The third week of our January Challenge was particularly exciting: many participants worked intensively on stabilizing their blood sugar and gained important insights into the connections between meals, exercise and individual factors such as the menstrual cycle. In this report, we take a look at the various experiences, the week's blood glucose curves and the scientific explanations behind them.
🍽️x👟: What the week has shown us hat🕵️
One of the main topics was how exercise after a meal affects blood sugar - and why the response is not always clear to read. Participants such as Klara (name changed) and Sophie (name changed) shared their blood glucose curves and showed how different meals and types of exercise can have different effects. It became clear that the relationships are often complex and are influenced by several factors.
Example 1: 🍔x🍟x👟Klara's walk after burgers and fries - blood sugar had a double spike, what was going on?
Klara reported that her blood sugar levels rose with an unusual delay after a burger and fries, even though she had taken a 45-minute walk. What was going on here? Why was there even a second spike after the walk?
💡 Explanation: Fatty meals such as burgers and fries slow down digestion because the fatty meals linger longer in the stomach and so the carbohydrates are also delayed and only enter the intestine in portions, where they can pass into the blood. This prolongs the rise. In general, exercise can speed up digestion, but often does not prevent the delay caused by fat. In addition, a vigorous walk may have stimulated the release of glucose from the liver's glycogen stores if the body perceives exercise as a stress. This combination makes it difficult to clearly determine the cause of the increase. In principle, an increase due to exercise should not be seen as critical - but the knowledge helps to analyze blood glucose curves with a greater sense of proportion. During a normal walk, the 2nd peak is therefore more likely to be due to a 2nd wave of carbohydrates released late from the fries, after the 1st peak could probably be due to the burger buns.
Example 2: 🥦x🍗x👟Mia experiences a slight increase after a balanced meal - how can this curve be explained?
Mia combined a wholemeal pasta with vegetables and lean chicken. After a 20-minute walk, her blood sugar remained stable with only a slight rise.
Explanation: This meal contained slow-digesting carbohydrates and plenty of fiber, which cause blood sugar to rise moderately. The walk enhanced this effect by allowing the muscles to utilize the glucose efficiently before it could lead to a spike. The effect was clearly visible here - in contrast to fatty or more complex meals.
🤔Why the connection is not always clear
Blood glucose responses to exercise and meals depend on many factors, which makes interpretation difficult. Some participants reported curves that varied even with similar meals and exercise routines. But why?
1. the composition of the meal
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Fast carbohydrates (e.g. white bread, rice) cause blood sugar to rise quickly. Exercise can help very effectively here, as the muscles absorb glucose directly from the blood and can thus neutralize the spike.
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Fatty meals on the other hand, slow down digestion, which leads to a delayed increase. In combination with exercise, it is difficult to tell whether the delay in digestion or the exercise had the greater influence.
2. the influence of hormones
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Hormonal fluctuationse.g. due to the menstrual cycle, play a major role. In the luteal phase (after ovulation), hormones such as progesterone increase insulin resistance, making blood sugar reactions more difficult to predict.
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Oestrogen in the follicular phase (before ovulation), on the other hand, promotes insulin sensitivity, which can lead to more stable values. These hormonal influences make the analysis complex, especially when combined with meals and exercise.
3. intensity and timing of the movement
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Gentle exercisesuch as a walk, can often help to prevent spikes.
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More intensive exercise however (e.g. fast walking with an incline or jogging) can mobilize additional glucose from the liver through the release of stress hormones such as cortisol. This can cause blood sugar levels to rise despite exercise, but this is not a bad thing in this context, as the positive effects of exercise more than compensate for a temporary increase in healthy people.
4. individual factors
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Factors such as sleep, stress, metabolic rate and even the time of day influence how blood sugar responds to meals and exercise. Participants with higher stress levels reported more unpredictable spikes.
💡 What does your blood sugar curve look like depending on the meal and exercise?
|
Meal |
➕ Movement afterwards |
🟰 Blood sugar reaction |
|
🍝 White bread or pasta |
➕ Easy walk |
🟰 Smoothing of the peak, as glucose enters the blood quickly and is used up directly by the muscle movement. |
|
🍔 Burger with fries |
➕ Easy walk |
🟰 Double peak: The first portion of fast carbohydrates goes straight into the blood. The second spike occurs later, as the carbohydrates embedded in fat are released with a delay. Exercise lowers blood sugar between the peaks. |
|
🍕 Pizza or lasagna |
➕ Brisk walk |
🟰 Delayed rise: The fat content delays digestion and the glucose is released slowly. Brisk exercise can trigger an additional release of glucose from the liver through stress hormones. |
|
🥗 Salad with chicken |
➕ Easy walk |
🟰 Very stable: The combination of protein, fat and fiber ensures a balanced curve without any significant peaks. |
|
🍞 Wholemeal bread with egg |
➕ Moderate movement |
🟰 Minimal increase: The complex carbohydrates are digested slowly and the movement helps to absorb the increase directly. |
|
🏃🏽♀️ Jogging in the morning |
🟰 Jogging on an empty stomach triggers the release of glucose from the liver and this can look similar to a spike after a less than optimal breakfast. |
These 3 tips will help you to better interpret blood glucose curves
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🍟Look at the meal: High-fat or highly processed foods can delay the blood sugar curve. Pay attention to how you combine such foods with fiber and protein.
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🏃♂️Berücksichtige the movement: Not every type of exercise has the same effect. Observe whether a light walk or intensive sport gives you different results.
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😎Don't be stressed by spikes: Some spikes are normal and can be influenced by many factors, such as stress, sleep or even hormones. See the curves as a learning process. 😊
Conclusion: Why reading blood glucose curves requires patience
The third week of the January Challenge has shown that blood glucose curves are often influenced by several factors acting in combination at the same time. Exercise is undoubtedly a powerful tool, but the effect depends heavily on the meal, hormones and individual reactions. Especially with complex meals with fat or in hormonally sensitive phases such as the luteal phase, it can be difficult to identify clear causal relationships.
It was an exciting experience for all participants to observe these influences and adapt their strategies. The key is to recognize patterns, be patient and keep experimenting. 💡So we are looking forward to week 4 of the joint challenge with you!
