09/27/2025
You eat a meal that includes carbohydrate. Digestion turns starches and sugars into glucose, which is absorbed into the bloodstream. Glucose is the simplest currency for energy in the body. The pancreas responds by releasing insulin, which helps move glucose into muscle and liver for use or storage and signals fat tissue to store some energy for later. As tissues take up glucose, the level in the blood comes back down. This happens several times a day in healthy people. It is not a bug in the system. It is the system doing its job.
“Glucose spike” sounds ominous. It rolls off the tongue like a warning siren, a sudden surge in a system that should be smooth and calm. I use the term, beca...