Rethinking Wellness: Tackling a Lifestyle Crisis Without the Experts—A New Atlantis Perspective

A declared sun devotee, the neurosurgeon Jack Kruse possesses skin resembling that of a Christmas ham. His cheeks radiate a neon luminescence that, combined with his white goatee and slicked-back hair, gives him the appearance of Santa, granted Santa had a crash landing in Belize and opted to remain. He adopts a broad-brush method of speaking, addressing the Cambrian explosion and the atomic makeup of cells in a single burst, before equally dismantling the medical establishment through a mix of jargon and derision. Similar to President Trump, he originates from New York, pronounces huge as yuge, and enjoys making bold claims: “We produce more intense light than the sun does” and “When Apple unveiled their AirPods, their iPads, their earplugs, the new VR glasses, and the iPhone, that was far worse than the atomic blast in Hiroshima on August 6th, 1945.”

Kruse posits that the majority of contemporary human ailments can be linked to the substitution of natural light for artificial. Or, as he articulates, “Authentic alchemists do not turn lead into gold; they transform sunlight into a longer health span.” There’s much more, indeed: nutritional guidance, a Patreon blog, endorsements for a medical retreat in El Salvador, ice baths, Bitcoin, magnets, and numerous perspectives on decentralization. Yet, the application and misapplication of light constitute the core principle.

Even within the vibrant realm of health advocates, Kruse is particularly distinctive. Numerous cosplay cavemen suggest beginning each day with a copious viewing of the sunrise, but Kruse contends that exposure to incorrect types of light is the primary factor in obesity, insulin resistance, colon cancer, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and various other ailments. A general skepticism of electromagnetic fields pervades alternative health communities, but Kruse asserts that emissions from Hollywood’s VHF and UHF have formed a third Van Allen radiation belt around Earth that disrupts sunlight so significantly that many Californians are unable to generate sufficient vitamin D.

It’s simple to write off influencers as frauds or opportunists, not limited to the fringe of Kruse but also the Silicon Valley crowd that measures the quality of their sleep, the condition of their bowel movements, and everything in between, the athletes promoting customized workout regimes promising to add thirty pounds of muscle, and the sober physicians interrupting their lengthy podcasts to endorse a pharmacy of supplements. Many among them are undoubtedly frauds and opportunists.

However, they are obviously correct in highlighting that the healthcare system has faltered amidst rising rates of obesity, hypertension, heart disease, gout, diabetes, and all the other conditions that the medical literature sometimes terms the “diseases of civilization.” While the average lifespan has indeed increased, its quality has not improved. Instead of striving to enhance and sustain health, treatments such as insulin for type 2 diabetes concentrate on extending life while managing illness rather than curing it. What figures on TikTok, YouTube, and Spotify present is an alternative. It may be grounded in rigorous science, a scientific revolution, or completely devoid of science. But in every instance, it represents an attempt to promote living instead of surrender.

We find ourselves in a landscape filled with both unfamiliar abundance and dangers, of food that is widespread, appetizing, and infused with microplastics, of pharmaceuticals present in our drinking water, and ever-expanding screens. The contradiction of our situation is encapsulated in two terms that are both fitting and contradictory. We categorize a set of conditions as “diseases of civilization,” recognizing them as a product of modern, industrialized society. We also refer to them as “lifestyle diseases,” as it is equally true that they arise from individual decisions: concerning diet and exercise, work and leisure, sleep and stress, companionship and solitude.

We can justifiably attribute the current environment for the rising prevalence of everyday ailments, even as those ailments demand a response from each of us. Poor health may be propelled by broad environmental alterations, yet we each need to attempt to regain control over our situations. The challenge is both evident, in that something significant has shifted, and elusive, as no one can pinpoint exactly what that factor is. Each of us must forge our own path, and the only scenario worse than heeding a false prophet could be not following any prophet at all.

Peter Attia hosts a highly popular health podcast and runs a private practice so exclusive that the most visible sign of its existence is the number of celebrities like Hugh Jackman, Chris Hemsworth, and Oprah Winfrey who advocate for his work. Nonetheless, his background story is surprisingly ordinary. Here’s how he shares it in his 2023 publication Outlive: “On September 8, 2009, a date I shall always remember, I was on a beach on Catalina Island when my wife, Jill, turned to me and said, ‘Peter, I think you should endeavor to be a little less not thin.’” Besides being overweight, or, as he describes it, “sausage-like,” Attia was developing insulin resistance, a preliminary sign of type 2 diabetes.

Currently, Attia is exceptionally fit, notably bald, and highly intentional. He articulates scientific concepts with wonderful clarity, despite verbal habits that suggest excessive interaction with tech enthusiasts — he enjoys to “double click” on concepts — and being immersed in studies on protein biochemistry, as reflected in his inclination to describe himself as “phosphorylated” when he means “angry.” He has meticulously documented his own health journey, which includes various other self-experiments, extreme carbohydrate restriction, an intense fasting regimen, and the utilization of an array of drugs with plausible yet uncertain advantages,and perpetually a masochistically structured fitness regimen. Yet, irrespective of the all-encompassing, successful, and public nature of his reaction, the overarching aspects of his battle — of reaching middle age with excess weight and early indications of lifestyle-related illnesses — are as quintessentially American as requesting a Big Mac with fries and a Coke, then making another trip through the drive-thru for an apple pie.

A research published in November in The Lancet revealed that three-quarters of American adults are currently beyond the healthy weight range. Over 40 percent of men and nearly half of women are classified as obese. Childhood obesity rates, which stood around 5 percent until about 1980, have escalated to approximately 20 percent. This trend is widespread, and in terms of BMI, America’s superiority is waning. Obesity levels in various Polynesian islands exceed 60 percent, with countries as varied as Qatar, Romania, and Argentina registering over 35 percent. The global health implications of obesity have overtaken those of malnutrition. While obesity alone detrimentally affects quality of life, it frequently accompanies comorbidities. Half of the American population is either diabetic or prediabetic. Approximately one-fourth of Americans suffer from non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, the fastest-growing cause for liver transplants.

In his book and on his podcast, Attia asserts that metabolic dysfunction considerably heightens the risks of not only liver disease but also cardiovascular illness, cancer, and Alzheimer’s, which together constitute the majority of fatalities in America and immense suffering. The healthcare system, in his perspective, is irrevocably reactive. Reduced smoking rates have lowered lung cancer occurrences, but rather than pursuing behavioral interventions that could yield similarly significant advancements in various health domains, most physicians passively await the emergence of lifestyle-related diseases — which are typically gradual — to escalate into crises before addressing them.

Besides being a medical doctor, Attia is a former McKinsey consultant, and his endeavors to prolong both lifespan and functional health rely on the conviction that accumulating data is invariably advantageous. He desires the science of human health to embody its finest, most elegant form, to be audacious and proactive. Although it frequently falls short, he retains his passion for it and regards it as the sole method of attaining worthwhile knowledge. Despite the legitimate limitations of what we know, in Dr. Attia’s narrative, the most urgent challenges in healthcare revolve around acting on established facts rather than uncovering new information. However, profound transformation and restructuring are imperative to align the system with his aspirations, prompting him to cater to his select clientele while simultaneously sharing his insights freely. The persistent underlying message in his podcast and book is that the healthcare system is incapable of delivering high-quality preventive care, implying that anyone aiming for the healthiest, longest life possible must take the initiative.

Similar to the Department of Health and Human Services, he advocates for exercise, yet he promotes intense workouts aimed at specific outcomes: Elevating your VO₂ max — the volume of oxygen your body can utilize per unit of mass — from poor to elite levels could lower your all-cause mortality five-fold over a decade. While he encourages balanced nutrition akin to the FDA, he is unrelenting in detailing the detrimental effects of habitual overconsumption and the intake of “junk” foods. He will elaborate extensively on why he believes an ApoB protein test should replace the conventional lipid panel as the standard for evaluating a patient’s cardiovascular disease risk.

He presents himself as the primary care physician you wish you had: diligent, attentive, patient, and willing to accompany you as you embark on the arduous journey of transformation. To support his counsel, he marshals extensive evidence, from mechanistic insights into the effects of aerobic exercise on energy allocation to in-depth discussions on the significant hazards associated with falling after the age of 65. He stands out as a health influencer who neither promotes supplements nor fails to disclose potential conflicts of interest. He also takes pride in discovery and adaptation. Data persuades him to reassess his views, recommendations, and lifestyle.

Perhaps his implicit assumption that others share his ability to adapt in response to new evidence clarifies why, despite his keen interest in root causes, Attia pays limited attention to the larger-scale origins of the issue. In the middle of his work, he does recognize it: “The dilemma we face is that our environment has transformed dramatically over the last century or two, in nearly every conceivable manner … while our genetics have changed little.” Yet, the few pages he dedicates to this topic are strikingly superficial compared to the extensive sections that precede it, where he outlines the biological foundations of lifestyle diseases, and the numerous pages that follow, where he proposes a plethora of strategies for combating them.

If all the obesity, diabetes, cancer, and heart disease arise from human manipulation of the food system and our surroundings, then attempting to implement detailed prescriptions — prone to alteration with each new study — may appear unnecessarily complex compared to simply reversing the situation.

The Liver King, formerly Brian Johnson, presents a revolutionary perspective on how to eat and live, an idea so…

mindless it may be ingenious. What if, he inquires, you opted to exist as you envision our primitive forebears did (with merely a fleeting curiosity about how archaeological findings and contemporary hunter-gatherers reveal they truly lived)? Short, naked, and muscular, this exceptionally engaging piece of jerky implores his 6 million TikTok admirers to adhere to nine primal principles, which encompass abundant sun exposure, consuming raw flesh, and being captured on film while lifting enormous chains with ease. He also enjoys presenting New Age platitudes concerning harmony and aligning every aspect of his existence with the universe.

While somewhat scientific jargon occasionally infiltrates, it is peripheral. The evidence is unmistakable. If an image holds the value of a thousand words, a video of a ripped tiny man hauling kettlebells while dragging a weighted sled through the deep end of a pool is equivalent to a thousand research papers. The simplest interpretation of the Liver King is that he offers fantastically aspirational amusement. The same cognitive leap that links purchasing a lottery ticket with lounging on a yacht links buying encapsulated beef thyroid with being muscular and exhibiting abnormal self-assurance. The chain of causation, much less the proof for it, couldn’t be more irrelevant. Yet, he remains intriguing. It’s challenging to observe the Liver King for an extended period without contemplating that he genuinely, somewhat, entirely, occasionally, wholeheartedly half-believes that living according to a superficial concept of nature will result in optimal health for anyone bold enough to pursue it.

To strengthen this argument, a liver king less focused on munching bull reproductive organs for views might highlight the most peculiar aspect of the ailments of civilization, which is that many civilizations and periods have thrived without them. Contrary to popular beliefs about Victorian industrial misery, a 2009 study in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, “How the Mid-Victorians Worked, Ate and Died,” reveals that between approximately 1850 and 1880, an individual reaching adulthood in Britain could anticipate a lifespan comparable to that of an American today, but with a significantly lower prevalence of chronic illness — a lifespan realized without antibiotics, statins, or any miraculous medications. Alternatively, consider America until 1980. In spite of postwar prosperity, obesity rates stayed low. While ailments of civilization are often portrayed as matters of personal decision, they are influenced by the environment. The Boomers didn’t collectively lose their determination when they reached twenty. The circumstances evolved, and they along with their descendants adapted to those changes.

A clear offender for what has shifted is our nutrition, particularly the rising intake of ultra-processed foods. While surprisingly few investigations have scrutinized this issue, there is solid evidence suggesting that as ultra-processed foods constitute a larger portion of our nutrition, obesity rates increase.

Over the years, the Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee — appointed by the U.S. Departments of Agriculture and of Health and Human Services — has issued recommendations regarding our dietary habits. Frequently they have operated in collaboration with the food industry that stands to gain from those very recommendations. Meanwhile, its counsel to limit fats or sugars, or to increase fiber, or to consume a daily quota of fruits and vegetables have fluctuated over time. At times, the guidance may be valid, but the outcomes remain questionable. The food pyramid once adorned boxes of Frosted Flakes, and its successor, the MyPlate guide, is displayed in the walls of school cafeterias that serve chocolate milk and pizza to growing children.

In 2022, the FDA initiated what it describes on its website as:

initiatives to facilitate accelerated efforts to empower consumers with information and create a healthier food supply, such as: revising the definition and establishing a voluntary symbol for the “healthy” nutrient content claim, front-of-package labeling, and Dietary Guidance Statements on food labels, as well as setting recommendations for nutritional labeling for online grocery purchases.

Considering the breadth of the issue, it’s difficult to grasp how promoting to “accelerate efforts to empower consumers” through litigating every inch of product labels is effective.

Corporations can exploit the FDA’s “Generally Recognized As Safe” loophole to incorporate new ingredients into the food supply without thorough scrutiny. The agency will deliberate over which packaged goods can bear the term “healthy,” but it won’t counsel the public to eschew packaged foods in the straightforward way of an influencer burdened with prominent quads and kettlebells rather than red tape and opposing interests. All the while, the general populace gradually becomes unhealthier.

The departure from traditional foods has also been accompanied by various transformations, which may be contributing to the rising incidence of illness. Less apparent but still feasible factors for what has gone awry include more sedentary lifestyles, a frayed social network, continuous ingestion of and contact with numerous chemicals, excessive exposure to blue light, and insufficient exposure to sunlight. The data for these varies from strongly suggestive to conjectural, and it’s entirely possible

that some or all of them are collaborating in conflicting harmony with one another.

While the Liver King resides in a state of simultaneous self-mockery and genuine sincerity, he convincingly promotes a lifestyle devoid of processed foods, abundant physical activity, quality sleep, connection with nature, focus on interpersonal relationships, and the pursuit of leaving a significant mark. Indeed, it’s a performance, yes, consuming raw meat involves considerable risk of pathogens, yes, most of his concepts are entirely disconnected from anything that could be deemed scientific. Yet he offers some of the few effective alternatives to fast food advertisements that the average adolescent stands a chance of encountering. He engages in the competition of ideas. If individuals are observing his antics, which millions are, and if they adopt even a fraction of the Liver King’s lifestyle without going off the deep end—an outcome that is much less assured—there’s a substantial possibility their lives are enhanced as a result.

This moderate commendation should be balanced with an examination of the less savory aspects of the entire venture. The overt premise suggests that anyone can ascend to be the ruler of their own liver domain by emulating the one true king. However, while he incessantly discusses the necessity of putting in effort, the Liver King derives his income from selling an easy route. For the individual unable to spend an entire day dashing around on a dusty ranch or who cannot tolerate consuming glistening nuggets of thymus, using the Liver King’s freeze-dried organ supplements might suffice to ignite a transformation into a liver aristocrat or liver noble.

More damning, particularly when evaluating his appropriateness as a role model for young males, is the absolutely predictable controversy in which it was disclosed that he was spending thousands of dollars each month on steroids. Beef liver may be sustenance suited for royalty, but on TikTok, it necessitates synthetic testosterone and growth factors to fulfill the role.

It would be an exaggeration to assert that Jack Kruse, with his cosmically dispersed perspective on health, Peter Attia, with his spreadsheets of data, and the Liver King, with a syringe in one hand and a segment of spleen in the other, are entirely separate realms. However, apart from engaging with large online audiences about wellness, it is true they don’t share much in common.

Other influencers tend to adopt a more inclusive approach. The most notable example is Andrew Huberman, a robust Stanford neurobiology professor boasting 7 million Instagram followers, 6 million YouTube subscribers, and a podcast that, at this moment, leads the U.S. charts in health and wellness. Huberman will collaborate with Attia in episodes where they analyze studies with a certain level of rigor, but he will also join Kruse for nearly seven fawning hours, as eager with a “yes, and” as a theater student at their first improv comedy session.

Similar to the Liver King, Huberman is not merely a well-meaning individual aiming to assist others in leading more healthful lives. He kicks off his podcast episodes declaring his dedication to sharing no-cost and low-cost methods for improvement, which inevitably shifts seamlessly into a promotion, most frequently for an expensive powdered vegetable drink, the advantages of which he articulates with precisely the same paternal authority he employs to delve into the neurochemistry of indulging in an afternoon nap. However, no one can argue that he doesn’t also deliver on the complimentary insights.

Huberman, or at least the public persona of Huberman that emerges in podcasts and interviews, radiates an innocent, puppy-like positivity. He approaches every scenario with the expectation of sharing his awestruck admiration for both his and his conversation partner’s brilliance, and he is never let down. Whether he is conversing with another physician about blood sugar regulation or to Kruse concerning the ways mitochondria defy the second law of thermodynamics, he nurtures a tone combining expertise and shared discovery. For Huberman, science is less a burdensome, fallible, iterative process and more an inexhaustible reservoir of captivating facts that can be directly converted into actionable lists for self-improvement. The core principle of his endeavor is that every facet of human existence, no matter how obscure, can be enhanced by a structured protocol. From sleep to waking, parenting to mental clarity, to relaxation, science provides Huberman — and Huberman provides his audience — clear steps for regaining control.

One perplexing element of lifestyle diseases is the overwhelming amount of discretionary factors in an individual’s life they may encompass: food, exercise, sleep, stress, employment, technology, relationships. This is why Huberman’s procedural approach, regardless of the dubious science that may lie beneath it, appears to be a rational response to the challenge of persistent behavioral transformation.

Food serves as a conspicuous example. It’s not particularly difficult to avoid the donuts left in the break room at the office. It’s not overly challenging to prepare a lunch instead of opting for fast food. It’s not substantially hard to choose black coffee over a soda at the gas station. It’s not excessively difficult to maintain a shopping list filled with healthy options at a grocery store. However, it is exceedingly challenging for most people to accomplish all of these tasks consistently, day in and day out. The food landscape promotes a default that is detrimental to health. Huberman’s evidence for the physiological benefits of restricting food consumption to an eating window of four to six hours per day may be scant, yet an individual who does so minimizes the number of distinct food decisions that need to be made.

Consider sleep as well. His evening and morning routines may lean more towards ritual than strict science, but ritualized actions tend to be easier to replicate. If an elaborate bedtime practice is what’s necessary to halt scrolling through Twitter, then it is certainly worthwhile.

Even Attia, who effectively presents empirical evidence for his assertions and frequently adjusts his perspectives based on new findings, offers at least as much motivation as he does education. Revisiting the significance of resistance training for the tenth time might add a touch of nuance to a layperson’s understanding, but I suspect the primary reason most individuals listen in — indeed, the reason I do — is to hear him, as an embodiment of trust and authority, reassure that the same age-old tough decisions are worth reiterating time and again. His podcasts are as much about motivation as they are about science, or, more generously, motivation through science expressed with noticeably more nuance and fidelity than most others typically utilize.

The scenario is both comical and tragic, as well as completely ridiculous. As a consequence of producing remarkable wealth, industrial civilization has rendered millions of us unwell. Since the precise ways in which this has happened are not entirely understood, and due to the limited means through which a government can significantly alter dietary, exercise, or lifestyle habits at the community scale, it becomes the responsibility of individuals to make numerous decisions each day in hopes that they will be advantageous overall. Yet, while some of us can make logical choices to cultivate healthier routines, the majority of us struggle to do so.

Human drive is an unusual phenomenon. The impact of others will never align perfectly with the actual science of health, but an appealing narrative, clear and engaging, can spur action in a manner that extensive dry statistics cannot. If podcasts and TikToks assist in promoting healthier lifestyles in a world that works against them, then influencers — despite the genuine issues with depending on entrepreneurs for health guidance — fulfill a function.

There are obvious snares. The entire venture of influencer health education sails on a sea of questionable supplements. Much of the advice is nonsensical, and some poses genuine risks. There are ethical and unethical ways to benefit from the allure of wellness. Moreover, the conditional justification for influencers has its limits; eventually, benign ignorance morphs into folly.

“What I’m attempting to do for you right now is to Da Vinci Code you, connecting all the pieces. Why is every display blue-lit? That originated from the CIA and MKUltra,” asserts Jack Kruse, during a lengthy two-hour tirade directed at powerlifter-turned-influencer Mark Bell and his podcast colleagues. Kruse’s cryptic ramblings complicate comprehension of his reasoning while simultaneously bestowing upon him an air of brilliance and his followers a semblance of sophistication.

These concepts are undoubtedly too elaborate to describe in a simpler fashion than Kruse does, but if you listen for long enough, you might discern the broader narrative. Additionally, the significant impact of sufficient sunlight on the mind may make it impossible to fully grasp his message until you’ve devoted several months to basking in solar energy. Then you too can join the ranks of the “Black Swan mitochondriacs,” who, as he mentions on his site,

are distinctive because they perceive and sense the same things as everyone else, yet they possess the capability of thinking thoughts no one else has conceived concerning their observations. This is why their viewpoint OFTEN diverges from the masses and established frameworks.

In a Facebook post, he states (sic on all these quotes):

To think like a Black Swan necessitates you to accept makes you realize that nothing VALUABLE is ever simple. We confront these challenges and what they involve. Sunlight shields and reveals the superhighway that nature designed between your heart and mind.

The free-associative, science-as-jazz approach that Kruse effectively utilizes in his speaking and somewhat less effectively in his writing is not aimed at educating in any conventional sense. Kruse’s mission is to infuse the ordinary with fresh significance. It’s not merely about steering your lifestyle in a more favorable direction; it’s about becoming part of the decentralized resistance. We exist in a corrupt realm molded by sinister forces, and a courageous new ultraviolet elite must daringly carve a route through it towards a better tomorrow. He doesn’t just seek your money or your focus; he aspires to transform your mind and spirit.

Kruse represents an extreme example. It’s simple to identify a fraud when he claims to possess groundbreaking insights into every human ailment as well as into evolutionary biology, physics, politics, and economics. However, while they may be less whimsical than a bespoke, mystical techno-anarchism, the endeavors of most influencers at least pledge an individual utopia. Layer enough protocols together, and they will culminate in a healthier existence. Hold your breath, consume that liver, and witness your finances increase even swifter than your biceps. Train intensely enough, and you will be exempt from the dependencies and humiliations of aging.

In The True Believer, philosopher and critic Eric Hoffer remarks, “The quality of ideas appears to play a minor role in mass movement leadership. What matters is the presumptuous gesture, the full neglect of others’ opinions, the singular defiance of the world.” The challenge is that the reality we inhabit requires a bit of leadership, a touch of disregard for others’ views, and at least a modicum of defiance. Nonetheless, a lesser prophet is one thing, while a self-proclaimed Messiah is another. Proceed with caution.