Carbs aren't the problem, your environment is

Like fats, carbohydrates have been unfairly demonised.

Carbs aren't inherently bad.

Their impact depends on seasonality, local availability, sunlight exposure, and movement.

Traditional cultures ate carbs, in alignment with their environment, and thrived.

Today, we eat them indiscriminately, and it's wrecking metabolic health.

Carbs in traditional diet: Context matters

Different cultures have consumed varying amounts of carbohydrates for centuries, but what mattered wasn't just how much they ate, it was when and how.

• Pacific Islanders consumed fruit and tubers year round, but they lived in high UV environments, stayed highly active, and had robust metabolic flexibility.
• Northern Europeans consumed grains and dairy, but only seasonally and locally, adapting to long winters with lower carbohydrate intake.
• Inuit tribes had little to no carbs. Their environment, long, dark winters with minimal plant foods, dictated a high-fat, animal-based diet for survival.

Regardless of macronutrient ratios, these cultures remained free from metabolic disease.

Why?

• They ate whole, unprocessed food: Nothing refined, industrialised, or out of sync with their seasons.
• Their lifestyle supported their diet: They moved constantly and had high sun exposure.
• There was no year-round abundance: Food availability changed with the seasons, and so did their metabolism.

The problem: We're eating for winter year round

In his book, 'Don't Eat for Winter', Cian Foley tells us "We eat like it's winter all year long, high-carb, high-fat, ultra-processed, and completely disconnected from nature's cues."

This has lead us to a metabolic mismatch:

• We eat high-carb diets but stay indoors under artificial light, disrupting our ability to process them efficiently.
• We consume food that isn't seasonal or local, removing natural metabolic cycles.
• We pair carbs with inactivity, leading to insulin resistance, fat gain, and metabolic dysfunction.

Carbs aren't the problem.

Eating them disconnected from seasonality, local availability, sunlight exposure, and movement is.

Why sunlight increases carbohydrate tolerance

Sunlight improves insulin sensitivity, glucose metabolism, and mitochondrial efficiency, helping your body process carbs more effectively.

• Activates the POMC-leptin-melanocortin pathway, that flip the switch in your body to burn fat more efficiently and respond better to insulin.
• Releases Nitric oxide, which increases glucose uptake in muscles and reduces fat storage.
• High UV exposure upregulates genes for glucose metabolism, making carbs easier to process in summer.
• Mitochondrial efficiency improves with sunlight, allowing for better glucose usage and lower oxidative stress.

In short, if you get plenty of sunlight, your body can tolerate more carbohydrates (whole).

If you're in a low-light environment e.g., winter, northern latitudes, or indoors all day, your tolerance decreases, and a lower-carb, higher-fat diet may be more suitable.

How to eat carbs in sync with your environment

• Align carb intake with your sunlight exposure: If you're in a high-UV environment, your body is primed to handle more carbohydrates. In darker seasons, focus more on protein and fat.
• Eat seasonally and locally: Summer fruits in the summer, root vegetables in colder months. Let nature dictate your intake.
• Pair carbs with movement: Don't consume high-carb meals if you're sedentary. Use movement to enhance glucose uptake and metabolic flexibility but not as a punishment.

It should be said, if you have metabolic syndrome issues cutting carbs can be useful tool until it has been fixed.

You will thrive when you're connected to nature, not fighting against it.

Carbs are not the enemy, modern environments are.

Eat them in sync with light, seasonality, and movement.