Food order really matters to diabetic and weight loss?

Simple change in meal order solves Type-2 diabetes, pre diabetes, type-1 diabetes, overweight, weight loss, Deep explanation

Diabetes and overweight are the common diseases among the older adults or middle aged citizens. Sometimes young people get diabetic.

About 450 million people worldwide have been suffering from diabetes. About 37.3 million Americans are living with diabetes and 1 in 10 persons have diabetes.

We know that the blood glucose comes from the food we eat  and our liver also produces glucose when we fast and eat no food. 

Our blood glucose level rises instantly after we eat our meal and our valuable organ pancreas releases insulin to keep blood glucose in normal range and maintain balance.

The more food drives more blood glucose which drives more insulin release and that drives body fat and weight gain.

What Is That Simple change?

Isn’t it awesome if a simple tweak in your lifestyle, food habits can positively influence the glucose level in your bloodstream and solve the diabetes as well as overweight problem?

This simple tweak is nothing but a simple change in the order of the food you eat everyday. 

In our daily life we eat carbohydrates, (Rice, bread, potato), sugar(juice, sweet..), protein(chicken meat, lean beef, egg white..), fiber(Broccoli,Beans,Avocados.. ), Fat (Milk, cheese,butter, chicken skin,)

But we never heard that the glucose level in our bloodstream will increase if we eat protein, fiber and fat rich food first and after 10 to 15 minutes carbohydrate and sugar rich food.

Yes it is true indeed! And why? Why should you consider your food order to maintain your healthy blood glucose level to control pre diabetes or type 2 diabetes? We will discuss it below.

When we think about diabetes we think about a low carbohydrate diet we think about the total number of carbohydrates.

The second thing we talk about is net carbohydrate which is the total number of carbohydrates minus the fiber you eat  because fiber is not digested and absorved.

Net carbohydrate = Total number of carbohydrate – Fiber

These net carbohydrates are what your body actually faces. 

Study on type-2 diabetes

A research in 2005 was done and a paper named 

“Effect of Whey on blood glucose and insulin responses to composite breakfast and lunch meals in type-2 diabetes subjects” was published and written by Andres H Frid, Mikael Nilsson, Jens Juul Holst and Inger ME Björck.

In this research they showed that consuming a sort of whey protein powder just before meal can decrease the blood glucose level.

There are also many epidemiologic studies done and showed that milk drinking before meals can decrease blood glucose. So that actually makes sense.

Study on type-2 diabetes taking metformin

Another research paper named 

“ 2015 named “Food Order Has an Significant Impact on Postprandial Glucose and Insulin Level” written by alpana P. Shukla, Radu G. Iliescu, Catherine E Thomas and Luis J. Aronne.

In this research they did some early pilot study on a group of patients with type-2 diabetes who were taking diabetes pill  Metformin regularly. 

They were given the meal ordered by protein, fiber fat first and after 10 minute carbohydrate. 

So they were given skinless chicken breast for protein, steamed broccoli, vegetable salad with a vinaigrette for fiber and after 10 minutes they were given carbohydrate- bread and orange juice. 

The result was a pretty good reduction in blood glucose and lower insulin level. Their blood glucose and insulin level was measured and recorded.

After that the researcher took second group of 11 random patients from the same group of patients before and given the same meal but a complete switch in the order that means at first for carbohydrate- bread and orange juice were given and after 10 minutes chicken breast for protein, steamed broccoli, vegetable salad with a vinaigrette.

The result was astonishing. The blood glucose was so high compared to before and the same thing happened for insulin levels that were also too high. The blood glucose was increased by 54% and insulin was increased by 48%.

It is an incredibly huge difference between the two same meals  but only switch the order  of carbohydrates last and first.

So proteine, fiber or fat rich food first and carbohydrate rich food last can make a huge difference and be highly beneficial for the people with type-2 diabetes, pre diabetes even type-1 diabetes.

You might not take medication for diabetes just making a simple change in the order of foods you eat everyday.

Regular taking of diabetes medication has very bad and huge negative side effects in the long run for example nausea, gas, bloating, diarrhea, b12 deficiency, and an upset stomach. Even some patients have problems with kidney damage.

Study on prediabetes

 The same group of scientists came up with another study in 2018. This time the study was run on the group of patients who were living with prediabetes whey were not taking any diabetes drug. 

The only aim of the study was to find the impact on switching the same meal order and see if any changes or difference happens in their glucose and insulin level for the patients of prediabetes.

What they found in their study was shocking. In the case of carbohydrate first and protein, fiber and fat last again the huge rise in blood glucose.

Not only that, the total number of glucose that they had before they ate their meal goes very low, around 38% within 3 hours. Now they have too less glucose than required which is dangerous.

And this quick and abnormal fall in blood glucose causes hypoglycemia which results in their body shaking, sweating for the exact same meal but given carbohydrate first.

Study on Children with Type-1 diabetes

Another research was done named 

“The influence of food order on postprandial glucose levels in children with type-1 diabetes” by Elise M Faber, Paulien M van campen, Agnes clement-de Boers, auphemia CAM Houdijk, Danielle CM van der Kaay.

This research was run for the same reason but on children from age 7 to 17 with type-1 diabetes.who were stable on given insulin for one year.

They divided the children in two groups. The first group were given Turkey meat and cheese upfront and then two pieces of brown bread. And the second group were given the exact same but opposite order means brown bread up front and then turkey meat and cheese.

The result was as expected. For the first group they have less change in blood glucose level. The Second group of children had a high spike in blood glucose. That means many things: 

You have less glucose change in your blood that means you need less insulin and less weight gain which means you might not need any medication. 

We know that high glucose level and high insulin level drive weight gain. 

What we need is just to change our eating order: protein, fiber, fat first and after 10 minutes carbohydrate which can face 40% less glucose which can result in less blood glucose , less insulin and we lose some weight.

The other benefits is once you eat protein, fiber and fat rich food first, you will probably not need any carbohydrate because protein, fiber provide satiety  and you feel satisfied for a long time.

So the order of food makes a big difference in your life and your overall health. 

What are the benefits?

  1. Balanced and healthy glucose level
  2. Less insulin level
  3. Weight loss
  4. Less carbohydrate consumption