Jessie Inchauspé may only be 28, but she can already look back on an impressive career in Silicon Valley. From there, the biochemist declares war on exploding blood sugar levels, obesity and type 2 diabetes. And with means that also enable the normally overweight person to follow their suggestions and lead a healthier life without much effort. You should definitely check with your doctor beforehand what is really good for you. At the heart of Inchauspé’s engaging book “The Glucose Trick” is the fight against sugar, which not only Inchauspé but also worldwide research has identified as the number one enemy of health. The “glucose goddess – that’s the name of her Instagram blog – has evaluated so many studies for her guide that it should make some politicians with a half-doctoral degree blush. She comes to the startling conclusion that one need only follow a few precepts to indulge in the hedonistic lifestyle with almost impunity.
Even gummy bear and candy bar lovers needn’t lose all hope if they pull themselves together a little. Because the fight against sugar inevitably leads to better weight control. Basically, it’s about keeping sugar consumption within limits, but it’s even more important not to let the sugar shoot unprotected into the blood, from where it is then converted into fat, but rather to mix it with vegetables, fiber and fat encase it and thus take away its harmful effect. In concrete terms, this means not starting the day with Nutella bread or with a heavily sweetened cup of coffee and certainly not with a glass of freshly squeezed orange juice, because this not only causes an explosion in the blood sugar level, but also triggers one throughout the day persistent craving for more sugar.
These so-called blood sugar peaks, commonly known as the unhindered shooting of sugar into the blood, permanently damage vessels and organs and make us age faster and become fat. Instead, the petite Frenchwoman, who eats a lot herself, recommends a hearty breakfast: scrambled eggs, buttered rye bread, even a piece of very dark chocolate, plus coffee with a dash of whole milk. No ascetic sadness arises at lunchtime or in the evening either – as long as you renounce a few popular dishes that are considered healthy. Honeydew melon with ham, for example, is rather counterproductive as a starter, as is the popular nibbling of grissini or white bread with the beer.
Combination and order are decisive. The best way to orientate ourselves on the Italians: With their order, the rise in blood sugar can be reduced by up to 50 percent. Start with a salad or pickled antipasti, then eat the cooked vegetables separately before moving on to fish or meat. Ideally, we only eat the filling side dish afterwards and can then enjoy a sweet dessert. However, the concept here is not only reaching its Central European limits. The idea, say, of eating first a schnitzel and then the fries, first the goulash and then the mashed potatoes, is unworldly – and pasta and sauce and pizza and toppings also belong together. We don’t want to separate them at all, but instead recommend Inchauspé’s absolutely ingenious and easy-to-follow universal trick: Drink a glass of water with a tablespoon of vinegar before every meal – and the blood sugar spikes are kept in check. If the sweltering heat of midsummer and cold drizzle in autumn don’t make it tempting to take a post-meal walk, this trick – used by the Romans, by the way – works wonders.
At least the author could not find any weight gain despite the lack of movement in the summer and often multiple-course dinners. If you treat yourself to a good apple or white wine vinegar, the drink tastes pretty great in moderate doses.