Hitting the sweet spot
Controlling your blood sugar levels is the key to a healthy and happy life, says “Glucose Goddess” Jessie Inchauspé
Channel 4
- Kathryn Knight
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If Jessie Inchauspé – known to millions as the Glucose Goddess – could convince us of one thing, it’s that changing our diet for the better need not be a Herculean task. ‘‘There’s this big misconception that dietary change is going to mean restrictions,” she says. “People don’t want to change what they eat because they think it’s going to be hard and horrible. But it doesn’t need to be at all.”
It’s a message the French biochemist hopes will hit home in her new Channel 4 series, which challenges people with problems ranging from weight gain to acne and psoriasis to see if following her rules on regulating blood sugar levels and removing harmful cravings for just six weeks makes a difference.
Inchauspé’s path to bestselling author and influencer began 13 years ago when, aged 19, she broke her back jumping off a waterfall on holiday in Hawaii. Her vertebrae fractured into 13 pieces, and her prolonged recovery proved to be both physically and mentally painful. “I had this horrible condition called depersonalisation, which is a feeling of literally being terrified of being alive, not understanding why you have a body, having panic attacks as soon as I looked in the mirror,’’ she says. “It was horrendous.’’
While her back eventually healed following surgery, the experience prompted Inchauspé, who was studying for a maths degree in London at the time, to better understand her physiology. ‘‘I realised health should be my number one priority,’’ she says.
Inchauspé focused on biochemistry and genetics, completing a master’s degree in biochemistry. In 2018 she tried out a glucose monitor: “I saw that I had these big glucose spikes which would trigger depersonalisation episodes,’’ she says. ‘‘It was so shocking, because in six years of struggling, nobody had said that my food could actually impact my mental health. That’s when I started fixing my food.’’
Nobody told me my diet could impact my mental health
After two years “fixing herself”, Inchauspé put her simple hacks on Instagram. ‘‘I had this fire in me,’’ she recalls. “I thought I might get to a few thousand followers.” Six years later, the Glucose Goddess has a five million-strong fanbase on the social media platform. “It’s been a crazy journey,’’ she says.
Not everyone is sold. Inchauspé has been criticised for selling a supplement on her website that she claims steadies glucose levels; for making generalisations based on her own experience; and for encouraging people to focus on glucose spikes that may be perfectly normal.
‘‘Small spikes are normal,’’ she says. ‘‘But spikes that are really high are not, and they are detrimental to health. I think when people criticise me, they just don’t fully understand the message. Often they think, ‘Oh, she’s an Instagram influencer,’ but I’m 100 per cent confident in my methods. They’re based on science.’’
Inchauspé acknowledges that however good people’s intentions may be, they are bombarded on all sides by sugar-saturated goods and advertising. “I’d love to see the Government bring in industry-wide requirements that limit, say, the amount of the sugar in a pot of yogurt. It has to apply to all manufacturers, because if one food company is trying to do better, consumers are going to go to the next food company. It has to be a joint effort.’’
Alongside recipes, much of Inchauspé’s work is based on simple explanations of the science behind her methods, including easy-to-understand graphs demonstrating the effects of glucose on the body. “I see myself as a science communicator, taking studies by scientists across the world and making them accessible to people to show them that glucose levels matter for everybody. My hacks are easy and they work.”
More than anything, she wants people to understand that eating well doesn’t need to be a full-time job. “It’s not a diet you can fail at,” she insists. “Do this when you remember and when it’s easy. Don’t get stressed out when you can’t do them or forget. Every bit helps.’’
JESSIE'S 5 TOP HACKS
1 Have a savoury breakfast
‘‘Breakfast is the most powerful meal of the day,” says Inchauspé. “If you do it right, you’re going to feel so much better.’’ That means starting your day with eggs, sourdough bread and veggies rather than cereal and fruit juice. ‘’Take your leftover dish or chicken from last night’s supper, crack some eggs and heat in a pan. Or have some cheese. Whatever you do, make it a normal savoury meal.’’
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2 Eat your veggies first
’We’ve done this in France for a long time, and for good reason. They create a protective mesh in your upper intestine that slows down the rate at which the rest of your food arrives in your bloodstream. It’s a very powerful hack.’’
3 Eat sweets after a meal, never before
’If you eat something sweet at the end of a meal, you’re still getting the same dopamine from the sweetness hitting your tongue, but the impact on your bloodstream and organs is slowed down by the rest of your food. There’s nothing worse than having sugar on an empty stomach.’’
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4 Prep savoury snacks to have at hand
‘‘Beef jerky, carrots and houmous, nuts, a portion of cheese and chopped-up cucumber are all good.” In other words, anything to stop you reaching for a biscuit.
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5 Drink a spoonful of vinegar in a glass of water before a meal
‘’Vinegar has a really cool molecule in it called acetic acid that slows down the breakdown of food into glucose molecules,’’ Inchauspé explains. ‘’It helps it land in your body more slowly.’’ It is an acquired taste, but a vinegar-based dressing on a starter is a good trade, as is lemon juice. ‘’Lemon juice is not as powerful, but it still has an impact.”
Authors
Kathryn Knight
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