The blood sugar test

From a testing point of view, the most interesting aspect is definitely the live blood sugar tracking. Some findings were pretty common-sense; having ice cream in the evening didn’t cause any real spike because I always have pudding within 30 minutes of a healthy, hearty meal. However, I was surprised to see how dramatically my glucose readings were affected by two ingredients I eat all the time and which I always thought were pretty healthy: semolina and corn.

My mum has ulcerative colitis and when I was growing up, she had a number of awful flareups that made eating anything difficult – but especially bread. The only bread-y type thing she didn’t struggle with was the Algerian semolina bread my dad bought every Saturday, which became a household staple. Because she was able to eat it, I assumed it was super healthy – and yet I had my biggest blood glucose spike and dip after eating a semolina pancake at that Arsenal match.

It happened again the next day after I had a slice of semolina bread for breakfast, even with olive oil and za’atar smeared on top. That rollercoaster was matched once more when I had tacos for dinner, filled with refried beans, tofu, faijta-seasoned peppers and salad.

“I’m a gut health ‘unicorn’, according to a Zoe nutritionist – here’s how I managed to score so highly in the biggest gut test in the world”