Our daily meals consist of a mix of carbohydrates, proteins, and fats, each playing a crucial role in maintaining our health. Carbohydrates, in particular, often get misunderstood. When we eat them, they break down into glucose (blood sugar), which fuels organs throughout our body, including our brain. In fact, assuming a normal diet, your brain runs almost exclusively on blood sugar to maintain normal function.
The issue isn’t carbs themselves, but when blood sugar levels remain high for long periods. That’s when the risk of serious complications like diabetes, heart attack, stroke, kidney disease, and vision issues increases. With prediabetes and diabetes affecting nearly 1 in 3 Canadians as of 2024, it’s no surprise that more people are paying attention to blood sugar.
The good news? Lifestyle plays a powerful role in prevention and management. Beyond the basics of a balanced diet and regular activity, here are a few simple daily habits that can help steady your blood sugar and support long-term health.
Take a 15-Minute Walk After Meals
Exercise has long been connected to improvements in blood sugar control. However, even lower intensity activity, if properly timed, can make a substantial difference. For example, research has shown that a 10–15 minute walk right after eating can significantly lower post-meal blood sugar (Hashimoto et al., 2025). The key is to move soon after your meal so that your legs use the extra sugar.
Pair Carbs with Protein
Quick snacks, such as fruit, crackers, or granola bars, provide fast energy, but they often lead to a sharp rise and fall in blood sugar levels. Pairing those carbs with protein slows digestion, helps keep you fuller, and steadies energy.
Pair whole-grain crackers with tuna
Add Greek yogurt to fruit
Boiled eggs with fruit
These small changes make a big difference in how you feel between meals.
Add Fibre for Steadier Energy
Fibre slows the absorption of sugar into the bloodstream, which helps prevent quick spikes and crashes in energy. It also supports digestion and helps you feel satisfied after meals. Most people don’t get enough, but a few small tweaks can make a big difference.
Choose whole fruit instead of juice.
Swap white bread or pasta for whole-grain versions.
Sprinkle chia seeds or flaxseeds onto yogurt, oats, or smoothies.
Load up on beans, lentils, and veggies.
Think of fibre as your body’s “speed bump” for blood sugar; it keeps things moving steadily instead of rushing in all at once.
Cool (Then Reheat) Your Rice and Pasta
Here’s a little-known trick: cooling cooked rice, pasta, or even bread changes some of their starchy carbohydrates into resistant starch (Hodges et al., 2019). Resistant starch acts similarly to fibre; it’s not as easily digested by the body, which means it causes a smaller spike in blood sugar. That means leftovers like rice or pasta can actually be better for blood sugar control than when they’re eaten fresh out of the pot.
Cook, cool, then reheat rice or pasta before eating
Freeze bread before toasting; this will boost resistant starch and make your loaf last longer.
Space Out Meals and Snacks
“Grazing” throughout the day keeps blood sugar elevated, which forces your pancreas to work overtime producing insulin. Unlike having set times for meals and snacks, grazing can cause blood sugar levels to remain elevated for long periods. This means your pancreas is constantly working to produce insulin, the hormone that helps your body use or store sugar from the bloodstream. Over time, this constant demand on the pancreas can lead to insulin resistance, a condition where the body becomes less responsive to insulin. As a result, the pancreas has to produce even more insulin to handle the same amount of sugar, which can contribute to the development of type 2 diabetes.
A helpful rhythm is to space meals about 4–6 hours apart. This gives your body time to digest, regulate blood sugar, and reset before the next meal.
What You Can Do Now
These tips and tricks can be great additions if you're looking to better manage your blood sugar, or simply introduce some healthier habits into your routine. Pick one or two that fit your routine and try them out this week. Over time, those small habits add up to big benefits.
In a nutshell: Small tweaks like walking after meals, pairing carbs with protein, adding fibre, and cooling your starches can go a long way toward keeping your blood sugar steady.
References:
Hashimoto, K., Dora, K., Murakami, Y., Matsumura, T., Yuuki, I. W., Yang, S., & Hashimoto, T. (2025). Positive impact of a 10-min walk immediately after glucose intake on postprandial glucose levels. Scientific reports, 15(1), 22662.
Hodges, C., Archer, F., Chowdhury, M., Evans, B. L., Ghelani, D. J., Mortoglou, M., & Guppy, F. M. (2019). Method of Food Preparation Influences Blood Glucose Response to a High-Carbohydrate Meal: A Randomised Cross-over Trial. Foods (Basel, Switzerland), 9(1), 23. https://doi-org.ezproxy.lib.torontomu.ca/10.3390/foods9010023