Managing blood sugar levels can be a daily challenge, especially for people with diabetes or those at risk. Jessie Inchauspé, French biochemist and New York Times bestselling author, shares in her August 25 Instagram post how simple techniques like ‘calf raises’ can help reduce blood sugar spikes and support better glucose control.
How to do calf raises to lower glucose
“Just eaten a donut or a big bowl of pasta? Try this: Feet on the ground, lift your heels up and down. This makes your soleus muscle (hiding in your calf) contract, helping soak up the glucose from your bloodstream. And boom, smaller glucose spike,” Jessie wrote in the caption.
In a video, Jessie explains, “The soluup pushup or the calf raise, imagine you’re at your desk, at work, or at school, wherever you’ve eaten something really high in carbs. Here is the easiest and most discreet way you can lower the glucose spike at that meal. You simply put your feet on the ground and go up and down, keeping your shoes on, for 5-10 minutes.”
Jessie shares the benefits of this exercise: “Your calves contain a muscle called the soleus, which studies have shown is especially good at soaking up glucose from the bloodstream after we eat.”
What are the benefits
Quoting the study, she explains, “The study, called ‘A Potent Physiological Method to Magnify and Sustain Cellulose Oxidative Metabolism Improves Glucose and Lipid Regulation,’ asked participants to do calf pushups or raises for five hours. That’s a lot, of course, but here’s what they found: five hours of calf raises reduced post-meal glucose spikes by 52% and lowered extra insulin levels by 60%.”
She clarifies, “We don’t have to do this for 5 hours. Even doing 10 minutes can have a strong impact. In my own test, I compared a pain au chocolat with and without 10 minutes of calf raises. The glucose spike was much smaller with the exercise, and it’s very discreet. It’s very, very easy. I recommend you test this out.”