Lewis HowesYour Personal 24/7 Greatness Coach

You DON’T have to cut out sugar

29 May 2026 · 0 min

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0:25

In this segment of Lewis Howes' YouTube video, a nutrition expert (Speaker A) explains that the best way to enjoy sugary foods like cookies or donuts is to consume them after a meal as a dessert, rather than on an empty stomach or in the morning. Eating sugar on an empty stomach causes a rapid rise in blood glucose (a glucose spike), followed by a crash about 90 minutes later, which triggers cravings for more sugar and creates a cycle of repeated spikes. The expert advises a savory breakfast and reserving sweets for post‑lunch or post‑dinner dessert to maximize dopamine pleasure while minimizing metabolic disruption and addictive cravings.

If you really want to eat some sugar, let's say a cookie or donut or whatever, the best time to eat that sugar so that you have maximum dopamine from it, maximum pleasure, and less impact on your body is going to be after a meal as dessert. You want to always avoid eating sugar on an empty stomach and always avoid eating sugar in the morning. Okay, really? Yes. So breakfast should be savory. Okay, in the morning, nothing sweet.
Really? Yeah, man, those pastries though, chocolate inside, and just— oh man, the donut in the morning.
Keep them for dessert after lunch. Because if you have them in the morning, then what's happening in your body as you digest that sugar and those carbs? They turn into glucose molecules, and these arrive into your bloodstream really quickly and cause what's called a glucose spike. So a blood sugar spike. And then about 90 minutes later, Lewis, your glucose levels are going to drop. You're going to feel a crash. And now it's 10 AM, 11 AM, and all of a sudden you feel more cravings for sweet foods. You're like, I need a cookie, I need some chocolate, I need a snack, I need that spike again. And then you spike again, and then all Say you're on a roller coaster where you feel addicted to sugar.