Blood glucose isn't completely stable. After eating carbohydrate-containing food, blood glucose typically rises, and the body responds by releasing insulin.
Online, these changes are often called "glucose spikes." But a rise in glucose after eating is actually part of a normal body response. It's important to tell the difference between typical post-meal changes and actual glucose metabolism disorders, which can be assessed through appropriate testing.
What happens when you eat carbohydrates?
During digestion, some of the carbohydrates from food are broken down into glucose. It enters the bloodstream and can be used by the body's cells as an energy source.
As blood glucose rises, the pancreas releases insulin. This hormone helps regulate blood glucose levels and how glucose enters cells.
Many factors can influence how much and how quickly glucose changes after a meal, including the composition and amount of food eaten.
Are all carbohydrates the same?
No. Carbohydrate-containing foods vary a lot in composition.
For example, a sweetened drink, fruit, legumes, and whole grain products can all contain carbohydrates, but they differ in their fiber, protein, fat, and other nutrient content.
That's why, when looking at your everyday diet, it's useful to consider not just how many carbohydrates a food contains, but its whole nutritional profile.
Can you tell your glucose level from how you feel?
Fatigue, hunger, headache, irritability, or cravings for sweets aren't specific enough signs to reliably tell you your blood glucose level.
Many different factors can cause these sensations.
So how you feel alone isn't a reliable way to know whether you've had an unusual change in blood glucose.
If you have questions about blood glucose or diabetes risk, it's best to see a doctor and follow the testing your healthcare provider recommends.
How can you build a varied everyday diet?
Instead of trying to completely avoid any rise in glucose after every meal, it's more practical to focus on the overall quality of your diet.
In your everyday diet, you can:
- choose a variety of vegetables;
- eat fruit and berries;
- include legumes;
- choose whole grain products;
- get protein from a variety of sources;
- include nuts and seeds;
- pay attention to how much sweetened drinks and foods high in added sugar you consume.
What matters isn't any single food, but your overall dietary pattern.
What role does fiber play in your diet?
Fiber is part of a varied, balanced diet. It occurs naturally in vegetables, fruits and berries, legumes, whole grain products, nuts, and seeds.
But fiber isn't a single, uniform substance. Different types of fiber have different properties, so it wouldn't be accurate to sum up the effect of all fiber with the claim that it "stabilizes blood glucose."
Specific health claims depend on the type of fiber, the amount consumed, and other established conditions.
Read more about the different types of fiber, their sources, and how to use them in our Fiber Guide.
Do you need to give up sweets because of glucose?
Not necessarily. A single food shouldn't be judged separately from your overall diet.
If you often crave sweets, it can help to look at your overall eating pattern, the composition of your main meals, your snacks, and the situations where cravings for sweets tend to show up most.
Read more about this in our article "How to reduce cravings for sweets?"
How can "fruttberry +fiber" help add fiber to your everyday diet?
"fruttberry +fiber" is a blend of plant-based fibers with strawberries and blackcurrants. It contains psyllium (Plantago ovata) seed husk, agave inulin, glucomannan, freeze-dried strawberries, and blackcurrants.
100 g of the product contains 77 g of fiber, and one 5 g serving contains 3.86 g of fiber and 11 kcal.
Laboratory analysis of the tested "fruttberry +fiber with berries" sample found 60.8% soluble and 23.6% insoluble fiber. These laboratory results apply to the specific sample tested.
"fruttberry +fiber" is designed to help add fiber to your everyday diet. It shouldn't be presented as a product for controlling blood glucose or for preventing or treating diabetes.
Use the product according to the instructions on the packaging and don't exceed the recommended daily dose.
Browse the "fruttberry +fiber" fiber blends.
What's the most important thing to remember?
Blood glucose naturally changes after eating. The simple fact that glucose rises after carbohydrate-containing food doesn't in itself mean something is wrong.
In your everyday diet, it's worth focusing on overall variety – vegetables, fruit, legumes, whole grain products, and other sources of fiber – rather than trying to completely avoid every rise in glucose after a meal.
If you have questions about elevated blood glucose, prediabetes, or diabetes, see a doctor and base your decisions on your test results.
