Hello, baby! Jessie Inchauspé, better known online as the Glucose Goddess, welcomed a baby boy two months ago. “It’s been the most humbling experience of my life,” she tells Vogue in her first interview since. “Honestly, I think that was good for me. I tend to be quite confident about things—I like having a plan, feeling in control. This journey definitely didn’t allow for that.”
Inchauspé’s entire career has been built on planning and knowledge. The French biochemist and New York Times bestselling author has offered herself up as a guinea pig—wearing a continuous glucose monitor and tracking how different foods spike her blood sugar, which in turn affects mood, brain fog, nerve function, and more—and sharing the quantifiable data online.
“My eating habits pre-pregnancy were (and still are) built around balancing my blood sugar levels, or glucose,” Inchauspé says. “There are a few core tenets to that: Starting every day with a savory, protein-rich breakfast with 30 to 40 grams of protein—favorite culprits being skyr yogurt, eggs, or any leftover protein from dinner. I make sure to eat vegetables first at my meals to help flatten the glucose spike of the meal, as veggies contain fiber, which coats the intestines with a protective mesh. I eat carbs at most lunches and dinner, but I always ‘clothe’ them—meaning I pair them with protein, fat, or fiber. I also love sugar and anything chocolate-y, so I implement hacks to eat those with less impact on my glucose levels: always after meals, never on an empty stomach. Pre-pregnancy, I also had coffee every morning, but didn’t drink alcohol.”
During her pregnancy, she made a few changes to her eating habits. First up, caffeine. “I cut out coffee, which I think helped. That’s anecdotal, of course—but both times I got pregnant, it happened in the month I stopped drinking coffee. I believe removing that stressor made a difference for my body, and some small studies suggest that caffeine might interfere with conception and implantation, so I gave it a try.”
She also began altering her diet before she was pregnant, known as epigenetics. “There’s a common myth that the baby will just take whatever nutrients they need from you—but that’s not true,” she says. “Your nutrient levels matter a lot in terms of what will be available in the womb for your growing child. So I wanted to build up my stores beforehand. A main focus, for instance, was increasing my omega-3 levels—especially DHA, which is essential for fetal brain development. It takes time for DHA to build up in the body, so I started early with some high-DHA supplements daily.”
