Does the order in which you eat your food affect your digestion?
Yes, the order in which you eat affects your blood sugar and digestion speed: eating protein or vegetables first and carbohydrates last is most beneficial, especially if you have type 2 diabetes or want to prevent it.
Eating protein or fibre first and carbohydrates only afterwards has a measurable effect on your blood sugar after a meal. In people with type 2 diabetes, the blood sugar rise fell considerably when they ate fish or meat first and rice only afterwards. In healthy people this effect was smaller and not statistically significant.
Gastric emptying plays a major role here. When meat or fish was eaten first, the stomach contents stayed in the stomach much longer: half of the stomach contents had emptied after roughly 83 minutes, compared with 30 minutes when rice was eaten first. That delay causes sugars to be absorbed into the blood more slowly.
Eating protein as the first course also stimulates the production of the gut hormone GLP-1, which helps regulate blood sugar and produces a feeling of fullness. In the available studies, meat had a stronger effect on GLP-1 than fish. There is, however, a caveat: meat simultaneously raises another gut hormone, GIP, which promotes fat storage in adipose tissue. Whether this leads to weight gain in the long term has not yet been demonstrated in long-term studies.
Eating fibre first also lowers the blood sugar peak, but does not stimulate GLP-1. Researchers suggest that combining fibre with protein or fat before carbohydrates could have an additional effect, but the clinical evidence for this is still thin.
Even how you eat counts. A small study in 11 healthy volunteers showed that eating rice with chopsticks produced a lower blood sugar peak than eating with a spoon (glycaemic index 68 versus 81), probably because people take in less food per bite and chew for longer. This is preliminary knowledge from a very small study.
Claims based on PMID 26704625, 32825124 and 25484351. The glucose reductions are most strongly demonstrated in people with type 2 diabetes; effects in healthy people are smaller and not always statistically significant. Long-term data on weight are lacking.
Does the timing of meals throughout the day affect your weight?
When you eat matters: meals earlier in the day appear more favourable for your metabolism than eating late, although the effect varies from person to person and the strongest evidence is still based on short-term studies.
Does it matter what time of day I eat?
Eating earlier in the day is more beneficial for your weight, blood sugar and hormonal balance than eating late or at night. The effects have been demonstrated in randomised studies, but the average weight loss is small: around 1 to 2 kg.
Does a walk after eating help with your blood sugar?
A short walk after eating, or better still several short walking breaks of 2 to 3 minutes spread throughout the day, is a practical and well-supported way to limit blood sugar spikes, especially if you have excess weight or type 2 diabetes.
How bad is sitting for too long for your blood sugar and metabolism?
Sitting for long uninterrupted periods noticeably impairs your blood sugar and metabolism, but short breaks of 2-3 minutes of movement every 20-30 minutes already undo a large part of that damage.
What factors influence your metabolism?
Muscle mass, abdominal fat, age, sex and the way you lose weight together determine how fast your metabolism runs. Building and maintaining muscle through strength training is the most direct lever you have in your own hands.
Which foods improve your insulin sensitivity?
Diet can clearly improve your insulin sensitivity. The Mediterranean diet has the strongest evidence base, but the timing and order of your meals also play a demonstrable role.