Hi Reader

I keep a fairly short list of things I actually rely on, day to day, to help keep my own blood sugar steady — not rules, just small, repeatable moves that keep showing up as useful, both in the research and in my own kitchen.

Five of them, to be precise. None of them ask you to give anything up — just small additions that make the food you're already eating work a little harder for you.

1. A dash of vinegar before the carbs

A vinegar-based dressing on a salad, or something pickled, eaten just ahead of a starchy course, has been shown to soften the blood sugar spike that follows — likely by slowing how quickly the stomach empties. Cheap, simple, and probably already in your cupboard.

2. Anchor breakfast with protein

Eggs, Greek yoghurt, a tin of mackerel — a protein-forward breakfast doesn't just steady the morning. Research using continuous glucose monitors suggests it can flatten your blood sugar response at lunch too, hours after the protein itself has been digested.

None of this asks you to eat less — just to eat in slightly better company.

3. Reach for soluble fibre — oats, chia, beans, lentils

These form a kind of gel in the gut that physically slows how fast glucose is absorbed. It's a different mechanism to the fibre in, say, wheat bran — both matter, but this is the type doing the most work in the moment.

4. Add a small handful of nuts

Almonds eaten alongside a carbohydrate-heavy meal have been shown to blunt its glycaemic impact in a dose-dependent way — more nuts, up to a point, means a gentler response.

5. Reach for the whole fruit, not the juice

The fibre in whole fruit is largely responsible for its gentler blood sugar response compared with the same fruit juiced; strip out the fibre and you lose most of that benefit, even though the sugar content looks similar on paper.

In my experience with clients, it's rarely the big overhaul that sticks. It's picking one or two of these and letting them become automatic before adding a third.

Small, boring and repeatable is usually what actually works.

You don't need all five at once. Pick whichever one fits naturally into what you're already doing this week, and treat it as an addition — not another rule to follow.