Issue No. 004 · Ice Cream

Ice Cream On Trial

One scoop. One glucose monitor. And a twist that changes everything about dessert.

I grabbed a scoop. Vanilla, from the carton in my freezer. It was nothing low-fat or sugar-free, just regular grocery-store ice cream. I wore a glucose monitor and ate it at 3 p.m. on an empty stomach. And then I sat on my couch and watched the number climb.

+34

mg/dL blood sugar rise

Individual responses vary. Based on CGM data from 12,350 single-item ice cream meals (Signos, 2025–2026).

Here is what surprised me. Ice cream has a glycemic index around 61. That is lower than white bread. It is lower than a bowl of Cheerios. And most people would never guess that.

The reason is fat. A regular scoop of vanilla has about 11 grams of it. Fat slows down how fast your stomach releases sugar into your bloodstream. In other words, the ingredient you thought made ice cream bad is the ingredient keeping your spike from going higher.

But 34 points is still a real rise. And what came next was the part nobody warns you about. Around 90 minutes later, my energy dropped. I felt foggy. I reached for a snack I did not plan to eat. That is the crash. Your body overproduces insulin to handle the sugar rush, and then the sugar falls too fast. Your brain reads that drop as an emergency.

So the question was clear. Could I keep the ice cream and lose the crash?

Meanwhile... The Hack

I tried again the next day. Same scoop and same brand. But this time I ate it right after a dinner of grilled chicken and steamed broccoli. My monitor showed a rise of 18 points. That is 47% less ... from the same bowl of ice cream.

Individual responses vary. Numbers reflect CGM averages and may differ for you.

The protein and fiber from dinner slowed my gastric emptying. That is the speed at which food leaves your stomach. When ice cream arrives on top of a balanced meal, the sugar absorbs at a gentler pace. In other words, dinner acts like a speed bump for dessert.

My energy held all evening. I slept well. And I did not raid the fridge at 10 p.m.

This is why timing changes everything with dessert. The old advice was about cutting foods from your life. But the smarter approach ... is about where you put them in your day. A scoop after dinner is not the same event as a scoop in the middle of the afternoon. Your body handles each one in a completely different way.

Here is what the research confirms. A 2015 study from Weill Cornell found that eating protein and vegetables before carbs may cut the glucose spike of that meal by up to 50%. And Signos CGM data from over 12,000 ice cream meals tells the same story. The food already in your stomach changes how the next food behaves.

My doctor told me to cut sugar. She never mentioned timing. And for years I skipped dessert because that was the only advice I got. The monitor showed me a different answer. I can keep ice cream. I just stop eating it alone.

★ Welcome to the revolution

Jackie