4 Tips To Avoid A Metabolic Hangover, From An MD & Blood Sugar Expert

How do you avoid those dreaded hangovers? So glad you asked—below, Kelley-Chew offers her expert tips: 

According to Kelley-Chew, food preparation really makes a difference in terms of the glucose response. Read: The same exact food cooked two different ways can have totally different effects on your blood sugar. Take potatoes, for example: "When you take some starches, like potatoes, and you cook and then cool them, the cooling process actually increases the amount of resistant starch in that potato," Kelley-Chew says. And resistant starches are great for blood sugar balance; research even shows they may improve insulin sensitivity1.

Her team at Levels even conducted a small yet informative experiment, where members ate one serving of starch cooked hot and fresh and another serving after it had cooled down in the refrigerator. "In both cases, they were asked to eat the starch without any additives other than salt and pepper," she notes. "On average, the glucose spike for the cooled, refrigerated portion was 11 points lower than the hot and fresh portion." Neat, no? "Something as simple as cooling your food down before you eat it can make a difference," she adds.

"You don't even have to deprive yourself of what you're going to eat. You just postpone it by a few minutes or you add something to it," notes Kelley-Chew.  

You don't want to do anything too strenuous (intense exercise can actually raise blood sugar, so your body has enough energy to get through the physical activity); just some very low-intensity movement will do the trick—perhaps a post-dinner stroll.

At the very least, you'll want to avoid those glucose spikes late at night, when your body starts to naturally create melatonin. "Melatonin actually suppresses insulin, so if you eat high-glucose foods at night, you're actually doing that in a situation where you don't have as much insulin available to even deal with that blood sugar," Kelley-Chew explains. That's why many experts recommend you stop eating a few hours before you go to bed, if you can swing it.

You do not have to spend every day with a metabolic hangover. According to Kelley-Chew, just a few tweaks to your lifestyle can make a huge difference, even if you don't change your actual diet itself. Although, if you are curious about the best blood-sugar-balancing foods to add to your grocery cart, we do have a list of staples for you to snag.

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