You can go from unhealthy to healthy without changing your character flaws, genetics, or suddenly having a lot more time/money. It is actually quite simple. I can tell you how in four paragraphs.

1. Health requires diligence around your bogeyman.

Whether it’s a diagnosis you carry or one you’re at risk for, everyone has at least one bogeyman. Doctors can identify your bogeyman, but the diligence part won’t come from conventional doctor visits. If you’re counting on scattered 15 minute appointments to thoroughly attack complex problems, you’re going to be disappointed.

2. Health comes from chipping away towards a personal best.

Your personal best and how to best chip away at it is unlike anyone else’s. Hospitals and all parties reimbursed by insurance are not incentivized to figure this out. What they are incentivized to do is uniformly meet a base standard of care that satisfies insurance companies, and a standard of ‘average’ that won’t get them sued.

3. A doctor who knows you and is thinking about your personal best can clarify more in an hour than unfocused doctors can in twenty.

Meanwhile, wellness companies selling you a biological age or colon cleanse would rather your conception of health stays blurry. Blurriness makes it easier to convince you their product will make you healthy. Confusion begets overconsumption.  

4. While it benefits the wellness and medical industries for you to be confused, it doesn’t benefit you.

You can get more out of life if you’re healthier. Make it one doctor’s job to know *your* bogeyman/bogeymen and the levers in service of *your* personal best. Make sure they have nothing to sell you. Meet with them at least once a month. That’s it: why our conventional medical system won’t make you your healthiest, and what you can do about it.