Should We Try Kristen Bell’s Bio Hack For Eating Carbs?
We do love a hack.
by The Candidly Team
Alright, we feel dumb. Which is probably to be expected anytime you type the words “hack” and “carbs” in the same sentence.
But does that mean the hack itself is dumb?
Not necessarily.
So let’s just get to what it is before we break it down. According to actress Justine Lupe, who also stars in Nobody Wants This, Kristin Bell’s trick for eating carbs without crashing her blood sugar is this:
Eat a ton of fiber (greens in particular) before consuming said carb.
As Lupe so delicately put it, it’s a method to “plug up your system before you eat a bowl of pasta,” but as registered dietician Amy Shapiro explained when speaking to the New York Post (sorry, just the kind of story this is) “Whether you’re munching on leafy greens or taking a supplement like Metamucil, preloading your system with fiber can slow glucose absorption into the bloodstream … [This] leads to a steadier and slower rise in blood sugar instead of a sharp spike, which leads to a crash and further cravings.”
So is this a good trick?
It just might be. And here are three reasons, according to UCLA Health:
1. It could help stabilize blood sugar. The order in which you eat, in this case fiber before refined carbs, “can affect how those carbs impact your blood sugar, keeping glucose levels lower during the postprandial state,” reported UCLA. One 2022 study showed that patients with Type 2 diabetes who ate veggies before refined carbs, “significantly improved their average blood sugar levels” compared to those who didn’t.
2. It makes you feel fuller: Fiber and protein make you feel fuller for longer. So front-loading these nutrients by eating them first can affect how much you eat in general and how full you feel after. This also helps you to not keep reaching for empty, processed junk the rest of the day even if you polished off your meal with pizza, pasta, or potatoes.
3. It can help with inflammation: More sugar and refined carbs contribute to higher inflammation. If you eat a meal high in fiber and protein and save the carb-y part for the end, you’ll improve your satiety and are less likely to overdo it on sugar and calories.
The Bigger Picture
Most of us are falling short of how much fiber we need period. Whereas it’s been estimated that Americans consume about 42% of their daily calories from refined carbohydrates, it’s also estimated that 95% of American adults and children don’t get the recommended amount of daily fiber.
Fiber is nutritionally critical to pretty much every function of our bodies. If you want to get deep into it, go HERE. So whether you want to call it a “hack” or do it in the name of weight loss, there is really no downside to eating fibrous greens before you dig into a cacio e pepe. It’s certainly better than eating those things on their own. It’s also a sort of fun experiment to run on ourselves the next time we plan on eating something carb-rich to see how it affects our portions, hunger, and feelings of long-term satisfaction.
The only downside is oops, we might actually meet our fiber goals for the day.
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