Dear Reader xv
How I Got Here xxi
Part 1 What Is Glucose?
1. Enter the Cockpit: Why Glucose Is So Important 3
Yes, This Book Is for You 4
What This Book Says-and What It Doesn't 6
1. Meet Jerry: How Plants Create Glucose 9
Strong Starch 12
Fierce Fiber 14
Flirty Fruit 15
3. A Family Affair: How Glucose Gets into the Bloodstream 17
One Parent, Four Siblings 20
What If There Was No Glucose in Our Diet? 22
4. Seeking Pleasure: Why We Eat More Glucose than Before 25
5. Underneath Our Skin: Discovering Glucose Spikes 31
Some Spikes Are Worse Than Others 36
Part 2 Why Are Glucose Spikes Harmful?
6. Trains, Toast, and Tetris: The Three Things that Happen in Our Body When We Spike 41
Why the Train Stops: Free Radicals and Oxidative Stress 41
Why You Are Toasting: Glycation and Inflammation 45
Playing Tetris to Survive: Insulin and Fat Gain 47
7. From Head to Toe: How Spikes Make Us Sick 53
Short-term Effects 54
Long-term Effects 60
Part 3 How Can I Flatten My Glucose Curves?
HACK 1 Eat Foods in the Right Order 73
HACK 2 Add a Green Starter to All Your Meals 89
HACK 3 Stop Counting Calories 103
HACK 4 Flatten Your Breakfast Curve 117
HACK 5 Have Any Type of Sugar You Like - They're All the Same 137
HACK 6 Pick Dessert over a Sweet Snack 149
HACK 7 Reach for Vinegar Before You Eat 157
HACK 8 After You Eat, Move 171
HACK 9 If You Have to Snack, Go Savory 181
HACK 10 Put Some Clothes on Your Carbs 187
CHEAT SHEETS: How to Be a Glucose Goddess When Things Get Hard 205
A Day in the Life of a Glucose Goddess 217
You Are Special 219
The End 223
Acknowledgments 225
Notes 227
Index 259