Three decades of research showing that astronauts develop subclinical diabetes-like changes in orbit: Decreased glucose tolerance, higher plasma glucose & insulin resistance.
Nobody blames the menu as these are some of the healthiest people (before taking flight) & their food is carefully measured and prepared.
(And for those of you who don't believe in Astronauts & space - yes I have had a number of people in my DMS this week with that sentiment - I addressed it in the new solo episode I just recorded: keep reading for the links)
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Researchers point mostly at microgravity and inactivity, but look critically at the rest of that environment: No sunrise - No natural light at all. No red, no infrared. No real day-night signal - AND Never touching the ground.
Now describe the average American's Tuesday....
Alarm in a dark room. Phone before sunlight. Drive to work. Overhead lights all day. Lunch inside. Home after dark. TV until 11. Shoes on every surface you walk on....
Most people are running a low-grade version of that same environment and then wondering why their blood sugar is creeping up & their metabolism feels like it isn't working any longer.
That's why "do carbs cause diabetes" is the wrong question.
What the research actually shows about context - with the studies to back it up:
For every hour later your daily light exposure above 500 lux occurred, BMI went up 1.28 points. Not what people ate - but when they saw light. (study)
After a shortened sleep, insulin sensitivity drops around 25% the next day. Same food, but worse handling. (study)
Your carbohydrate tolerance is not a fixed trait you either have or don't have. It moves with your light, your sleep, and your environment.
And a potato is not a potato chip - which carbs are we talking about?
The chip is fried in oxidized seed oil, stripped, dehydrated. The potato has more potassium than a banana with the skin on, plus B1 and B6, all of which your body needs to actually get that glucose into a cell. Same category on a macro tracker. Completely different information to your body. (watch my short video on this)
We've gotten so lazy about this topic that people say an apple is the same as a candy bar. It's absolutely not.....
Can you lose weight eating carbs? Yes, and they actually can protect your thyroid while you do it.
There's a study from 1976 where people ate 800 calories and the only variable was carbohydrate. Zero carbs dropped T3 by 47%, nearly as much as total starvation did. The same people eating just 50 grams of carbohydrate had no drop in T3 at all.
Same calories & same deficit: The carbs were the entire difference.
That matters because you need T3 to lose weight (It is foundational to your metabolic machinery) . Which is why so many women tell me the same thing: cutting carbs worked until it didn't.
The two mistakes almost everyone makes when adding carbs back:
They don't lower their fat. Carbs go up, fat stays put, they gain, they panic, and they decide carbs don't work for them. It's a lever, not an addition.
And they go from zero to a hundred. If you've been restricting a long time, the machinery is downregulated. This is so well established that clinical protocol requires eating at least 150 grams of carbohydrate a day for three days before a glucose tolerance test, or you get a false positive.
There are published case reports of low-carb dieters being told they're diabetic and then testing completely normal after three days of eating carbs.
That's why the ebook has a 16-week reintroduction protocol. Four phases, and the order matters more than the amount.
So no, carbs don't cause diabetes. Diabetes is an endpoint, and there's been dysfunction brewing for years before anyone gets there. Food is one input. Light, sleep, timing, and whether you ever touch the ground are the rest of it.
If this resonates - make sure to grab the CARBS ebook before July 30th to get the live Q&A with me:
IN CASE YOU MISSED THIS (Sorry to repeat myself, but I do feel it is important!) .......
Thank you to SO MANY of you who replied to Friday's email telling me you had called your senators - I am so grateful! If you have a moment today - share the article & information below with friends and family members - especially if you know anyone influential!
Let's keep the momentum going strong while we still have time to make an impact.
Your body clock is set by morning light. That first light in your eyes anchors your cortisol, your melatonin that night, your appetite hormones, your blood sugar, your mood. Take it away for months and everything drifts. This is the winter weight gain. The 3am wake-ups. The wired-at-night, wrecked-in-the-morning pattern. The seasonal mood crash so many of you write to me about every January.
Your body not getting a clean morning signal. And this bill makes it worse, on purpose, all winter.
And I am not the fringe voice here. The American Academy of Sleep Medicine and 20 medical organizations formally recommend permanent standard time, because it's the one that matches human biology. This bill does the exact opposite of what the sleep scientists asked for.
We also tried this in the 70's and it was quickly reversed! This is not new.
Here's the good news: it is not law yet. It's in the Senate, the Senate is genuinely split, and a version of this has stalled before. A wave of constituent calls can stop it. This is winnable.
I wrote the whole thing up. The full biology, who gets hit hardest, exactly what to say to your senators (a script you can use), and the phone number to call them in about two minutes. It's all in here:
Read it and make the call. The article walks you through it. Two minutes, one phone number, a script you can read word for word.
Then share that article with every person you know who feels winter hard & ask them to do the same. The friend up north. The one with teenagers. The one who goes quiet every January. Forward this email, text them the link, post it. Most people have no idea there was even a choice between two versions of this, or that their winter mornings are about to get an hour darker.
We finally have the whole country paying attention to light and time and the body. Let's make sure they get the direction right.
Warm Regards,
Sarah
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