With glucose monitors now easily available, more people than ever are tracking their body’s response to foods and adjusting their diet as a result. But is it necessary?
What are blood sugar spikes?
It’s normal for blood sugar to increase after eating food. If you have too many large, fast increases, though, it can affect your energy, mood, hunger levels and health over time.
Different foods may have a different impact, but this doesn’t mean we have to avoid foods that cause a ‘spike’.
Instead, aim for meals and snacks that combine carbohydrates, protein and fibre-rich plant foods, plus some fats, and your body will do the rest.
What to eat to reduce blood sugar spikes
If you need help planning nutritionally balanced meals and snacks, to reduce large or sustained glucose spikes, follow this meal plan as a guide.
Breakfast
- White toast on its own causes a rapid rise in blood sugar. Add margarine or butter (fat), an egg (protein and fat) and spinach.
- Choose a wholegrain muesli instead of cornflakes or pour yourself a smaller portion of cornflakes and combine with nuts (especially peanuts) for a boost of fibre, protein and fats.
Lunch
- If opting for a sandwich, choose granary bread with a protein like tuna and fibre from salad.
- Add fibre and protein-rich beans to salads or try beans on toast.
Dinner
Add beans and pulses to evening meals (like chilli or casserole).
Add pesto, which contains fat from olive oil, to rice or pasta, along with vegetables and chicken for protein.
Snacks
Combine fruit and vegetables with nuts and seeds, yoghurt or hummus – try apple and tahini.
Why are people cutting out carbohydrates?
A lot of the focus on social media around glucose has been on reducing – or cutting out – carbohydrates. That’s because when eaten, carbs (with the exception of fibre) are broken down into glucose, which then enters your bloodstream, causing your blood sugar levels to rise.
Your pancreas then releases insulin to move glucose into your cells for energy, then levels dip back down again.
Are glucose spikes bad for us?
Although there is little research on the impact of glucose spikes in healthy adults, if glucose spikes happen too often, it can contribute to insulin resistance, external.
This is where your muscle, fat and liver cells can become more resistant to insulin.
The result is that glucose is not moved as efficiently from your blood into your cells. The body responds by producing more insulin.
Over time, if your blood glucose levels remain too high, external, this can put you at risk of pre-diabetes, external.
Larger and faster increases in blood sugar lead to them crashing quickly. This can leave you feeling tired, grumpy and hungry – so you eat again, often something that spikes your blood sugar, leading to a rollercoaster that can continue all day.
Your glucose levels can also be impacted by stress, sleep, illness, physical activity and hormone levels, too.
What are glycaemic index (GI) foods?
The glycaemic index (GI), external measures how much a food impacts blood sugar. Glucose is given the value 100 and all other foods are compared to this.
Foods that are higher in refined carbohydrates, like white potatoes, white bread and fizzy drinks, tend to have a higher number, causing a larger, faster rise in blood sugar.
Fibre-rich, complex carbs, like beans, nuts and bran cereals are low GI.
Food pairing can reduce glucose spikes
So, does this mean you should only eat low GI foods? No, because this would not lead to a balanced and nutritious diet and you’d most likely cut out some of the foods you love.
Use it as a guide on how to mix foods that cause higher increases in blood sugar with foods that lower the impact, external.
High-fibre foods are slow to digest and slow to increase blood sugar. Foods that are higher in fat take longer to digest because the food stays in your stomach for longer and so there is a slower rise in blood sugar. Protein has a similar effect as it helps slow down the digestion of carbs, which can moderate the rise in blood sugar.
Do I need to track my glucose levels?
You don’t need to track everything you eat or monitor your blood sugar at each meal. Your body has a natural system built to deal with the changes in blood sugar that happen.
Eating a balanced and nutritious diet instead will help keep your blood sugar more steady over the day.
Originally published June 2024. Updated February 2026.
Source: BBC
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