Should You Cut Carbs This Winter?

A woman in my Blueprint program sent me a message last week that I haven't stopped thinking about.

She came into the program after years of carnivore, and a few weeks in, with carbs back on her plate, this is what she wrote:

And it's not just how she feels. She's had high blood pressure for years, including scary spikes that sent her to the ER, and with her doctor guiding it, she's been able to step down her medication. She is also losing weight and feeling so much better.

(Please don't change any medication on your own. That's always a conversation with your doctor.)

Years of carnivore, and now she's sleeping better and has the energy to play with her kids. If you've followed me for a while, you know why that one hits home for me. I did strict carnivore for two years myself, and it eventually backfired on me.

And then she asked the question I know a lot of you are asking right now: "Should I be lowering my carbs going into fall and winter? I don't want to gain."

So let's talk about it, because the answer isn't a simple yes or no. (And stay tuned: I have a whole series on shifting into fall and winter coming soon!)

But first: my ebook CARBS: The Seasonal, Circadian and Quantum Biology of the Most Misunderstood Macronutrient is on sale this weekend! (click here for 40% off)​

It's not a low carb book and it's not a high carb book. It's the full seasonal carb lists for every season, the cellar rule for eating well in winter, how to adjust for where you live, a chapter on perimenopause and menopause, and a 16-week protocol for coming back from keto. Grab it here.

AND - my hair system is on VIP for the lowest price I've ever seen - Click here to grab the deal & click here for the FAQ document about the products​

What actually changes in fall and winter

The type of carb gets warmer. Fall is the transition. Fruit doesn't disappear, but it comes down and gets cooked more than raw: apples, pears, persimmons, quince, cranberries. Starch goes up: butternut and kabocha squash, sweet potatoes, parsnips, beets, carrots. Cook everything. Roast it, stew it, warm it up.

In winter, eat from the cellar. Before you eat a carb in January, ask yourself one question: would this have kept in a cellar? Potatoes, sweet potatoes, roots, hard squash, onions, cabbage, and dried beans did. Fresh mangoes and pineapple didn't. Citrus is the one fruit that's actually in season in winter, so oranges, mandarins, and grapefruit are a better option. Frozen summer berries are usually ok too, because freezing is just a modern root cellar & those are lower sugar (lower deuterium).

Cook and cool your starches. Cook potatoes or rice, then cool them in the fridge for 12 to 24 hours. Some of the starch turns into resistant starch, which feeds your gut bacteria and gives you a smaller blood sugar hit from the same food. Reheating doesn't undo it. Start with half a cup, because your gut needs time to adjust.

The timing matters as much as the food. Put your biggest carb at midday, outside if you can, when your light is strongest. If it's too cold or dark to get out, eat lunch near a window, under an incandescent bulb (I use my sauna space glow light), or in front of a red light panel. Then you can play with keeping a starchy carb at dinner.

Carbs in the evening help bring cortisol down and support sleep, which is why cutting them at night so often leads to 3am wake-ups.

And keep your eating inside the daylight part of your day (to the best of your ability). In one study, people ate identical meals on an 8am to 7pm schedule and on a noon to 11pm schedule. Same food, same calories. The earlier schedule lowered weight, insulin resistance, and triglycerides. The later one raised them.

Does this mean to eat dinner at 3pm? Not for most people! Some of my more advanced students begin shifting meals earlier this time of year - but if you are heavily depleted - just try to keep dinner about 3 hours away from bed.

Speaking of timing: Your carbs follow the light

Here's the thing. Your carb tolerance isn't a fixed trait & light does impact your metabolism.

In a human study out of Glen Jeffery's lab at UCL, people were exposed to red light for 15 minutes before a glucose drink, and their blood sugar rise over the next two hours dropped by 27.7 percent. Same glucose, same people.

Summer sun is loaded with red and near-infrared & tons of UV. In winter, you're getting weak sun and spending most of your day indoors under blue-heavy LEDs. So the same carbs land differently in January than they do in July.

But - slashing carbs hard in November piles stress on a body that's already getting less light, and for a lot of women that's exactly when the 3am wake-ups, the cravings, and the stalled weight loss show up. Low carb can also lower your active thyroid hormone, and I walk through that research in the book.

And if you've been low carb or carnivore for years like she was, don't jump straight to the seasonal lists. The book has a 16-week protocol for bringing carbs back, starting with one serving at midday, outside, and taking added fat out as the carbs come in. Expect a few pounds of water in the first couple of weeks. That's glycogen, not fat, and it's where most women panic and quit.

How to not gain this winter

This is the part where all nuance gets thrown out of the window online: The combination most likely to make you gain isn't just "carbs". It's an energy surplus overall, over and over.

So pick a lane at each meal. If you're adding a potato to dinner, skip the big pat of butter on top. The fat that comes with your steak, your eggs, or your salmon stays. The extra butter, cream, and oil you add on top is what you trade out.

Keep your protein steady at every meal, and keep lifting. Muscle is where glucose goes, and it's the most lasting thing you can do for your carb tolerance.

Get outside in the morning, even when it's gray. Light first, then food.

And watch your dashboard instead of the scale: your sleep, your energy, your cravings, your digestion, and how warm your hands and feet are. If those are good, you're on track.

It's very individual. A February in Atlanta and a February in Minneapolis are not the same month, and the book has a whole chapter on adjusting for where you live. But for most women, winter is a time to warm your carbs up and move them into the light, not cut them out.

If you want the full seasonal playbook, CARBS is on sale through this weekend! click here​

NEW ARTICLE - in case you missed it!

I’ve wanted to write this article with my friend Chris for a long time. He’s been a huge help to me in understanding my own patterns (and what steps to actually take to triple my ferritin and normalize my iron panel in the last 90 days). We also see a lot of the same clients.

Many of them are exhausted in a way sleep doesn’t fix. They’re cold, losing hair, and having trouble sleeping. Then they finally drag themselves in for bloodwork, and it comes back “normal.”

So now they’re holding two things that don’t fit together: how they feel, and a lab report (and usually a provider) telling them nothing’s wrong.

If this topic speaks to you, make sure you’re signed up for the free Ferritin Terrain Summit, happening this month. Chris is a featured speaker. [Click here to grab your free ticket.]​

The purpose of the article (and we will cover):

The purpose is simple: to show you what your body is actually doing with the iron it has, so your labs finally make sense. No one reading a page can tell you exactly what’s happening inside your body. But once you understand the system, you’ll know exactly what to look for.

Today we’ll cover:

• What iron really costs you every month (your iron bill)
• How much iron actually gets in, and what blocks it
• Where your iron goes when there isn’t enough
• What a normal blood count can and can’t see
• What low iron can feel like, symptom by symptom
• Why timing matters most in pregnancy

​Click here to read it now & please share with your friends or family members who might be interested.

Have a lovely rest of your day & please share these resources with your friends and family members!

Not medical advice. I'm a wellness educator, not your doctor.

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