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Sigma Nutrition Radio

#598: How Do Exercise & Diet Interact to Improve Glycaemic Control? – Jenna Gillen, PhD

Sigma Nutrition Radio

Danny Lennon

Health & Fitness, Nutrition

4.8 • 633 Ratings

🗓️ 17 March 2026

⏱️ 44 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

This episode examines how exercise and nutrition interact to influence glycaemic control, with particular focus on the postprandial period (i.e., the hours after eating) and on "time-efficient" exercise strategies such as low-volume interval training.

Dr. Jenna Gillen outlines the physiological basis for why muscle contraction can acutely reduce post-meal glucose excursions, why repeated sessions can accumulate into longer-term improvements in insulin sensitivity, and why the nutrition context (pre- and post-exercise feeding, carbohydrate availability, and energy balance) can meaningfully alter observed outcomes.

A key translational thread is that many clinically relevant improvements may come from small, feasible doses of activity; especially post-meal walking and brief "exercise snacks" used to interrupt sedentary time.

However, the discussion considers who these interventions matter for most (and least). Postprandial glucose rises are normal in healthy individuals, whereas reducing exaggerated excursions is most relevant for those with insulin resistance, prediabetes, or type 2 diabetes (T2D).

Dr. Jenna Gillen is an Assistant Professor of Exercise Physiology in the Faculty of Kinesiology & Physical Education at the University of Toronto. 

Timestamps

  • [02:42] Dr. Gillen's research focus
  • [04:11] Understanding glycemic control
  • [10:07] Fasted vs. fed state exercise
  • [11:10] Post-meal exercise benefits
  • [20:10] Low volume interval training
  • [26:27] Interval training and blood glucose
  • [31:29] Energy balance and insulin sensitivity
  • [36:32] Exercise and nutrition interactions
  • [40:11] Practical exercise recommendations
  • [43:56] Key ideas segment (Premium-only)

Links

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

Hello and welcome to Sigma Nutrition Radio. My name is Danny Lennon. You are very welcome to the podcast. We are at episode 598, rapidly closing in on the milestone that will be episode 600 in a couple of weeks. Also, to let you know that next week, we have a special episode all about unprocessed red meat with two special guests. So that's one to

0:23.8

mark down and hopefully you join me for that. But turning to today's episode, I'm going to be

0:28.5

talking with Dr. Jenna Gillen, who is an assistant professor of exercise physiology at the

0:34.3

University of Toronto. And her research focuses on carbohydrate and fat metabolism,

0:40.9

as well as exercise induced improvements in metabolic health and other areas that relate to

0:46.5

exercise metabolism, high intensity interval training, and then how nutritional strategies can

0:52.2

modify some of these exercise adaptations.

0:55.6

And so today we're going to be looking at a bit of her work as it relates to glycemia,

0:59.6

some of the interventions that she's put in place through exercise,

1:02.9

and how some nutritional aspects can impact those glycemic results.

1:09.4

If you're a Sigma Nutrition Premium subscriber, you will be getting a set

1:12.9

of detailed study notes to accompany this episode, as well as the key ideas segment afterwards.

1:18.3

For those are you listening on the free public feed of the podcast and want to get more out of your

1:22.4

podcast listening, then do consider checking out Sigma Nutrition Premium.

1:33.3

It's a subscription that supports this podcast, as well as giving you extra educational materials so you can retain more from your podcast listening.

1:37.0

So I'll link to all of that stuff in the description box wherever you're listening right now

1:42.3

or over on Sigma sigma nutrition.com.

1:44.9

We'll also be able to get a list of any relevant research papers we discussed in this episode

1:50.4

or other resources that are related. So check all of that stuff out in the description box or

1:56.3

like I said, directly over on sigma nutrition.com. So with that preamble out of the way, let's dive

2:03.3

into this week's conversation between myself and Dr. Jenna Gillum.

2:23.5

Dr. Jenna Gillum, thank you so much for joining me on the podcast today.

...

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