If you're not careful, the snakes will catch you 👀
Read time: 4 minutes
3 things are guaranteed in life:
- Dying
- Paying taxes
- Influencers talking utter nonsense for money
I've just knocked back a triple shot flat white and my 7th in total, so apologies in advance if this goes waywardly somewhat 😂
I have never and will never pretend to know it all. I know what I do, I research what I don't, and I always stay in my lane.
I can't guarantee you many things, well, I've got at least two:
- The line between just enough and too many is closer than you think it is with chocolate magic mushrooms.
- I only share research-backed information with you. No pseudo-science BS here.
Talking of BS, every year we see new health trends that need to be avoided like the bubonic plague, and some that are genuinely helpful.
And in today's email, I'm going through 6 of them...
START - Healthspan metrics over aesthetics
For decades, health has been judged by mirrors, scales, and how lean someone looks in good lighting.
That’s changing, and thank f*ck for that.
The real shift this year is toward healthspan metrics. The stuff that predicts how long you live and how well you function while you’re alive.
- VO₂max
- Grip strength
- Walking speed
- Sit-to-stand ability
- Resting heart rate trends
'Boring' metrics, but the ones that actually matter.
A massive UK Biobank study followed over 500,000 adults and found that lower grip strength was strongly associated with higher all-cause mortality (1).
Simply put, a person's strength predicted survival better than their body weight.
You can diet yourself lean while your actual health and performance quietly collapse.
Healthspan metrics don’t allow that illusion. If your health strategy doesn’t improve how you function over time, it’s cosmetic.
And we all know what happens to an ugly chick, or lad these days, who goes swimming with a full face of makeup...
They go in looking like a 9/10 and come out as a low 3/10 😂
Don't be that person with your health.
AVOID - GLP-1 drugs becoming a lifelong crutch
This is where things are getting uncomfortable.
The narrative being pushed right now is that these injections aren’t a short-term intervention, but I've seen a few rumblings lately saying that they may need to be taken indefinitely to maintain results.
Read that again...
Indefinitely!
Professor Susan Jebb, an expert on diet and population health at the University of Oxford, told Sky News it suggests treatment may need to be long-term.
Because when people stop taking them, appetite returns, weight regain is common, and metabolic markers drift back toward baseline.
Not always. But often enough that it’s now being openly acknowledged.
Now, I have nothing against fat loss jabs, and if a client came to me and asked for my advice, which has happened several times, I'd have a grown-up discussion with them and tell them how it is.
These jabs can be brilliant in the right circumstances, but watch this space, because I predict that in the next 3-5 years, there is going to be one hell of a shit show of a fallout from them.
Suddenly, these jabs go from being “a kick start” and instead start looking a lot like long-term dependency.
But if fat loss only exists while the drug is present, and disappears when it’s removed, then the underlying system was never fixed. It was paused.
And here’s the part people don’t want to talk about yet.
Long-term use means:
• Ongoing cost
• Ongoing side effects
• Ongoing reliance
• And zero guarantee of maintained results without it
If you need a drug forever to keep weight off, then you've not built the right habits and lifestyle in the first place.
Tools are fine.
Shortcuts dressed up as solutions are not.
* Oh, and the cost of these things is continuing to climb. For the same monthly price, you could hire me as your 1-1 coach, and I won't give you kidney stones!
START - Prioritising your gut health
Gut health isn’t new, but what is new is people finally realising that supplements aren’t the starting point...
Food is.
If you want better gut health, the answer isn't reaching for a few pills, it's the following:
- Fibre - This is non negotiable. Fibre feeds your gut bacteria. No fibre, no fermentation, no benefit. Most adults don’t eat anywhere near enough, with data consistently showing that over 90% of adults fail to meet recommended fibre intakes, which is one of the biggest drivers of poor gut health.
- Prebiotics before probiotics - Foods like onions, garlic, leeks, oats, legumes, and underripe bananas feed the bacteria you already have.
- Frmented foods. - Yoghurt, kefir, sauerkraut, kimchi. Small amounts regularly supports microbial diversity far more effectively than random capsules you buy from Holland and Barrett's. Kefir was my biggest food addition in 2025.
- Stop hammering your gut daily - Regular excess alcohol, ultra processed foods, poor sleep, and chronic stress all damage gut integrity. You don’t fix that with a probiotic, no matter bow much money you throw at it.
The right supplements can support gut health, but they don’t replace the basics.
If your 'gut plan' starts with capsules and ignores the right food and habits, you’re doing it backwards I'm afraid.
AVOID - Relying on your algorithm for health advice
Social media is great, and has it's use (I think), but one thing it shouldn't be solely relied upon for is educating yourself.
While some health myths are harmless (think small meals boosts metabolism), the cumulative effect of bad advice doing the rounds online can pose a real risk to your wellbeing.
A MyFitnessPal survey found that 87% of millennial and Gen Z Tik Tok users have used the platform for nutrition and health advice rather than consulting with friends, family or medical professionals (2).
Now, in this day and age that's probably not too much of a shock, after all I've been watching these stupid little cartoon videos that 'educate you' on food hacks like keeping fruit fresh and using garlic for a sore tooth.
This is the perfect example of someone using social media to boost their knowledge without second guessing it, becuase I haven't double checked any of the stuff but I've happily been telling my fiancee about these cool new tips... She called me out on it 😂
But the crazy thing about this social media driven education craze is that only about 2% of it aligns with public health guidelines.
I've said this countless times before and I'll continue to say it, when it comes to your health you NEED to second guess everything.
Just becuase someone like me with a bit of expertise and authority tells you something, that doesn't mean you take it as gospel. Your health is too precious not to seek out second, third, and fourth opinions.
Sign up for a nutrition course, go to a health talk, pay to speak to an expert for an hour, or hire a coach, just don't rely on social media for all your health info.
START - Sauna becoming a protocol
Sauna has officially left the “biohacker” corner and joined the realms of something that get's sh*t done!
This isn’t about relaxation and sweating out last night's cocktails, it’s about physiological stress adaptation.
Heat exposure stimulates production of heat shock proteins which are involved in cellular repair and protection.
One of the most cited long-term studies on sauna use followed Finnish men for over 20 years and found that higher sauna frequency was associated with significantly lower cardiovascular and all-cause mortality (3).
Not once a month. Not “when I feel like it”.
Regular. Planned. Repeated exposure.
They found that men who used the sauna once per week had the highest death rates.
Men who used it 2-3 times per week did better.
Men who used it 4-7 times per week did best by a long way.
The more frequently they used the sauna, the lower the risk.
How long you're in the sauna for is also important. Going in and shaking your bits for a few minutes isn't gong to cut the mustard.
Sessions under 11 minutes didn't offer up much change, but that's not to say that it can't.
Sessions lasting over 19 minutes were associated with roughly half the risk of sudden cardiac death compared to short sessions.
Sauna is something I'm adding to my 2026 health strategy, mostly because I love going to the spa and detaching from reality for 45 minutes. But knowing that it's actually doing me some good and repairing my cells is all the justifcation I need to relax guilt-free.
AVOID - Relying on wearables too much
This is the opposite of most health advice you'll hear this year, and may sound a bit contradictory coming from the guy who has a Whoop on his right wrist and an Apple Watch on his left, but hear me out for a second...
Wearables are tools.
The trend to avoid is turning them into your sole decision makers.
- Skipping training because a watch said so.
- Panicking over normal sleep variation.
- Feeling “off” because a ring told you to.
Data should inform your decisions, not replace your judgement entirely.
If you can’t tell how you feel without a device yapping in your ear, that’s not optimisation, that’s some weird dependency.
How on earth did people do it 20 years ago?
I suppose the same could be said for raising a baby these days. There seems to be a book, course, and online guru telling you everything you should and shouldn't do with a newborn, whereas my parents most likely had one baby book (that my dad definitely didn't read) and the advice of my grandparents. And I've turned out pretty good.
Fitness tech has it's place in a health strategy, but it can't be a hill do die on. You need to build some independency, like, what if your battery dies? 🫠
Right, there you go, six trends to keep a close eye on this year. As always, if you've got any questions or you simply want to pick my brain about something, reply to this email and I'll get back to you asap.
Have a cracking week.
