PDF Summary:The Glucose Goddess Method, by Jessie Inchauspé

Many people experience fatigue, cravings, brain fog, and weight gain without understanding the underlying cause. In The Glucose Goddess Method, Jessie Inchauspé explains how blood sugar spikes contribute to these symptoms and outlines practical strategies to stabilize glucose levels throughout the day.

Inchauspé describes the biological mechanisms behind glucose spikes and their effects on insulin, metabolism, and overall health. She then presents four core methods to manage blood sugar: eating a savory breakfast, consuming vinegar before meals, starting meals with vegetables, and moving after eating. This guide explores the science behind each strategy and provides clear steps for implementation, offering a framework for reducing glucose-related symptoms and improving daily energy levels.

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The Glucose Goddess Program: Core Practices

Inchauspé suggests starting meals with a veggie starter, a plate of vegetables you eat before anything else. Starting with vegetables is beneficial because they're high in fiber, which helps stabilize glucose levels. Eating them first minimizes the increase in glucose from the starches and sugars you eat afterward, which lowers cravings, insulin release, and inflammation. It also increases satiety, which might result in weight loss.

To implement this, Inchauspé recommends beginning one daily meal with a vegetable appetizer. It should account for roughly 30% of your meal. The veggies may be eaten raw or cooked, and include a dressing or other ingredients provided they're not sugary or starchy. If your dish includes vegetables, just consume those first.

Vegetable Appetizers and Irritable Bowel Syndrome

While a vegetable appetizer may be beneficial for many people, it may not be suitable for those with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). IBS is a chronic digestive disorder characterized by abdominal pain, bloating, and changes in bowel habits. Many vegetables are high in FODMAPs (fermentable oligosaccharides, disaccharides, monosaccharides, and polyols), which are types of carbohydrates that can be difficult to digest for people with IBS. Consuming a large portion of high-FODMAP vegetables as a starter may exacerbate symptoms like bloating, gas, and abdominal pain. For individuals with IBS, it may be more beneficial to focus on low-FODMAP vegetables and to consume them in smaller portions throughout the day rather than as a large appetizer.

In this section, we’ll explore the four core hacks of Jessie Inchauspé's approach and the science behind them.

The Four Core Methods to Stabilize Glucose

Exploring Four Tricks

Inchauspé introduces four tips to help stabilize glucose. The first involves eating a savory breakfast, as your body is most sensitive to glucose in the morning. A sweet breakfast can cause a glucose spike that will deregulate your glucose levels throughout the day. The second hack is to consume a spoonful of vinegar daily prior to the meal containing the most glucose. The third hack is to include a vegetable appetizer in one daily meal. The fourth method is to exercise following meals.

(Shortform note: The four hacks Inchauspé introduces have been around for a while. In 2002, Brand-Miller and colleagues published a study showing that a low-GI breakfast can reduce glucose spikes throughout the day. They also found that changing the order of foods in a meal can reduce glucose spikes. In 2003, Brand-Miller and colleagues published a study showing that exercise after meals can reduce glucose spikes.)

Implementing the Four Hacks

Inchauspé suggests implementing four strategies to manage glucose. For instance, when you have a craving for sweets, try waiting 20 minutes before consuming them. This gives your body time to access its glucose stores, potentially diminishing your desire for it. Then, ask yourself if you still want the sweet food. If you do, consume it following a meal rather than before eating anything else.

You can also incorporate fiber, fats, or proteins into the sweet food to reduce its effects on your blood sugar. Another option is to consume vinegar prior to eating the sweet food. Finally, you can do 10 minutes of muscle activity post-meal to help your body absorb the glucose.

The Potential Harm of Food Rules and Rituals

While these strategies may help you manage your sweet cravings, they may also be harmful to your relationship with food. In Intuitive Eating, the authors explain that any kind of food rule or ritual can be harmful to people with eating disorders. For instance, if you have a rule that you must wait 20 minutes before eating sweets, you may become obsessed with the idea of eating sweets and feel guilty or ashamed if you break the rule. Similarly, if you have a rule that you can only eat sweets after a meal and with fiber, fat, or protein, you may feel deprived and restricted, which can lead to binge eating or other disordered eating behaviors. The same goes for the vinegar and muscle activity strategies.

The Research Behind the Tips

Dietary Interventions & Glucose Spikes

Inchauspé explains that consuming a savory morning meal can help prevent glucose spikes. This means having a meal focused on protein and fat, with no sweetness other than whole fruit. A savory breakfast is crucial for stable glucose levels all day, ensuring everything goes more smoothly. Conversely, a breakfast of sugary, starchy foods will make your glucose levels spike, negatively affecting how efficiently your body can produce energy, causing fatigue and triggering various other side effects. A spike in glucose after breakfast will make you feel hungry again more quickly. The more your breakfast spike increases, the more significant the subsequent decline will be, intensifying hunger and cravings.

(Shortform note: The biological process behind this is that a savory morning meal, rich in protein and fat, triggers the release of gut hormones that signal fullness to the brain. This reduces hunger and cravings later in the day, leading to less sugar intake and more stable glucose levels. For example, researchers found that eating a high-protein breakfast reduced evening snacking on high-sugar foods by 45% compared to skipping breakfast. This effect is due to the way protein and fat slow down digestion and promote the release of hormones like peptide YY and glucagon-like peptide-1, which help regulate appetite and blood sugar. By starting the day with a savory meal, you set up a hormonal environment that keeps your glucose levels more stable throughout the day.)

This type of breakfast will also destabilize your glucose levels for the rest of the day, resulting in more pronounced spikes following lunch and dinner. Inchauspé adds that, early in the morning, your system is more affected by glucose because you're fasting. Since your stomach is empty, whatever you eat will be rapidly digested, which explains why consuming sugary or starchy foods for breakfast frequently causes the highest spike of the day.

(Shortform note: In The Circadian Code, Satchin Panda explains that your body’s glucose tolerance and insulin sensitivity are regulated by your circadian clock. This means that your body’s ability to process glucose varies throughout the day. He notes that when people eat the same carbohydrate-rich meal in the morning and in the late evening, the meal eaten earlier in the day typically leads to a smaller and shorter rise in blood glucose, whereas the identical meal eaten late at night produces a much larger and more prolonged glucose spike.)

Eating a savory breakfast will begin to alleviate symptoms you may have been experiencing your entire life. You'll gain cellular energy, keep your brain from entering craving cycles, and control your appetite. You’ll also lessen the spikes during midday and evening meals, leading to a positive cycle. To implement this, Inchauspé suggests deciding on your protein- and fat-based breakfast the night before, ensuring you'll know what to eat when you wake up and won't be distracted by sugary options.

(Shortform note: For people with advanced chronic kidney disease, a protein- and fat-based breakfast may not be the best option. These patients are often prescribed a low-protein diet to reduce the strain on their kidneys. Consuming too much protein can lead to a buildup of waste products in the blood, which can worsen symptoms and potentially accelerate kidney damage. For these individuals, planning a protein-rich breakfast the night before could inadvertently lead to excessive protein intake, contradicting their dietary needs.)

Inchauspé also recommends consuming vinegar daily to lower spikes in glucose and insulin. Vinegar contains acetic acid, which decreases your body's insulin levels and tells your DNA to burn more fat. Taking a spoonful of vinegar prior to eating can decrease the glucose surge from the meal by up to 30% and the insulin spike by up to 20%. This eases inflammation, decelerates the aging process, boosts energy, regulates hormones, and benefits your brain. Inchauspé cites a study that found that for three months, people who took vinegar before meals decreased their visceral fat, their waist and hip measurements, and their triglyceride levels. To implement this, Inchauspé suggests taking a daily spoonful of vinegar.

(Shortform note: If you take medications, be careful about consuming vinegar daily. Vinegar can lower your blood sugar and potassium levels, so if you take medications that do the same, like insulin, diuretics, or heart medications, you could end up with dangerously low levels of blood sugar and potassium. This can put extra stress on your heart and kidneys.)

You can take it at any time, but the most impactful time to consume it is before you eat something sugary or starchy. Taking it ten minutes prior to eating is ideal, but consuming it up to half an hour in advance or while dining will still be effective.

(Shortform note: While the author recommends taking vinegar before meals, researchers have found that this practice can have negative side effects. In one case, a woman who regularly consumed large amounts of vinegar around meals developed dangerously low potassium levels. The authors of an academic paper on vinegar’s medicinal uses note that this is a rare side effect, but it’s still important to be aware of the potential risks.)

Inchauspé’s third suggestion is to eat vegetables before a meal to minimize glucose surges. Vegetables contain fiber, which creates a safeguarding net in your intestines. This mesh slows how glucose is absorbed into your bloodstream, lessening glucose surges.

To implement this, Inchauspé suggests eating vegetables ahead of one daily meal. The vegetables can be raw or cooked, plain or dressed. The plate of vegetables should account for roughly 30% of what you eat.

The Science Behind Eating Vegetables First

Inchauspé’s suggestion to eat vegetables before the rest of your meal isn’t new. In 2015, Dr. Alpana Shukla and her colleagues published a study showing that eating vegetables and protein before refined carbohydrates significantly reduced post-meal glucose and insulin levels in people with type 2 diabetes. The study involved 11 participants who ate the same meal on three different days, but in different orders: carbohydrates first, protein and vegetables first, and all together. The results showed that eating protein and vegetables first led to a 29% lower glucose spike compared to eating carbohydrates first.

Movement & Muscle Glucose Uptake

Inchauspé’s final suggestion is to move around after eating to help muscles use glucose without needing insulin. This decreases the glucose surge without elevating your insulin. Reducing insulin levels is important because high insulin can cause conditions like polycystic ovary syndrome and type 2 diabetes. To implement this, spend 10 minutes being active after a meal to level out your glucose.

Exercise and Hypoglycemia

While Inchauspé’s advice to move around after eating may be helpful for many people, it may not be appropriate for everyone. For example, Sheri R. Colberg et al. explain that people who use insulin or certain diabetes medications that increase insulin production are at risk of hypoglycemia (low blood sugar) if they exercise without adjusting their medication or carbohydrate intake. This is because exercise increases insulin sensitivity, which can lead to dangerously low blood sugar levels if insulin levels are not adjusted accordingly.