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Why I struggled for more than a decade & what actually moved the needle for me (you'll want to share this)
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I "ate clean" for over a decade and got almost no results. Here’s what was actually wrong.
Hi Reader,
I've mentioned this in other newsletters before, but the amount of information at our fingertips now is ASTOUNDING (and I think sometimes it can do more harm than good).
Today I want to quickly go over a few common mistakes that I made, and that I see people making in my private practice that keeps them stuck! Hopefully this can give you some ideas and inspiration if you are in this boat.
Before we dive in - one quick note: Early Bird ($100) off for my Blueprint Live Coaching Program ends tonight (no extensions)! Click here to sign up & if you want to watch the free info session we did yesterday - click here.
AND - we extended lifetime access of MyCircadianApp (50%off) - through tonight as there were people confused about how to access the discount. Simply download the app & go to the stories to access the discount. Retail is $199 USD for lifetime access and we are currently offering 50% off through tonight - click here to get the deal!
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Why "Good" Advice Can Still Fail You
Here's the thing: Most of the health advice floating around out there isn't wrong exactly. Eat less processed food, move more, and get good sleep. These things matter & will help!
However - advice that's technically correct can still completely miss your body. And when it misses, people tend to blame themselves. "Why isn't this working for me?"
(trust me - I've been there)
Your body isn't a math equation
The eat less, move more framework treats the body like a bank account. Calories in, calories out.....Simple math. Except your body is not doing math, it is actually running a highly coordinated biological system where light, timing, stress, hormones, and your gut are all talking to each other constantly.
When one of those systems is off, your best efforts can feel like it is all effort with zero results.
Meal timing changes your insulin response. Significantly.
You could eat the exact same meal at 8am versus 8pm and your body will process it completely differently. Research consistently shows that insulin sensitivity follows a circadian rhythm, peaking in the morning and declining through the day.
A 2021 study in Cell Metabolism found that late eating caused higher glucose and insulin responses, suppressed fat oxidation, and altered hunger hormones in ways that weren't explained by calorie content alone.
So if someone is following intermittent fasting or eating late because "it fits their schedule," but their biology isn't primed for it, they may be stacking metabolic stress without knowing it.
(again - another mistake I made for years that "felt disciplined" but gave me little to no results).
Meal timing can also disrupt your gut.
Your gut microbiome has a circadian clock, and the bacteria that live in your gut actually oscillate in their activity patterns throughout the day based on feeding and fasting cues. When your meal timing is inconsistent or mistimed relative to your sleep/wake cycle, it disrupts that microbial rhythm.
What does that look like? Bloating. Slow motility. Symptoms that feel exactly like SIBO or leaky gut. Except what's actually happening is that the microbiome hasn't had consistent overnight fasting time to repair. Before anyone starts a gut protocol, the timing question needs to be answered first.
(me - guilty as charged again with this one!)
The light you're under all day & looking at (aka your phone) is impacting your blood sugar
This one doesn't get talked about enough.... If you're working under artificial blue-enriched light all day and then eating lunch in that environment, your mitochondria are not getting the signals they need to run efficiently.
Natural outdoor light contains the full spectrum including near-infrared, which directly supports cytochrome c oxidase in the mitochondrial electron transport chain.
Blue-only light without the balancing infrared frequencies increases mitochondrial stress and has been shown in research to increase insulin resistance. A 2019 study found that people exposed to blue light before and during the morning meal had higher insulin resistance compared to those exposed to amber light, even when diet was identical.
People who eat outdoors, get natural light through the day, or work near windows genuinely have better blood sugar regulation.
Disrupted circadian rhythms affect everything from fat cells to thyroid to autoimmunity
This is the part that makes my brain light up because it connects so many dots!
Fat cells have their own circadian clocks, and they regulate adipogenesis, lipolysis, and fat storage based on light and timing cues independent of caloric intake.
If circadian signaling is disrupted, fat cells can essentially get stuck in a storage-dominant state.
The thyroid is also deeply circadian, and TSH has a strong diurnal rhythm. When sleep timing is consistently shifted (social jet lag, shift work, even inconsistent wake times), thyroid output changes.
And the immune system? Circadian disruption creates a chronic low-grade inflammatory state that raises autoimmune risk. There's robust data on circadian gene mutations correlating with autoimmune conditions.
Your SCN (the brain's master clock) is coordinating immune cell trafficking, cytokine timing, and inflammatory response. Disrupt that clock and you disrupt immune regulation.
The metabolic threat state
One more thing I want to address because I see this constantly in the women who come to Blueprint.
If you've been undereating, skipping carbs for years, doing extended fasting, or living in a chronic calorie deficit, your body has likely shifted into a survival state.
When your body enters conservation mode: Leptin drops, Thyroid slows, Cortisol increases to compensate, and body gets extremely efficient at holding onto what it has.
In this state, eating "correctly" won't fix things because the body is operating under threat signaling. More restriction makes it worse. The first step is rebuilding metabolic trust, and that looks totally different from what most protocols recommend.
So what does this mean practically
This is exactly why I built Blueprint the way I did. Before anyone gets a nutrition protocol, we go through an intake process that actually asks the right questions. What does your light environment look like? What's your meal timing? What's your sleep and wake time? What does your stress history look like? Are you in a restriction pattern? What does your current diet look like? What are your actual goals?
Because if I hand you the same plan I hand everyone else without knowing these things, I'm doing the same thing mainstream medicine does to you: Treating you like a template instead of a dynamic human being.
I hope this helps & if you are looking for more personalized help - grab the early bird before it ends tonight - or click here to watch the free info session we did yesterday if you want to learn more!
xx Sarah
Studies to back all of this up in case you are skeptical (like I was) - hyperlinked for your convenience!
Caloric Restriction & Hormonal Adaptation Fothergill E, et al. "Persistent metabolic adaptation 6 years after 'The Biggest Loser' competition." Obesity. 2016. PMID: 27136388 Sumithran P, et al. "Long-term persistence of hormonal adaptations to weight loss."
Meal Timing, Insulin & Glucose Response Vujovic N, et al. "Late isocaloric eating increases hunger, decreases energy expenditure, and modifies metabolic pathways in adults with overweight and obesity."
Gut Microbiome Circadian Clock Thaiss CA, et al. "Transkingdom control of microbiota diurnal oscillations promotes metabolic homeostasis." Cell. 2014. PMID: 25417101 Thaiss CA, et al. "Microbiota diurnal rhythmicity programs host transcriptome oscillations."
Blue Light & Insulin Resistance Cheung IN, et al. "Morning and evening blue-enriched light exposure alters metabolic function in normal weight adults." PLOS ONE. 2016. PMID: 27870875 Versteeg RI, et al. "Acute effects of morning light on plasma glucose and triglycerides in healthy men and men with type 2 diabetes." Journal of Biological Rhythms. 2017. PMID: 28617187 Hamblin MR. "Mechanisms and applications of the anti-inflammatory effects of photobiomodulation." AIMS Biophysics. 2017. PMID: 28748217
Circadian Clocks: Fat Cells, Thyroid & Autoimmunity Shostak A, et al. "Circadian regulation of lipid mobilization in white adipose tissues." Diabetes. 2013. PMID: 23172919 Zvonic S, et al. "Characterization of peripheral circadian clocks in adipose tissues." Diabetes. 2006. PMID: 16567522 Roelfsema F, et al. "Pulsatile TSH secretion is independent of regular sleep time." JCEM. 2012. PMID: 22219166 Labrecque N, Cermakian N. "Circadian clocks in the immune system." Journal of Biological Rhythms. 2015. PMID: 25994085 Smolensky MH, et al. "Circadian disruption: New clinical perspective of disease pathology." Chronobiology International. 2016. PMID: 26771985
Metabolic Threat State: Leptin, T3 & Cortisol Rosenbaum M, Leibel RL. "Adaptive thermogenesis in humans." International Journal of Obesity. 2010. PMID: 21063587 Bosy-Westphal A, et al. "Effect of weight loss on resting energy expenditure and thyroid hormones." Obesity Facts. 2013. PMID: 23736032 Tomiyama AJ, et al. "Low calorie dieting increases cortisol." Psychosomatic Medicine. 2010. PMID: 20368473
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In Health🌞,
Sarah
