The Bottom Line Up Front
Now, for both type 1 and type 2’s, the most absolute best thing to put in your body first thing in the morning is…. … A big hit of flat water upon waking! Far more than just an after swallow. I drink at least 500ml ~17oz) followed after about 15 minutes with a big glass of water with one tablespoon ACV mixed into it.
Why? Before you add any calories or caffeine to your system, you need to dilute the concentration of glucose in your blood. When you sleep, you become dehydrated so your blood becomes thicker — sugar is more concentrated. Rehydrating is the quickest, nonpharmaceutical way to reduce the concentration of sugar in your blood. The vinegar then serves as a primer for your muscles to better absorb sugar when you finally do eat breakfast.
Newly Diagnosed & Panic Stricken: The “Dilution Solution”
If you have just been diagnosed, your nemesis isn’t sugar, as they might say on the back of an old baseball card; it is dehydration. Elevated blood sugar makes your kidneys work harder to filter the excess glucose out of your bloodstream, which ends up dehydrating you by pulling more fluid out of your tissues to create urine. That leaves you dehydrated at a cellular level when you wake up.
The Logic:
Consider your blood the syrup in a bottle. When syrup is too viscous (high sugar) will run very slow and the pump clogs because of it. But if you pour water into that bottle, you dilute the solution. It flows better. This is precisely what happens when you drink water first thing. It reduces blood viscosity and helps your kidneys eliminate the extra glucose that built up overnight.
The Protocol:
- Preparation : Before bed, set a large glass (16-20 oz) of water on your nightstand.
- Temperature: It should be at room temperature. The cold ice water in the stomach can lead to vasoconstriction (tightening of blood vessels), which could delay absorption slightly when you’re thirsting for immediate hydration.
- Action: Sit up in bed and take down the full glass before your feet touch the floor. Don’t sip it down over an hour; knock it back within 5 minutes.
- The ‘Zero-Calorie’ Rule Do not integrate “healthy” powders, proteins or such juices just yet. In this case, the solute is sugar and the solvent is water Your body requires pure solvent (water) to handle the solute (sugar).
If You Are The Natural Remedy Seeker, The “Acetic Acid” Protocol
You’re looking for an edge — something that’s natural and emulates what happens when you take medicine. The most proven natural beverage for regulating morning blood sugar is of course Apple Cider Vinegar (ACV), and we all drink it wrong.
The Critical Thinking:
Most people consume ACV with food. But for the “dawn phenomenon” in the morning, you need the acetic acid to be in your body before you add carbs. Acetic acid does so by inhibiting disaccharidases (an enzyme that breaks down carbs) and by increasing insulin sensitivity in skeletal muscle. It’s essentially saying to your muscles, “Open the doors for fuel,” instead of allowing that fuel to float through your blood.
The Protocol:
- The Mix : Blend 1 Tablespoon (15ml) of organic Apple Cider Vinegar into a tall glass of Water.
- The Buffer: Squeeze of fresh lemon juice. This is not just for flavor The citrate in lemon can aid in fending off kidney stones, a threat that’s marginally higher among those with diabetes because of acidic urine.
- The timing: Consume within 15 to 20 minutes of your initial plain water rehydration, but at least 20 minutes before eating breakfast.
- Protection: Use a straw to protect your tooth enamel from the acid.
The Green Tea Plan: For the “Morning Phenomenon” Sufferer
You start the day with high blood sugar, even if you haven’t eaten in 8 hours. That’s your liver dumping stored glucose into your blood to help you “wake up.” The way to deal with this, he adds, is by blocking it with a mild inhibitor that doesn’t stimulate an insulin spike.
The Logic:
Coffee is so popular, because caffeine itself actually makes you more acutely insulin resistant and increases your cortisol (stress hormone) levels in the morning, which stimulates the liver to dump even more sugar! That’s the counter-intuitive part for a lot of coffee lovers. And if your fasting numbers are high, it could be the coffee’s fault.
The Better Alternative:
Transition to Green Tea or Yerba Mate. They have caffeine in them, but more importantly they contain lots of a compound called EGCG (Epigallocatechin gallate). EGCG has been reported to act like insulin and decrease the liver’s production of glucose.
The Protocol:
- The Switch: Ditch the 7:00 AM coffee for a premium-grade Green Tea.
- Steep: Make sure to steep the tea for at least 3-4 minutes so it will release the catechins (medicinal component of tea).
- No Additives: Milk and sweeteners added. A splash of milk can even bind with the catechins and make them less effective.
- Temperature: It’s best warm, not scalding. Scalding tea may end up damaging the esophageal lining, and studies show that people who drink extremely hot liquid are twice as likely to develop esophageal cancer compared with those who prefer their drinks at cooler temperatures. (The idea is essentially that warm liquids help improve gastric motility more than the warmer kind.)
To the Caregiver: The “Chia Fresca” Technique
If you’re taking care of an aging parent or spouse, it could be a feat to get them to drink vinegar or plain water. What you need is something that will hydrate while also offering a “time release” hydration and blood sugar control.
The Logic:
Being hydrophilic, chia seeds can absorb up to 12 times their weigh t in water and form a gel. When a diabetic who drinks this “gel water” it actually physically lowers the rate at which the stomach is drained. That means any food you eat afterwards will be digested more slowly, without that rush of glucose. It actually makes a physical block in the gut.
The Protocol:
- The night before: Stir 1 tablespoon of chia seeds into a glass jar with 1 cup of water and a lemon or cucumber slice. And shake it up real good before you store it in the fridge.
- Morning: You should be greeted by fully expanded seeds in gelatinous suspension.
- Administration: Mix it well and ask the patient to drink this. We also like that it’s easy to swallow and seems more like a “food” than it does just water, which can make you feel more compliant.
- Benefit: Hydrates while also acting as a fiber buffer for the morning meal.
If Weight Loss & Insulin Sensitivity Is The Goal: Delayed Caffeine Protocol
You want to burn fat and reduce sugar. The mistake is to drink your coffee when you first get up.
The Critical Thinking:
When you wake, your body provides a surge of cortisol (the stress hormone) as part of its natural way to rouse you. This is natural. If you pile caffeine (which boosts cortisol) on top of your naturally raised level of that hormone, you’re getting a stress response — and the release of stored fat and sugar into the blood stream. And if you don’t burn that off right away with some exercise, that sugar then goes and sort of settles back in, which is what triggers insulin.
The Protocol:
- The 90-minute rule: Drink a glass of plain water when you wake up. Don’t drink caffeine within 90 minutes of waking.
- Why: After 90 minutes, your own natural cortisol peak wanes. So when you drink caffeine, you can get the energy and metabolism boost without the compounding stress response of a spike in blood sugar.
- The Drink: Black Coffee or Green Tea. No cream, no sugar, no fake sweeteners (some of which can still induce an insulin response in sensitive people).
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: What is the single best drink for a diabetic first thing in the morning?
A: The easiest and most powerful first step is to drink 500ml of room-temperature water the very moment you wake up. This rehydration reduces the blood viscosity (thickness), and assists the kidney to wash out excess glucose build up in them overnight.
Q: How does Apple Cider Vinegar (ACV) lower morning blood sugar, and when is the best time to take it?
A: It’s due to acetic acid in ACV, which increases insulin sensitivity and inhibits enzymes that break down starches. For optimal results, dilute 1 tablespoon of ACV with water and lemon juice, then consume at least 15–20 minutes before a meal ( 17, 18).
Q: What is the reason for green tea as opposed to coffee in the “Dawn Phenomenon”?
A: Although coffee may raise cortisol and cause temporary insulin resistance because it is high in caffeine, Green Tea contains EGCG, which mimics the action of insulin and inhibits liver glucose production. If you do make a switch, don’t add milk: It can attach to the catechins and block their benefits.
Q: What does the “90-Minute Rule” say about how soon you should be drinking a cup of coffee or another source of caffeine before hopping in bed?
A: You should abstain from caffeine for 90 minutes after waking. Consuming it earlier has the effect of stacking caffeine on our natural morning cortisol spike which starts somewhere around 8 a.m., and mobilizes stored fat and sugar into the circulatory system; if you wait, your cortisol naturally plummets in time to prevent this glucose spike.
Q: How does the “Chia Fresca” hack help manage blood sugar?
A: Chia seeds soaked in water form a gel that, when ingested, bulks out the stomach and slows its emptying into the gut. This creates a wall in the stomach that slows digestion and prevents sugar from rising too fast after the next meal.
References
1. On water intake and glucose regulation:
- Research: Those with low total water intake are at risk for hyperglycemia.
- Institution: INSERM U856.
- Subjects: 3,615 men and women, 30-65 years of age at baseline over a mean follow up of nine years.
- Key Finding: Subjects who drank less than a half liter of water per day had 10 times the risk of developing high blood sugar as those drinking more.
On Apple Cider Vinegar (Acetic Acid):
- Study: Bedtime vinegar lowers morning glucose concentrations in type 2 diabetes mellitus.
- Organisation: Arizona State University, Department of Nutrition.
- Author: Carol S. Johnston, PhD.
- Principal Result: Vinegar (acetic acid) intake decreased fasting glucose, indicating an antiglycemic effect.
Green Tea and Insulin Sensitivity:
- Study from: Effect of green tea on glucose control and insulin sensitivity: a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.
- Entity: The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.
- Date: 2013.
- Main outcome measure: Fasting glucose and hemoglobin A1c concentrations in the subjects were significantly lower after green tea ingestion.
On Caffeine and Insulin Sensitivity:
- Research: Caffeine reduces insulin sensitivity of the glucose metabolic pathways in human skeletal muscle.
- Source: Journal of Applied Physiology.
- Findings: Caffeine can reduce insulin sensitivity by as much as 15 percent in some portions of the human population, validating the practice of delaying consumption or changing over to lower-caffeine sources like green tea for those with serious control issues.
