Watch the full interview below or listen to the full episode on your iPhone HERE.
Stu: This week, I’m excited to welcome Jessie Inchauspé to the podcast. Jessie is a biochemist and product developer with a fascination of glucose monitoring and what we can learn from it. She’s the founder of Glucose Goddess, an online movement, helping people reconnect with their bodies, and also the author of Glucose Revolution. In this episode, we discuss why we should care about glucose, the telltale signs that we are over-consuming, the best ways to track it, and strategies to combat glucose spikes. Over to Jessie.
Audio Version
Some questions asked during this episode:
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Why should we (the public) care about glucose? (02:55)
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What are the tell-tale signs of consuming too much glucose? (06:51)
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What strategies can we quickly use to combat spikes in glucose? (20:43)
Get more of Jessie:
If you enjoyed this, then we think you’ll enjoy this interview:
- Robert Lustig: The Hidden Truth About Sugar, Weight Loss & Disease
- Dr Gurpreet Padda – Discover The Secret to ‘Becoming’ a Type 2 Diabetic
- Tim Noakes: Fat Myths, Reversing Diabetes & The Real Meal Revolution
The views expressed on this podcast are the personal views of the host and guest speakers and not the views of Bega Cheese Limited or 180 Nutrition Pty Ltd. In addition, the views expressed should not be taken or relied upon as medical advice. Listeners should speak to their doctor to obtain medical advice.
Disclaimer: The transcript below has not been proofread and some words may be mis-transcribed.
Full Transcript
Stu
(00:03)
Hey, this is Stu from 180 Nutrition, and welcome to another episode of the Health Sessions. It’s here that we connect with the world’s best experts in health, wellness, and human performance in an attempt to cut through the confusion around what it actually takes to achieve long-lasting health. Now, I’m sure that’s something that we all strive to have. I certainly do. Before we get into the show today, you might not know that we make products too. That’s right. We are into whole food nutrition and have a range of superfoods and natural supplements to help support your day. If you are curious, want to find out more, just jump over to our website. That is 180nutrition.com.au, and take a look. Okay. Back to the show.
Stu (00:44):
This week, I’m excited to welcome Jessie Inchauspe to the podcast. Jessie is a biochemist and product developer with a fascination of glucose monitoring and what we can learn from it. She’s the founder of Glucose Goddess, an online movement, helping people reconnect with their bodies, and also the author of Glucose Revolution. In this episode, we discuss why we should care about glucose, the telltale signs that we are over-consuming, the best ways to track it, and strategies to combat glucose spikes. Over to Jessie.
Stu (01:18):
Hey guys, this is Stu from 180 Nutrition and I am delighted to welcome Jessie Inchauspe to the podcast. Jessie, how are you? Good morning.
Jessie (01:26):
Hi Stewart. I’m so good. How are you?
Stu (01:29):
Very good. Very good. Really, really excited to talk to you today. And as we were just talking off-camera, I mentioned that you’ve really added some bling, some pizazz to this world of glucose, which is fantastic because it’s bringing it mainstream, more mainstream than I think it has ever been. But it opens up a whole realm of hacks tips, tricks, strategies for us to start to take control of our health, which I’m super excited about talking with you today. But first up, for all of our listeners that may not be familiar with you or your work, I’d love it if you could just tell us a little bit about yourself, please.
Jessie (02:10):
Of course. I’m French, trained as a mathematician, then a biochemist, and I’ve been spending the past three years making the science of blood sugar or glucose accessible mainstream. And as you said, bling, I like thinking that I’m making the science stylish and accessible for people to use. I’m a scientific translator if you will. I take the latest scientific Studies and I turn them into very easy tips for everybody to apply. I started on Instagram. My Instagram is Glucose Goddess, and I just finished writing a book Glucose Revolution that is going to bring the stylish science to even more people, I hope.
Stu (02:55):
Fantastic. So clearly we’ve had the sugar message. Maybe there’s some confusion there between people that are listening as well. So glucose, tell us about glucose. What is it? Why should we the public care about it?
Jessie (03:12):
Yeah. Glucose is your body’s preferred energy source. So every single cell in your body needs it to perform a function. Your eye cells need it to see me right now in the video, your ear cells to hear, your brain cells to think, your feet cells to dance. We need glucose. It’s a fuel. Unfortunately, in our modern way of eating, we’re getting too much glucose than we need. We’re eating many more starchy and sweet foods than we’re supposed to and starchy and sweet foods break down into glucose in our body. But you might have thought, well, if it’s our body’s preferred energy source, giving more to my body is a good thing, right? I mean more energy. It turns out it’s not really the case. It’s kind of like if you think of a plant and plants need water to live, but if you give a plant too much water, then it drowns. If you give a human too much oxygen, then the human passes out. And similarly, if you give a human too much glucose, problems start happening.
Jessie (04:14):
And specifically, there’s this concept called glucose spikes. A glucose spike is when after a meal, you deliver too much glucose too quickly to your body. And these glucose spikes actually happen in 90% of us every single day. And these glucose spikes have consequences from aging to inflammation, to weight, gain, to mood disturbances. What I’ve discovered through the science is that actually keeping your glucose levels steady helps many, many symptoms go away. We’re talking fatigue, cravings, poor sleep, worsening menopause symptoms, infertility, chronic illnesses, mental health. It really has a huge, fundamental impact on our physical and mental health. And I know this for a fact because learning about glucose and how to regulate it healed me in my own health journey.
Stu (05:15):
So, million-dollar question. Right, we’re not going to consume any more glucose anymore, but that’s fine because my bread, my pasta, my bananas, my potatoes, well, there’s no glucose in there. I can’t see it on the ingredients list. So am I fine with these foods?
Jessie (05:35):
Okay. So you’re asking if you can’t read the word glucose in the ingredients?
Stu (05:38):
Yes, exactly.
Jessie (05:40):
Actually, glucose is in anything that tastes sweet or anything that is starchy. So sweet, I mean chocolate, ice cream, cookies, dessert, fruit. And also in anything starchy. So potato, pasta, bread, rice, et cetera. There’s glucose and sweet and starchy foods, but actually, the tips and the hacks that I share, allow people to still eat the sweet and starchy foods while also avoiding the glucose spikes. I’m not here to talk about never eat sugars or starches anymore. That’s not the message. I think that’s too intense, too drastic. Nobody wants broccoli cake for their birthday, at least I don’t. And so the tips that I share allow you to still eat all the foods you love while also flattening your glucose curves so you can start to feel better. And the tips are really easy. It’s like eat your food in the right order. Add vinegar before your meals. Go for a 10-minute walk after eating. Put clothing on your carbs. Very simple tips that are easy to apply right now that can make a huge difference.
Stu (06:51):
Fantastic. Well, I’d love to dive into those a little bit later in more depth, because there’s a few that I’ve about that just make so much sense and are a no-brainer. Before we get into that, I just want to talk to you a little bit more about the telltale signs then of consuming too much glucose. And you mentioned some of the adverse effects, but just for the public out there that perhaps think, “Well, I’m doing okay. I’m quite healthy. I’m not overweight. And I eat reasonably well, but I’m not feeling quite right.” What would those telltale signs look like?
Jessie (07:36):
The most common signs that you’re experiencing glucose spikes on a daily basis… without knowing it, by the way. 90% of us are experiencing them every day, are the following. One, cravings for sweet foods. And this can be mid-morning, after meals, mid-afternoon, cravings for sweet foods are usually caused by glucose spikes and dips throughout the day because glucose dips activate the craving center in our brain. Second, I would say, is this feeling that you need to eat every 90 minutes. That’s a really common one in my community. People report that. So you eat something and then an hour and a half later you’re starving. You have hunger pangs and you really need to have another snack. And if you don’t eat, you might feel lightheaded, a bit dizzy, et cetera. Third most common sign is fatigue. You wake up in the morning and you don’t feel rested. Or after meals, between meals, you get really exhausted and you need a coffee. You wish you could take a nap.
Stu (08:39):
Yeah.
Jessie (08:40):
So cravings, excessive hunger between meals, and sleepiness are the most common ones. But then there are others that are becoming more and more common. For example, in women, this condition called Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome, many women who experience this syndrome actually are suffering from glucose spikes and the glucose spikes are causing the symptoms to get worse and worse. That’s something that’s becoming more prevalent. Right now, I think it’s one in eight women experience this condition. Acne, rosacea, any inflammatory based diseases, mental health diSturbances, increasingly you see glucose spikes being connected to anxiety and depression symptoms. And then, of course, the most commonly associated condition to glucose spikes is Type Two Diabetes, and pre-diabetes, and Gestational Diabetes. So you have sleep, hunger, cravings, hormonal issues, Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome, irregular periods, really difficult menopause. And then the chronic diseases, so Type Two Diabetes, any type of diabetes are the most common.
Stu (09:50):
Boy, glucose is the bad boy. That’s for sure.
Jessie (09:54):
Well, okay. I wouldn’t actually say it’s the bad boy because we need it to live, but the way in which we’re eating is causing it to have these harmful side effects on the body. But I don’t want people to say it’s the bad boy and say they should never eat it again because it’s dangerous. We don’t want to cancel glucose. We need it and we can enjoy it. And it’s been a part of our diet for millennia. It’s delicious. It’s about understanding how and when to eat it. So you can still enjoy it but without the consequences.
Stu (10:29):
Got it. How do we track then? How do we track our own glucose levels within our bodies?
Jessie (10:35):
It depends. I think if you can have access to a continuous glucose monitor, those are pretty cool. I wore one, three years ago almost continuously up until this day, and wearing a continuous glucose monitor was, for me, the key in understanding that glucose spikes were causing these mental health problems in me. I broke my back when I was 19 and then I suffered a lot physically and mentally from it. And I was really lost, Stuart, as to how do I feel better? How do I get my mental health in a better place? And almost 10 years after my accident, I finally put on a glucose monitor, and there, I realized that glucose spikes I was experiencing almost on a daily basis could be triggers for my mental health issues. And that’s how I became so interested in the topic. And now I share the science with everybody.
Jessie (11:27):
If you have access to a continuous glucose monitor, it is very cool to put one on and to see what’s happening, what you’re eating that’s causing spikes. I definitely recommend if you can. However, I will say, they’re still quite expensive right now and you don’t need to wear a glucose monitor to start applying the hacks that I share to get your glucose level steady. In fact, if you experience any of the symptoms I just mentioned like fatigue, cravings, hunger, et cetera, you could try to track those and they can become your data points to see how your glucose level is doing. So keep a little diary, had lunch, cravings an hour later for something sweet, or fatigue, or super hungry. And then as you start applying the hacks that I share, see how those dissipate, because they can go away in a couple days. It’s pretty remarkable.
Stu (12:19):
Yeah, absolutely. And I think for everybody that can’t visualize, I think, what the glucose or continuous glucose monitor presents, I’d recommend jumping on your Instagram channel, which is Glucose Goddess, and you can see these beautiful charts that essentially track foods and then variations of things that you can do with the similar or same foods to flatten the curve for want of a better phrase. It’s very visual and it just makes perfect sense. And if you said… Well, like you said, previously, you’ve got so many signs and symptoms of potential illnesses that we really want to try and avoid, and if we can track our glucose and monitor it and utilize some of the strategies that we’ll get into in a second to lower that curve, then it’s just a winner all round, which is-
Jessie (13:10):
Totally.
Stu (13:12):
… fantastic. Were you surprised by any particular foods or lifestyle practices or I guess all of the above when you were wearing your monitor?
Jessie (13:27):
The biggest surprise I had in the food world was how much my breakfast choices were really wrong.
Stu (13:36):
Yeah.
Jessie (13:39):
I grew up eating a Nutella crepe every morning for breakfast when I was young.
Stu (13:42):
Right.
Jessie (13:45):
And I was in school. And at 11, I was so hungry, like actual physical pain in my stomach from hunger. And I think the sweet breakfast is something that we’ve all accepted to be just a normal thing because we think, “Oh. If I eat something sweet, it’ll give me energy.” Actually, that’s not the case because sweetness activates dopamine in your brain. So you feel pleasure, but fundamentally it creates a glucose spike in your body, which long term harms the ability of your mitochondria to make energy. The breakfast was really shocking. Anything from cereal, fruit juice, rice cakes, muesli, pastries, that would create massive spikes. And then I would see that if my breakfast had created a really big spike, the rest of my day would actually be even more deregulated. And this has been shown also in the sun.
Jessie (14:36):
There’s this really cool Study where they took two groups of participants and they hooked glucose monitors onto them. And they gave them one of two breakfasts, same number of calories, both breakfasts. One breakfast created a big glucose spike and the other one didn’t because the macronutrients were different. They saw that in people who had this big spike for breakfast, they had more cravings throughout the day. They were hungrier before lunch and dinner. And their lunch and dinner, even though they were the same as the other group, created bigger glucose spikes in their body. So I learned there that your breakfast curve really dictates how you feel for the rest of the day. I switched to savory breakfasts, which is one of the hacks I share now, nothing sweet in the morning. And that has completely changed my life.
Jessie (15:27):
I thought it was normal to feel exhausted at 2:00 PM. I thought it was normal to want to eat something sweet all the time. And actually, when you’re able to set up your day right, it’s like a whole new world. You experience your day in a vastly different way. You’re feeling good and steady and energized and happy. It was quite a fundamental change for me, the breakfast thing. That was a big one. I would say also I was quite surprised about fruit. It’s important to only fruit whole because fruit has been bred for centuries to be extra sweet and extra full of glucose and fructose. But even just a banana because of how they’ve been bred to be extra juicy, extra sweet, extra big, they actually can create pretty big spikes in our body. For the fruit lovers out there, I recommend using one of my hacks, which is put clothing on your carbs. Every time you eat a carb or a starch or a sugar, and fruits fall into that category, make sure you add protein, fat, and fiber to them.
Jessie (16:33):
My favorite thing is adding nut butter to a banana, having some apple with some cheese, and that changes the spike very much, so you don’t have the negative consequences of the spike and the crash. And we were talking before we started recording the podcast that you had intuitively figured this out a couple years ago, adding the fat, fiber, protein to your carbs. Right?
Stu (16:55):
Yeah. Oh, I’ve been through this for so long and just have been fascinated by foods and how they can affect the body and the mind and subsequently sleep, which then could derail your day, the next day if you don’t get good sleep and then you’re back into this carb cycle. And I used to start the day with a big bowl of porridge oats with a banana. And you’d think healthy oats and a banana. It’s fruit. But boy, I was ravenous an hour later and it was the biggest bowl of oats you could possibly imagine. And so from that point forward, I just started to experiment with, well, what if I use coconut cream to make my oats instead of water? What if I swap-
Jessie (17:41):
So adding fat.
Stu (17:43):
Adding fat. What if I swap the banana for blueberries? Things like that. And that subsequently went through years of iterations and now I almost eat a dinner for breakfast.
Jessie (17:55):
Same, leftovers for breakfast.
Stu (17:56):
Leftovers, cook once, eat twice. Question for you then. The breakfast that you used to eat, which was your Nutella crepe, would that be an issue for you from a glucose perspective if you’d eaten it after your leftovers for breakfast?
Jessie (18:14):
It would be less of an issue.
Stu (18:17):
Right.
Jessie (18:18):
It would be less of an issue, and that’s because the best time to eat something sweet is after other foods, so after protein, fat, and fiber. For example, if I really wanted a Nutella crepe, now I would know that I should eat it after something else. Whereas in the past, I wouldn’t have even thought that when I ate the crepe during the day would have an impact. But actually, if you eat something sweet or starchy after other foods, the speed at which the glucose from the sweet and starchy foods gets into your bloodstream is much slower, so you get less of a glucose spike. And another one of my hacks is prefer dessert over a sweet snack. For example, if it’s the morning and I’m walking by a bakery and I see a really good-looking chocolate cake or something, I used to just buy it and eat it there, but that would create a big spike and then I would feel super crappy afterwards. Now what I do is I buy it, but I keep it for dessert after my next meal.
Jessie (19:20):
I still get the pleasure of eating the delicious chocolate cake because I’m a big chocolate person, but with much fewer consequences for my body and I feel way better and that sweet thing does not go and create a glucose rollercoaster in my body that would make me have cravings for the next 24 hours. So it’s really about just changing how, and when you eat things, not changing necessarily what you eat. And many people have reported to me that, for example, just by doing this hack, desserts over a sweet snack just by eating your food in the right order, which we’ll get into or vinegar, they’ve seen tremendous changes in their health from hormonal issues going away to putting diabetes into remission, to feeling better mentally, having clearer skin. Of course, weight loss because it’s often a consequence of steadier glucose levels, but actually, it doesn’t have to be hard, which is why this is so incredible and important for people to know about. Because it doesn’t have to be difficult.
Stu (20:18):
Yeah. And that’s what I love about some of the visuals that you post on your Instagram channel, minor changes, minor changes, little levers, and dials here and there, but it makes a radical difference when you see this huge Mount Everest peak and then just this stable line. It’s chalk and cheese as we used to say.
Jessie (20:41):
Absolutely.
Stu (20:43):
Let’s dive in now then and talk about some of the strategies, and you’ve mentioned… You’ve touched on vinegar. I’d like, firstly, perhaps just to dive into that and ask how, how much, what type, what do we do with vinegar?
Jessie (21:00):
Well, it’s pretty cool. I’m a scientist, and when I started diving into the world of glucose and looking at all the scientific papers, I was sort of shocked to come across so many robust, double-blind placebo clinical trials about the effect of vinegar on our health. I think often you can think, oh, vinegar, that’s kind of like a wellness fad thing, but actually, there’s incredible scientific evidence supporting this, hundreds of Studies meta-analyses, et cetera. And all the science is in my book Glucose Revolution if you guys want to know more. But this is how it works. If you add a tablespoon of vinegar to your day, ideally before your meals, so you would take a tall glass of water and put a tablespoon of vinegar in it. It can be any type of vinegar except balsamic because it’s extra sweet. I use apple cider vinegar. I use the regular Bragg’s cider vinegar, not sponsored, although they should sponsor me.
Stu (21:58):
They should do. Yeah.
Jessie (22:01):
So apple cider vinegar, any type of vinegar works. And if you have it before a meal, you can cut the glucose spike of that meal by up to 35% without changing any of the food you’re eating during the meal, just by adding vinegar before you eat. And the reason for this incredible effect is the molecule in vinegar called acetic acid. And acetic acid has two main biochemical mechanisms via which it has this effect. The first one is it acts on the enzyme we have in our digestive system called alpha-amylase. And alpha-amylase’s role is to turn starch into glucose, to break down carbs into glucose essentially. And the acetic acid in the vinegar, it goes and it binds the alpha-amylase and it just slows down its action a little bit so Alpha-amylase is slower to work. So the carbs get broken down into glucose at a slower pace. Therefore, glucose arrives in our bloodstream at a slower pace. And this is good because glucose spikes are the result of too much glucose hitting our bloodstream too quickly. So if you just slow down the delivery, the curve actually flattens.
Jessie (23:16):
This is not the only thing, second, acetic acid goes into your muscles and it tells your muscles to soak up glucose as it arrives into your bloodstream, literally tells your muscles, “Hey, as soon as glucose comes around, soak it up and turn it into glycogen and store it.” Now you have these two actions. One, the actual delivery of glucose into the bloodstream is slowed. And second, the uptake of glucose as soon as it reaches the bloodstream is much faster from the muscles. You’re eating the exact same meal, but you have a much smaller glucose spike. And actually, you also have a much smaller insulin spike, which is really important as well. You’re eating the same meal, but you’re putting on less weight. You’re not creating this glucose rollercoaster. You’re reducing inflammation, you’re slowing down aging and you’re helping your hormonal system and you’re preventing the onset of chronic diseases. And this is just from a tablespoon of vinegar before your meals.
Stu (24:15):
Wow.
Jessie (24:16):
It’s really remarkable. I have to say, it’s been really incredible to discover this. And the Studies show that just by adding vinegar a couple times a day, people can put their Type Two Diabetes in remission, people can reverse their Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome symptoms. It’s really cool. It’s not a fad. It’s popular.
Stu (24:32):
It’s huge, huge. Questions about the vinegar.
Jessie (24:36):
Yeah.
Stu (24:37):
If you have three meals a day, would you have three glasses of vinegar water a day?
Jessie (24:44):
You can, if you want to you. It really depends on how many symptoms you have, what you’re trying to fix, and if you like it. If you don’t like the taste, don’t force yourself. It’s definitely an acquired taste. I probably do it whenever I have… I just bought a bottle yesterday, but I do it when I have it on my counter and I think of it. It’s kind of like all my hacks are meant to be tools in your tool belt that you use when it’s easy, but it’s not necessary to do it all the time. Just do it when it’s easy. Yeah.
Stu (25:16):
And final question on the vinegar.
Jessie (25:19):
Sure.
Stu (25:20):
Tablespoon in water, I’m guessing it’s diluted enough for it not to become an issue with tooth enamel.
Jessie (25:28):
Exactly. Yeah, exactly. And you can also if you want, just make a dressing that’s based around vinegar and have that-
Stu (25:36):
Oh, okay.
Jessie (25:37):
… in your meal, on your vegetable starter, which is another hack. And yes, the enamel thing. Some people also find that they want to use a straw just to protect their tooth enamel more. But in terms of the acidity of vinegar, vinegar is actually less acidic than lemon juice, less acidic than Coca-Cola, less acidic than your gastric juices. So even though it tastes strong, it’s actually not going to damage anything. But if you want to be safe just for your teeth, yeah, dilution and straw is always a good idea.
Stu (26:08):
Wonderful. Wonderful. And sorry, final question. Something just popped into my mind.
Jessie (26:12):
No, of course.
Stu (26:13):
Warm water, cold water, does it make-
Jessie (26:14):
It doesn’t make a difference.
Stu (26:16):
Right. Okay, good.
Jessie (26:17):
And you can also if you want add some lemon juice, a little bit of sea salt. You can put the vinegar in a cinnamon tea. You can do whatever floats your boat. I have a bunch of recipes in the book of different types of vinegar cocktails if you want to get fancy.
Stu (26:31):
Well, it’s an easy hack. And when you talk about the long list of issues that could occur over time if we are consuming too much glucose, then that’s an easy win. I’ll take that every time.
Jessie (26:44):
It is. Yeah.
Stu (26:44):
Fantastic. So vinegar, that’s easy. We can do that. And you mentioned the order of consuming the foods on your plate. I’d love to know a little bit more about that as well, please.
Jessie (26:58):
Absolutely. I would say that’s actually probably the easiest hack to start with for most of us because you don’t have to change anything about what you’re eating, the quantities, whatever. The concept is just when you sit down for your meal, look at the ingredients you have on your plate, and eat your food in a specific order. Now, if you eat your food in this correct order, you can curb the glucose spike of the meal by up to 75%.
Stu (27:25):
Huge. Huge.
Jessie (27:26):
75%. Massive. The correct order is the following. Vegetables first, proteins and fats second, and starches and sugars last. For example, if you have a meal consisting of, I don’t know, chicken, avocado, rice, and broccoli. You would start with the broccoli, then the chicken and avocado, then the rice. And then, for example, a sweet dessert if you have that planned as well. You don’t have to be completely draconian about it. Of course, you can mix a little bit, but try to eat the vegetables as close to the beginning of the meal as possible and the starches and sugars, the latest possible. And the reason this has such a big impact on our glucose levels is for two reasons. Number one, vegetables contain fiber. And fiber, superpower when it comes to glucose. If you eat things that contain fiber before anything else, the fiber is going to come into your stomach, then your upper intestine, and there it’s going to do something magical.
Jessie (28:35):
It’s going to coat the inside of your intestines. It’s going to create this sort of viscous mesh on the walls of your intestine. And this mesh is protective. Any glucose that comes down afterwards, thanks to this mesh will not be absorbed as much into your bloodstream. So you’re reducing the amount of glucose that even makes it into your bloodstream. As a result, you’re curbing the spike. Then second, the protein and the fats. Protein and fat have an effect on what’s called gastric emptying, which is the speed at which food moves from your stomach to your intestine. And protein and fat slow this down a little bit. Any glucose coming through afterwards, not only will more slowly make it into your intestine but also because of the fiber mesh, won’t even make it into your bloodstream as much. So you’re eating all the same foods, but you have a much smaller glucose spike.
Jessie (29:31):
And in the studies, they’ve done some really amazing experiments in people who have Type Two Diabetes, because, of course, this population is the most studied because Type Two Diabetes is so commonly connected to glucose, but it works in everyone. They just took two groups of people with Type Two Diabetes. They gave them the exact same diet for three months and they told one group to eat the food in the right order, veggies first, protein and fat second, starches and sugars last. And this group saw significant remission of their diabetes, incredible improvements in their overall health markers, whereas the group that ate the exact same diet with no particular order saw none of these improvements.
Stu (30:13):
Wow. Massive.
Jessie (30:16):
It’s massive. You have here a hack that is super, super, super easy, that can incredibly quickly affect how you feel, affect your physical and mental health, and help you heal without making anything complicated or burdensome. It’s very cool. From the moment I learned about this, this has become so core to my life. I love this hack. It’s become a total habit now. I can’t imagine not starting my meal with my vegetables. It just feels-
Stu (30:48):
I love it.
Jessie (30:48):
I don’t even want to.
Stu (30:48):
I love it. That’s so cool. For our listeners, if you’ve got a plate of potatoes on there as well, yes, they are a vegetable, but they’re a starch. Right? So you’d eat those last.
Jessie (30:59):
Yes. There’s a few things, of course, like potatoes are a starch. They’re starchy vegetables, so they’re in the starch category. It can be a little bit tricky sometimes like, oh, is this a starch or is this a vegetable? Apart from potatoes and maybe sweet potatoes, yams, that kind of Stuff, anything else counts as vegetables, but if you can, try to incorporate green vegetables, leafy veggies, that’s always the better bet in terms of how much fiber you’re going to get.
Stu (31:31):
That’s awesome. Wow. Two amazing tips. Can you give us a third?
Jessie (31:37):
I can give you a third if you want.
Stu (31:38):
All right. Yes, please.
Jessie (31:42):
Yeah, absolutely. Let’s talk about muscles actually.
Stu (31:44):
Okay.
Jessie (31:44):
Let’s talk about moving your body after you eat. And for people who want more hacks, there are 10 total in Glucose Revolution. So muscles, another hack is after every meal, use your muscles for 10 minutes and this can be anything. It’s just movement. It can be cleaning your kitchen. It can be mowing the lawn. It can be walking your dog. It can be dancing to your favorite food… to your favorite food, to your favorite song. It can be doing some pushups in front of the TV or whatever. Within 90 minutes after the end of a meal, use your muscles for 10 minutes and this will help reduce the glucose spike of that meal significantly. And it has a particular effect on this common feeling that we’ve all had, which is feeling tired after you’ve finished eating. And that’s usually caused by the glucose crash after the glucose spike of the meal.
Jessie (32:39):
So why this hack, why your muscles? As I mentioned in the vinegar example, your muscles are able to take glucose from your bloodstream and store it in glycogen form. But your muscles can also do something else with glucose. They can burn it for energy. Every time your muscles contract, they need energy. And the easiest place they find this energy is in glucose in your bloodstream. If after a meal, as the glucose spike is starting to happen in your body, if your muscles contract, maybe you’re dancing around, maybe you’re walking your dog, they’re going to soak up the glucose from your bloodstream and use it to contract. As a result, that’ll flatten the curve. So again, you’re not changing anything about what you’re eating, what you’re putting on your plate, or what you’re serving your family for dinner. But by using this hack, you’re making a significant dent in the glucose spike of that meal. You’re going to feel better. You’re not going to create all this glucose rollercoaster in your system. You’re going to feel really good. And this is just another easy thing you can do to get your glucose levels under control.
Stu (33:42):
Yeah. There’s nothing in there that would cause any issues for anyone. And they can be so pivotal. Because we mentioned before the show that the glucose, insulin, and everything that comes about it is really the key to everything.
Jessie (33:59):
It is. I like taking this image of imagine your body as a plane. And you’re in the cockpit and you’re the pilot. And you’re trying to steer this plane, control this plane so that you feel good so that your health is optimal. The problem is, most of us don’t know how our bodies work. We’re in the cockpit and there’s all these buttons. And we’re super confused as to like, how do I feel good? How do I keep this plane flying? My pitch is there’s one lever in your cockpit that if you understand it, if you understand how to put it in the right position, the plane will fly, your health will get really good, and things will get easy and better for you. And that lever is the amount of glucose in your body. It’s the levels of your glucose. It’s your glucose curve.
Jessie (34:46):
So really I think this is the best place for anyone to start because it has such a huge impact on so many systems in our body. It affects how we feel instantaneously because it plays on our mood and our hunger levels. And when you get your goes in perfect shape, many things fall into place.
Stu (35:07):
Fantastic. For everybody that wants to take this to the next level, because they love what they’ve heard during this conversation, we point them to the book. Glucose Revolution is the new book.
Jessie (35:21):
Yes.
Stu (35:21):
Super excited. So just about to launch or launched.
Jessie (35:25):
It’s out now. Yeah.
Stu (35:26):
It’s out now. What can we expect? What would we get if we jumped on it, ordered it today, and was super excited to turn the pages?
Jessie (35:37):
This book is going to help you wake up in the morning feeling amazing.
Stu (35:41):
Yeah. Can I have some of that, please?
Jessie (35:43):
That’s kind of-
Stu (35:44):
Everyone wants that.
Jessie (35:44):
… the core of it. Everyone wants that. Everyone wants that. And to get into detail, it has 10 hacks that explain to you really easy tips to get your glucose levels in the right place without giving up any of the foods you love. It has recipes. It has my own story, stories from many people in the Glucose Goddess community who’ve applied the hacks, have transformed their health. It’s full of fun science. It’s really for anybody, you don’t have to be a scientist to understand it. As you might have noticed, I love explaining science in a very approachable way, so it’s all about that. There’s lots of jokes in the book. My editors, when I turned in the first version of the manuscript, they were like, “Jessie, it’s great, but you got to tone it down on the jokes.”
Stu (36:33):
Too many jokes…
Jessie (36:34):
But it’s still really fun. And I hope it’s a book that’ll empower each and every one of us to get our health in the right place and wake up in the morning, feeling really good. It’ll empower you to heal yourself.
Stu (36:48):
Boy oh boy. Where can we go to purchase the book?
Jessie (36:53):
Anywhere, Amazon, online, bookstores, it’s out everywhere. Glucose Revolution, the Life-Changing Power of Balancing Your Blood Sugar. I’m very excited about it.
Stu (37:04):
Fantastic. Well, we’ll put all of those links in the show notes. A few wrap-up questions. Specifically more about you now. Your daily non-negotiables, the practices that you fall each and every day in order to crush the day. And they don’t have to be related to all of your glucose hacks and tips and tricks. What do you do? What can you not start the day by doing?
Jessie (37:34):
Honestly, there’s something that I’m implementing in my life that’s made a big difference. It’s not turning my phone on first thing in the morning. I will get up. And for at least half an hour, my phone is still off. I make myself some tea. I get into the living room, see what I have to do for the day, center. And that has made a huge impact on my mental health. I didn’t realize what a change it would be, but that’s been huge. I would say that, a big one. Of course, the glucose hacks, having a savory breakfast now is a non-negotiable for me. I wouldn’t even think of having something sweet in the morning because I know how bad I would feel the rest of the day, but I didn’t know that before. You know?
Stu (38:20):
No, exactly.
Jessie (38:24):
Yeah, the phone thing has been a huge one.
Stu (38:26):
So savory breakfast, just run us through what that might be, because people are thinking, well, I’ll have a… I don’t know what a savory breakfast is. Is it a savory muffin?
Jessie (38:36):
Actually, yeah. Savory breakfast means you don’t eat anything sweet in the morning, apart from whole fruit for taste if you will. For example, the concept is build your breakfast around protein, fat, fiber as well. And then you can add starch and sugar for taste, but just for taste and the sugar can only come from whole fruit. For example, any leftovers from the dinner from the night before, excellent candidates for a savory breakfast, anything around eggs, you can have avocado on toast. You can have some ham, hummus, veggies. You can have some fruit with some clothes on them. I have many, many recipe ideas in the book, but that’s the concept, nothing sweet except whole fruit.
Stu (39:21):
Right. Okay. Can you rate my daily smoothie then from one to 10, 10 being awful… Sorry, one being awful, 10 being great.
Jessie (39:32):
Okay.
Stu (39:34):
Half a can of coconut cream, a scoop of collagen protein, half a frozen banana, and a teaspoon of psyllium husk.
Jessie (39:47):
That’s actually great because you have a lot of fat in there, you have a lot of protein, and you’re adding the fruit for taste really.
Stu (39:53):
Yes.
Jessie (39:54):
So smoothies, there’s a whole spectrum of smoothies. Some are really bad for your glucose levels, like the ones that are just pure fruit. So just a fruit smoothie, really bad idea. And then there is the other end of smoothies that actually keep our glucose levels steady like yours. I would rate it a 10.
Stu (40:12):
Wonderful.
Jessie (40:13):
So very good.
Stu (40:14):
Excellent. And any thoughts on meal timings? Just in terms of, I know that where insulin is concerned, some people say, “Oh, fasting is kind of neat. Maybe you shouldn’t eat breakfast until a lot later if even at all because it impacts your blood sugar.” What are your thoughts on that?
Jessie (40:34):
Well, from the science, we know that it’s better to have three meals a day than three meals and snacks. So already we know that consolidating your food into actual bigger meals is much better than snacking all the time. Then you can take it a bit further if you want. Some people do really well skipping breakfast once in a while, especially men because your bodies seem to be more adapted to this kind of fasting. For women of reproductive age, it’s not clear that fasting a lot and often is actually really beneficial for the hormonal system. What I do personally is I do three meals a day, and then on the days where I don’t feel like having breakfast, I don’t, but I really listen to my body. And it depends on the part of the cycle, my menstrual cycle that I’m in. I think it’s important for women to not just assume they should be fasting as much as men and to tune in and see, okay, do I want to have breakfast today or do I not? And see how you feel in your body.
Jessie (41:32):
Because the issue is if you fast too much, you can create stress in your body because it is a stressor. And that can have consequences on your health. But start with three meals a day, avoid the snacking, use my hack about having desserts instead of a sweet snack, and already you’re going to be in a pretty good place. And then if fasting agrees with you, then, by all means, go for it because it is good to keep our body in a state of not eating and not digesting all the time.
Stu (41:59):
Yeah. Okay. No, fantastic. That’s great advice. Wow. So much information. Super, super keen to dive into the book as well. You’ve mentioned that it’s out, you can purchase it anywhere. We’ll put all the links in the show notes as well. What’s next? What have you got coming up this year?
Jessie (42:20):
Well, the book tour is a big one. The book is coming out in 18 languages, so I’m just starting.
Stu (42:26):
Wow.
Jessie (42:26):
Yeah. It’s big and it’s really exciting. I just had my first in-person event last week where I invited 70 community members to join me in a restaurant in London, and it was really cool and fun and I would love to do more of those as well. But right now, I just want to make sure the book gets in as many hands as possible because it’s really healing, so I’m putting all my energy behind it. And it’s been an amazing experience and I’m really excited for it. Thank you for having me on here, Stuart, to talk about it. It’s a pleasure.
Stu (43:00):
It’s been an absolute pleasure. And final question. How can we get more of Jessie, Glucose Goddess, Glucose Revolution? Where should we go to find out more?
Jessie (43:11):
My Instagram Glucose Goddess is really the hub for everything where I announce everything coming up. But if you want to learn more about me as a person, the book is really cool because I talk a lot about my story, my mental health struggles, how I healed them, what got me into this space in the first place. That’s where you can find all the intimate details, but otherwise, Glucose Goddess the Instagram is perfect.
Stu (43:38):
Fantastic. We’ll send them there. Jessie, thank you so much. Really enjoyed the conversation today and can’t wait to share it with our audience.
Jessie (43:46):
Thank you, Stuart, for having me. It was an absolute honor.
Stu (43:48):
Take care. Bye-bye.
