You Don't Need to Cut Carbs to Balance Your Blood Sugar
8 research-backed tools to protect your energy, crush cravings, and support weight loss - carbs included
Blood sugar matters for weight loss, but it also affects your health, your energy, your cravings, your mood, even how well you sleep.
If you are dealing with insulin resistance, prediabetes, or struggling with perimenopause-related metabolic changes and feel like your body is working against you, the usual advice is often to cut out or eat fewer carbohydrates.
But carbs fuel your brain, support your hormones, provide essential fiber for gut health and well… make us happy.
Instead, here are research-backed tools to manage blood sugar while still eating and enjoying carbohydrates. No restriction or elimination required.
Why blood sugar regulation matters?
When you eat, carbohydrates break down into glucose (sugar) which enters your bloodstream. Your pancreas releases insulin to shuttle that glucose into your cells for energy. But when too much glucose floods in too quickly, insulin spikes. High insulin is essentially a “store fat” signal to your body. It also blocks fat burning - you can’t burn stored fat when insulin is elevated.
Then comes the crash. Your body takes sugar out of the blood and into cells and your blood sugar level drops and for some people going too low. Your body in an attempt to balance sugar levels, triggers hunger and cravings, usually for quick-energy foods like sugar and refined carbs. And the cycle starts again.
For women over 40, this gets trickier. Hormonal changes during perimenopause affect how your body handles glucose. Declining estrogen impacts insulin sensitivity and your cells don’t respond to insulin as efficiently. Your body has to produce more insulin to do the same job it used to do easily. Which is why the same eating patterns that worked in your 30s suddenly stop working - your metabolic context is changing.
Chronically high blood sugar is also inflammatory, and that inflammation affects far more than just your weight.
When blood sugar spikes repeatedly throughout the day, it triggers the production of inflammatory compounds called cytokines. These compounds circulate through your body, causing low-grade chronic inflammation that damages tissues over time.
Chronic inflammation is linked to accelerated aging, increased cardiovascular risk, joint pain, brain fog, and that general feeling of being unwell that’s hard to pinpoint. It can worsen perimenopausal symptoms, disrupt sleep quality, and affect your mood. You might be feeling “puffy”, “bloated” or “inflamed” without knowing why.
The blood sugar-inflammation connection also creates a vicious cycle. Inflammation makes your cells more insulin resistant, which means higher blood sugar, which creates even more inflammation.
Balancing your blood sugar isn’t just about losing weight, it’s about reducing your risk of chronic disease and actually feeling vital and clear-headed.
When your blood sugar is stabilised, you have more energy, better focus, less joint achiness, and your mood improves. All real benefits as you are going into perimenopause and menopause, and the result of reduced systemic inflammation.
And when you are feeling well in your body and have sustained energy you are more likely to eat healthily, exercise and eventually, find your happy weight.
The Toolkit
Remember, beyond the foundations which are good guideline to live by for health, nothing here is a rule to follow. Think of them as tools in your arsenal, options to experiment with and tactics to try and see what works for your body and is easy for you to implement.
The foundational Three:
Let’s start with the foundations. These have the most research behind them, we know they work to balance blood sugar!
1. Eat Protein at Every Meal
This one has the strongest evidence behind it, and understanding why it works helps you use it strategically.
Protein slows gastric emptying, which means food leaves your stomach more gradually. This creates a slower, steadier release of glucose into your bloodstream instead of flooding it with sugar. The result is a gentler insulin response and no dramatic spike and crash.
But protein does more than just slow things down. When you digest protein, it triggers the release of hormones like GLP-1 and PYY that signal fullness to your brain. These same hormones also help regulate blood sugar.
For women over 40, protein becomes even more important because it helps preserve muscle mass.
Think of your muscles as a glucose sponge that pulls sugar out of your bloodstream. As we age and hormones shift, we naturally start losing muscle. Eating enough protein helps counteract this and maintain adequate muscle tissues that can ‘sponge’ more sugar out of the bloodstream.
How to use it: Aim for 25-35 grams of protein at each meal. That’s roughly the amount in a palm-sized portion of chicken, fish, or tofu, or in a cup of Greek yogurt with some nuts.
Start your day with it - the research on protein at breakfast is especially strong. Studies show it helps regulate blood sugar and reduce cravings throughout the entire day, not just at that meal. It sets the metabolic tone.
2. Add Fibre to Your Plate
Soluble fibre (found in oats, beans, apples, and vegetables) forms a gel-like substance in your digestive tract. This physically slows the absorption of glucose, creating that gentle, gradual blood sugar rise instead of a spike, it’s like a buffer layer, before the sugar gets quickly digested.
But fibre’s impact goes beyond just slowing things down. When it reaches your large intestine, your gut bacteria ferment it, producing short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) like butyrate. These SCFAs improve insulin sensitivity - they help your cells respond better to insulin, so your body doesn’t need to produce as much of it.
The beauty is that your gut bacteria actually communicate with your metabolism. A diverse, well-fed microbiome produces compounds that help regulate blood sugar, reduce inflammation, and even influence food cravings.
Fibre is how you feed those beneficial bacteria. So you are both helping regulate your blood sugar by eating fibre and improving the whole system and how it regulates blood sugar in the future, through supporting your gut bacteria.
There’s also the practical aspect: fibre adds volume to meals without adding many calories. It literally fills space in your stomach, triggering stretch receptors that signal fullness. Which is why a big salad or a bowl of vegetable soup can be more satisfying than a handful of nuts, despite being relatively low in calories. They take up more space and make you feel full.
How to use it: You don’t need to track fibre grams - just include fibre-rich foods with most meals and make them a priority.
A simple way to think about it: fill half your plate with non-starchy vegetables, add your protein, then add your carb. You’ve automatically built in fibre that will moderate the blood sugar impact of the entire meal.
3. Move After Eating
One of the most well-established blood sugar management strategies - making your muscle contract after meals.
When your muscles contract during movement, they pull glucose out of your bloodstream to use as fuel. They act as a sponge and take up sugar from your blood.
And the crucial bit? This happens regardless of what insulin signals are happening in your body. Which means movement works even when your metabolism is struggling.
So even if you are starting at a less than ideal situation metabolically, you are dealing with insulin resistance, prediabetes, or struggling with perimenopause-related metabolic changes, by simply doing some movement after meals, you can lower your blood sugar levels, effectively - right now.
Walking for just 10-15 minutes after a meal can reduce the post-meal blood sugar spike by 20-30%.
The timing matters: the research shows the biggest benefit when you move within 30 minutes after eating, ideally right after. That’s when blood sugar is rising and your muscles can intercept that glucose before it peaks.
The movement doesn’t have to be intense - just walking, some dancing in the kitchen, doing laundry loads - The key is consistent muscle contraction.
There’s a cumulative benefit too. Regular post-meal movement improves your overall insulin sensitivity over time. Your cells get better at responding to insulin, which means you need less of it to manage blood sugar.
How to use it: the easiest and most effective habit is to incorporate movement after meals. My grandmother used to always go for a short walk to ‘digest the meal’ and I think she had it exactly right (without being aware of any of the research).
Make post meal movement a habit. It doesn’t need to happen after every meal, but the more you get used to moving your body after eating, instead of plopping down on the couch the more benefits you will reap.
A great way to remember it is M&M (not the chocolate!) - Meal then Movement.
Research proven tactics that are worth trying
There is research to show these work but their effect and impact might differ from one individual to another. Worth experimenting with for sure!
The great thing about all of them is that you are not eating less, there is no restriction. You’re eating smarter combinations that work with your metabolism instead of against it.
1. Vegetables First
There’s research suggesting the order in which you eat your food, can impact your blood sugar reaction.
It suggests that eating vegetables before your protein and carbohydrates can reduce the blood sugar spike from a meal by 30-40% in some studies.
When you eat vegetables first, the fibre creates a physical barrier in your stomach and small intestine. When the carbohydrates arrive next, they have to work their way through this fibre mesh to be absorbed. This slows glucose absorption and creates a more gradual blood sugar rise.
There could also be hormonal effects. Starting with vegetables triggers the release of certain gut hormones that help moderate the insulin response to the carbs that follow. The fibre is priming your metabolism to handle what’s coming next.
There is also a practical benefit - eating the vegetables first when you’re hungriest means you actually eat them and potentially get fuller for less calories, before eating the rest of your meals. A way to reduce the calorie density of the meal, while controlling blood sugar.
How to use it: Start your meal with a few bites of salad or vegetables, then eat the rest of your meal normally. Order a salad or vegetable entree before starting your main course, when eating out.
2. Don’t Eat Carbs Naked
Research shows that combining macronutrients moderates blood sugar response.
When you eat carbohydrates on their own (a toast with jam, white rice or pasta) they digest quickly and flood your bloodstream with glucose. There’s nothing to slow them down. The result is a sharp spike followed by a crash.
Protein and fat both slow gastric emptying and digestion. When you eat them with carbohydrates, the entire meal digests more slowly. The glucose release is gradual rather than sudden. Your blood sugar rises gently, insulin stays moderate, and you avoid the crash that triggers cravings an hour later.
There’s also the satiety factor. Carbohydrates alone don’t trigger strong fullness signals. They provide quick energy, but your brain doesn’t register them as deeply satisfying. Protein and fat activate different satiety pathways - they create lasting fullness that prevents you from feeling hungry again shortly after.
How to use it: Get in the habit of asking “what’s the protein or fat?” whenever you reach for a carb-heavy food. Toast? Add eggs or nut butter. Pasta? Make sure there’s adequate protein in the sauce and some olive oil or just have a side of protein. Fruit? Pair it with Greek yogurt, cheese, a handful of nuts or some nut butter. Just as long as they are not eaten in isolation.
3. Cook than Cool
This is a really simple tactic that helps change the molecular structure of food to make it work better for your blood sugar. If you cook and then cool starchy foods (yes, carbs) you can reheat them and eat them and they will create a lower blood sugar response.
When you cook starchy foods like rice, potatoes, or pasta, the heat breaks apart the starch molecules. But when you cool them, the starch molecules rearrange themselves into a form called resistant starch. This resistant starch behaves more like fibre than regular starch.
Your small intestine can’t fully break down resistant starch, so it doesn’t cause the same blood sugar spike as the original starchy food. Some of it passes through to your large intestine where it feeds beneficial gut bacteria. Those bacteria ferment it into short-chain fatty acids that improve insulin sensitivity.
The research shows that cooling cooked starches can reduce the blood sugar impact by 20-40% depending on the food and how long it’s chilled. Potatoes seem to show the most dramatic effect, followed by rice and pasta.
The best part? You can reheat the food and the resistant starch remains. You’re not stuck eating cold potatoes. Meal prep actually becomes a blood sugar management strategy - make a batch of rice or potatoes, refrigerate overnight, then use and reheat throughout the week.
How to use it: Cook your rice, potatoes, or pasta as usual. Let them cool completely in the refrigerator overnight - at least 12 hours seems to maximize resistant starch formation. Reheat and eat normally, knowing the structure has changed in your favor.
This works particularly well for meal prep. Make a grain bowl base or potato side on Sunday, and you’ve created a more blood-sugar-friendly version for the week ahead.
Some people also swear by adding external forms of resistant starch onto their meals to create this effect. For example - sprinkling potato starch (yes the kind you buy in powder form in the supermarket) onto carb heavy meals to help balance the blood sugar response.
4. Add Vinegar
Some studies show that consuming 1-2 tablespoons of vinegar before a meal can reduce the post-meal blood sugar spike by 20-30%. Acetic acid (the main component in all vinegars) slows gastric emptying and improves insulin sensitivity.
This one has mixed evidence though. Some studies show minimal or no effect. The variation seems to depend on the meal composition, individual metabolism, and possibly even gut bacteria differences between people.
An easy way to try this is to add vinegar based dressings to a salad at the beginning of a meal. Combining the benefits of both vegetables first + Vinegar for blood sugar regulation.
Some research shows greater benefits by drinking a tablespoon or two of vinegar diluted in water around 10-15 minutes before starting a heavily carbohydrate meal, but I don’t think it’s very practical… just some vinegar on your salad, or some pickles (made with vinegar) with your food, can probably generate enough good impact.
How to use it: use more vinegar-based dressings or include pickled vegetables with meals. If you want to go all out, dilute a tablespoon or two of vinegar in water and drink it with a straw 10-15 minutes before a carbohydrate heavy meal.
Tools to use, not food rules
Blood sugar management isn’t about deprivation or complicated protocols. It’s about working with your metabolism instead of against it. When you understand how your body works: why protein matters, how fibre helps, what movement does, you can use these tools strategically.
The beauty of this approach is that it compounds. Better blood sugar control improves sleep. Better sleep reduces stress and cravings. Less dramatic blood sugar swings mean less inflammation and more stable energy and mood.
Everything supports everything else and before you know it, you feel better and you have the energy and motivation to do a little bit more and to start seeing changes not just in how you feel in your body, but also how you look at your body.
Start where you are. Pick what resonates. Build from there.
Thank you! Will never eat carbs naked again😂