Can You Eat Honey on Keto (If You Exercise)?

Have you ever wondered how exercise influences your blood sugar response after consuming carbohydrates? For this video, I used a continuous glucose monitor to find out how a combination of different types of physical activity — such as powerlifting, CrossFit, biking and walking — and raw honey impact my blood glucose levels. In other words, I wanted to find out if any of those exercises would lead to a lower blood sugar spike.

To make things even more interesting, I varied the timing of my honey consumption. For some of the experiments, I had two tablespoons of honey before performing the physical activity. In some cases, I had the honey in between workouts. And in other cases, I had it at the end.

In a previous video, I teamed up with Levels Health — the company behind the continuous glucose monitoring platform I use — to see how exercise influences how my body responds to glucose after consuming a can of regular Coke.

To my surprise, I was the only participant in that experiment that received no benefit from exercising after drinking a can of Coke. Essentially, my blood sugar response didn't improve after physical activity, while everyone else experienced lowered blood sugar levels after exercise.

So for this video, I wanted to guide you through my experience of recreating this experiment with raw honey instead of Coke.

While the initial data appeared to confirm the findings from my previous experiment, I dug deeper using the Levels Health app and was shocked by the findings.

Watch the video to learn more!

#LevelsHealth #MetabolicHealth #MetabolicFlexibility

[Links]

[Chapter Markers]
0:00 - Intro
0:24 - Levels Health Coke Challenge Recap
1:49 - Honey Experiment Overview
3:19 - Honey Experiment Results
8:32 - Confirming Results with the Levels Health App
11:04 - Lessons I’ve Learned

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[Medical Disclaimer]
The information shared on this video is for educational purposes only, is not a substitute for the advice of medical doctors or registered dietitians (which I am not) and should not be used to prevent, diagnose, or treat any condition. Consult with a physician before starting a fitness regimen, adding supplements to your diet, or making other changes that may affect your medications, treatment plan, or overall health.

Very interesting, thank you very much!

[frankcris]

Great info! Since I started wearing a CGM, I have been intrigued as to how, and why I get these spikes during hard efforts. And especially how the energy gels (maltodextrin) effect, or don't effect these readings. I've been on a low carb keto like diet for about six months now, and I have been struggling to hit my high carb diet performance levels. I'm now reintroducing some carbs, in and around my workouts - hopefully, I'll see some benefits. Thanks Michael!

[littlevoice_]

I find that if i do a very fast or uphill walk my blood sugar can go up as as would do for a HIIT workout. But a restful walk (usually in nature) actually reduces it the most post consumption (although my consumption and post meal spike is usually from a high protein shake which I use to break my fast)

[littlevoice_]

It would be interesting to see the difference between how the body uses fats/ketones/mcts on an active day vs inactive day. Then the same for protein.

[wongpeiyi]

Thanks for sharing your experience! Does the Levels app get the data from the Libre app instantly? Or is there some delay? I've seen some other apps where you can scan the sensor directly into the app... so if I scan at 4pm I get my data all the way up to 4pm instead of up to 3:45pm for example

[littlevoice_]

Are you familiar with the ZOE research? It uses genetics, blood glucose measures, microbiome and other markers to predict your ìdeal diet. It is an international collaboration of researchers and data scientists. They found that as well as macro composition it can vary greatly from person to person in what form the carb is in e.g. oats vs wheat. Potato vs sweet potato. And timing of the day too.