📚 A&B #185

🙏 Support:

This week's newsletter was made possible by the Morning Brew.

Morning Brew is a free business newsletter that’s fun to read and will get you up-to-speed with everything going on in the business world in less than 5 minutes. I read it every day and highly recommend it.

Join 4+ million readers for free here.

👋 Hey everyone,

Here are a few popular posts you may have missed:

• 25 Most beautiful libraries in the world.

• Read the best physics book for free here.

• Read the best copywriting book for free here.

🤓 Course Update:

BIG NEWS:

After 10+ months of work, I finally finished my course The Art of Reading!

Think of it as a Masterclass on Reading.

You’ll learn how to easily find life-changing books, find time to read even with a busy schedule, remember more of what you’ve read, know how to effectively take notes while reading, and so much more.

The official launch is this Tuesday, but since you guys are my true supporters…you get early access, check it out here. 👀

📚 Book Summary:

This week’s book is “Glucose Revolution” by Jessie Inchauspe.

Glucose AKA blood sugar, is a tiny molecule in our body that has a massive impact on our health. Too much glucose at one time can cause a glucose spike (people often describe this feeling as a sugar crash or food coma).

Glucose spikes are harmful because they affect our mood, sleep, and cognitive function. In the long run, dysregulated glucose levels contribute to acne, eczema, arthritis, depression, infertility, heart disease, cancer, and many more diseases.

The author is a biochemist who shares 10 practical tips for balancing your glucose levels, here are 3 of them:

📖

1) Go For A Savory Breakfast, Not A Sweet One

Who doesn’t love a croissant or muffin for breakfast?

However, most breakfast foods are terrible for your glucose levels.

A bowl of sweetened cornflakes can spike your glucose by 140-200 points. Compare that to an omelet with avocado that will spike your glucose by only 10-20 points, that’s a 10x difference.

You want to avoid the typical breakfast foods like cereal, donuts, croissants, and muffins, all of which will dramatically spike your glucose levels.

The same goes for fruit juice.

Fruit juice sounds healthy, but one serving of orange juice has 24 grams of sugar and spikes your glucose by 50+ points. Compare that to a regular orange which will spike your glucose by less than 10 points.

So when picking what to eat for breakfast, go for savory instead of sweet:

• Make an omelet instead of pancakes

• Eat real fruit instead of drinking fruit juice

• Have your toast with avocado instead of jelly

• Get a ham and cheese croissant instead of a chocolate croissant

By starting your day with a savory meal instead of a sweet one, you’ll avoid an afternoon crash and feel much better for the rest of the day.

📖

2) Eat Your Food In The Right Order

One of my favorite hacks from this book is also the simplest–eat your food in the right order.

That order is fiber first, fats second, and starches last.

An easier way to remember this is: Veggies first, Protein second, Carbs last.

By eating your foods in this order you can reduce your glucose spike by 73%!

This works because the fiber in vegetables slows down the breakdown and absorption of glucose into the bloodstream.

So for example, if you order chicken and broccoli pasta for dinner, you want to eat the broccoli first, then the chicken, and save the pasta for the end.

If you eat the pasta first, your glucose will spike 60+ points. But if you eat the pasta last, it’ll spike less than 30 points.

So aim to start every dish by eating the veggies or greens on your plate. Then go for the protein and save the carbs for the end.

It’s a small change but it makes a big difference.

📖

3) Save The Sweets For Dessert Not A Snack

When you eat is just as important as what you eat when it comes to glucose spikes.

If you eat something sweet on an empty stomach, there’s no food to slow it down and you’ll go on a glucose rollercoaster.

For instance, if you have a fruit smoothie on an empty stomach, it will spike your glucose by 50+ points.

But if you have that same smoothie after a meal, it will only spike it by 25 points.

So if you’re craving a smoothie, candy bar, cookie, or some other sweet snack, put it aside or in the fridge and enjoy it as dessert after your next meal.

✅ Actionable Advice:

1) Have a savory breakfast instead of a sweet one:

• Egg omelet > Pancakes

• Green juice > Fruit juice

• Avocado toast > Nutella toast

2) Eat your food in the right order to reduce glucose spikes:

• Veggies first, protein second, carbs last.

3) If you want to eat something sweet, have it for dessert instead of a snack:

• Eat lunch then have a smoothie.

• Eat dinner then have chocolate pretzels.

📖 Reading Lesson:

10 Mental models that will make you a better reader.

💎 Weekly Gem:

Podcast: Dr. Cal Newport: How to Enhance Focus and Improve Productivity

This is a wonderful podcast about “slow productivity”–it’s the opposite of hustle culture.

The new age of productivity:

• prioritizes sleep and exercise

• replaces busy work with deep work

• encourages empty space and walks for creative ideas

Cal Newport is an extremely accomplished professor and author so it’s worth checking out this podcast and his books as well.

Thank you for your support, read on everyone!

-Alex W.