How our body handles a sweet treat (/uses Glucose)

Here’s a quick, teachable spiel:

When you eat a sweet treat like a chocolate chip cookie, your body breaks down the carbohydrates into glucose, which is a simple sugar and one of the body’s main fuel sources. Because cookies contain a lot of simple carbs and added sugar, that glucose enters the bloodstream pretty quickly, causing your blood sugar to rise.

Your pancreas senses that rise and releases insulin, which acts like a key. Insulin helps move glucose out of the blood and into your cells, especially muscle, liver, and fat cells. Once inside the cell, glucose can be used right away to make energy through cellular respiration. Biochemically, glucose goes through glycolysis, then the Krebs cycle, and finally the electron transport chain, where the cell makes ATP, which is basically usable energy.

This happens with every food, but at different speeds. A cookie breaks down quickly, so blood glucose rises faster. A balanced meal with fiber, protein, and fat breaks down more slowly, so glucose enters the blood more steadily. If your body has more glucose than it needs right away, it can store some as glycogen in the liver and muscles, and excess can eventually be converted into fat for longer-term storage.

So basically: food becomes fuel. A sugary cookie gives quick glucose, insulin helps cells absorb it, and your cells use that glucose to make ATP — the energy that keeps your body running.

A Dexcom Stelo glucose monitor is a continuous glucose monitor, or CGM, that sits on the back of the upper arm and uses a tiny sensor under the skin to track glucose levels in the interstitial fluid, which is the fluid around your cells. Instead of using a finger prick, Stelo continuously records glucose patterns over time, helping show how your body responds after eating different foods.

When you eat something like a chocolate chip cookie, your body breaks down the carbohydrates into glucose, which enters circulation and causes your glucose levels to rise. The Stelo tracks this response as a curve: your baseline before eating, the rise after digestion, the peak of the spike, and the recovery as insulin helps move glucose into cells for energy or storage.

The shape of the curve matters. A steep upward slope means glucose is rising quickly, often after sugary or simple-carb foods eaten alone. A slower, smoother rise usually means glucose is being absorbed more gradually, often because the food contains fiber, protein, fat, or slower-digesting carbohydrates. A lower and slower spike is generally easier for the body to manage because it creates steadier energy, less demand for a rapid insulin response, and fewer sharp crashes or cravings.

Biochemically, glucose is not “bad” — it is fuel. Your cells use glucose to make ATP, the body’s usable energy, through pathways like glycolysis, the Krebs cycle, and the electron transport chain. The goal is not to avoid glucose completely, but to support a steadier, more balanced response.

Check out the THE GOODS page to see how my body reacts to my baked goods versus the most popular store-bought versions of them, monitored using Stelo by Dexcom.

A brownie does not have to send your glucose on a rollercoaster. The trick is all in how it is made. Traditional brownies are usually made with refined white flour and heavily processed sugars, which digest quickly and can lead to a sharper glucose spike. But when you build the brownie with more intentional ingredients, you can make the glucose response smoother while still keeping it delicious.

One of the biggest upgrades is choosing better sources of sweetness. Refined white sugar and high-fructose corn syrup are highly processed and easy for the body to absorb quickly, which can contribute to a faster rise in glucose. Using options like coconut sugar, date sugar, maple syrup, honey, or mashed dates can be a better choice because they are less processed and may come with small amounts of minerals, antioxidants, or naturally occurring compounds that refined sugars lack. Coconut sugar, for example, has a slightly lower glycemic index than regular table sugar, meaning it may raise glucose more gradually. That said, these are still sugars, so the goal is not to use unlimited amounts — it is to choose better-quality sweeteners and use them more intentionally.

Reducing the total sugar also matters. A brownie can often still taste rich and sweet with less added sugar, especially when flavor is boosted with cocoa, vanilla, cinnamon, espresso powder, sea salt, or naturally sweet ingredients like banana, pumpkin, or dates. This helps lower the overall glucose load without making the treat taste like a “healthy” compromise.

Fiber, protein, and healthy fats are also key. Ingredients like oat flour, almond flour, flax, chia, sweet potato, black beans, zucchini, eggs, Greek yogurt, nut butter, nuts, olive oil, avocado, or protein powder help slow digestion and make the treat more filling. They do not magically turn a brownie into a vegetable, but they do help buffer how quickly sugar enters the bloodstream and can create a smoother glucose curve.

The goal is not to make sweets perfect or boring. It is to make them work better with your body: better sugars, less total sugar, more fiber, more protein, healthy fats, fewer ultra-processed ingredients, and a slower, steadier glucose response ...still sweet, still satisfying, just a little smarter.