Beating Type 2 Diabetes: Chris Reid's Soluble Fibre Strategy

Chris Reid felt fine. He played volleyball three or four days a week, ran a technology company and ate the way most of us do. Then a life insurance health screening, repeated by accident within the same year, showed his A1C had jumped from about 5.6 to 9.1. That is the story behind his book Beating Diabetes, and it is the heart of a recent conversation on the me&my health up podcast.

Chris is not a doctor, and nothing here is medical advice. But his approach is refreshingly practical, and it raises a point many of us overlook: when it comes to blood sugar, what you eat first at a meal may matter as much as what you eat.

A diagnosis with no warning signs

For most people, Chris explains, blood sugar creeps up over years. A doctor mentions it is getting a little high, and there is time to respond. His did not. He describes going from fine to facing the prospect of insulin in a very short space of time, with no symptoms at all.

It was frightening. He mentions that rapid onset diabetes carries a small but real chance of being linked to pancreatic cancer, and with an aunt who had died of the disease, he asked for an MRI. It came back clear. His daughter was seven at the time, and he says that was the motivation that pushed him to act: he was not willing to accept that this was simply something to manage with drugs for life.

What his eating looked like before

Chris is open about it. A New York bagel, egg and cheese sandwich for breakfast. A sandwich or slice of pizza at lunch. Sushi, steak or burgers for dinner. Five or six Oreos before bed, or ice cream with Nutella, and coffee with five or six sugars. As he puts it, that is not far off a normal American diet, and he did not feel he was doing anything unusual.

That is worth sitting with. Being active and feeling well did not tell him what his blood sugar was doing.

Working with a doctor who would listen

One of the first steps Chris took was to change doctors. He is quick to say this was not because his original doctor did a bad job. She was following the standard approach, and busy primary care doctors rarely have time for lengthy lifestyle conversations. He found a doctor who was willing to work with him on a different goal: not being diabetic, and not relying on medication.

Importantly, he stresses that he did this with medical advice, not instead of it. His book includes extensive citations so readers can check the research themselves, and he still sees his doctor for an annual check-up.

The idea at the centre: soluble fibre

If you only take one thing from the episode, Chris says it is this. In his reading of the research, soluble fibre is the key mechanism he used to bring his blood sugar under control without drugs.

He draws a clear line between two kinds of fibre. Insoluble fibre, such as the fibre in wheat, is good for digestion, but he says it does little for blood sugar control. Soluble fibre is the kind found in foods such as oats, Brussels sprouts, broccoli, chickpeas, hummus, edamame, chia and lentils. These foods form a gel-like slurry as you digest them, which slows digestion and helps you feel full.

The reasoning is simple. Slower digestion means slower sugar absorption, so you avoid sharp spikes. Those spikes, Chris says, act like a stress on the body and prompt the pancreas to release a lot of insulin. Smoothing them out is the whole game.

Fibre first, then the foods you love

This is where his approach becomes practical. Chris thinks of the gut as a pipeline, so the order of foods matters. He starts a meal with soluble fibre, then moves on to the sugary or starchy foods.

His sushi example sticks in the mind. He orders a whole serve of edamame for himself and eats it while waiting for the meal. By the time the rice arrives, digestion has already slowed. He says he also tends to eat less rice, because the edamame has already filled him up.

It is the same in New Orleans around Mardi Gras. He has butter beans first, then a small slice of king cake, with no guilt attached. Chris calls this temptation bundling, and he pairs it with habit stacking, where a new habit rides along with something you already do.

A simple rule for reading labels

Chris keeps label reading to three lines: added sugar, total fibre and soluble fibre. His rule of thumb is that a good food has at least as much soluble fibre as added sugar. He is upfront that one gram for one gram is a simplification and not a scientific formula. He uses it because he needs something simple enough to follow while shopping, even in another country.

He gives an example from his own kitchen. Fig bars he had stocked in the office as a healthy snack turned out to have about as much added sugar as an Oreo. Among cereals, he says, very few so-called healthy options pass his test.

If you are interested in how fibre and the gut fit into the bigger picture, our article on gut health beyond probiotics covers what really supports digestion.

Small habits that do the heavy lifting

Chris describes a few non-food habits that work in the background:

• A short walk after dinner. He cites studies suggesting even a couple of minutes of moderate movement after a meal can lower blood sugar by around 20%. For him, that means taking the dog around the block.
• Meal prep that makes the healthy option the easy one. A make-ahead oatmeal casserole that keeps all week means breakfast is the easiest thing in the fridge.
• Sleep and stress. He mentions that both affect blood sugar, and that he practises transcendental meditation, saying it is the doing that matters more than the style.
• Testing now and then. He does an at-home A1C test quarterly, partly to stay on track and partly because seeing it work keeps him going.

Why forgiving yourself matters

Perhaps the most human part of the conversation is Chris's insistence on self-forgiveness. He says nobody can make a change this big without slipping, and beating yourself up only adds stress. Anthony agrees on the show that this kind of self-criticism is itself a stress response that can make blood sugar harder to manage.

It echoes a theme we explored in The Pleasure Principle: health habits last when they leave room for enjoyment.

Chris also says the approach is not a diet. He was in his mid-40s and knew he could not diet for the next 40 years. Almost eight years later, he says his weight has been steady since mid-2017, and that he no longer craves sugar the way he once did. A little sugar in his iced coffee, he says, is something he now notices straight away.

What to take from this

You do not need to follow Chris's rules to the letter to learn from his story. A few ideas are worth thinking about:

• Feeling well and being active do not guarantee healthy blood sugar, so testing matters.
• Sustainable change comes from small, easy habits, not strict rules.
• Food order and a post-meal walk are low-effort ideas to discuss with your health team.
• Self-forgiveness keeps you on track far better than self-punishment.

This article is general information only and is not medical advice. Chris Reid is sharing his personal experience. If you have, or are concerned about, diabetes or blood sugar issues, speak with your doctor or a qualified health professional before changing your diet, exercise or medication.

Where to find Chris and his book

You can find Chris's book, Beating Diabetes, at beatingdiabetes.us, which is also his Instagram and TikTok handle.

If you would like support turning ideas like these into habits that suit your life, explore our personal nutrition and wellness programs or our gut health support, or book a free 15-minute clarity call with me&my wellness to talk about where to start.

Listen to more episodes of the me&my health up podcast on the me&my wellness podcasts page.