The Unexpected Power of Starting Meals with Vegetables

How Starting your meal with Vegetables Supports Gut Health, Balanced Blood Sugar & Radiant Skin

Starting A Meal With Vegetables Supports Gut Health, Balanced Blood Sugar & Radiant Skin

What if the secret to feeling fuller longer, better digestion, (easier, quicker weight loss), and naturally glowing skin was as simple as changing the order of your food?

A study by the Technical University of Lisbon about Nutritional Quality and Health Benefits of Vegetables showed that starting meals with vegetables can improve blood sugar control, reduce cravings, and help the body absorb more beauty-boosting nutrients—all while supporting long-term health.

It’s a simple, science-backed eating habit that could completely transform how you feel inside and out.

Here are some benefits that the University of Lisbon found out

The Unexpected Power of Starting Meals with Vegetables

1. Feel Fuller, Faster

Many vegetables are packed with fibre, which naturally fills the stomach and slows down digestion. By eating vegetables first, the body has a chance to register fullness, making it less likely to overeat or reach for processed carbs later on. Even some studies have shown this simple habit can support long-term weight management without restrictive dieting. You can still be eating the same things just with a different order. This small change can lead us for being full for a couple more hours and to try to prevent the snacking during the day of unnecessary things.

2. Stabilise Blood Sugar

If someone feels the 3 pm slump or battles post-meal bloat, this one’s for them. Dian Eka Widyasari, a scientific researcher found that: eating veggies before carbs helps to regulate blood sugar levels, preventing dramatic spikes and crashes. Also known as glucose spikes. What does this mean? This will lead us to have a more sustained energy, to have fewer cravings during the day, and a metabolism that works with the individual, not against them. Helping us feel better, with more energy everyday.

3. Maximise Nutrient Absorption

Even consuming the same food but just a different order could lead to better absorption of nutrients. Leafy greens, crunchy cruciferous veggies, and colourful plant foods are rich in skin-loving nutrients—vitamins like A, C, and E, and minerals like zinc and magnesium. By simply prioritising veggies, you ensure your body absorbs these beauty-boosting nutrients first, giving your complexion a head start on radiance.

4. Have Better Skin By Calming Inflammation

A happy gut equals happy skin. Starting with fibrous veggies feeds the good bacteria in your gut, this leads to helping to balance digestion and reduce inflammation inside and out.—a key contributor to skin issues like acne, redness, and premature aging. Most importantly, veggies also encourage regularity, which means fewer toxins building up internally

Here you can check out some foods that might be secretly sabotaging your skin.

The Unexpected Power of Starting Meals with Vegetables

5. Hormonal Balance

Another very important factor for women to lose weight and feel emotionally strong is stable blood sugar and a healthy gut microbiome, they are both crucial for balanced hormones.

That means fewer PMS flare-ups, fuzziness or irregular mood swings. Balanced hormones leads to a better mood and better sleep—all thanks to those first few forkfuls of greens. It’s your self-care routine, starting on your plate.

It is very important to note that a variation in veggies is very important. Try to “eat the rainbow” and have one color of every vegetable throughout the week. Doing this will lead to a healthy, balanced diet what will keep you feeling amazing, inside and out.

Keep in mind

A simple change of eating the same foods just in a different order will help us feel better during the day. Slow down during your lunch break and start you meal with some veggies, in a matter of time the benefits are going to start to appear.

Jimena Montemayor

Jimena with a Bachelor’s degree in nutritional science, specialising in genetics and longevity, she knows how food truly fuels the body and how to maximize its benefits. Currently living in Sydney, you’ll find her soaking up the sun at the beach, staying active, or jet-setting to her next adventure.

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