One cup of rice.

I ate it three separate times this week.

Each time I strapped on my glucose monitor, sat down at my kitchen counter, and finished the bowl. Then I changed one thing. Once I sat on the couch. Once I stood at the counter. And once I walked around the block.

A study presented at the European Association for the Study of Diabetes meeting in Milan this month tracked nearly 90,000 adults and found that a sugar in red meat was tied to a 63% higher risk of type 2 diabetes. The research is early and can't prove causation.

But it's one more reason to pay attention to what happens to your blood sugar after you eat.

So here's the question.

The rice was the same every time. Sitting, standing, or walking afterward. Which one gave me the smallest blood sugar rise?

Walking won.

Sitting raised my blood sugar 80 points.

Walking after the same bowl brought the rise down to 45… 35 fewer points from a meal that never changed.

And standing?

My blood sugar rose 74 points. Only 6 points less than sitting.

I expected more. A 2023 study in Nutrients gave ten men a bowl of rice, then had them stand for two hours. Their blood sugar looked no different from when they sat.

Here's why walking is different. When your legs move, the muscles contract and pull sugar straight from your blood for fuel. They do this through a pathway that doesn't need insulin.

Standing activates a few postural muscles, but the effort is too small to clear much sugar.

In other words, your legs need to move, not just hold still.

The evidence for standing alone is thin.

But the evidence for walking is clear, in study after study.

This is one person's experiment, not medical advice. Everyone's body responds differently.

If you've been sitting after meals, try ten minutes of walking.

Doesn't have to be fast. My pace is a stroll.

If standing is all you can manage… it's better than sitting. But not by much.

Stay steady