Personalised Nutrition - It's all in the blood

I'm going to get really nerdy here. Like seriously food nerdy. I'm excited. And I'll explain why!

There was a study conducted by Prof. Eran Segal and Dr. Eran Elinav at the Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel, in 2015 which found that individual blood sugar levels vary quite dramatically in different people, even when consuming the exact same food. How crazy is that?! So that might explain why some people who are practically mainlining cheese burgers don't gain any weight while others just smell roast chicken and mashed potatoes and gain 3kg. "The huge differences that we found in the rise of blood sugar levels among different people who consumed identical meals partly explains why so many diets fail in so many people."

The findings of this study completely upend the standard ideas/recommendations around traditional 'healthy' eating. I mean the ultimate goal is to maintain stable blood sugar levels but what if eating a bowl of broccoli spike those sugars?

Heres a basic biology lesson on how blood sugar, aka blood glucose (BG), works and why it's important to keep it stable.
When we eat, our bodies break down the food to be used a fuel. The most easily usable form of fuel and the bodies preferred energy source are carbohydrates. Carbohydrates come in 2 main forms. There are simple carbohydrates and complex ones. Simple carbs are basically just sugar, either from natural sources such as fruits/veggies/lactose or added sugars found in soft drinks, desserts, lollies etc. Complex carbs include fiber and starch. Fiber is found in fruits, vegetables, nuts, beans, and whole grains and starchs are found in cereals, corn, oats, rice, wheat bread and peas. Fiber is also important because it helps to regulate bowel movements and control cholesterol. Complex carbs take longer to digest then simple carbs so they tend not to spike BG levels as much.

The body breaks down the carbohydrates into glucose to be used as energy. Once the glucose is in the blood stream, the body releases insulin to bind to the glucose to take it where it needs to go to be turned into energy or stores it in the muscles, liver or fat cells for later use. Sounds good right? The only problem is that when there is too much glucose in the blood, the body freaks out and dumps a whole bunch more insulin into the system which overcompensates and removes more glucose than necessary from the blood. This is why we get sugar crashes after a sugary meal. In terms of BG levels, fruits and veggies in their whole form don't tend to spike BG levels due to the fiber content. Fiber slows the digestive process and so the glucose enters the blood stream at a much slower rate and allows the body to handle it easily. On the other hand, fruit juice, soft drinks, white bread and lollies have pretty much zero fiber, so the glucose is dumped directly into the blood stream where the body has a mild panic attack and pumps out the insulin.

If the body experiences consistent sugar spikes over a long period of time it can develop a resistance to insulin, which means the body needs to produce more insulin to deal with the glucose. This is not good. We don't want this to happen as this is how type 2 diabetes begins. So the goal is maintain stable BG levels so we don't get the crazy highs and lows and this means we need to avoid foods like fruit juice, soft drinks, lollies, cakes, sweets etc. Sad but true.

But as this study found out, everyone responds differently to food. Apparently, during the study, one lady, who had obesity and pre-diabetes, found that her BG spiked markedly after eating tomatoes! Some people found that a banana would spike their BG more than a cookie.

This has really spiked my interest (get it... spiked...) Anyway I have decided to do my own testing to see what spikes my BG. I've gone as far as to purchase my own Accu-Chek guide, lancing device and test strips. I'm weirdly excited to see how this turns out! My goal is to measure my BG levels regularly over the next month to see how I respond to different foods. I will need to check my fasting BG every morning when I wake up, preferably at the same time each day. Then I will measure again 1 and 2 hours post meal, after exercise and record the results/meal consumed/exercise performed etc. After 1 month I feel like I should have a pretty good idea on what spikes my BG. I wonder what will turn up... I have my fingers crossed for finding out that my sugar levels are stable after ice cream.

Here is what I expect to find.

Drop in blood glucose (BG) post exercise
Drop in BG post acupuncture treatment
Spike in BG postprandial (at this stage I have no idea what foods will spike my BG. I'm assuming that all added sugars will still raise my BG although I'm curious to see what other foods I like to consume do this too)
Spike in BG after alcohol (I'll monitor my BG after different alcohols to see what cause greater spikes)
Spike in BG when stressed/not sleeping well

Tips for managing BG levels
This is tricky. Normally I'd recommend the standard health guidelines for managing BG levels, but that would go against the above information. However, these tips are also just good for us to maintain a healthy lifestyle
Exercise! Exercise will help to use up the excess glucose in your blood stream
Limit carb intake to between 45-60g per meal
Eat a variety of foods
Don’t overeat – even too many healthy carbs affect your blood sugar
Try to get enough good quality sleep. Lack of sleep can raise the hunger hormones (leptin and gremlin) and impair the hormones that burn fat (adults require roughly 7-9hours of interrupted sleep per night)

So there you have it. The ultimate food nerd confession. Check back in 1 month to see what turned up in my results! Or sign up to my mailing list to get notified when I release a new blog post.

Jac

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