4 Eating Habits for Greater Brain Health | Glucose Goddess

It is a game changer. It is a foundational layer of steady glucose levels and a much nicer experience of life.

And your brain is only 2% of your body mass, but it requires 20% of the energy.

And so you might think, okay, I want maximum amount of energy. My brain wants the maximum amounts of energy, so I should just eat as many starches and sugars as I can, right? That would be logical. Well, that's when things break down.

That's like the biggest takeaway ever. Welcome back to the Kwik Brain Podcast. I'm your host and your brain coach, Jim Kwik, and we have a very special episode. We're actually filming this right in my office for the first time, so I'm excited about that. We're going to talk about blood sugar and brain power. This is a topic we haven't covered yet out of the 350+ episodes that we've done. So I want to thank you for tuning in, and we're going to talk about each Eating hacks for greater cognitive performance. And we have the perfect guest for this. I'm so excited. So I want to introduce Jessie Incho Spey.

Very good, Jim Kwik.

Yes. You like that?

Yes.

Most people know the Glucose Goddess. If you're on Instagram, she has millions and her content is just absolutely extraordinary. You come up like very early in my feeds. So thank you for the work that you, that you do.

Thank you for having me, Jim. It's a pleasure to be here.

Now, you're a biochemist?

Biochemist, yep.

Yes. And you have background in genetics?

Exactly, yeah. I worked for 5 years in a genetics company in Silicon Valley, learning all about health tech. And now I'm focused mostly on blood sugar and food and why it matters for all of us.

And you've written 2 bestselling books. Congratulations.

Thank you. Yes, Glucose Revolution and The Glucose Goddess Method. Right here, my latest baby.

Yes, I encourage everyone to get both. Leaders are readers. If somebody has a lot of experience and they put it into a book and you can sit down, you get decades of wisdom in just a Handful of days. So we'll put the link as we always do in the show notes at jimkwik.com/notes. So why don't we start with what is glucose for those listening?

Glucose is your body's favorite source of energy. So every single cell in your body uses it for energy, from your brain cells to your finger cells to your toe cells.

Nobody's ever said toe cells.

Toe cells. Yeah. When you're dancing. So your toe cells also use glucose for energy. And the main way that we give glucose to our body is by eating foods, specifically by eating 2 types of food, starches. So bread, pasta, rice, potatoes, and sugars, anything that tastes sweet from a banana to chocolate ice cream. And so you might think, okay, I want maximum amount of energy. My brain wants a maximum amount of energy, so I should just eat as many starches and sugars as I can, right? That would be logical. Well, that's when things break down. I like to take the example of a plant. So you have a lovely tree here in your office, and you know that this tree needs a little bit of water to survive. But if you give it too much water, it dies. The human body and the human brain are the same. Some glucose, everything functions wonderfully. Too much glucose and problems start happening.

Okay, so let's talk about some of those problems and then we get to the solutions, especially as you outline in your book. Hi, this is Jim Kwik, author of the New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestseller Limitless, and today I am thrilled to share with you some exciting news. It is Limitless Expanded. It's an updated and brand new edition of my transformative guide, and now it's enriched with new insights and new tools to help you navigate our post-pandemic world. For a limited time, when you preorder your copy of Limitless Expanded, you're going to get exclusive free access to my 13-day Quick Start 2.0 training. It's a brain training plus a bunch of amazing bonuses. Just go to limitlessbook.com and pick up a copy for you and pick up a copy for a friend. You talk about glucose spikes.

Exactly.

So what is it and how is it affecting our cognitive performance, our brain?

A glucose spike is what happens after a meal if you eat too many starches and sugars. So it's a rapid increase in how much glucose is in your body. Specifically for your brain, this means a couple of things. Instead of your brain having a nice steady amount of energy coming through, it's experiencing this roller coaster. this spike and this dip, this can lead to many different symptoms. It can lead to brain fog. Very interesting, right? Because that glucose roller coaster can slow down the speed of the signals between your neurons, and that can be felt as brain fog. It can affect your mood. It can make you more irritable. It can make you hangry. It can make you sad. It can make your mental health worse. And then long term, being on a glucose roller coaster is linked to the development of Alzheimer's disease. So your brain, if you want to take really good care of it, you need to make sure that you have steady glucose, not this big roller coaster going on.

You mentioned before we started filming that you did an experiment with a few thousand participants. What did you discover?

My second book, The 4-Week Method, I recruited 3,000 people and I put them through the 4-week method and I measured how they were doing. And so 80% of them had more energy, had fewer cravings. 40% of people with diabetes started reversing it. 40% of people slept better. We got amazing results in these 4 weeks by just asking people to add to their lives these 4 very simple hacks, these 4 very simple food principles that didn't ask them to count calories or cut out any foods out of their diet.

And you put the detailed strategy, if you will, in your latest book, 4 Weeks.

Yes, exactly. So in my first book, I had 10 hacks, 10 food hacks, 10 science-based hacks to eat better and avoid the roller coaster. In my new book, I pared this all down to 4 hacks, 4 weeks. So should I go into it?

Yeah. And one of the things is, and we'll show images of this, If you're watching this on YouTube, which we prefer people do because we put the extended version there on our YouTube channel, I love the look.

Thank you.

It's aesthetically— it has function, but it also has form. As a reading teacher, you designed it in a way that's very readable.

That's my whole passion. How do I make this science that is a little bit dry, you know, the science of blood sugar, into something that feels fun, like almost cartoonish because it's so easy to understand? Lots of images, lots of graphs. You don't even need to be a very good reader. The glucose graphs that I show you give you all the information that So yes, I'm very into the visual teaching element.

And it's very— as a memory coach, it's very memorable too. I would imagine if people followed some of the recipes that you have there, they do it once and they have it.

Exactly, yes. So the recipes in the second book, they're meant to be looked at once and then you never have to look at the recipe ever again because it's so simple, you just got it.

Now I know our audience, they know what you eat matters, especially for your gray matter. Why don't we go through the 4 things?

Okay, so week 1 of the Glucose Goddess Method, we have a savory breakfast instead of a sweet breakfast. Most of us have a sweet breakfast every morning. Maybe it's fruit juice, it's breakfast cereal, it's oats with honey and a banana.

Or pancakes with all that syrup.

Of course. Or pancakes with syrup. And so when we eat something sweet, we might think that we're getting energy because we feel a little bit awake like this. What's actually happening is that your brain is releasing dopamine. It's the pleasure molecule in response to that sugar. And that tricks you into thinking you have energy. You don't have any energy. You have pleasure in your brain. On the inside, actually in your mitochondria, the little organelles that are making energy, that sweet food at breakfast is going to make them tired, stressed out, and not able to make energy as effectively anymore. So we switch from a sweet breakfast that creates a big glucose spike and all those side effects to a savoury breakfast built around protein that doesn't give you that much dopamine, but gives you super steady energy. And so for the whole day, you can focus well, you're concentrated, you feel great, your mood is level, and it's just a whole new experience of your days. You're more productive too. So week 1, savoury breakfast. It is a game changer. It is a foundational layer of steady glucose levels and a much nicer experience of life.

Absolutely. And so the food that you eat is fuel, and your brain is only What, 2% of your body mass, but it requires 20% of the energy. It's an energy hog.

And your brain is also very sensitive to the fluctuations in blood sugar level in your bloodstream, your glucose levels. It's a very sensitive organ. And so if you're able to give it a steady supply of glucose instead of that roller coaster, it's going to thank you. It's going to be able to perform so much better for you.

And do you recommend our listeners use like a continuous glucose monitor or one of those things, or can they— do they need that?

You know, I don't. I think if you have one, that's great. And if you're interested, but it is a medical device. for people with diabetes. The data can be a bit difficult to understand. I recommend that you do the hacks and you just see how your experience of yourself changes.

How you feel, how you perform.

Exactly. Cravings go away, energy improves, you're less hungry, inflammation goes down, skin problems go away. If you had hormonal issues, they also dissipate. You sleep better. Literally every system in your body gets better when you get off that glucose roller coaster that so many of us are on.

So then as you continue to week 2.

Week 2, week 2, I introduce a very cool molecule that is inside of vinegar. So week 2, we have 1 tablespoon of vinegar in a big glass of water before one of our meals a day. Why do we do this? Because acetic acid is amazing. Acetic acid, this molecule, slows down how quickly food breaks down to glucose molecules. So you can still eat. the meal that you love eating afterwards, but by adding the vinegar drink, you're reducing the glucose spike. So you're reducing the impact of that meal on your health. It's quite magical, but actually it's science. There's a lot of wonderful clinical trials showing its efficacy. So that's week 2. So week 1, savory breakfast, week 2, vinegar.

Yeah, I mean, I know our audience is remembering this because they're trained with their memory. There's no such thing as a good or bad memory. There's a trained memory and untrained memory. So they know, especially the way you're presenting it, and you're very passionate about vinegar, by the way. Can it be apple cider vinegar?

It can be any type of vinegar. And if you're not a vinegar person, you can also replace it with lemon juice. So lemon juice is less powerful. You need the juice of about 3 lemons to get the power of 1 tablespoon of vinegar, but it's also helpful if somehow you have an aversion to vinegar.

And it blunts the spike. So it doesn't— like, I love your— on your social media, how you have the graphs, and maybe we could show that in post, where sometimes you see a spike really high if you ate something that's sweet, but if you add something in advance—

So for example, for the vinegar, let's say you're having a big bowl of pasta. That would be a big glucose spike. If you have a vinegar drink before the bowl of pasta, you would see a smaller glucose spike, yet you're still eating the same pasta afterwards.

And if they choose to, they're not denying the foods that they want. You're saying how you could do it in a more sustainable way without all the symptoms.

Exactly. And especially what you want to avoid is once you kick off that glucose spike and the roller coaster, you're going to have a full day of cravings and more hunger. So you want to be able to eat what you love, the pasta and the chocolate that you love, without kicking off that really annoying and unfortunate vicious cycle of cravings. We've all been there. You have one cookie, and then an hour later you're like, oh my God, I need ice cream now. That's the glucose roller coaster bringing you all these cravings for the rest of the day. So you want to eat the pasta with less of a spike, so less consequences.

Okay. And as we go into week 3?

Oh, so week 3. Week 3 is the week of veggie starters.

Veggie starters.

Yes. So once a day before one of our meals, we're going to have a plate of vegetables at the beginning of the meal. So why do we do this? Because vegetables contain an amazing substance called fibre. When we eat fibre at the beginning of a meal, her amazingness powers, she has time to deploy herself onto the walls of your upper intestine and create a protective fibrous mesh. This protective mesh is going to slow down and reduce how many glucose molecules are going to be absorbed from your food into your bloodstream. So again, you're eating the same meal, but by adding the veggie starter, you're reducing the glucose spike of that meal. So you're helping your brain health, you're helping your physical health. It's super powerful.

So So it's not just what you eat, it's how you eat it and also when.

Absolutely.

In terms of the syntax, the order.

Exactly. Because for the veggies, of course, it's great to eat veggies anytime, like have veggies anytime. But if you want them to be extra powerful, have them at the beginning of your meal.

So when they serve bread, you know, and you're at a restaurant, that's the first thing people eat.

That's probably not good. I think that's a whole conspiracy because hear me out. Okay. If you eat bread first thing during a meal, that's starch. So that's going to break down into glucose molecules. You're going to get a big spike at the beginning of a meal, then about About an hour, 90 minutes later, you're going to get that drop. That's usually around the time when the waiter comes over and asks if you want dessert, right? And that drop can make you hungry and crave sweet foods. So you might be more likely to want a dessert if you've started with that bread and you've had a big glucose spike.

You know, I always notice with the bread, they put it on the table and it's warm and there's butter and there's everything. I ask them for no bread when they ask you, would you like bread? Or if they bring the bread automatically, ask them no. Otherwise, I find myself throughout the entire meal, like 10 times 20 times saying, should I eat it? Should I not eat it?

And then you know that when you start, you can't stop. I totally feel you. So what I do is I keep the bread for after the main dish.

Okay.

Because if you have your carbs closer to the end of the meal, the rest of the food already in your digestive system is going to slow down the absorption of glucose. So ideally, you start with veggies and any starches or sugars are at the end of the meal. Okay. And in week 3, you can also do something very clever. You could mix the vinegar hack and the veggie starter hack. by adding a vinegar dressing to your veggie starter. That's 2 hacks in one, and you are completely protected for the rest of the day.

That's like the biggest takeaway ever. I hope you're enjoying this episode, and if you want to go deeper with many of these authors that we have on our podcast, these experts, I want to invite you to join our Kwik Success Program. This is our monthly lives that I do where I teach something brand new that we haven't taught before, answer your burning questions, and also we have something that people have been requesting for many years, a Kwik Book Club. This is your limitless book club where every single month we read a book together, like a book provided by this author, and then we get the author to come online and join us for a 1-hour share going deeper in these strategies, how to put them into practice. I share my 5 tips for how to memorize things out of these books. Many people want to read a book a month. Or build up to that, and this would be the program. So if you want to join, just go to kwiksuccess.com and get your spot and join us live and get to meet these authors very up close and personal. And now back to the episode.

So week 4, we're going to recruit our muscles. Powerful allies for steady glucose levels. So you know how I said that our toe cells use glucose? All of our muscle cells also use glucose for energy, and we can use that to our advantage. So here's the hack. After one meal a day, we're going to move for 10 minutes. This can be walking around your block. This could be cleaning your home. It can be dancing in your living room. It can be doing some calf raises on the floor at your desk. By contracting your muscles for 10 minutes, they're going to soak up some of the glucose of the meal you just had.

Wow.

Therefore reduce the spike. So this is all about, Jim, how do we eat what we love and also help our brain function better, help inflammation go down, help slow down ageing, help our glucose levels be more balanced. And then it becomes a virtuous cycle, because once you've added these 4 hacks during these 4 weeks, you feel like a new person. So you want to do more and more stuff. It's like the perfect on-ramp to better health.

I love that. And does this work for people listening to this and whether they're vegan or keto or paleo or whatever?

Absolutely. Whatever your diet, whatever your preferences, these hacks will work for you. Even for kids, it's really important to teach kids to have savory breakfast and to try to avoid the breakfast cereals and the fruit juices. Vinegar for kids, like, don't force It might be a bit of a weird one, but all the other ones are going to be really applicable. And it's cool to teach younger ones about having the veggies first and how the fibre is protecting them. I like seeing fibre as a superwoman. I know you love superheroes. So to me, fibre is my superwoman.

I love that. So the sequence then ideally is vegetables. Then you have your proteins and fats.

Exactly. And then towards the end of the meal, you have the carbs and the sugars that you want. So for example, if your meal is broccoli, salmon, avocado, rice, and a cake, The perfect order for your glucose levels is going to be broccoli first, then the salmon and the avocado, then the rice and the cake. And if you do that instead of eating them in the opposite order, you reduce the glucose spike by 75% of that meal without changing what or how much you're eating.

Things I like about your work, it parallels ours in that you do all the research like we do a lot of research in adult learning theory and neuroscience, but we also want to make it fun and practical. And I love the basis of your work and your books. You must be very passionate about behavioral change.

I am. That's really my biggest passion because I didn't invent this science. I am just translating and making accessible the work of wonderful scientists across the world that have run all these clinical trials and figured all these hacks out. I'm just here to make it easy to get to understand and to act on. The acting on part is really what I find the most interesting because we all know we should eat better, exercise more, but actually starting somewhere, that's the hardest part. And with these hacks, you can start without restrictions, without making something too complicated, without creating a complex diet and then not doing it again after one week. These are like gentle giants that you keep with you for your whole life. A bit like brush your teeth or drink water, wear sunscreen. That is the level at which I think we need to be operating with these principles. And you'll also find that even though modern science is bringing these to light, we've been doing a lot of this stuff for a very long time in a lot of cultural traditions. So, for example, the veggies first. In Italy, they have antipasti. In France, we have crudités. All of these things, we've actually known them for a long time, and now we have to bring them back with this modern science that explains them.

Yeah. We always tell our audience that genius leaves clues. That if you look at, even when we do our memory training, you look at ancient civilizations, how do they remember things before there were computers and printing presses and everything? But there's a lot of ancient wisdom for sure.

Absolutely.

Yes. And behind every principle that you're talking about, There's a promise of energy, of a greater mood, that's a sustained vitality, not the big crashes that— or food comas that often people—

And a healthier brain and the ability to go after the things that you want to go after and not feel crippled by fatigue or cravings or mood swings. Food is very important. It is not just our fuel. It is determinant of how we're going to feel throughout the day. And if we want to feel our best, we have to make sure our food is serving us.

I love that, that the food is serving us, that we're not serving the food. I love that. Now, what I love about the principles is they're so simple. And sometimes common sense is not common practice. But the way you share it with your community, with our community now, it's so easy to implement.

It is easy.

And then you get in the habit of it and it just becomes self-reinforcing because nothing tastes as good as like feeling fit without the brain fog and the forgetfulness and the haze.

And also you can still eat all the sugar you love, just have it after your veggies, in your meal and after the vinegar, you don't have to cut anything out, you just have to rethink a little bit when and how you're eating all these foods.

Yeah, so it's not what you eat, it's when you eat it, it's how you're eating it also, because a lot of people, they're eating and they're maybe working and they're not in that parasympathetic kind of rest and digest. And your book outlines all of this, right? Who did you write the book for? Because when I was going through it, it felt like, I guess, anything better, only thing better would be having you live with the person for 4 weeks or something, right?

So after my first book, in which I outlined 10 hacks, a lot of my readers reached out to me and said, Jessie, I get it. I want to do the hacks. Can you move in with me, please, and help me do it? That's actually in the introduction of the book. So this Glucose Goddess Method is like me moving in with you for 4 weeks and helping you get started with the hacks. And I would say it's for anybody who thinks they could feel better than they currently do. It's very important to balance your glucose levels. To me, it's the foundation of health. If you're on a glucose roller coaster like most of us are and like I used to be, you're just not going to feel good. So you have to get that steady and sorted and then you can start building all the rest in your life.

I'm certainly glad that you wrote this book. And I think leaders are readers and everyone should get their copy. With your background in genetics, you haven't figured out a way to clone yourself yet. So—

Not yet. I'm working on it.

But through your social media and your books and your platform and courses, all of that is possible. So I highly recommend people get the book.

Where can they get their Anywhere online, The Glucose Goddess Method. It's out now.

I'd love to ask a question to everyone who's watching this. Maybe they could post on social media and tag you, tag myself. Is there a question that you have for our audience that they could post the answer, as well as maybe they'll screenshot whatever platform they're listening to this on and tag us and we'll see it?

Okay, a question that relates to the topic we just discussed. Okay. How much vinegar should you have in your vinegar drink to have a glucose-lowering impact? I said it. You have to remember it. How much vinegar do you have to put in your vinegar drink Perfect.

Everyone do that. Post your answer. Maybe take a screenshot of wherever you're consuming this on iTunes or Spotify or YouTube. Tag us both. How do people connect with you on social media?

Glucose Goddess on Instagram.

Glucose Goddess.

Glucose Goddess.

What a fun account name.

Thank you. I actually was thinking it used to be my name, just Jessie Inchauspé, my account name for a year when I started. But as you can attest to, it's not very easy to spell or say or remember. So I thought, what's going to be something people will remember? And I love alliterations, so I I thought, of course, the topic was glucose. So I thought glucose girl, glucose blah blah, and then I thought glucose goddess. It's perfect.

Yeah, it has your energy to it. Exactly.

Yeah.

Everybody, we're going to put everything in the show notes at jimkwik.com/notes. Put a link to Jessie's books, to her social media, her website, and so much more. Also, I highly recommend you follow her in all these amazing platforms. And if you can, watch it on YouTube so you could see some of the graphs Maybe we can get your team to send us some of that. Let's do it.

Absolutely.

Yeah, absolutely. Jesse, thank you so much.

Thank you, Jim, for having me.