Book Review: The Glucose Revolution, by Jessie Inchauspé
I recently read Glucose Revolution: The Life-Changing Power of Balancing Your Blood Sugar by Jessie Inchauspé. This book is really a compendium guide to Ms. Inchauspé’s well established Instagram account--@GlucoseGoddess. In this book, Ms. Inchauspé, a biochemist, goes into comprehensive detail about how to achieve healthy blood glucose levels using some interesting “hacks,” as she calls them. The book aims to help readers avoid blood sugar spikes and crashes, to decrease insulin resistance and improve overall health. Ms. Inchauspé does this with an emphasis on practical techniques to be implemented immediately at home, without having to give up favorite foods or feel deprived. This can be a great help to a functional medicine food strategy.
The first section of the book introduces readers to the concepts of how glucose or blood sugar works in our bodies. She explains why blood sugar management is important for overall health, energy and even maintaining weight. She delves into human history and the evolution of food availability. In this section, Ms. Inchauspé also discusses the connection between food and emotions.
The second section of the book focuses on why glucose spikes are harmful; how to choose the right foods to nourish the body and feel well. Ms. Inchauspé discusses the role of macronutrients, micronutrients, and fiber in a balanced diet. She also provides guidance on how to choose the right portion sizes and how to read food labels to make informed choices.
The third section of the book delves into the importance of flattening blood sugar curves in achieving a healthy lifestyle. Inchauspé discusses the role of fiber, eating foods in a particular order (greens first!), adding vinegar to water before meals, and movement to name a few. She provides practical tips for incorporating these practices into one's daily routine.
Overall, I enjoyed this book by the self-proclaimed Glucose Goddess. She packs in a lot of information about avoiding glucose spikes with easy hacks you can implement from day one. This is more of an in-depth presentation than her Instagram posts with an emphasis on practical strategies and explanations as to why each particular hack is helpful. She provides a lot of useful visuals documenting the glucose curves of different meals and various approaches. I think the pictures in particular make a strong impact and help make clear the concepts in this book. With her emphasis on balance and enjoyment of food, the book offers readers a sustainable approach to managing insulin resistance, blood sugar spikes and improved health. A good functional medicine doctor will advise you to manage glucose levels as part of an integrative health approach to wellness. This book helps is a great addition to your toolkit.
