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Become your own authority in health.

Three kinds of reads from Jonathan Carp, MD — Lessons for the deep why on blood sugar, fiber, and protein; quick Notes with one idea each; and Recipes built on a base that keeps you full and satisfied. No hype, no hard sell. Just how it works.

\ Guide · Konjac Basics What Are Shirataki Noodles Made Of? \ Shirataki noodles are made of water and konjac flour, with a little citric acid in the packing water. Why they have 5 calories a serving, what glucomannan does, and whether they are the same as konjac or yam noodles. From Jonathan Carp, MD.\ Oct 2026 · Jonathan Carp, MD](/content/blogs/learn/what-are-shirataki-noodles-made-of/index.html)

\ \ Protein Egg white protein, made simple 4 min read](/content/blogs/learn/egg-white-protein/index.html) \ \ Your Gut Feed the natural bacteria in your gut 5 min read](/content/blogs/learn/meet-glucomannan/index.html) \ \ Your Gut What konjac actually is 4 min read](/content/blogs/learn/what-konjac-is/index.html)

Dr. Carp's Classes

\ Mind-Body Your biological birthright: 5 abilities you were born with \ Interoception, breath, imagery, expectation and neuroplasticity are five ways to take part in your own biology. Most of us were never taught to use them. From Jonathan Carp, MD.\ 9 min read · Jonathan Carp, MD](/content/blogs/learn/your-biological-birthright/index.html) \ Protein Protein and fasting: why protein alone isn't enough \ Protein tells your body to build, but a body that only builds never gets to clean up. Here's the build-and-repair rhythm, mTOR and AMPK, told through a VIP nightclub, and how to set it up at your own table. From Jonathan Carp, MD.\ 9 min read · Jonathan Carp, MD](/content/blogs/learn/protein-and-fasting-rhythm/index.html) \ Daily rhythm The perfect metabolic day: a daily routine for metabolic health \ Your body isn't the same at 8 a.m. and 8 p.m. Here's how light, cortisol, muscle, meals, and screens change the rules hour by hour, and how to build a day around them. From Jonathan Carp, MD.\ 9 min read · Jonathan Carp, MD](/content/blogs/learn/perfect-metabolic-day/index.html) \ Muscle Why muscle is your most underrated metabolic organ \ Muscle does far more than move you. It's the biggest furnace for the sugar from your meals and a messenger to the rest of your body. Here's why using it puts up a do-not-demolish sign, and how to start with two sessions a week. From Jonathan Carp, MD.\ 9 min read · Jonathan Carp, MD](/content/blogs/learn/muscle-metabolic-organ/index.html) \ GLP-1 How to increase GLP-1 naturally: the doorbell in your gut \ Your gut already knows how to send the GLP-1 message. Here's what quietly blocks it, and the everyday levers, from protein first to morning light, that help it ring again. From Jonathan Carp, MD.\ 9 min read · Jonathan Carp, MD](/content/blogs/learn/increase-glp-1-naturally/index.html) \ GLP-1 How GLP-1 works in the body, and what it teaches us \ One small message from your gut coordinates your pancreas, liver, stomach, and brain after every meal. Follow it, and you learn how the whole body decides when you're hungry, when you're full, and what to do with fuel. From Jonathan Carp, MD.\ 9 min read · Jonathan Carp, MD](/content/blogs/learn/how-glp-1-works-in-the-body/index.html) \ Gut health The gut-skin axis: what your skin is trying to tell you \ Your gut and your skin are in constant conversation, so your skin ends up reporting on what's happening inside. A dermatologist's guide to reading the report card. From Jonathan Carp, MD.\ 9 min read · Jonathan Carp, MD](/content/blogs/learn/gut-skin-axis/index.html) \ Gut health The gut barrier: how butyrate keeps your gut's velvet rope up \ Your gut barrier is one cell thick, and it runs on butyrate, a currency the bacteria in your gut make from fiber. Here's how the velvet rope stays up. From Jonathan Carp, MD.\ 9 min read · Jonathan Carp, MD](/content/blogs/learn/gut-barrier-butyrate/index.html) \ GLP-1 GLP-1 facts: ten things I want every patient to know \ GLP-1 isn't a drug. It's a message your gut already sends, and the medications turn up its volume. Here are the ten facts I teach so the quiet they create gets used well. From Jonathan Carp, MD.\ 9 min read · Jonathan Carp, MD](/content/blogs/learn/glp-1-facts/index.html) \ Rest What is GABA? Your brain's natural brake pedal \ Your nervous system has a gas pedal and a brake pedal, and most of us never touch the brake. Here's what GABA is, what wears it down, how the natural bacteria in your gut and your own breath connect to it, and a simple day built around pressing it. From Jonathan Carp, MD.\ 9 min read · Jonathan Carp, MD](/content/blogs/learn/gaba-your-brains-brake-pedal/index.html) \ Stress Fight or flight response: when the lion isn't real \ Your body runs the same alarm for a lion and a late bus. Here's what my teacher Dr. Gerald Epstein called the false emergency state, why it feels so real, and the five-step check he taught for stepping out of it. From Jonathan Carp, MD.\ 9 min read · Jonathan Carp, MD](/content/blogs/learn/fight-or-flight-the-lion-isnt-real/index.html) \ Metabolism Do calories matter? Why weight is more than a bank account \ Calories set the direction, but four layers of biology decide how the math actually plays out: the thermic effect of food, satiety signaling, body composition, and metabolic adaptation. From Jonathan Carp, MD.\ 9 min read · Jonathan Carp, MD](/content/blogs/learn/do-calories-matter/index.html) \ Inflammation Chronic inflammation: the quiet fire behind so much of your health \ Acute inflammation heals a sprained ankle and then packs up. Chronic inflammation is the same system that never goes home. Here's what keeps it lit, where it does its damage, and the everyday levers that turn it down. From Jonathan Carp, MD.\ 9 min read · Jonathan Carp, MD](/content/blogs/learn/chronic-inflammation-explained/index.html) \ Lab Tests The 7 blood tests everyone should know about \ A lab's "normal" range tells you whether you've crossed into a diagnosis, not whether you're thriving. Here are the seven blood tests I think everyone should know by name, what each number tells you, and how to bring them to your own doctor. From Jonathan Carp, MD.\ 9 min read · Jonathan Carp, MD](/content/blogs/learn/blood-tests-everyone-should-know/index.html) \ GLP-1 After stopping a GLP-1 medication: when the cast comes off \ When a GLP-1 medication stops, hunger can come back louder than before. That's biology, not a willpower failure. Here's why the signals return, and the routines to build while the cast is still on. From Jonathan Carp, MD.\ 9 min read · Jonathan Carp, MD](/content/blogs/learn/after-stopping-glp-1/index.html)

Blood Sugar

The blood-sugar lesson →

\ Blood Sugar The 3pm crash, explained \ The slump isn’t about willpower — it’s the comedown from a spike you can avoid. Here’s the meal that keeps the afternoon level.\ 5 min read · Jonathan Carp, MD](/content/blogs/learn/the-3pm-crash/index.html)

Blood Sugar

Glycation, explained: what steady blood sugar does for you

When blood sugar runs high, sugar binds the protein in your collagen. Keeping it steady is one of the simplest ways to protect it.

6 min read · Jonathan Carp, MDComing soon

\ Blood Sugar Protein first: one simple rule for steadier days \ Eat your protein before your carbs and the same meal lands softer, because protein slows digestion. A one-sentence habit with an outsized effect.\ 3 min read · Jonathan Carp, MD](/content/blogs/learn/egg-white-protein/index.html)

Your Gut & Fiber

Start with konjac →

\ Your Gut Soluble vs insoluble fiber: a two-bucket guide \ Two kinds of fiber, two different jobs — and one of them is food for the natural bacteria in your gut. The simplest way to tell them apart.\ 5 min read · Jonathan Carp, MD](/content/blogs/learn/soluble-vs-insoluble-fiber/index.html) \ Your Gut Prebiotic, probiotic, postbiotic — the order that matters \ The food, the bacteria, and what they make. Get the sequence right and your whole system runs a little smoother.\ 5 min read · Jonathan Carp, MD](/content/blogs/learn/prebiotic-vs-probiotic/index.html) \ Your Gut A happy gut runs the whole show \ When the bacteria in your gut are well-fed, everything downstream — energy, fullness, comfort — tends to run smoother. Here’s the why.\ 4 min read · Jonathan Carp, MD](/content/blogs/learn/propionate-satiety/index.html)

From the founder

Participate in your own health.

I don’t want you to depend on me. I want you to understand the mechanism — why a steady blood sugar matters, what soluble fiber does for the bacteria in your gut — so you can make your own decisions. That’s the whole point of these notes.

Jonathan Carp, MD · Founder & curator · since 2006

Shop the noodles→ Read the doctor’s notes

Eating Lighter

Start here →

\ Eating Lighter Eating less these days? Make every bite count \ When you’re eating less, the quality of each bite matters more. Build the plate around clean protein and gentle fiber, and a small meal still satisfies.\ 4 min read · Jonathan Carp, MD](/content/blogs/learn/egg-white-protein/index.html) \ Eating Lighter Give props to propionate: your gut’s own satiety signal \ Feed the right fiber and the bacteria in your gut make a short-chain fat that supports your body’s own fullness signaling. The natural pathway, explained.\ 6 min read · Jonathan Carp, MD](/content/blogs/learn/propionate-satiety/index.html)

Eating Lighter

Why fullness isn’t willpower — it’s a system

Satiety isn’t a battle you white-knuckle. It’s protein, fiber, and a steady blood sugar working together. Set the system and the cravings quiet down.

5 min read · Jonathan Carp, MDComing soon

Notes from Jonathan Carp, MD

Short reads — one idea each, a couple of minutes, structure-function plain. The quick companions to the longer lessons above.

Recipes

All 116 recipes →

\ Egg White Spaghetti · 10 min Egg White Spaghetti Pomodoro](/content/blogs/recipes/miracle-noodle-fettuccine-with-tomato-sauce/index.html) \ Konjac Spaghetti · 12 min Cherry Tomato & Basil Shirataki](/content/blogs/recipes/pancetta-burst-tomatoes-w-low-carb-pasta/index.html) \ Konjac Rice · 15 min Miracle Fried Rice with Shrimp](/content/blogs/recipes/fried-rice/index.html) \ Spinach Angel Hair · 10 min Egg White Vermicelli Stir Fry](/content/blogs/recipes/miracle-noodle-egg-white-vermicelli-stir-fry/index.html) \ Konjac Fettuccine · 12 min Light Fettuccine Alfredo](/content/blogs/recipes/creamy-shrimp-alfredo/index.html) \ Konjac Vermicelli · 10 min Vermicelli Garden Bowl](/content/blogs/recipes/10-minute-thai-veggie-noodle-bowl/index.html)

From the doctor, to your inbox

Knowledge that won’t smell like marketing.

Mechanism-first notes on blood sugar, fiber, and eating steady — no hype, no noise. A few minutes, a few times a month, from Jonathan Carp, MD.

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