Insulin spikes, fatigue, glycemic index, types of sugars… Help! Are you lost in the stories of blood sugar? Why should you pay attention to your blood sugar, and above all, how?
For the why, we tell you everything below. For the how, Archie is there! But not only that. Explanations.
Little glycemic overview
First of all, let's start from the basics: blood sugar corresponds to the quantity of sugar, glucose, present in our blood.
Sugar, which comes from food, passes from the blood into the cells of our body under the action of insulin, a hormone secreted by the pancreas.
When a large amount of sugar suddenly enters the bloodstream, a spike in insulin is secreted to allow the excess sugar to quickly enter the cells. Indeed, too much glucose in the blood is harmful for many reasons, which we will see below; the pancreas therefore keeps a watchful eye to keep the level in the blood stable.
When you say insulin spike, you say fuel spike and energy spike. It also means rapid dopamine secretion. Pretty rosy, then, when you look at it that way. But unfortunately, the story doesn't end there.
Indeed, this insulin spike, which has brutally caused the blood glucose to enter our cells, will then be accompanied by a lack of sugar in the blood. We are going around in circles, yes. This is the famous reactive hypoglycemia , and the slump that goes with it. You can therefore understand why eating a breakfast that is too sugary is accompanied by a late morning slump. And then, what do we tend to do? Eat sugar. And there we go again, insulin spike and you know the rest. So we have alternating energy and fatigue and we make our pancreas work a lot.
To avoid this endless circle, let's avoid sudden sugar influxes! To do this, refined sugar should be banned of course, but many other foods cause a rapid increase in blood glucose and therefore insulin spikes. Which ones?
This is where we talk about the glycemic index. This value, between 0 and 100 (0 for white fish and 100 for white sugar) indicates the food's ability to raise our blood sugar levels.
Each food has its glycemic index, often noted GI. But that's not all, luck or bad luck, this index is also modified according to the way the food is prepared, as well as the way it is combined. For example, fibers and lipids absorbed at the same time slow down the speed of absorption of sugar, and therefore the glycemic index of a food. This is why a plate of pasta will have a lower GI if it is drizzled with olive oil. Lucky, we suspected it!
This is also why eating whole fruits (with all the essential fiber they contain) will not cause the same blood sugar spike as drinking fruit juice, no matter how fresh it is. And drizzling olive oil on your fruit juice? There you have it!
High blood sugar levels: the root of many diseases
So we want to avoid these insulin spikes. For the reasons mentioned but also because, in the long term, asking our pancreas for unbridled secretions exhausts it. Asking our cells to ingest too much sugar also exhausts them. Through exhaustion, they can organize a resistance, insulin resistance. This resistance that sets in, on one side or the other, is called type 2 diabetes. This type of diabetes (which is thus acquired, unlike type 1, an autoimmune disease) is expected to be the 7th leading cause of death in the world by 2030, according to a study published by Doctor Robert Lustig in the book Sugar, the Bitter Truth.
And the harmful effects of too much glucose in the blood don't stop at diabetes. Obesity, which can result from sugar being removed from the blood too quickly and therefore stored as fat - triglycerides - instead of being used as fuel, is one consequence.
But also, brain health. Research at Rhode Island Hospital in the United States has shown that neuronal cells can develop sensitivity to insulin and scientists have renamed Alzheimer's disease type 3 diabetes.
Behavioral changes, decreased cognitive abilities, mood swings, impulsivity are also on the list of harmful effects of high blood sugar on the brain.
Excess sugar is also at the top of the list of causes of aging and cancer. Glucose in the blood will bind to proteins and fats to form glycated proteins, which are responsible for hardening artery walls, narrowing brain tissue, joint damage, as well as oxidative stress and chronic inflammation. Cancer cells are also fueled by sugar. But what is glucose ?
Let's stop there, you have understood it well, it is more than essential to take care of our blood sugar levels.
Acetic Acid, Apple Cider Vinegar's Secret to Regulating Your Blood Sugar
Beyond the nutritional advice to follow to watch our blood sugar levels (knowledge of GIs, avoiding refined sugar, preparation methods, quantity, combinations, etc.), we wanted to tell you about an ingredient: acetic acid!
Why? Because apple cider vinegar contains it and, as research shows, it helps lower blood sugar levels!
American publications from the last 10 years inform us about the impact of ingesting acetic acid during a meal and its multiple benefits: when the acid is ingested at the same time as food (the effects are not however conclusive for ingestion 5 hours before), it lowers the blood glucose level in the hours that follow - in comparison to the same meal taken alone. It therefore allows to lower blood sugar, but also the amount of insulin measured.
This experiment has been validated in the same way in people with diabetes as in people without diabetes.
Another important point: studies also show an increase in satiety when the plate is accompanied by this dose of acetic acid contained in vinegar. And who says better satiety says fewer sweet cravings.
When eating a meal containing foods rich in carbohydrates - of which we will only mention the healthiest ones so as not to give bad ideas: sweet root vegetables, fruits, whole grains, legumes... it is therefore interesting to add a dose of Archie vinegar. Less feeling of hunger, less glucose in the blood, less insulin secretion, hallelujah!
The ideal dose? 10g of cider vinegar, or 2 teaspoons.
Be careful though, we can already see you coming: Archie as reinforcements, ok, but we give up on the idea of preparing a meal made of packets of sweets. The effect is all the stronger because the carbohydrates are complex and less on the monosaccharides, these simple sugars that we find, among other things, in industrial products. So we don't take advantage of it to swallow twice as much. Everything goes in the same direction in the end, life is well done Archie!
*To date, there are no published French scientific studies on the benefits of cider vinegar. To fill this information gap, Archie has formed a Scientific Committee dedicated to providing the greatest possible transparency regarding the benefits of cider vinegar.
