Why "getting healthy" feels so confusing (and what actually helps)

If you've ever gone down a rabbit hole trying to figure out the "optimal" way to become healthy, you know how quickly it turns into information overload.

One study says fasting is the key to longevity.

Another says you don’t really receive any significant benefits from fasting.

One expert swears by high-intensity training.

Another says it's doing more harm than good and you should be walking instead.

Seed oils are either fine or they're poison, depending on who you ask that week.

Don’t get me started on all the supplements you’re ‘supposed to’ be taking. Or nitric oxide. Or NAD+. Or Nicotine. Or peptides etc.

The list goes on and on. Many people have to keep delivering in their newsletters (present company included). Therefore they research every kind of health intervention on the market and pump out hundreds of things you can do for your health.

It's exhausting, and honestly, a lot of people just give up trying to sort through it all.

That’s why I try to keep my newsletters simple. I want to figure out what works and give you that. I’ve tried many supplements with our residents and most of them didn’t move the needle much at all.

Part of the problem is that nutrition and lifestyle science is genuinely hard to study well. Most of it relies on observational data, which can only show correlation, not causation.

Study populations differ.

Funding sources have agendas.

And headlines almost always oversimplify whatever nuance was actually in the research. So it's no surprise that two "evidence-based" experts can look at the same body of literature and walk away with opposite conclusions.

This weekend I had dinner at a Brazilian steakhouse with Dr. Philip Ovadia and Dr. Ben Bocchicchio, and this exact topic came up. Between the three of us, we probably have a combined few decades of experience or research and conversations, and we landed somewhere I found reassuring: you don't need to win the debate over every conflicting study to get meaningfully healthier. You just need to get the basics right first.

That means:

• Eating a genuinely good diet — real food, adequate protein, and little to no sugar or processed food

• Moving your body regularly, whether that's strength training, cardio, HIIT or just consistent activity

• Prioritizing real sleep, both quantity and quality

• Managing chronic stress, since it undermines almost everything else

• Getting outside and getting some sunlight regularly

None of this is controversial.

It's not trendy.

It doesn't require picking a side in some online nutrition war and

It doesn't depend on the newest study surviving replication.

It's just the foundation, and for most people, most of the time, it does the bulk of the work.

It’s just not profitable for the healthcare industry, so it’s downplayed.

Where it gets more personalized is after that. If you've genuinely nailed the basics and you're still not where you want to be, that's when it's worth bringing in more targeted therapies or interventions — but ideally with input from an actual health team rather than whatever influencer is loudest that week.

That could mean your regular doctor, maybe a functional medicine or naturopathic physician for a different lens, a personal trainer to dial in your training, or a nutritionist to fine-tune your diet based on your specific labs, goals, and history.

The honest truth is that most of us aren't even close to maxing out what the basics can do. So before chasing the latest protocol or supplement stack, it's worth asking whether you've actually given diet, exercise, sleep, stress, and sunlight a real shot first.

That's usually the highest-leverage place to start, and it's also the part of the equation that isn't up for scientific debate.