Bae Jong-ok shares vegetable-first breakfast habit

Actor Bae Jong-ok, 62, shared a habit of eating vegetables first on an empty stomach in the morning. In a recent YouTube video filmed during a Bangkok trip, Bae returned with a plate full of vegetables and said, 'In the morning, you should eat vegetables first.'

Actor Yoon Hyun-sook, who was seated with her, added, 'That way, there is no blood sugar spike either.' A blood sugar spike refers to blood glucose rising sharply within a short time after a meal and then dropping quickly. If that pattern repeats, insulin resistance can rise, along with the risks of obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular disease.

Breakfast can bring a larger blood sugar change because it is the first meal after fasting overnight. Experts say eating vegetables first in the morning can help blood sugar management, because dietary fiber in vegetables slows carbohydrate absorption and lets glucose enter the bloodstream more gradually.

A 2023 study by the Graduate School of Medicine, Kyoto University reported similar findings. When vegetables were eaten before carbohydrates, post-meal blood sugar and insulin levels were clearly lower at the measured points after eating. The researchers said, 'Even when a meal is eaten quickly, eating vegetables first and carbohydrates later helps improve post-meal blood sugar and insulin concentrations.'

The effect grows when vegetables are paired with protein foods. Experts say protein foods such as eggs, tofu, fish and chicken breast slow gastric emptying and help maintain fullness longer, helping blood sugar rise more gradually after a meal.

Waseda University researchers also reported results supporting this point. In their study, blood sugar 3 hours after a high-protein breakfast was significantly lower than after a regular breakfast. Blood sugar after lunch was also lower than after dinner or across the full day, while the researchers added, 'When lunch was skipped, this effect did not appear clearly.'