Blunt Blood Sugar Spikes without Cutting Carbs

[00:00] If your blood sugar is too high for too long,  that can cause massive damage. And the truth is,   keeping your blood sugar under control is very  doable. You can do it even without giving up  

[00:12] things like bread or pasta if you know what to  do. So, today we're talking about how to control   blood sugar spikes, how to reduce them, everything  backed by science. And at the end of the video,  

[00:24] I want to share a natural supplement that can  help as well. And the best way to sweeten your   foods that doesn't cause blood sugar spikes,  but actually reduces them. Here's the first   hack. What if you could cut your blood sugar  spike in half without removing a single carb  

[00:41] from your plate? Scientists have shown this is  actually possible using peanut butter. First,   they had people eat a meal that causes  blood sugar to go up, orange juice,   and a bagel with some butter in it. But when  they used peanut butter instead, same bagel,  

[00:57] same orange juice, the blood sugar spike was  cut by 55%. More than half, not one gram of   carbs was taken out. And yet, the spike was cut  in half. How is that possible? Well, the protein  

[01:12] in peanut butter slows down the digestion in our  gut so that the carbohydrates are absorbed more   slowly and the blood sugar spike is smoothened.  Protein also stimulates the production of insulin  

[01:26] which pulls sugar from our blood. So it's less  about how much carbohydrate I eat and more about   having my carbohydrates with the right company.  This effect of protein has been shown many times.  

[01:38] You can have an egg or some tofu or chicken breast  or even a protein shake with some protein powder   together with that carbier food and that reduces  the blood sugar response. Protein is so powerful,  

[01:51] some trials even show it working on the next meal.  So you add some protein at breakfast, it smoothens   that blood sugar response after breakfast and  the one after lunch. But protein is not the   only thing that works. The same team of scientists  found that apple cider vinegar has a very similar  

[02:09] effect. They had the participants take 1 to two  tablespoons of apple cider vinegar mixed in water   before the meal and that blunted the sugar spike  by 55%. Similar to the peanut butter. They report  

[02:23] that this blunting effect was stronger for meals  that cause a larger spike, which makes sense,   right? There's more room for improvement. Now, fat  and fiber can also have a blunting effect. Not as  

[02:36] powerful as protein, to a lesser extent, but they  also work. This even works with purified fiber,   psyllium husk, which is a supplement. It's just  fiber purified. Adding that to a meal lowers blood  

[02:48] sugar spikes. And the great news is the effect of  fiber and fat are independent from the effect of   protein. So you can use them all at the same time  in the same meal and get the largest effect. Okay,  

[03:00] another trick is to change the order of the foods  that we eat. One randomized trial gave people the   same foods, some bread, some orange juice, some  chicken, and a salad, but in different orders.  

[03:13] When they ate their carbohydrates first, the bread  and the orange juice first, and the chicken and   the vegetables last, they saw the largest blood  sugar spike. But when they had the chicken and the   vegetables first and the carbs last, the spike was  cut in half. When they ate everything together,  

[03:30] the spike was a little lower than when they  ate the carbs first, but larger than when   they ate the carbs last. So, same exact foods,  nothing added, nothing taken away, completely  

[03:43] different sugar response. Okay, the next hack  is possibly the most important one. But first,   is it only diabetics who benefit from these tips?  Pre-diabetics can also benefit. Their blood sugar   is not quite as bad as a full-blown diabetic, but  it's already abnormal, too high for too long. And  

[04:01] some people have the opposite problem. Some time  after eating, their blood sugar gets too low and   they can feel light-headed and tired and dizzy.  If you have that problem, you might benefit from  

[04:13] these tips as well because smoothening the blood  sugar spike helps prevent the dips. Otherwise, for   a healthy individual with no blood sugar issues,  your blood sugar going up after a meal and coming  

[04:25] back down is completely normal, healthy, and not  harmful. In fact, some of the healthiest foods on   the planet like unprocessed whole fruit do exactly  that. And people who eat more fruit have a lower  

[04:37] risk of developing diabetes and heart disease. So,  very important distinction. The danger is not a   normal blood sugar rise after a meal in a healthy  individual. It's an abnormal spike that is too  

[04:50] high and too long in the context of disease like  diabetes. So, you want to be careful with internet   content that fearmongers and tells people they  want to keep their glucose flat all day. Being  

[05:03] scared of an apple because it raises blood sugar  is like being scared of exercise because it raises   heart rate. It's completely missing the point.  We have a whole video going over what's a normal   spike and what's an excessive dangerous spike.  I'll link that in the end. But now, let's go on to  

[05:19] the next hack, which is choosing the right carbs.  Replacing refined starches like white bread,   artificial sugary cereals or soda or candy with  unprocessed whole grains like steel cut oats,  

[05:37] whole grain or sourdough bread or wild rice can  completely change your blood sugar response.   One trial out of Australia found that whole grain  bread reduced blood sugar response compared to  

[05:51] white bread by 35 to 40%. And a systematic review  and meta-analysis found that unprocessed oats like   steel cut oats or old-fashioned rolled oats caused  a smaller blood sugar rise than instant oats which  

[06:08] are chopped and precooked and often have sugar  added to them. And with a completely unprocessed   oat grain, what we call oat groats, the blood  sugar spike was a little smaller still. It was the  

[06:20] smallest of all. So the more intact the food is,  the smaller the sugar spike. And that's because   digestion takes longer. Your body needs to work  harder to get at the nutrients, to separate and to  

[06:33] absorb them. And so the carbohydrates get absorbed  more gradually and the sugar spike is smoothed.   Okay another way to transform your carbohydrates  is to cool them overnight in the fridge. One trial  

[06:45] found that cooling pasta after cooking it reduced  blood sugar response by 15%. This works because   cooling foods that contain starch transforms  starch. So, it's no longer broken down in our  

[07:00] small intestine and absorbed. This is what we call  resistant starch. But if you want to call it the   cool starch or the cool carbs, that's okay with  me, too. Resistant starch is also found naturally   in foods like lentils. One trial found that having  white rice or potatoes with some lentils instead  

[07:17] of by themselves reduced the blood sugar response  by 20 to 35%. With lentils, you have several of   these factors we talked about happening at the  same time, right? You got resistant starch,   you got some protein, and you got fiber. Okay,  the next hack is less about the food itself.  

[07:33] It's more about your body moving. Just going  for a simple walk, a stroll after a meal, the   exact same meal can reduce your blood sugar spike  by 20 to 30%. When your muscles are activated,  

[07:47] they take up sugar from the blood, so your blood  sugar level comes down. Okay, next we're going   to look at a natural supplement that can help a  bit more. Just remember, as we're talking about   spikes, the spikes are a manifestation. They're  a consequence of the problem. And it's okay to  

[08:03] try to control blood sugar spikes if they're  excessive, but always bearing in mind the real   goal is to fix the underlying metabolic issue  so that your blood sugar behaves normally. We   have a whole video on reversing diabetes. I'll  link that in the description. One big factor  

[08:20] is maintaining a healthy body weight, low body  fat, and eating a healthy diet and exercising,   a number of things we've been talking about, are  important tips as well. Okay, here's a bonus hack.  

[08:32] If instead of sugar, you sweeten your coffee,  for example, with a sweetener called stevia or   monk fruit, those don't cause a blood sugar spike,  unlike regular sugar. And another sweetener called  

[08:45] allulose even reduces blood sugar spikes. So, you  can have the exact same meal, add allulose to it,   and the blood sugar spike is lower than the  same meal without the allulose. This is a great  

[08:58] hack for people with diabetes, pre-diabetes, etc.  Okay, let's talk about supplements. Mulberry leaf   extract is a natural supplement, widely available,  that's been shown in scientific studies to reduce  

[09:12] blood sugar spikes by up to 40%. And berberine is  another one that's been shown in meta analyses to   reduce spikes by 18 points, 18 mg per deciliter.  Very respectable drop. You want to be careful with  

[09:27] proprietary supplements sold by influencers on  the internet. The vast majority has never been   tested. All the supplements we've talked about  are generic. You can find them everywhere. They're   cheap and I don't sell them. So, I don't  have a horse in the race. Also, consider  

[09:41] third-party tested brands because you never know  with supplements how much is actually in the pill   because regulation is so lax. And as always,  talk to your doctor before you start something   new. Okay. What's a normal healthy spike? And  what's a spike that's too large and dangerous?  

[09:56] We covered all of that in this video right here.  So, check it out and I'll see you in there.