It’s a popular health tip on the internet: Eat your foods in the “right” order—vegetables first, then proteins and fats, then carbohydrates—and you’ll significantly reduce your blood sugar spike, which can decrease cravings, fatigue and health risks like type 2 diabetes, advocates say.
Previous research on this topic, sometimes known as nutrient or meal sequencing, has concluded that it may be beneficial for blood sugar, especially for people with type 2 diabetes or prediabetes.
For everyone else, it’s not so simple, said Alpana Shukla, a doctor and researcher at Weill Cornell Medicine in New York who has studied meal order. Although there are some reasons to consider giving it a try, she said.
What does the research indicate?
Existing studies on the benefits of meal sequencing are small, but the results are consistent, experts say.
In a 2023 review of 11 studies, for example, researchers concluded that people who saved carbohydrate-rich foods for the end of a meal, following vegetables and protein, had significantly lower blood sugar levels. than when they consumed them first.
In a 2019 study of 15 people with prediabetes, Shukla and his colleagues asked participants to eat a meal of grilled skinless chicken, salad, and ciabatta bread in three different orders on three different days: bread first, followed by 10 minutes later for the chicken and salad; first the chicken and salad, followed by the bread; and first the salad, followed by the chicken and bread.
The researchers measured the participants’ blood sugar levels just before eating and every 30 minutes for three hours following each meal. They found that when participants ate the chicken and salad before the bread, their blood sugar spikes were 46 percent lower than when they ate the bread first.
Researchers aren’t entirely sure why this is. One theory is that eating fats, fiber and protein first delays stomach emptying, which might slow the absorption of carbohydrate sugars into the bloodstream, Shukla said.
Barbara Eichorst, vice president of health care programs at the American Diabetes Association, said it makes sense for people with type 2 diabetes or prediabetes to eat vegetables and protein first during meals because, unlike carbohydrates, Vegetables and proteins do not quickly convert to sugar and cause high blood glucose spikes.
For those with type 2 diabetes, some limited research even suggests that this blood glucose-lowering effect might be comparable to that of certain diabetes medications, according to Nicola Guess, a clinical dietitian and researcher at the University of Oxford. Although it is necessary to continue researching the topic.
Should everyone eat like this?
Research has also shown that eating carbohydrates at the end of the meal can reduce blood sugar spikes in people who do not have diabetes. But experts said healthy people usually don’t need to control their blood sugar this way.
According to Vijaya Surampudi, an endocrinologist at UCLA Health, a properly functioning body will normalize blood sugar levels hours following eating.
However, since proteins, fats and high-fiber vegetables take longer to digest than simple carbohydrates, saving carbohydrates for last can help you feel fuller for longer, said Domenico Tricò, associate professor of internal medicine at the University of Pisa, Italy, who studies the order of foods.
Research also suggests that eating like this can stimulate the gut to produce more of a satiety hormone called glucagon-like peptide 1, or GLP-1. (The diabetes medication Ozempic is designed to mimic this hormone.)
“GLP-1 slows down digestion and signals to the brain that you are not hungry,” Surampudi explained. However, some experts say it’s unclear whether small increases in this hormone due to meal sequencing alone (compared to the large increase with a drug like Ozempic) would make a big difference in satiety. .
If you tend to feel sluggish following meals, Shukla and Surampudi said it might help to eat your vegetables or protein first.
Some research also suggests that saving carbohydrates for the end of the meal may make you more likely to fill up on vegetables and protein and eat fewer simple carbohydrates, which tend to be lower in nutrients and higher in calories, Shukla said.
The bottom line, according to experts, is that although meal sequencing is one of many healthy eating strategies, it is not something we should worry regarding. Dietary trends of this type sometimes cause anxiety, which can lead to disordered eating.
“If it’s easy for you, do it,” Tricò said. But if not, opt for high-quality foods that you like. Eating vegetables at every meal is more important than paying too much attention to the order of foods, Guess said.
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