Table of Contents
Glucose fuels every cell in your body, and it all starts with plants. Biochemist Jessie Inchauspé unpacks the biology of carbs and how to eat them smart.
Key Takeaways
- Plants don’t grow from soil—they build themselves from air and sunlight through photosynthesis.
- Glucose is the foundational molecule of life, created by plants and used by every living creature.
- Carbohydrates include starch, fiber, glucose, and fructose—each with different effects on the body.
- Humans crave carbs because we evolved to seek glucose-rich foods for survival.
- Today’s processed foods hijack that craving with dangerous glucose surges and addictive design.
- Fiber is technically a carb, but it doesn’t raise glucose and plays a protective role.
- Glucose spikes contribute to major health issues, including type 2 diabetes, fatigue, and inflammation.
- Smart eating strategies—like savory breakfasts and pairing carbs with fat/protein—can balance blood sugar.
- Physical activity post-meal helps the body utilize glucose efficiently, reducing harmful spikes.
Photosynthesis: The Invisible Power Behind Every Carbohydrate
- Jessie compares photosynthesis to humans sunbathing and spontaneously creating soup in their stomachs—an elegant metaphor for how effortless energy creation is for plants.
- The breakthrough began with Van Helmont's 5-year "willow experiment", where he proved plants don’t grow from soil. Despite a willow tree gaining 164 lbs, the soil weight stayed the same.
- This proved that plants build themselves from carbon in the air and water—not dirt.
- Using sunlight as energy, plants convert carbon dioxide and water into glucose—a tiny but powerful molecule.
- This glucose forms the structural and energy backbone of the plant, created through what we now call the Calvin-Benson-Bassham cycle, a Nobel Prize-winning discovery.
Plants aren’t just passive greenery. They're biochemical factories, constantly manufacturing the molecules that fuel the entire food web—including us.
What Happens to Glucose Inside Plants
- Once glucose is made, plants use it in three major ways:
- Starch: Glucose molecules are chained together and stored for energy, especially in roots and seeds (like carrots, potatoes).
- Fiber: This is how plants stand upright. Without fiber, they’d literally collapse. Fiber gives structure and resilience.
- Fructose: A sweet form of glucose stored in fruit to lure animals, who eat the fruit and scatter the seeds—nature’s marketing strategy.
- Glucose is incredibly small—half a million molecules could fit into the period at the end of this sentence. Yet its impact is massive.
How Humans Tap Into This Glucose Power
- We can’t photosynthesize, but we do rely on the glucose plants produce. That’s the entire point of eating carbs.
- Carbohydrates—starch, sugar, fiber—all break down (except fiber) into glucose during digestion, becoming fuel for every cell.
- Even if we don’t eat carbs, our body will synthesize glucose from protein through a process called gluconeogenesis, underlining how essential it is.
- Scientifically, fiber is still a carbohydrate, even though it doesn’t get converted into glucose or raise blood sugar.
Carbs are not a modern invention—they’re a biological necessity, but how we consume them has changed radically.
Our Deep Biological Craving for Glucose
- Humans are hardwired to seek out glucose-rich foods. This craving helped our ancestors survive in environments where food was scarce and energy was precious.
- But today, we’re surrounded by ultra-processed foods that deliver glucose in exaggerated, damaging amounts.
- Jessie warns: “A candy bar is not the same as an ancestral apple.”
- Overconsumption of glucose can lead to:
- Type 2 diabetes
- Chronic fatigue
- Mood swings and cravings
- Inflammation
- Premature aging
- Mental health issues
- The problem isn’t glucose itself—it’s that the delivery system has been corrupted by modern food manufacturing.
The Addictive Design of Modern Carbs
- Food companies intentionally engineer snacks and processed foods to be hyper-palatable and addictive.
- These products flood your bloodstream with glucose faster than your body can handle, triggering energy crashes and hunger rebounds.
- Jessie’s insight: “It’s not your fault you crave sugar. Your body is doing exactly what evolution trained it to do.”
- But we can outsmart the system—not by resisting carbs, but by eating them in a smarter, more natural way.
10 Glucose Hacks That Make Carbs Work for You
- Jessie has distilled years of biochemistry and clinical research into 10 practical “glucose hacks” to reduce blood sugar spikes.
Some key highlights include:
- Eat a savory breakfast. Starting your day with protein and fat keeps glucose levels stable and prevents a rollercoaster day.
- “Clothe your carbs.” Always pair starches or sugars with fiber, protein, or fat to slow absorption.
- In nature, carbs almost always come with fiber—this principle mimics that.
- Example: Add avocado or eggs to toast, or nuts to fruit.
- Move after meals. A light walk or any physical activity helps your muscles soak up glucose, reducing blood sugar spikes.
- Avoid eating naked carbs. That means: no lone white bread, plain pasta, or juice-only snacks.
- She also offers a plant-based supplement—“Anti-Spike Formula”—shown to reduce glucose spikes by up to 40%, backed by over 25 clinical trials.
It’s not about giving up carbs. It’s about reclaiming them as part of a healthy biological rhythm. Jessie’s hacks are designed to work with your body, not against it.
Why This Matters More Than Ever
- The modern food landscape is dramatically different from the environments our bodies evolved to thrive in.
- Jessie’s goal is to equip you with tools, not rules—to enjoy bread, pasta, and dessert without the metabolic backlash.
- Her approach is both scientific and deeply compassionate: understand your biology, then feed it wisely.
The biology of carbs isn’t just chemistry—it’s a story of plants, energy, and survival. When you learn the language of glucose, you gain back control over your health.
