AMA with Jessie Inchauspé about new book Glucose Revolution: The life-changing power of balancing your blood sugar - 3rd to 5th May

[JuliaMumsnet]

Hello

We’re pleased to announce an AMA with the ‘Glucose Goddess’ Jessie Inchauspé about her new book Glucose Revolution: The life-changing power of balancing your blood sugar. The thread will open on Tuesday 3rd May and will close on Thursday 5th May, and Jessie will be replying intermittently throughout.

Here’s an extract from the intro to her book:

“As it turns out, our bodies speak to us all the time. We just don’t know how to listen.
Everything we put in our mouths creates a reaction. What we eat affects the 30 trillion cells and 30 trillion bacteria within us. Take your pick: cravings, pimples, migraines, brain fog, mood swings, weight gain, sleepiness, infertility, polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS), type 2 diabetes, fatty liver disease, heart disease… are all messages from our bodies that there are problems within.
…

Scientists have been studying how food affects us for a long time, and we now know more than we ever have on this topic. Exciting discoveries have happened in the past five years in labs around the world: they’ve revealed our body’s reaction to food in real time – and have proven that although what we eat matters, how we eat it – in which order, combination, and grouping – matters too.

What the science shows is that in the black box that is our body, there is one metric that affects all systems. If we understand this one metric and make choices to optimise it, we can greatly improve our physical and mental well-being. This metric is the amount of blood sugar, or glucose, in our blood.

Glucose is our body’s main source of energy. We get most of it from the food we eat, and it’s then carried in our blood stream to our cells. Its concentration can fluctuate greatly throughout the day, and sharp increases in concentration – I call them glucose spikes – affect everything from our mood, our sleep, our weight, and our skin to the health of our immune system, our risk for heart disease, and our chance of conception.

You will rarely hear glucose discussed unless you have diabetes, but glucose actually affects each and every one of us. In the last few years, the tools to monitor this molecule have become more readily available. That, in combination with the advancements in science I mentioned above, means that we have access to more data than ever before – and we can use this data to gain insight into our bodies.”

Please ask your questions now - the thread will be open until sometime on Thursday 5th May. We may close early if there are too many questions so get yours in now!

As always, please remember our guidelines - one question per user, follow-ups only if there’s time and most questions have been answered, and please keep it civil. Also if one topic is dominating a thread, mods might request that people don't continue to post what's effectively the same question or point. (We may suspend the accounts of anyone who continues after we've posted to ask people to stop, so please take note.) Rest assured we will ALWAYS let the guest know that it's an area of concern to multiple users and will encourage them to engage with those questions.

Many thanks,
MNHQ

This is very interesting and not something I've ever thought about. How can you tell what your glucose levels are and/or if you have too much or not enough?

Thanks for doing this AMA Jessie! Can I ask how you realised just how important glucose was? Was it a sort of 'lightbulb moment'? Or a more gradual thing?

Hi Jessie, I read your book last week and am trying to follow the food order principles . You recommend vegetables for fibre first but I wondered if nuts would be okay going first - thinking specifically if eating nuts the fruit if I just needed something light to eat (would normally just have fruit). Thank you! Loved the book BTW and really glad to be able to ask a question!

Am I allowed two questions? Can the general public get the glucose monitors you use? I’d love to experiment on myself!

@pippinsleftleg I can answer that - if you're after the sensors that show your blood glucose patterns, you can buy them but they cost £50-60 each (last 2 weeks).

on mumsnet we still see people convinced that weight loss is just calories in / calories out. The NHS dietary advice is also several years out of date. How long do you think it will take to get the message out to the general public and cease the damage done by the last few decades of misinformation?

Having struggled to lose weight for years I'm interested to know if you think your hacks will help people lose a significant amount of weight?

Having read the book a couple of times, I reckon nuts should be OK, but you’d have to eat a decent amount. The response probably varies for each individual, possibly depending on your particular microbiome, liver health etc. I found that I needed all the hacks ie a little vinegar, veggies, protein/fat before and some exercise after, in order not to spike from a bowl of berries and oats. I wore a glucose monitor to check, as this is one of my regular breakfast options.

Do you think menopause can worsen insulin resistance?

Hi everyone!
Thanks for the questions - I'm going to start answering them now.
Jessie

The science shows that 90% of people have dysregulated glucose levels! (And most of us don't know it.) Here are some common symptoms - maybe you'll recognize yourself in these:

• cravings for sweet foods


• needing to eat every 90 minutes


• feeling tired during the day


• not sleeping well


• experiencing acne or other inflammatory skin conditions


• having hormonoal issues such as PCOS or difficult menopause


• Developing insulin resistance, reactive hypoglycemia, or type 2 diabetes.

Hope that helps. I've found through my work that every single one of us benefits form flattening our glucose curves.

Sure! It was a journey in a couple of steps: first, when I was 19 years old I had a bad accident in which I broke my back and suffered a lot physically and mentally. That set me on a path to try to understand my body and heal myself. I went into Biochemistry studies and then worked in genetics. One day, I had the opportunity to try out a continuous glucose monitor as part of a research study - that was life changing. I could finally communicate with my body! Big deal. And THEN... I found out that glucose spikes were one of the triggers for debilitating mental health episodes that were plaguing me since my accident. So I started researching glucose to heal myself.

Hi !! I'm so glad you liked the book! Yes, nuts will help as well as they contain fiber. A couple nuts will probably not have a huge effect if you're following it with a big meal (but they are better than no fibre at all) - however before fruit they are perfect and sufficient. I also like nut butters with my fruit. Kisses

@pippinsleftleg is correct! I use the ones called Abbott Freestyle Libre.

I hope that it will be as fast as possible! It takes a long time to change government guidelines. But what we can do in the meantime is share with our friends and family the new science, and build the movement that way. Thanks for being a part of it!

When we steady our glucose levels, our health improves - physical, mental, our body gets back in balance and we feel so much better. A common side effect is weight loss. That's what I've heard in the community - people who focus on reducing glucose spikes with the hacks tend to develop a smaller body size as well. But this is not a "diet"! It's really about health. Definitely recommend you try these out because everyone benefits. Big kiss!

The studies show us that it can! But much more research is needed. What we do know is that when your glucose levels are out of whack, menopause symptoms get worse! So it's probably a two-way relationship.

Isn't this basically what following a low carb diet does? That's how I explain low carb to people, that it stops the peaks and lows in blood sugar (and associated hormones such as leptin, grelin) that cause cravings and lead to overeating.

Hi Jessie, just wanted to say hi! 👋 I listened to your chat with Dr Chatterjee, which I thought was fascinating and I love your tips, and I’m reading your book now! i know I feel so much better when my blood sugar is level but I fall off the wagon sometimes - so it’s nice to have some little tricks to have those ‘naughty’ yummy things sometimes without upsetting things too much!

(Actually it was Dhru Purohit’s podcast I heard you on - anyway, big fan!) 😄

Hi Jessie, I just spent the weekend reading your book from cover to cover! It totally spoke to me and brought together so may of my experiences. I get fairly regular migraines (at least 2 a week) and I've been convinced for years that it's linked to my blood sugar levels. I'm planning on getting a CGM soon but I'd like to know more about stress impacting on spike - is there any way to control this? I'm sure I get spikes during my work day - even when it's fun stress - and I'd love to know what I could do to lessen this. I tend to relax on the drive home and that's when my migraine will start. Usually I would reach for a snack to help but then I end up in an even worse state by the evening as I keep snacking to stave off the inevitable migraine. If I'm at home I can hit the spin bike and get in some high intensity activity which really helps but I can't do this on a work day.

And thank you so much! I also follow you on Instagram and just love the info you're putting out there. The size of this problem is really alarming and it's no wonder people have such battles - physically and mentally.

Hello, I am really interested in your book. I have not read it but I have read about other people experiences who has been diagnosed with PCOS. I have also been diagnosed with PCOS, and suffer from irregular periods, acne and anxiety. Where I live fresh vegetables can be sometimes be limited. Would you be able to give examples of high fiber vegetables and healthy fats, and would it be ok to incorporate frozen veg in my diet.

I’m reading your book right now! I have two questions:

• I already eat a relatively healthy diet (savoury breakfast eater already, for eg!). I am not overweight and I don’t suffer from most of the issues you mention in the book other than sweet cravings after meals. How long before I’m likely to notice any significant changes in this regard once I introduce the hacks?


• I often crave sweet things (chocolate or ice cream) straight after a (savoury / healthy) meal. It’s surely too soon for it to be glucose spike related? Also, if I eat something sweet I usually want more sweet stuff straight away - again this surely isn’t to do with glucose spikes but is something else going on?

thanks!

Hi Jessie, I also follow you on the 'Gram. 😄I am slim, love butter/cheese/olive oil etc and have always understood that sugar and not fat is the enemy... but even so, I'm totally addicted to the goddamn stuff – mainly cheap supermarket chocolate bars. I've tried so many times to cut it out or just reduce – cold turkey, gradual, you name it.

I'm convinced it's why my skin is now looking papery and old in my 40s😥. Is there any hope for reversing or repairing the damage done by these glucose spikes over so many years, or am I stuck with it?