressings as a ways to get your vinegar. 

She also has about 22 recipes or ways you can get vinegar in your day.

Week 3:  Add a veggie started to the beginning of one meal a day

The veggie started adds fiber which is good anytime but when you add it at the beginning of your meal it acts as a mesh lining so that anything else that you eat, hit your blood stream more gently and therefore no spiking your blood sugar. 

According to many of the original participants of this method - this hack can be the hardest since it takes a lot of preparation.  In the book, Jessie has another 30 or more recipes to give you plenty ideas. 

Week 4:  Add 10 minutes of light movement after one of you meals

When we eat our body needs glucose for energy and many times in our modern diet we use staches and sweet to get that energy.  Except we usually get to much but when we add movement after we eat - some of that glucose that we have eaten gets used up by your muscle cells.  Your mitochondria turn the extra glucose into energy to fuel your contracting muscles and the spike reduces.   And the best part, when we move after eating we flatten our glucose curve without increasing our insulin levels.  “Although our muscles usually need insulin to stash glucose away, they don’t when they are in the act of contracting.  Because reducing our insulin levels is a key factor that improves our health.  This 10 min hack is a very powerful way to reduce our glucose spike."

A note on cravings. 

Jessie has a tips for when you experience a craving.  “ First, give your craving a 20 minute cooling off period.  Back in hunter-gatherer days, decreases in our glucose levels signaled that we hadn’t eatne in a long time.  In response, our brain told us to find tasty food.  Today, when we encounter a decrease in glucose levels, it’s usually because the last thing we ate caused a glucose spike.  Yet our brains tells us to do the same things, to choose  high-calorie foods, even though we are in no easy famished – we have got plenty of energy reserves.  After a glucose drop our liver, quickly (within 20 minutes) steps in, released stored glucose from those reserves into our blood stream, and bringing our levels back to normal.  At that point, the craving often dissipates."

Then she gives you a few scenarios to help deal with cravings - 1 Eat it now and enjoy it.  2 - Eat it, but don’t have it on an empty stomach.  Set the food you are craving aside and enjoy it as a dessert after your next meal.  3 - put some clothes on it. Meaning adding some protein, fat or fiber.  4, Have a vinegar drink before eating the food, 5 use your muscles for 10 minutes after eating the food.  

This method is very doable and I see it as a easy way to try to work on reducing you glucose levels and gaining more energy, better sleep, and reducing your cravings. 

A very easy method and one that just adds one habit without making you change anything else about what you like to eat.