“I’m a human guinea pig myself,” he told me. “I like to see what happens to my body and how I feel.”
This time, he wanted to consume nothing but Dunkin’ Donuts a la carte all day while monitoring his blood sugar response. Think of sandwiches, wraps, donuts, bacon snacks and coffee. I jumped in to bring a female perspective to the metabolic madness. Equipped with continuous glucose monitors (CGM) and a food logging app, we wanted to see if resistance training, walks, and apple cider vinegar could ease the damage, or if the glucose roller coaster would run the show.
What the numbers showed
I aimed for about 2,000 calories and 100 grams of protein. However, it proved to be a challenge at a chain where donuts and croissants predominate on the menu. My actual log came to just under 2,400 calories: about 94 grams of protein, 202 grams of carbs, and 129 grams of fat. Joey grew bigger in every way, consuming 4,500 calories with a much higher protein goal. He has a lot more muscle mass than I do, so his target made perfect sense.
My blood sugar started out steadying at my baseline of 85 mg/dL, but quickly turned into a Six Flags roller coaster ride that never seemed to end. By the time of the challenge I had already been wearing the CGM for 10 days, so I knew my normal patterns well. I was at 95-98 at most meals, and almost never at 100 unless dessert was involved. Still, every Dunkin’ meal put me in the triple figures.
Thurman’s levels were slightly different, but equally revealing. His glucose was in the triple digits for most of the day, even reaching 160 mg/dL at one point.
The spikes were just one thing: it was the relentless frequency. To reach our protein goal, Joey and I had to eat five times a day, about every three hours. This created a metabolic nightmare where we triggered another insulin response before our glucose could even return to the baseline from the previous meal. Our pancreases were working overtime, pumping out insulin to deal with the waves of refined carbs, never getting a break to really allow our blood sugar levels to stabilize. Be sure to check out his video of him logging all day! He even added a follow-up day the day before to see how Dunkin Donuts would affect his blood sugar levels without any activity involved.
Why bio-individuality matters
The differences between us were interesting and probably rooted in bio-individuality. My blood sugar never spiked to extreme levels, but lingered longer after meals. Thurman explained that this may have been due to the high fat content. “These are higher fat meals, which slow gastric emptying,” he noted when I described my slow glucose clearance.
But the most fascinating difference emerged overnight. My data held steady in the 80s mg/dL. Joey’s, on the other hand, had a sharp drop to 73 mg/dl at 3:15 a.m., which was a lot lower for him than at any time during the day, followed by a rebound spike to 140 mg/dl. All probably a liver glucose dump that coincided exactly with waking up.
“I dropped to 73 [mg/dL] at 3:15 a.m. and then at 3:45 a.m. it rose to 140 [mg/dL]Joey said as he checked his sleep data. ‘I woke up at 3.48am. Exactly the same time. That coincides immediately.” For athletes and lifters who often struggle with sleep quality, that kind of glucose fluctuation is a reminder of how food choices and meal timing can lead to recovery.
Calories vs. hunger
What struck us both was the hunger. Despite consuming 4,500 calories, Thurman was hungry. “The hunger was really interesting,” he reflected. “I felt fuller than any other day, on half the calories.”
I felt the same way, and we were both “hangry” all day.
The culprit, he explained, was likely the lack of fiber on the Dunkin’ menu. On Dunkin’ day, Joey consumed just 11 grams of fiber, while his average is at least six times that amount. Although fat slows stomach emptying, it does not produce the same satiety signals as high-fiber foods. We ate constantly, but never felt truly satisfied.
How exercise affected blood sugar levels
From a training perspective, the results were mixed. Thurman enjoyed the pump that comes with carb loading. He kept his training simple and accessible. He did three work sets, each consisting of back squats, bench press, and cable rows, for a total of about 12-15 compound movement sets. “My training was great. I mean, I’m always vascular, but I was all pumped up, ready to go,” he said.
My experience was different. I tackled a lower body HIIT circuit. I could still lift, but my legs felt heavy, and the energy fluctuations made it difficult to stay focused. By dinner, the bacon-and-doughnut combinations produced what felt like a pharmaceutical yo-yo of energy and brain fog.
Thurman’s workouts and after-meal walks made a dramatic difference, he recalled. In addition to resistance training, he also completed more than 14,000 steps that day. “It stayed pretty much steady the entire time from that walk a few hours beforehand,” he said. “Exercise makes the biggest difference, and a brisk walk is the quickest, easiest, and most effective hack.”
I also appreciate that his skeletal muscle acts like a glucose sponge, pulling sugar from his bloodstream through insulin-independent pathways.
The practical takeaways
So what should you take away from this metabolic rollercoaster ride?
Literally avoid it. A walk after meals is a simple but powerful tool. As Thurman put it, “Five to 10 minutes after a meal. Do it three times a day. That’s 30 minutes of exercise without ‘exercising.’ Sesame Street math,” he explained with a smile.
Protein helps, but it’s not a shield if it’s accompanied by a lot of fat and sugar. We both met our protein goals, but still felt malnourished and glucose spikes were still common.
Fiber remains the basis for satiety and stable energy. The significantly lower fiber content than what we were both used to left us hungry all day.
Timing is important. Eating too often before the glucose from the last meal would clear left our blood sugar levels high between meals.
The mental game
The psychological component turned out to be just as important as the physiological one. Thurman’s perspective on planned indulgence versus guilt-driven restriction was particularly illuminating: “If you have a day where you’re going crazy, be mentally prepared. You have to know yourself and your reactions. If you can’t have a cheat day without beating yourself up the next day, don’t.”
He advocates reformulating ‘cheat days’ as strategic refeeds around periods of high activity. “Structure it around a big training day, like leg day.”
The bottom line
You can’t beat donuts forever. Protein and exercise blunted glucose spikes, but fat, sugar and low fiber still hindered our focus, hunger and recovery.
The data confirmed what we both felt: exercise helps a lot, but it’s not a free pass. A simple walk after meals can do wonders, but it can’t completely offset the metabolic costs of eating like a toddler at a birthday party all day.
Most importantly, this experiment confirmed that sustainable health is about making informed choices and understanding the consequences. Sometimes that means strategically planned indulgence around activity. Sometimes it means walking away from the donut case altogether.
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