CHALLENGE the glucose clearance system by consuming large, complex, gut-busting high-calorie meals with rapidly-absorbed carbohydrates
– 180 Degree Health
EXTRACT FROM: Healthy Stress? Health Benefits of Acute Stress – 180 Degree HealthNow everyone in the health field besides me tries to keep blood sugar from rising by eating lightly of foods, or combinations of food, that spike blood glucose levels – forever avoiding pizza and potatoes. But there’s a huge problem with that – this glucose clearance system, already out-of-shape, gets even weaker.
If (not if but when) our prediabetic goes back to that 1,000-calorie meal after a few months eating “raw” or “low-carb” you’re likely to see blood glucose levels go to 250 mg/dl. And the thing is, everyone is likely to eventually return to eating “normal.” Not just because of social pressure but because you can’t starve yourself of certain things indefinitely. Few people do, and most restrictions lead to binges later.
The solution of course is to CHALLENGE the glucose clearance system by consuming large, complex, gut-busting high-calorie meals with lots of rapidly-absorbed carbohydrates and work on improving your clearance numbers. If a half of a pizza and quart/liter of soda makes your blood glucose spike to 200 mg/dl in an hour when consumed at 1pm today, you should be able to eat that same exact meal at the same time every Saturday and see that glucose clearing faster and faster.
200 the first week, 190 the second, 180 the third, and so forth. That’s usually how it happens, and it is the ONLY yardstick for whether or not the functionality of this system is genuinely improving with whatever health interventions you are pursuing.
Speaking of large, complex, gut-busting high-calorie meals – wow does this do incredible things for your digestive system. The human body, if not challenged, will atrophy. That’s true of the brain, the digestive system, the bones, the muscles…
Without enough digestive “stress” of having to perform a very difficult task of properly handling a huge load of food all at once, the digestive system becomes weak and pathetic. If you do something stupid like “food-combining,” which ironically means to NOT ever combine foods together, eating a normal meal that combines all the components that make a meal complete (starch, meat, fat, salt, vegetables, drink, dessert) will ruin you. If you want to make your digestive system weaker, put fewer demands on it.
