But then, it takes longer to chew more. Your reasoning about finer particles has always been my intuition, too, but taking more time to chew while exposing more food surface area to digestive action ought to mean that your blood sugar will rise to the point where you are no longer hungry after fewer bites. You may tend to stop eating after consuming less food, so the total excess insulin (how much overage for how long) may be reduced.
Or it may increase, or it may go one way for some foods/people and the opposite for others.
Another intuition of mine is that when we finally have realtime monitoring of blood sugar (some future Apple Watch, for example) and exactly what was eaten when, we will discover to our "surprise" that there is so much variation in individual response to consumption of the same quantity of the same food (and even variation for the same person at different times of day and variation for what else was eaten and when) that it will be obvious why nutritional studies based on the usual averaging of crowds never seemed to converge on the right answer. Some averages are meaningless.
> when we finally have realtime monitoring of blood sugar
Continuous Glucose Monitors exist and, at least for the one I have, test your blood on a fairly regular basis (every 5 minutes). As a diabetic, getting one was life altering; the best positive change in my life for a very long time.
I would highly recommend a CGM to type 1 diabetics. I have the Dexcom G6, and the low blood sugar (current and impending) are amazing.
I’ve seen several attempts at optical monitors. The first I became aware of was Agamatrix in early 2000s.
I doubt this is possible without some kind of catalyst. There’s just nothing all that unique about the composition or phonon modes of sugar or insulin.
There are other fluids aside from blood though. I think those have promise. Google X was working on a CGM in a contact lens. Maybe somebody is working on a CGM in dental roots. Gastric sensors may be just as good.
> but taking more time to chew while exposing more food surface area to digestive action ought to mean that your blood sugar will rise to the point where you are no longer hungry
That's an interesting take! You're probably right.
Or it may increase, or it may go one way for some foods/people and the opposite for others.
Another intuition of mine is that when we finally have realtime monitoring of blood sugar (some future Apple Watch, for example) and exactly what was eaten when, we will discover to our "surprise" that there is so much variation in individual response to consumption of the same quantity of the same food (and even variation for the same person at different times of day and variation for what else was eaten and when) that it will be obvious why nutritional studies based on the usual averaging of crowds never seemed to converge on the right answer. Some averages are meaningless.