For twenty years, I believed sodium calculations, protein limits, and calorie counts were the foundation of health. It’s easy to believe this when your daily work, calculating nutrition support and analyzing nutrients, is the difference between life and death for so many patients.

However, once I stepped outside of the ICU and the psychiatric hospital, I understood that neat equations and clinical protocols could not capture the life-shaping complexities patients faced beyond those sliding doors.

The Gap Between Clinical Work and Real Life

The more I learned and the further I branched out, the more I felt like I was perpetually waiting for the right time to expand the range of services and counseling I could provide. The feeling is similar to the never-ending to-do list that so many of us wave like a carrot in front of our own noses. “If I just do this and this and this, then I can read the book, take the course, do the thing that I most desire…” 

This internal conflict—the gap between my clinical work and what my patients most struggled with—was most painfully reflected in my personal website. Irritated with myself and feeling overly emotional and self-conscious, I finally got out of bed at one in the morning and changed it from public to private status. But still, I couldn’t rest. It felt like Groundhog Day for me. 

Why the sudden decision to once again torch hours of work? Because I’d fallen back into old habits—writing about safe, clinical topics like glyphosate and radioisotopes. It was the easy way out, a way to avoid putting anything of myself on the line.

As long as I kept talking about lab rats, I didn’t have to think about how far off target I had wandered from my original goal of improving people’s total wellbeing: physical, mental, emotional, social, and financial. It makes no sense to me how we silo our bodies, souls, and minds, and don’t expect the repercussions to catch up with us. We are so surprised when the riots break out internally, even though we’ve been ignoring signs of an uprising for many years.

My content had become functional and precise—like a thorough user manual for the human body—but it lacked the soul and nuance required for real-life application. It offered prescriptive instructions but couldn’t provide context. My safe, clinical writing was a form of self-sabotage, a way to avoid the life experiences that led me into this field.

The Math That Doesn’t Add Up

A stark reality drives my decision to let go of the small battles. We are absolutely drowning in wellness and health information. Despite being inundated with news stories about nutrition and weight loss, approximately 6 in 10 Americans live with at least one chronic disease, while more than 38 million contend with diabetes and 4 in 10 struggle with obesity. These alarming figures exemplify how systemic failings in our health care and social structures explain more of our predicament than individual choice and willpower ever will.  

The statistics themselves are not abstract; they underscore the profound impact of structural and societal factors on health outcomes. The truth remains:

• If you count your carbohydrates and dose your insulin just right, but have untreated mental health conditions, work the night shift, struggle with substance use problems, have trouble paying the bills, or contend with horrific physical pain every day of your life, your blood sugar is still going to be a roller coaster. Does that mean seeing a dietitian is useless? Absolutely not. But it’s not enough to regulate your blood sugar by itself. Your diet is only one piece of a very complex puzzle.
• The complexity of real life—where one person’s healthy habit may be detrimental to another —shatters any mathematical formula for well-being. We all want to know: how am I doing, what is my grade, how much time do I have left? But no one can calculate it for you. No one knows if the results will be worth the effort. You might do something that you consider unpleasant for many decades and never know whether it was for naught. 
• Last point: Even if you don’t smoke or drink, even if you go to church every Sunday, you are a mortal being. Eventually, you will die.

My Focus Shifts: Back to the Basics

As a population health coordinator in one of the most rural areas of the country, I narrowed my idea of wellness to the fundamental, undeniable truths: Do you have a roof over your head and clean water? Is there someone you can talk to? Do you have a reason to get out of bed?

These days, I am less concerned with details such as your daily calorie intake, the level of noise control in the nearest major hospital, or the cost of advanced sleep consultants. This shift in perspective underscores my commitment to addressing fundamental issues rather than becoming preoccupied with peripheral concerns. 

I once organized a toothbrush donation drive after discovering that many families shared a single brush to save money. I had a diabetic patient lose his feet because he’d bathed his wounds in rainwater collected in a tarp. I don’t think the nearest luxury senior living facility is of much interest here. 

The things I care about, some may call them Socioeconomic Determinants of Health. I just call it: ‘where you grew up, where you live now, and what habits you’ve picked up along the way. The true determinants of health are not found in an order set, but in the unexamined truths of our lives. 

Sure, it’s easy to see what we are doing wrong, as far as diet and exercise go. But this isn’t news. We like to pretend it is, but it isn’t. We are perpetually presented with ‘revelatory’ findings, such as the benefits of walnuts, as if this isn’t common knowledge dating back decades (centuries, really).

In a world saturated with health products and quick fixes, a dietitian’s challenges often involve pivoting conversations from foundational health to the latest supplement trends, such as collagen powder and adaptogens. It’s a constant battle to bring the conversation back to the basics. I mean this in the nicest way possible, but rhodiola isn’t an answer for a life that is fundamentally broken.

This is the unexamined truth behind 60% of Americans with a chronic disease—the reality that makes pointing to diet and exercise like blaming a spark when the house is on fire.

• Around 23.4% of U.S. adults experienced a mental illness in 2024, representing more than 1 in 5 adults.
• For adults aged 18-29, the current depression rate is alarmingly high at 26.7%.
• Reports of individuals experiencing significant loneliness (“a lot of the day yesterday”) have crept back up to 21% in 2025, the highest since the early pandemic period.
• A large majority of adults (76%) view the nation’s future as a significant source of stress, with 62% citing societal division as a primary source.
• 20% of U.S. high school students reported having serious thoughts of suicide in 2023.

The Wellness Industry on Quicksand

My old, ‘functional and precise’ writing was part of this very system I now critique. It was an attempt to build on quicksand.

We sign up for every fitness challenge and quick weight-loss diet that pops up on our screens, but we don’t think about how our actions today determine our quality of life and health later. We make sure to use olive oil and sea salt, but haven’t eaten a leafy green since summer. We know how much leucine is in our protein shake, but we don’t know what it is or why it matters. We count our reps but pay no attention to form. We throw around words including “trauma,” “trigger,” and “narcissist,” without understanding what we are saying. 

We are no longer simply ‘getting it half right.’ We are focusing on the less consequential aspects of health while neglecting the foundational determinants. Now is the time to move beyond superficial solutions like calorie counting and short-term dietary trends and to critically examine the complex social, economic, and emotional factors that truly shape health outcomes.

By shifting our perspective in this way, we can develop more meaningful interventions and advocate for changes that promote genuine well-being. 

My New Focus

All of this—the recognition of foundational determinants and the need for systemic change—is wonderful, but the most pressing question remains: how do we put this philosophy into practice? This comprehensive approach requires a new set of tools for navigating personal change and developing a more resilient mindset. This year, we will explore how to:

• Reassess SMART goals: What to consider instead of overemphasizing the classic model when making resolutions.
• Identify when high standards escalate into perfectionism.
• Work with your unique personality and approach to change and action.
• Learn to advocate for yourself and express your needs effectively.
• Differentiate between anxiety and overstimulation.
• Develop coping mechanisms for a sensitive nervous system.
• Recognize envy and use it as a learning tool.
• Adopt a stretch mindset and overcome scarcity-based thinking.
• Make decisions easier and move forward more efficiently.

And yes, the word calorie will come up every now and again. Because calories do count, but they don’t explain where we find ourselves as we enter 2026.