Getting up and moving after you eat — even if it’s only for two minutes — can help control blood sugar levels, a study says. If you can’t do that, try standing. It helps, too.

Summary

  • A meta-analysis, published in February 2022, found that walking for 2-5 minutes after eating can help lower blood sugar levels.

  • This is because walking helps to clear glucose from the bloodstream.

  • Standing after a meal can also help, but not as much as walking.

  • The ideal time to go for a walk after eating is within 60-90 minutes.

Additional Details

The meta-analysis analyzed seven studies comparing the impact of sitting, standing and walking on the body’s insulin and blood sugar levels.

People in the studies were asked either to stand or walk for two to five minutes every 20 to 30 minutes over the course of a full day.

“Between the seven reviewed studies, the total activity time throughout the observation was roughly 28 minutes with the standing and light walking breaks lasting between 2 to 5 minutes,” Buffey said. Leisure activity death wellness STOCK

Standing was better than heading straight for the desk or the couch to sit when it came to blood sugar levels, but it didn’t help lower insulin in the bloodstream, the analysis found.

However, if people went for a short walk after eating, their blood sugar levels rose and fell more gradually, and their insulin levels were more stable than either standing or sitting, the study noted.

    • huginn@feddit.itEnglish
      62·
      1 year ago

      Eat a balance. 40-30-30 is what I’ve heard. Ymmv. (40% carb)

      • Nioxic@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
        23·
        1 year ago

        Carbs are non essential. Humans dont need them at all.

        And usually foods high in carbs are low in other nutrition. (Rice, pasta, bread etc)

        But regular vegetables… eat whatever. They are pretty low in carbs but contain more nutrients than… rice.

        The only advantage these high carb foods have… they are cheap. Really cheap.

        • huginn@feddit.itEnglish
          1·
          1 year ago

          carbs are non essential

          Unless you want to live longer.

          Both high and low percentages of carbohydrate diets were associated with increased mortality, with minimal risk observed at 50–55% carbohydrate intake. https://www.thelancet.com/article/S2468-2667(18)30135-X/fulltext

          However like all dietary science: there is little that is settled. Processed sugars (low quality carbs) strongly correlate with being worse for you. The same cannot be said for whole grain sourdough or fresh fruit (high quality carbs).

          Eating a fat and protein heavy diet based on animals has a 38% increase in mortality rate per year of being on the diet, but the same low carb diet using plant proteins seems to have a decrease in mortality.

          It’s not settled but the studies mostly show that the best thing for you is to eat high quality foods and stop caring so much about macronutrients.

    • Swiggles@lemmy.blahaj.zoneEnglish
      1·
      1 year ago

      Yea, especially avoid food with lots of starch. It is worse than plain industrial sugar as it is basically pure glucose, all it needs is some saliva.