Glucose goddess - snack ideas?

[GayPareeee]

I've just started reading this book, first day of following today. I clearly haven't eaten enough breakfast, so will have a larger lunch (coleslaw first) but am likely to need a snack between lunch and dinner.

What are good things to snack on?

Another quack with a book. Listened to her on the diary of a CEO podcast and some of it infuriated me.

What is the author’s actual evidence that her diet is beneficial as compared to, say, the Mediterranean diet? As far as I can tell, her “evidence” is her own subjective experience.

Agree with the previous poster - she’s a quack with a book to sell.

Btw, it was the very same interview that infuriated me. Lots of nonsense, claims of lots of “research”, but no actual research cited.

I did feel sceptical when I first came across her work (the goddess bit particularly grated!) But the general health benefits of avoiding blood sugar spikes through food sequencing, carb choice, exercise etc seem to be borne out by experimental data like the Zoe studies. Not settled science by any means but really interesting and entirely compatible with a Mediterranean diet. Seeing how your blood glucose responds your food is fascinating and while I only did it for a fortnight many of her principles seem to hold true for me.

OP I think the idea is to get to the point where you don't need snacks because your blood sugar is more stable. If you have to snack, steer away from sweet low fibre snacks and aim for something with fibre and protein, maybe a bit of sweetness but not too sweet - something like apple with peanut butter; veg and houmous; plain yogurt with berries and nuts.

I don't know what it is with Steven Bartlett but he goes weak at the knees for a nutritional quack. Last 6 months or so every other guest is some idiot with a new way of eating and a book/or plan to sell.

I am signed up to do ZOE but it won't start for a couple of months, I'm definitely pre-diabetes and really struggle with bingeing on sugary food and having crashes where I faint, go really sweaty and then have to eat tons of sugary food which makes me feel sick. And I get migraines if/when my blood sugar drops.

I know the science isn't solid but I'm willing to give it a try - to be fair the very act of making sure the first thing I eat in a meal is the veg will help all by itself.

It's just as I'm learning more about this I think I'm not going to always get my portion sizes right (I definitely didn't today) so it's what I can grab quickly that follow the principles and won't mess things up too much.

I've seen (and done) far more quackery than this in my time!

Pre diabetes doesn't mean anything, if you're having diabetes like symptoms you're already more than likely diabetic. If I was you I'd be booking a GP appointment or at the very least go and do a pharmacy fasting glucose level check.

All her stuff on reversing diabetes and PCOS mainly comes about from someone with an awful diet starting to eat better. The evidence that eating food in a certain order helps is patchy at best and for the other hacks it's just madness.

Basically the best thing you can do is try and lose some fat if you're overweight, exercise and eat the best version of a sustainable diet that you can keep up with with forever.

I’m in the same boat. Signed up for Zoe but won’t start for a month or so.

I’m fasting most of the day at the moment. Eating in a four hour window. My clothes feel much better but I’ve not lost a pound, well maybe one whole pound but that’s all. I’m nearly 50 and on HRT and my gut instinct is I’m holding a ton of water weight.

I’m surprised at the accusations of quackery. She’s one of the few people on this arena that backs up her examples with journal references.

She's made outlandish claims that are not factual, duplicated research citations, research studies that include 8 people and in some cases added citations that don't really support her hypothesis.

Is there anything wrong about eating vegetables first, no of course not! But I do have an issue when she says through her 'hacks' PCOS can be fully reversed or the more glucose spikes you have the quicker you die. It's nonsense.

Like all these people with a book to sell she's taken a nugget of truth and expanded it to something flashy to cash in with.

I had gestational diabetes and a lot of what she said was included in our advice. The savoury breakfast only advice is sound and virtually no one in my gestational diabetes group could eat porridge or Weetabix without it sending their readings too high.

Anecdata of one, but salad first made a huge difference to me and meant I could eat a few pieces of pizza on a Friday evening.

She’s bloody irritating and I can’t stand being called “angel” but most of her back up research is okay.

This 5 minute video is a far better explanation of my issues with what she's saying than I could ever string together as he's infinitely more intelligent than me!

To be honest Layne Norton is who I go to whenever I see something in the fitness or nutrition sense I perceive to be quackery as he's already covered it and either debunked or backed up their claims.

I'm sure he knows his stuff, but he's very shouty isn't he?

Yeah. You get used to it after a while, his no BS approach resonates with me though.

There is an interesting zoe podcast on food ordering, see 24 min in. Having the veg first, followed by protein/fat and lastly carbs means the fibre slows the rate of glucose absorbtion and can reduce the glucose spike of the meal by up to 75% https://open.spotify.com/episode/7l9T7BaYtjQ9PQrZf134Qi?si=IWY4hUVvSxOPDLlRoBfbyA

I appreciate the lack of macho energy in both her work and the ZOE podcast.

I believe there is a whole page in the book with snack ideas listed. Maybe towards the back where the few recipes are.

I also have prediabetes, I have a blood glucose monitor and I check my fasting glucose levels most mornings to keep an eye and prevent it from worsening. The hacks in the book have definitely helped me!

Me too. I’m not keen on bro science.

Her podcast with Dr Chatterjee was brilliant. It's not a diet, it is hacks to stabilise blood sugar. I use it with a hormonal based fasting lifestyle (Mindy Pelz) and it can be slotted in easily. Insulin spikes are devastating for the body and her method makes sense. There is a lot to research about the effects of insulin.

What's in the pre lunch coleslaw please?

I have both her books and the recipes look really lovely and the sort of things I would eat normally (eg: Asian style fish and rice). I think the salad starters look great and if it helps me eat more veggies (I’m not so good at this) then it can only be a good thing. Also I’m not normally a breakfast eater. Going to start off with a savoury breakfast and veggie starter for the next week or two and see if it helps my energy levels.