Salad Before Carbs? Here's The Science of 'Food Sequencing' And Your Health

Changes to your diet can change your life.

The founder of the Glucose Goddess movement says eating in a particular order is the key to weight loss.

She says it's better to eat salads first and finish the meal with sugars than it is to wait.

Is this scientific? It turns out that part of it is true.

What is a glucose spike?

There is a spike in your blood sugar about 60 minutes after you eat food. The peak is determined by many things. What you ate with or before theCarbohydrate, how much fiber is in theCarbohydrate, and your body's ability to produce and use the hormoneinsulin are included.

Any tactic to flatten theglucose peak is important for people with certain medical conditions These conditions must be met.

• Diabetes.

• There is a specific type of sugar crash.

• Low blood pressure after eating.

• If you have had surgery to lose weight.

That's due to the long-term and detrimental impacts that high and long glucose spikes have on hormones and proteins. Diabetes and heart disease are related to inflammation.

Different foods, different spikes

Is it possible to eat different food types before you eat sugar? Yes, that's right. This is old evidence as well.

The rate at which food leaves the stomach has been known for a long time. High-fiber foods slow the delivery of food to the small intestine, which in turn slows the absorption of vitamins and minerals into the bloodstream.

Fats andProteins slow the emptying of the stomach There is an advantage to stimulating a hormone called GLP1, which is called glucagon-like-peptide-1.

This hormone is produced when your food hits the cells in your gut. The hormone has an effect on the pancreas where it helps with the production of the hormoneinsulin that helps regulate the amount of blood sugar in your body.

Drugs that mimic how GLP1 works are a new and very effective class of medication. They are improving their blood sugar control.

What about eating food in sequence?

The majority of the scientific research on whether eating food in a particular order makes a difference toglucose spikes involves giving a fiber, fat, orProtein "preload" before the meal. The preload is usually a liquid and given within 30 minutes before the meal.

One study found that 30 minutes before a mashed potato meal was better for slowing the emptying of the stomach. It was better to drink water before the meal than to drink water afterwards.

The evidence for eating other food groups separately and in sequence is not as strong as it could be.

According to Inchauspé, fiber, fats, andProteins do not mix in the stomach. The particles of nutrition don't leave the stomach until they are in a fine size.

Steak takes more time to be made into a fine particle than it does to be mashed. Is there any evidence that eating a meal within a particular sequence will be more beneficial than eating the foods, as you like, and all mixed up on the plate?

It isn't very strong.

There are 16 people without diabetes who were tested for meal sequence. The participants had 15 minutes to eat.

The groups that ate their vegetables before meat and rice had the same spike in blood sugar levels.

What's the take-home message?

If you have diabetes, it's important to watch the spikes in your blood sugar. If that's the case, your doctor will tell you how to change your diet to avoid spikes in blood sugar. It's possible that food ordering is part of the advice.

Don't try to eat your meal in a particular order for everyone. Adding fiber, cholesterol or fat to the food will help with the emptying of the stomach and flatten the spike in blood sugar.

Leonie Heilbronn is a professor at the University of Adelaide.

Under a Creative Commons license, this article is re-posted. The original article is worth a read.