Moneyball: Personal Health
“I’d like to welcome everyone to the 2023 Health Influencer Draft”
“The voices that we have collected here today are the loudest of anyone. They have incredible stories. They have worked extremely hard. Some of them have completely transformed their lives and will promise the same for you, while others have performed rigorous education to be the technicians of the human body when we are sick or filled with disease. We have the voices of various different expertise and skillsets. What brought them here today is not the measure of how well they understand their successes and studies, but the magnitude of passion and volume that they speak with in our communities. Today their dreams are going to come true. Even greater. Every person in this world is going to walk home with a new leader in their health journey. A new voice that they will trust to lead them to greater health and a longer life more fulfilling life”
“With the #1 Draft Pick, You are on the clock”
Draft Night
“Sometimes your only available transportation is a leap of faith”
I am a very active participant in improving my own health. I, like every single person in the world, have lots of vested interest in staying healthy. While I sit on the fence on almost every debatable topic of discussion, with Health let my position be clear. Taking your health seriously is always the side I chose. However, like most of the world, I am not knee deep in medical literature on the best way to practice health for myself. The way to navigate this problem for myself and others is that we listen to voices of trust or reason on the topic. We have to decide who to trust as a consultant of our health. We are the manager, not the expert.
I like to compare this to an team on draft night. This is a topic everyone (in the midwest) takes great pride in. They spend countless hours creating mock drafts and evaluating players. They criticize their front offices on decisions and try to steer them one way or another through endless tweets on twitter. They spend all this time pretending they have control. Except only 30 people in this whole world actually own a team, and have the authority behind the decision of who should lead their franchise. The rest are just along for the ride. On the other hand everyone has a body and life to maintain. This is a draft that you are the general manager of.
Most of us, need our leader with regards to health. We are not medically savy. Therefore we need to draft a leader of our health franchise. Who are we going to trust with the chaos of information everywhere regarding health? Who is the person that is going to tell me if keto is safe, or if fasting is healthy, or if I should be lifting weights or running. One might say, get a doctor! That is great advice. Except, I would question anyone that has a doctor. Have you ever scheduled a $100 visit to talk about your exercise plan or possibly going on a Keto diet? Most people do not have a relationship with their doctor. Most people do not have a doctor. I would advise you to do those things, but I am realistic and therefore I definitely do not expect you to. Plan B: Find the right person in this chaos on social media, books, podcasts, barstools to listen to. We need a great partner. An accessible trusted voice to help us understand the most essential and foundations of our health.
Who are the options? We talked about doctors for a little bit. I’m not hearing all this stuff from doctors. Where are we hearing about a Keto Diet? Where are we hearing about ice baths and saunas? Where are we hearing about vitamins and supplements? Who tells us how to lose weight? Who tells us how to gain weight? Who are these voices? Where do they come from? Why are they so passionate about what they are saying?
Lets look at our prospects. I’ve done the dirty work organizing our health advocates below for everyone. These are the voices we here everyday. These are the characters that control the narrative of health around this country. For better or for worse be aware. They are everywhere.
Health Influencer Prospects
“If you stand for nothing you will fall for anything”
“The Fitness Influencer”
This is the person telling you cross-fit changed their life or is posting pictures of them bodybuilding on social media (people probably put me in this category). They are in incredible fitness shape. They are athletes. They look incredible on vacation. Everyone wants their aesthetic. Sometimes they are older, they look damn healthy for their age and they are still exercising like a maniac. Maybe they are on TRT or steriods. Due to the fact they can run 26 miles, lift 1000lbs and look amazing in a swimsuit they often have strong feelings on everything regarding health because they look like superman. Everyone wants to hear their story because who doesn’t want to be superman.
Favorite Soundbytes: “Eat your protein”. “Carbs are fuel”. “Macros are all that matter”. “Calories In vs Calories Out”. “Hit the gym every day” “I have not been to the doctor in years”
“The Natural Beauty”
Often clumped together with the fitness influencer. Similarly their aesthetic is off the charts as a result everyone wants their advice. Oddly enough they don’t even work out!! These people are chill. Not a stress in the world. If they do workout, maybe its just a walk or some yoga. Maybe they are meditating or spend lots of time reading. Often supplements and drugs are in the mix. Very focused on their emotional health. Everyone is asking them what they are doing to stay healthy. How do they look so great? How do I look like that?
Favorite Soundbytes: “I dont want to look like a body builder”, “CBD”, “Essential Oils” “Meditation” “Sleep” “Relax” “Breathe” “Organic” “Juicing” “Fasting” “Supplements”
“The Former Fatty”
This is the person that made huge changes in their life. The person that lost 80 lbs. Even the person that gained 20lbs of muscle/weight and needed it. They just made a remarkable change to their body. Now people tell them “You look amazing” “you look like a different person” “you look healthy”. They have a great story to tell about how they are a new person and people want to hear it. Who does not want to make this incredible transformation?! They found the recipe to weight loss/weight gain. They did it! They followed a diet/routine to the script and it actually worked.
Favorite Soundbytes: “I tried everything, this is what works” “I was fasting” “Im only eating potatoes”, “I went keto”, “I started juicing” “Stopped eating pizza” “Started working out”
“The Certified Healthcare Professional”
These are our doctors and nurses. Of course they know everything about the whole human body because they went to school. They studied the fundamentals of biology, chemistry and anatomy. These are the “professionals”. Even if they are overweight, never practice anything they preach or are only there to get paid. They are extremely smart. They know exactly what drug fixes blood pressure or how to regulate diabetes when it approaches. They understand it. Doctors can even perform surgery. A lot of these folks talk with lots of confidence on their advice, and of course people listen. Who else are we going to trust? Not only that, these folks are the ones we most often ask when we are curious and trying to find reputable information. Their word is always gospel because they learned through a textbook and passed a few tests and are the healthcare professional. These are the smartest people. They know all. Right?
Favorite Soundbytes: “What is your Blood Pressure” “What is your cholesterol?” “You can’t not eat carbs” “The recommended daily amount of protein is ##” “You dont need supplements” “Nothing wrong with sugar” “Red meat is bad” “You can’t prevent alzheimers or cancer”
“The Guy on the Barstool”
The guy on the barstool is the guy reading headlines and just passing information along. Maybe he watched a documentary while he was high about commercial farming. Maybe telling you the rundown on how the supplements industry is a hoax not regulated by the FDA. Possibly talking about how the healthcare industry is corrupt. They probably practice nothing that they say. They have heard it all on this podcast, some article or because they “did it one time”. They probably also believe that anyone skinny, healthy, attractive just has good genetics. They believe they are overweight and there is nothing to do about it. These guys and girls just love to talk. They’ve always got an answer or viewpoint on everything. So why not sell some health advice while drinking a budweiser.
Favorite Soundbytes: “We are all Fucked” “Alchohol isnt bad” “Sleep when you die” “Big Pharma” “Its a hoax” “Commercial Farming” “Capitalism” “Genetics” “My Metabolism is not good” “God made me this way”
Analyzing our Draft Board
“Practice makes perfect. So be careful what you practice”
Just like our professional athlete draft. Just because you are a great in college, does not mean you are going to be a big league star. They might have all the stats, all the accomplishments, but missing that one little thing might be the icing on the cake to failure. Analyzing a athlete prospect we go as far as measuring their hand size and dig deep into their family history. Some talking to their high school guidance counselors and teachers to gauge their There is so much on the line to make the correct decision we will proceed at the risk of overanalyzing. We should probably take the same approach for this decision.
These are the extremes or our candidates laid out above for our Health draft. Despite the sarcastic cynical tone of the writing, these people are not all wrong. Most importantly they are not all right. Nothing can be proven without context applied. It is important to remember every person here is just telling their story. People perceive these stories, aesthetics, and educations as voices of credibility. They look the part or have the professional stamp. I truly believe they all have the best intentions and are trying to help another person lose weight, get stronger, or feel better. They found what feels like the magic recipe for themselves and they want to help. They all have their sliver of perspective. As many of you have figured out there is no “one-size-fits all” for "Health. The human body is never ending complexity and diversity. Blanket statements do not work. It is not simple enough for only a nutritionist or a physical trainer to solve. These things 100% help, but more effort is still required to succeed as the #1 pick. Most of these people have not spent to the time or energy to investigate the whole complexity of Health. Most do not know how much they do not know. Most will fail in the big leagues.
Again, they are not all wrong. Many of them might be extremely healthy. A lot of them look healthy. They are just often not speaking from a complete Health perspective. The Fitness Influencer understands muscle and exercise. That is great if you are trying to optimize for a body building. This is misguided as Health. The Natural Beauty is skinny with great skin and seems to not age is often a product of great genetics not the causality of the supplements she is selling. She might do some great things, but her good fortune is not everyones.The Former Fatty serves no value to many other overweight individuals. All obesity cases are not equivalent. While the Certified Healthcare Professionals are super smart the Guys on the Barstools are not entirely wrong either. Healthcare is a business and its ran like one. Insurance companies, food industries and others control the narrative with regards to research. Hate to break it to you, not every doctor is an amazing doctor. These are the people that have the platform to speak on health. We consistently hear their voices right or wrong.
We all know this. Nothing here is news. I do not think anybody actually trusts the guy on instagram rambling about being vegan or being a carnivore. I do think people will follow him though. With a leap of faith. We do not understand it. We know something might be off. We are skeptical at first. But we need to draft someone. This guy is really loud. So lets give him a try.
We wish we had a better option. Somebody with less risk. In a baseball analogy. We want a 5 tool player. Somebody that can not only hit. A player that can run, hit, hit with power, field, and has great arm strength. We want somebody that can do it all. We want the prototype player. This is the #1 pick! We want somebody that understands all the elements of the game. These guys above are just missing the whole package. They have the looks without the smarts. They have the smarts without the looks. They have the smarts without the skepticism. They have the skepticism without the smarts.
Every guy on the board here does not look like a number #1 Draft Pick. It looks like we are settling. We have to draft somebody. This is everyones problem.
The Prototype
“Within you is the divine capacity to manifest and attract all you desire”
So maybe the guy on the barstool is right. Maybe this franchise is fucked. We are never going to get the perfect guy. I try to be a postive guy, in spirit, lets at least dream. In a world of misguided information, complexity, lack of perspective, conflicted interest, and capitalism, what is the prototype person that we should take health advice from. Lets think like a sports team owner. What does our #1 draft pick look like if we were to find them. Who would we trust to lead us on our continuous health journey. What is the prototype?
Requirements
Education: Is/Was a practicing doctor. It is greatly important they are technically educated
Appearance: Looks Healthy. Do they understand it if they do not look the part.
Anecdotal Experience: Understands the extent of the body 1st hand. Like an athlete. Not just a person that studies “healthy” a person that practices it. A person that lives it.
Understanding Adversity: He was once fat and “fixed” himself. Has gone to the depths of one of the biggest health problems people experience anecdotally but also in the literature.
Critical: Transparent about the standard medical industry and its flaws, but also its strengths.
Honest: Understands how capitalism is at play. How to navigate.
It Factor: Insanely dedicated and motivated to the things he does.
Peter Attia
“Strong Convictions Loosely Held”
(Walks into meeting bursting with energy) Peter Attia!!!!!
-What?
Theres this guy that is a former ultra-athlete and body-builder. He is actually great looking guy and believe it or not was a former fatty. He studied engineering before becoming a doctor. He practiced surgery then quit medicine out of frustration for the system as a whole. This lead him to his life as an outsider studying business and money during the financial collapse in 2008. He is an absolute passionate maniac about everything he puts his mind to. In his distance from healthcare he was able to take a fresh outlook on health. His energy got resurfaced with regards to his first passion. He runs a medical practice guided and targeted with his new objective. Unraveling all this bullshit in health and organizing it.
Peter Attia. He has devoted his life to this problem. He is a Stanford Medical Graduate. He practiced surgery at Johns Hopkins. He is just as frustrated with it as all of us. The difference is, he has the perspective, background, and passion to guide us appropriately. He is our prototype. The leader to make sense of the voices you hear everyday giving you health advice. He is the active researcher on these problems. He is the active analyst of new health practices and studies. He is the one talking to the actual experts of nutrition, exercise, disease, sleep and everything in-between. He is compiling all that information and putting priority, weight, and clarity to it all.
He wrote a book, Outlive, to organize it all for us. He runs a podcast, The Drive, where he talks to the best doctors and clinicians of every practice regarding health having lengthy discussions regarding health and longevity. He has also been on numerous other podcasts talking about his practice. Look him up on youtube. Do your research. He is our Prototype.
The Pick is In…
“You cannot make progress without making decisions”
We will spend countless hours trying to determine who our favorite football team will draft because the stakes are so high. Owners will spend insane amount of money on analysis. There is so much at stake. Ultimately only 30 people in the world actually live this reality of running a sports team. For the rest of us, it is just a game we pretend to play. I would remind you with Health, you are playing the game. The stakes are your life. Oddly enough most of us will give in to drafting anything. Accepting truth from merely the loudest in the room, without any question of the source. Without any in-depth analysis. Without any respect for the complexity of health.
My urge to you is do your background on draft night. Understand who you are listening to with regards to your health. Take pride in it. Analyze the complex vectors at play. Understand your liabilities and the gravity of who you decide to follow regarding your health. The facts are that you get one body. You get one brain. You get one life. I would urge everyone to take immense vested interest in learning how to protect that. Understand who you are drafting. Understand who you are picking as your leader.
Personally, my vote is Peter Attia. I feel strongly with my extensive research he is the best available on draft night to lead my health franchise. After 8 years of analyzing the world, I feel he is the person to trust with my health career. I feel he is going to give me truth and honesty and grounded understanding. The beauty is that everyone has the #1 draft pick in this world. This is not the NFL Draft where only one team gets him. Everyone gets to use him and his knowledge. But you cant draft him, if you do not know him. That is why I write today. To bring him to the meeting room. To put him on the draft board and let you make the decision.
Organizing and understanding Health starts with Peter Attia’s book Outlive. My advice is to let this book be your Health bible. This is your starting point. It is the center. The organization. The framework. The guide to Health. It is critical and it is honest with the medical literature. It properly organizes all the voices we talked about above. Explains why some of the characters I created above are correct and also when they are not. He will cut through the bullshit of the millions of instagram stories and click bait articles as a dedicated professional in the medical community with facts and brutal honesty.
I am very careful with my words. Especially regarding health. This is a recommendation I feel a responsibility to share. As my health leader, I select
