Healthy Eating - Addressing the Risk of Insulin Resistance

Your pancreas loves predictability. The way we time and build meals can make insulin’s job easier, which smooths energy and lowers the day long “workload” on the system. Below is a plain language tour of what matters and why, with small actions you can try between bells.

Why timing helps your biology

Insulin sensitivity follows a daily rhythm. In a five week trial of early time restricted eating, adults with prediabetes improved insulin sensitivity, beta cell responsiveness, blood pressure, and markers of oxidative stress, and they did this without losing weight. That means shifting food earlier in the day can help the system work better even before weight changes show up. Aim to place more of your calories in the daytime and finish dinner two to three hours before bed. (1) 

Why pattern and quality matter

A Mediterranean style pattern that favors vegetables, fruits, beans, whole grains, fish, nuts, and extra virgin olive oil is linked to better cardiometabolic health, and in a large randomized trial it reduced major cardiovascular events. The pattern is naturally lower in ultra refined starches and added sugars, which lowers big glucose swings and the insulin surge that follows. Start lunch with plants and olive oil, think a salad or cooked vegetables drizzled with olive oil, then add protein, then add starch if you still want it. (2)

The food order trick

How you sequence a meal can blunt a spike. Clinical crossover studies show that eating vegetables and protein before the carbohydrate lowers the post meal glucose rise compared with eating the carbohydrate first. In practice this looks like two or three bites of vegetables and protein before you touch the rice or bread, then finish the plate. (3)

Whole grains over refined grains

Swapping refined grains for whole grains improves post meal glucose and insulin in randomized trials. This does not require a perfect diet. Reaching for oats at breakfast, or a whole grain wrap at lunch, or brown rice instead of white rice is a quiet way to cut the peak and ease the insulin demand. (4)

Late eating makes insulin’s job harder

Night is when melatonin rises and metabolic switches shift toward rest. Emerging studies associate late night eating with higher glucose after meals and with higher long term risk signals. Give yourself a kitchen cut off time that leaves at least two hours between dinner and bedtime, then nudge that earlier on nights you can. (5)

How to put this to work, starting today

• Pick a timing tweak. Move breakfast 30 minutes earlier, or set a dinner cut off two to three hours before bed. Put it on your schedule. (1)

• Use food order. Start lunch with plants and protein, then add starch. This single change lowers the spike. (3)

• Upgrade one grain. Swap one refined grain for a whole grain today. Oats, quinoa, brown rice, or a whole grain wrap all count. (4)

• Olive oil and nuts. Add a spoon of extra virgin olive oil to vegetables or choose a small handful of nuts as part of a meal. This aligns with the Mediterranean evidence base. (2)

What this is doing inside the body

Earlier eating and steadier patterns lower the size and frequency of glucose spikes, which means the pancreas can send a smaller insulin signal. Vegetables, protein, and whole grains slow the rate at which glucose arrives in the blood, so muscle and liver can keep up. Olive oil and nuts shift fat quality in a direction that supports insulin sensitivity. Over weeks, the system becomes a little more receptive to insulin, which you experience as steadier energy and fewer crashes. (1)

Safety note

If you use insulin or medicines that can lower blood sugar, check with your clinician before making timing changes. Small shifts can have big effects, and we want them to be safe ones.

Call to action

Choose one tweak from the list, write it on your calendar, and try it for seven days. If it helps, keep it. If it does not fit your life, swap it for the next one. Consistency, not perfection, is what moves the needle.

References:

1. Sutton EF, Beyl R, Early KS, Cefalu WT, Ravussin E, Peterson CM. Early Time-Restricted Feeding Improves Insulin Sensitivity, Blood Pressure, and Oxidative Stress Even without Weight Loss in Men with Prediabetes. Cell Metab. 2018 Jun 5;27(6):1212-1221.e3. doi: 10.1016/j.cmet.2018.04.010. Epub 2018 May 10. PMID: 29754952; PMCID: PMC5990470.

2. Scaglione S, Di Chiara T, Daidone M, Tuttolomondo A. Effects of the Mediterranean Diet on the Components of Metabolic Syndrome Concerning the Cardiometabolic Risk. Nutrients. 2025; 17(2):358. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu17020358

3. Shukla AP, Andono J, Touhamy SH, Casper A, Iliescu RG, Mauer E, Shan Zhu Y, Ludwig DS, Aronne LJ. Carbohydrate-last meal pattern lowers postprandial glucose and insulin excursions in type 2 diabetes. BMJ Open Diabetes Res Care. 2017 Sep 14;5(1):e000440. doi: 10.1136/bmjdrc-2017-000440. PMID: 28989726; PMCID: PMC5604719.

4. Sanders LM, Zhu Y, Wilcox ML, Koecher K, Maki KC. Whole grain intake, compared to refined grain, improves postprandial glycemia and insulinemia: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. Crit Rev Food Sci Nutr. 2023;63(21):5339-5357. doi: 10.1080/10408398.2021.2017838. Epub 2021 Dec 20. PMID: 34930065.

5. Daisy Duan, Athena Mavronis, Luu Pham, Jonathan Jun, 0007 Comparing Post-prandial Glycemia After Late Eating vs Late Sleep: Preliminary Results from a Randomized Crossover Study, Sleep, Volume 48, Issue Supplement_1, May 2025, Pages A3–A4, https://doi.org/10.1093/sleep/zsaf090.0007

6. Spiegel, Karine et al. “Impact of sleep debt on metabolic and endocrine function.” The Lancet 354 (1999): 1435-1439.