Does Eating Your Food In Specific Order Matter?

Does eating your food in a specific order actually matter? The answer is yes! In this episode we talk about how eating your food in a particular order can actually have some postive benefits on your digestion and blood sugar. We will dive into exactly why and how, and give you some advice on when to strategically do this.

If you have questions, or topics that you want to hear about, head over to our Instagrams https://www.instagram.com/bayleethedietitian/ or https://www.instagram.com/brianna.dietitian/ and send us a DM! You can also follow the podcast https://www.instagram.com/mocktailminutes/

Featured Mocktails:

Just Ingredients - https://www.instagram.com/just.ingredients/

Hiyo - https://www.instagram.com/drinkhiyo/

Click play, sip back, and be empowered.

Transcript

Baylee: 0:23

Hello, everyone. Welcome back to this week's episode of Mocktail Minute. This is Bailey.

Brianna: 0:29

And this is Brianna.

Baylee: 0:30

This week, I am drinking the Elderberry Lemonade from Just Ingredients. I don't, I feel like everyone has a sickness going on. It doesn't matter where you are, you got the sickness.

Brianna: 0:42

Seriously, I can't, I can't catch a break in my house. Is it good? Because I almost bought it with their last sale.

Baylee: 0:49

It's, do you like, have you had like elderberry syrup? If you like that, you'll like it. It's just like that with some lemon hint to it. So I did it just like in a shaker bottle one time. It was okay. It works a lot better if you like use a frother and really like blend it and dissolve it really well And then put ice on it. It's a lot better today.

Brianna: 1:11

I'm going to get it. I've been, I've been influenced. I just finished, before we started, the Hyo They're HIYO, like they're social, they're called social tonics. The peach mango is actually really good. I've been sticking to the watermelon lime, which I know is controversial. I like that one, but I thought I'd try another flavor. And I think the peach mango is better. So I like them. Fun little drink, you know,

Baylee: 1:34

Yeah, I need to get some new fun ones I didn't have anything else today and I was like, you know, I kind of need some elderberry

Brianna: 1:42

yeah, we all need it. Seriously. Like disinfect my whole house.

Baylee: 1:46

Yeah, today we're talking about your food order. This is another topic we actually kind of mentioned a few times in some episodes, but we never have really kind of dove deep into it. So we're going to talk about like the order in which you eat your food because it's not necessarily a myth. It can actually be beneficial in a couple different ways. So we're talking about when you eat your protein, your fat, your fiber, and your starchy carbs, because how you eat them is going to impact your digestion, your blood sugar, your satiety, and even just like your overall metabolic health. it's based on how these different macronutrients are going to interact with your body's digestion and absorption processes.

Brianna: 2:33

Yeah. And if you guys follow like glucose goddess, she, I think she was one of the first ones to really bring this up. And I really wanted to be like, no, it doesn't matter. Even though I like in my mind, I was like, this makes sense, but it totally does. If you've ever worn a CGM and you play around with it, it's wild. Like I'll have people that I work with who are like, I really want French fries. Like when they go out to eat, I'm like, okay, have your

Baylee: 2:57

what you're gonna do.

Brianna: 2:58

Yeah, have your veggies and your protein first and then your fries after and they'll come back and be like, oh my gosh, that works.

Baylee: 3:03

I have told people before, cause I've read the Glucose Goddess book and I also listened to it on Spotify. So, great resource if you are, if you like those types of books and you just like to learn about those things. And I have told people before, I'm like, no, don't worry about it. But I always, I think with a lot of things, I think like, well, there's kind of like more to the story. But if you're someone who's like skipping breakfast, I wouldn't stress about your meal order right now. Like, we have to, it's one of those things where we've talked about the levels of nutrition, we have to get the levels. So we're not eating anything we can't really stress about. What order we're eating it. So we have to first, okay, what's at our meal? Okay, can we level it up? Let's change up the food order a little bit. It's actually funny because Josh cooks a lot of our meals. I hardly ever cook at our house. I am very lucky. I, so with being a dietician, I plan the meals. He does a very good job at executing the male, the males, the meals. So, we, we work as a really good team here and I, I feel like I come out on the luckier end of it. But, it's funny because he'll like grill a lot or he'll make salmon or try different seasonings. He's like, did you try it? I'm like, no, I'm eating my vegetables first. And, he's like, Just eat it. Like, let me just eat my veggies first.

Brianna: 4:26

I'm eating my vegetable first.

Baylee: 4:28

salmon, then the potatoes.

Brianna: 4:30

Yeah, and I, honestly, there's a couple of reasons why I recommend this, but I think the main reason is the blood sugar regulation, and really what you're trying to do is like manipulate that postprandial or after meal glucose level, because obviously, If you eat something high in carbohydrates or high in sugar and it's rapidly broken down, you're going to have a very quick increase in blood sugar. It's not going to be very beneficial. So what you want to try to do is kind of blunt that. And it is true that fiber, protein, and fat all do that. So just try it. Also, we'll get into other things that it helps doing, but the blood sugar regulation is like the big one. So for those of you that don't know, we've talked about fiber like a bajillion times. I don't, I don't think this is

Baylee: 5:18

probably protein.

Brianna: 5:19

Yeah, and protein. Maybe we need to talk more about fat, but fiber like creates a gel like substance. We don't absorb fiber, so not only do we not, so we don't absorb it, so it already lowers the amount of carbohydrates basically that you're absorbing, but it creates a gel like substance and it helps to slow the glucose absorption of the glucose that you do absorb. Protein helps to stimulate the carbohydrates. GLP 1, which every time I tell people this, they're like, wait, what? Yes. You have GLP 1.

Baylee: 5:51

is actually naturally producing in your body. In case you didn't know

Brianna: 5:54

naturally produced. We have like receptors in our intestines and it's released or stimulated with protein. And so making sure that you kind of stimulate that prior to having a bunch of carbs is going to help, you know, slow gastric emptying, reduce the speed that, you know, the glucose enters your bloodstream, basically all the stuff that you're trying to get. with the injections. You can get that when you eat protein first. And everybody makes different levels of GLP 1. So, you know, for some people, this isn't going to be the magic thing that just helps them drastically lose weight or manage their blood sugar, but it helps. And then fat also helps to slow gastric emptying and blunt glucose spikes. So this is why we're always like, don't have carbs by themselves. And more importantly, think about the order in which you eat your food and where carbs is. Mm

Baylee: 6:43

that. So this is where it's also, you need to understand because not all carbs are the same. You have cereal, you have quinoa, you have fruits, you have vegetables, you have carbs in your nuts, in your dairy products, and this is why I hate when people are like, oh, I'm avoiding carbs. Like, no, you're not. Number one, that's a really dumb idea. Don't do that. Number two, carbs are not just bread. Carbs are in your fruit and vegetables, your dairy products, your nuts, your seeds. They are in other areas. Unless you're just eating like olive oil all day long.

Brianna: 7:13

I was gonna, yeah, just olive oil. Unless you're eating oil only, yeah, you're eating carbs. Mm

Baylee: 7:21

Yeah, you're going to be getting carbs in. But what we are really thinking about right here, the ones that you kind of want to save I hate always saying save, just, the ones you want to do at the end of your meal are going to be like your starchy carbs. So starchy carbs are a type of carbohydrate that are going to provide you the energy primarily in the form of glucose. So they are going to be found in your plant based foods and are composed of long chains of sugar molecules that can take longer to digest if you compare like complex to simple carbs. So we want more of these complex carbs that have more of the fiber. Easy ways to identify it, honestly, You can kind of think of the texture. So a starchy carb is going to be a little dense and dry or maybe firm. So think about if you were to like bite into a bean versus a cucumber. Beans are much starchier. So

Brianna: 8:18

That's a good point. That's a good way to look at it.

Baylee: 8:20

that's an easy way to think about it. Or I still, I tell some people like, just think of what you typically think of as a carb. That's usually your starch carbs. Another way to think about it is they are kind of like soft and fluffy after you cook them. So like Bread, it gets soft and fluffy once you cook it. Pasta, gets fluffy after you not fluffy, I mean it gets soft. After you cook it, it does, I mean, technically get a little fluffier, it's not so And

Brianna: 8:48

It's

Baylee: 8:48

then thinking about does it have a high carbohydrate content compared to fiber? If carbs are high and fiber is low, it's going to be more of that starchy carbohydrate. So, examples would be Your rice, your oats, pasta, bread, tortilla, bulgur, quinoa, barley, farro, those are all your starchy carbs. So your whole grains are going to contain more fiber and digest slower, while refined grains digest faster and are going to spike your blood sugar more. So that's like comparing quinoa to white rice, so to say. And then you have like starchy veggies. This is where some of the confusion pops up. And this is where I see Yes, this is also where I see a lot of people when we're like, Oh, yeah, we're getting like two cups of veggies in, but the veggies are like potatoes and corn. You're gonna actually get budget for spike probably because your potatoes, peas and corn are your main three that are those starchy vegetables.

Brianna: 9:51

hmm. Yeah. It counts as, like, a starch. I mean, it is a starch, but like, or a grain, if you look at it as, like, grain. Mm hmm. So. These are not the same as like your non starchy vegetables like your cucumber, broccoli, tomato you know, all those so I think this is a common one because whenever I'm like, okay, like, let's figure out your meals. What are you kind of doing it everybody always wants to put corn and peas and even sometimes potatoes as their veggie which they all have a place but you definitely don't want half your plate being potatoes or corn or peas because. They're a larger carbohydrate, you're going to have more of a blood sugar response. I will say the starchy carbs, they tend to be like the root veggies, they do provide more sustained energy release. So this is where I think it's a good quality carb because it'll kind of give you that sustained energy, you know. If you have a cup of beans, it's going to sustain you longer rather than you have like a glazed donut, right? Both carbs. maybe even similar in the amount of carbs, but the beans are going to last you much longer. You're going to have a better blood sugar response as long as it was in a good portion.

Baylee: 10:58

And you could even see this where you could make some like a Mexican bowl or something where you have beans, chicken, avocado, bell peppers, mix it all together, and you could simply just switch the beans for the rice, keep it the same carbohydrate wise, see how they affect you differently. That difference. Is going to be the difference in the fiber and the protein that comes with the beads compared to the rice, not to say that you can't ever eat rice or white rice is bad or anything, but it just doesn't have a lot of fiber doesn't have a lot of protein. It's not going to be as slow digest, digesting as something like beans. I eat white rice, I actually refuse to eat brown rice. But

Brianna: 11:44

a difference in like one gram.

Baylee: 11:46

Yeah, I'm like, it's not a huge difference. And my grandma, she's full Japanese and she used to make fried rice all the time like Rice is, was a staple in her diet, and so I grew up with white rice. Like one time we made dessert and it was white rice, butter, and brown sugar.

Brianna: 12:06

Oh yeah. My grandma used to do that with white rice, butter and raisins. And I was like, this is amazing. And then looking back, I'm like, Oh, at least had some butter in it.

Baylee: 12:16

A little butter to

Brianna: 12:17

so good though. It's like so good.

Baylee: 12:20

yes.

Brianna: 12:21

Yeah. So pick the one you like. That's constantly what I tell people, but don't look at it as the, the component of your meal, that's supposed to fill you up, because if you rely on it to fill you up, you will just have a huge portion of it and then it's not going to really help you. And I

Baylee: 12:36

that's where we tend to mess up a little is because we have like pizza as the entrees, the pasta as the entree, like we tend to focus on the carb instead of, I think,

Brianna: 12:50

having it be

Baylee: 12:51

really, yeah, it should be a side. Really, your non starchy vegetables should take up most of your plate. They should take up half your plate.

Brianna: 12:58

yep, which I'm going to tell you, that's a lot of what I try to work with with people. Most people are

Baylee: 13:05

fiber is hard.

Brianna: 13:07

Yeah, fiber is so hard. And I don't know. I mean, I do know why. It just, other carbohydrates tend to taste better to most people, or they

Baylee: 13:15

well, yeah, no one has really been taught how to make. veggies and everything enjoyable. It's always been the narrative of, Ooh, Brussels sprouts. I have to eat my carrots. Like no one has made it exciting. And so I think that's, yeah, like part of my job too. It's like, let's make, let's make veggies cool again.

Brianna: 13:34

right. We like that. I know. I'm always like, I know you like a vegetable. I know there's one in

Baylee: 13:38

You just have to flavor it up. Don't be afraid to salt it.

Brianna: 13:42

There is one that you like in a certain way. We'll find a one that you like and make it in a certain way like I promise you. Yeah. So your timing of these starchy carbs are really helpful. And this is where, you know, sometimes if you're starting out or if you have really bad like blood sugar dysregulation, I will kind of encourage people to like not have a bunch of like bowls or like casseroles or stuff like that, even though I that's how I like eating and it is very easy. Sometimes it's hard to kind of see like, number one, am I getting good portions? And then number two, it's really hard to Eat it in a certain way because it's all together, you know?

Baylee: 14:19

think it does help. Cassels or casseroles are a little bit harder because like even if you make an egg casserole to get enough protein and the fiber, like you could put all the ingredients in there, but like when you cut it, if you're just cutting a little square, you're probably not getting enough. So then it's like, Oh my gosh, we actually need this huge chunk. And it feels like too much, but it's like, Oh no, that's actually enough. So casseroles can be a little bit tricky. I think it is a little bit easier when you like put a bowl together on your own, because then you're like, okay, I'm going to have a scoop. of rice and then add in other pieces.

Brianna: 14:50

That I

Baylee: 14:51

I'm a bowl girl, too.

Brianna: 14:52

Me too. I'm like, put anything in a bowl. One of the other strategic or one of the other reasons why it can be helpful to eat your food in a certain order and that would be satiety and appetite control. So like I was saying, if you're like relying on carbs specifically to make you full, you will always overeat them because that's not really their job. They're not there to make you feel full. whereas protein, fat and then things that are high in fiber, that is their job. So this is where, you can be strategic. Like if you have a weight loss goal or you do have like blood sugar dysregulation, like eating your foods in a certain order at a restaurant can help because your portions are going to be smaller. So if you really like French fries, like that's what you want. You want the fries. Okay. Have your protein and have your vegetables first and then move on to the fries. By that time, you're already a little bit full. You feel satiated. You've already filled up on foods that are meant to make you feel full. Your portion of fries is going to be much smaller, which is helpful. And this is where I tell people like, you know, the bread they put out at restaurants or the chips, they do that for a reason. It makes you a little bit more hungry. And so if you really like those, then save it, put it to the side, have your other foods first and then eat it. And most people feel like. Oh my gosh, I felt so much better. I felt like I was still getting the foods I want, but I didn't feel like, like you had to roll me out of there or like I needed to take a nap when I got home. Yes, it helps with satiety and appetite control, which are both very helpful when you're trying to lose weight

Baylee: 16:20

And it's so easy. I see it all the time where we can eat an entire bag of chips. I've, I've seen it happen. And, but you're not gonna eat, like, 50 chicken nuggets. Like, it's a lot easier to stop. I haven't seen that happen, but that's a little bit of an exaggeration. You're probably not going to eat more than like 20. Like, even if you really push yourself to get to 20, you're probably not going to go over that. Chips, you can really push yourself, and then it's like too late by the time we feel sick to our stomach. And it's because, yeah, that protein is really good at activating your satiety hormones, like GLP 1, peptide YY, and CCK, which tell your brain, Hey, you're full stop eating. And then we have fiber that comes into play that's going to expand in your stomach, slow that digestion, and that's going to keep you fuller for longer. And then we also have that fat component. So this is where I'm like, let's just get these components in. We'll worry about the order later on. And that's going to be helpful. So fat is also going to trigger, trigger the release of CCK, which slows down digestion and enhances. You're satiety. So, we both mentioned we like to do bowls, so, if you do have more blood sugar issues and you're trying to regulate it more, maybe save, like, the more starchy for the end and not necessarily do it quite as a bowl, or, what I will do, cause like for breakfast a lot, I get skillets. So it's like you have your eggs on top, and then it's sautéed veggies, and then it's on a bed of hash browns. So it's like technically all on this big skillet, but I will try to purposely, like, my eggs first, mix them with some veggies, and then I'm like, okay, how much hash brown do I want? So you can do it that way, but if you're also, like, having a stir fry, You can enjoy your stir fry and not have to like pick out every vegetable. But maybe you focus on eating more of the protein first. Different things like that can be easy things. So it shouldn't be, this should not be a stressful thing. It's very simple to implement. Yeah,

Brianna: 18:26

about the Glucose Goddess recommending it at first. I was like, ugh, this is going to stress people out. It's going to like, now I have to worry like, what should I eat? How much should I eat? Oh, now it's like, I should eat it this way. But like you said, like you're building up this foundation. So, you know, when I'm first working with someone, I'm not like, eat your food in this order. You know, usually I'm like, okay, let's get the foundations. Let's learn to like, have these components. Number one, then how much we should have it in, and then number two, or number three, the order. So, like, you're building on these. So, yeah, it's not supposed to be, like, I'm stressed out, and if this is stressing you out, then maybe you're not there yet, and that's totally fine. I say play around with it, like, at a restaurant. If you're gonna ever play around with it, Do it at a restaurant.'cause that's when people feel the most out of control. Like they eat way more than they usually do and they're having much more of those like fun carbs that they probably aren't making at home. So if you wanna play around with it, try it the next time you go out to eat.

Baylee: 19:19

or like your next holiday or potluck where it's like 50, 000 desserts and starchy carbs. Just start with eating some type of protein and a vegetable and that'll help you.

Brianna: 19:30

Yeah.

Baylee: 19:32

So the next part that the food timing helps with is digestive efficiency and nutrient absorption. So your digestive system will process macros differently. Carbohydrates are going to start digesting in your mouth from a salivary amylase, which is an enzyme, that then it breaks down quickly in your small intestine. Proteins actually require stomach acid and pepsin, which is the enzyme for that, for breakdown. And this is why people who have trouble digesting protein, it could be a stomach acid issue. something to look at. And then fats, you need bile acids and lipase to have those digested and absorb. So when fiber protein and fat are eaten first, they slow that gastric emptying. So now you have more efficient digestion and absorption, less bloating, and again, that steadier energy release instead of that like rapid glucose spike.

Brianna: 20:30

Yeah, it just gives your body more time to digest the macronutrient that takes the longest, right? Like no other one is starting in the mouth. That's, you know, your carbohydrates and specifically your starchy carbohydrates. Yeah, it allows you to really digest it, absorb the most nutrients, have the most, like, best GI outcomes. I will say, sometimes people, and I've been hearing this a lot more lately, they feel, like, more bloated and stuff. They're like, oh, I increased my starchy carbs and I feel bloated. And that's probably for a multitude of reasons. But a lot of times I have to tell them, like, yeah, it starts in your mouth. So, make sure you're actually chewing. Give it some time to start digesting. It needs that time. And yeah, don't have a bunch of these carbs. On an empty stomach or just like by themselves because you're not, you're not going to feel great that it's going to lead to like bloating and other things. So it's, once you start to think about it, it's like, Oh, okay. That kind of makes sense.

Baylee: 21:22

It's a lot easier to sparf down carbs in general too, like you can eat some chips really quickly, but you gotta chew a little bit more for some steak or

Brianna: 21:30

yeah, you're not going to be like hogging down steak in like two seconds when you could just like tip a snack pack of chips into your mouth all at the same time and be done.

Baylee: 21:38

Yeah.

Brianna: 21:40

But let's take the longest. So let's

Baylee: 21:43

And then the last thing is the impact on weight management in your metabolic health. So when you're controlling your blood sugar, which if you have been around, you know, we love blood sugar balance. This is going to promote the satiety and optimize your digestion. And it's going to play a role in preventing metabolic disorders. like insulin resistance, type 2 diabetes, and obesity. So you're going to have improved insulin sensitivity because you're reducing glucose spikes, so then that is decreasing the insulin demand, helping your, helping your cells respond better to insulin over time. It's also going to lower fat storage. High insulin levels promote fat storage. So you want to keep glucose and insulin levels stable. And then, again, better energy because better blood sugar balance.

Brianna: 22:34

And really, this is, and this is something I want to drive home, and we, we say this a lot, even if you don't have a blood sugar problem, or maybe you don't have insulin resistance, or any sort of metabolic disorders, it's still good to practice these things, because over time, in an aging body, you are not, you know, everyone is susceptible to something happen to them, happening to them. So you want to prolong something like this happening.

Baylee: 23:01

Yeah. Nothing bad is going to happen from doing these things. So I think they are good practices to kind of keep on hand. And you're going to, no matter who you are, you're going to feel a lot better the more blood sugar control you have.

Brianna: 23:16

Exactly. So, how to apply it, optimize meal sequencing, do the following, this order. Start with fiber, so your salad, your non starchy vegetables. If you don't want to know what a non starchy vegetable is, like, Google it and a giant list will come up, just so you can become familiar. So, start with fiber, eat protein and fat next, so like your chicken, fish, eggs, nuts, seeds, and then finish with your carbohydrates or your starchy carbohydrates like rice, pasta, potatoes.

Baylee: 23:45

Yeah, I would say you could, yeah, sleeve and consider your fruit as, fruit is, this is the confusing part of it. I would

Brianna: 23:52

I would say some fruits.

Baylee: 23:54

I would say to keep it easy, just keep fruit for the end. Your fruit finisher, your carb finisher, and do more of like, your fiber focus is gonna be that non starchy veggie fiber.

Brianna: 24:06

I mean, Fruit might actually be a good episode to do. Like, really dive into Fruit. Because that's, like, now that I'm thinking about it, I'm like, Oh yeah, okay. I could see where this is going to spawn some questions. I'm like, wait, Fruit? Cliffhanger.

Baylee: 24:22

Yes.

Brianna: 24:23

But yeah,

Baylee: 24:24

All right, everyone. Well, we hope you found this episode helpful. Try this out. Like I said, don't overstress about it. Keep it simple. Fiber, protein, fat, finish with a starchy carb if you're having one at that meal. Don't overstress it. If you're not at this point yet, like I said, just start with, okay, do you have fiber at your meal? Because it's really hard to work on meal order if you don't have the pieces.

Brianna: 24:46

exactly.

Baylee: 24:47

And you don't necessarily need to have a starchy carb at every meal either, which is getting into the weeds again, But that's where we help you more one on one.

Brianna: 24:56

Yes, exactly. So keep it simple. Start where you're at. Build upon that. The end.

Baylee: 25:03

Have a great rest of your week, everyone, and we'll be back next week with a new episode. Bye!

Brianna: 25:08

Bye!