Is That Sugar? Body vs. Brain (and Who’s Correct)

April 10, 2025

When we first started trying to balance our mom’s blood sugar to protect her brain, we thought we knew what to cut out.

No cookies.
No cakes.
No candy.
Check, check, and check.

Don’t get us wrong—our mom has a serious sweet tooth. But we’d already dialed way back on the obvious stuff. So we thought, okay, we’ve got this sugar thing handled… right?

Spoiler: We did not have this handled.

But I don’t eat sugar by Shelby Watts

Wait—What Counts as Sugar?

Here’s the twist: your body sees “sugar” more broadly than your thinking brain might realize. It doesn’t just flag the birthday cake and jelly beans. It also quietly tags toast, rice, cereal, and smoothies as sugar.

We didn’t realize it at first, either. We learned these lessons the hard way—through trial, error, and head-scratching. But later, we found this Instagram Reel from Shelby Watts, The Fiber Teacher, and it does such a great job explaining it. She breaks down how your body reacts to everyday foods like white bread, cereal, or even a big plate of pasta.

Spoiler #2: That warm bowl of oatmeal with bananas? Yeah… your body treats it a lot like a donut.

It’s not about how sweet something tastes—but how quickly your body digests it and turns it into glucose. Once we understood that, everything started to click.

The Aha Moment: Letting our Mom’s Body Do the Talking

Here’s where things got interesting—and actually kind of fun.

We stopped playing food detective and let the data speak for itself. We got our mom a Continuous Glucose Monitor (CGM), and suddenly, it was like… oh, that’s what’s happening!

Her body started showing us what worked—and what didn’t—loud and clear.

Some of the biggest surprises?

Food	What Her Body Saw
Low-fat fruit yogurt	Sugar spike
Granola	Sugar spike
Whole wheat toast	Sugar spike
Pasta	Sugar spike
Banana	Sugar spike
Oatmeal with raisins	Sugar spike

We thought we were nailing it with “healthy” breakfasts. It turns out we were swapping one kind of sugar for another.

Want to see what regular pasta does to blood sugar? Check out this video. It’s eye-opening.

What does regular pasta do to blood sugar? by Gratitude Health

How We Turned It Around (Without Giving Up Everything Fun)

We started making simple swaps once we could see what was spiking our mom’s blood sugar. No fad diets. No food guilt. These thoughtful changes helped stabilize her energy and protect her brain.

Here’s what we traded in:

Oatmeal → Eggs with spinach and goat cheese, plus a side of turkey sausage
Banana Smoothie → Full-fat plain Greek yogurt with half a banana and a sprinkle of grain-free granola for crunch
Ham & cheese sandwich → Grilled chicken, green beans, and half a roasted sweet potato

We didn’t overhaul the pantry overnight. We just started listening to our mom’s body and adjusting one meal at a time.

And the result? More energy. Less crankiness. Fewer foggy afternoons.

And yes—she still enjoys sweets! We plan them better now so they work with her body instead of against it.

One Simple Step (That Made All the Difference)

If all of this feels like a lot—take a deep breath. It felt like that for us, too.
But here’s the thing that made everything less overwhelming:

We outsourced the thinking to her body.
With a CGM, we stopped guessing. We stopped Googling. We let her body show us what it liked—and what left her feeling drained.

Want to try this, too? Start small:
Tomorrow morning, swap out the toast or cereal for a protein-rich breakfast—like scrambled eggs with veggies or full-fat plain Greek yogurt with nuts and a few berries.

Then… just observe. How does your loved one feel afterward? More alert? Less foggy? Calmer?

If you’re ready to dig deeper, consider trying a CGM. It’s like having a daily check-in with your metabolism—and honestly, it’s way more helpful than just crossing your fingers at breakfast.

The Takeaway

When it comes to brain health and blood sugar, “sugar” isn’t just about sweets. It’s about how your body reacts—and sometimes, the foods that look healthy can act like sugar in disguise.

The good news is that once you learn how to spot those hidden sugars, you can make thoughtful, steady changes that make a difference.

No stress. No extremes. Just a little curiosity, a few strategic swaps, and maybe a CGM to help you figure out what works best for the person you love.

Got questions? Have you tried something that worked? We’d love to hear from you.

Signos

Kevin and our mom started using Signos in 2024, right around the time Continuous Glucose Monitors (CGMs) became available without a prescription in the U.S. We picked Signos because it provides real-time data and personalized insights—it helped us see exactly how food and movement were affecting their blood sugar.

We went with the 3-month plan since the price difference wasn’t huge, and we wanted time to learn. But now that we’ve gone through it, the one-month plan is a great place to start if you want to test the waters.

If you’re considering a 3- or 6-month plan, we have a $100 discount code you can use!