We’ve all heard the phrase, “You are what you eat” but I think it should be expanded to, “You are what and how you eat.”

One of the most useful hacks I have learned is layering your eating to reduce glycemic response. A Japanese study found that if someone eats dense, fiber rich vegetables first before eating anything else on the plate, they tend to experience less of a spike in their glucose and feel fuller longer.

I typically will do this when eating anything with bread (or onion rings) involved. Steamed broccoli seems to be the winner here but a salad with no dressing or cauliflower does the trick too. From my experience and experiments, it’s a cool 10-20 points less on the CGM. Be careful when trying this at a restaurant. Often times they slather the vegetables in butter or give you a ton of salad dressing, which will cancel out any of the benefits.