• Hanna Kim tried to lose weight by cutting out what she viewed as unhealthy foods, but it wasn't sustainable.
• She educated herself on fat loss and instead tried to cultivate healthy habits.
• Tracking her calories helped her make more intentional choices.

Before losing 22 pounds in a sustainable way, Hanna Kim tried many diets but ended up putting the weight back on because she hated the process.

"My perception of weight loss was just so negative," Kim, a 24-year-old YouTuber based in Sydney, told Business Insider. In the past, she would cut out all the foods she considered "bad" and force herself to do workouts she didn't enjoy.

As a teenager, Kim, who is Korean, was also heavily influenced by K-pop — whose stars are often put on strict diets and exercise regimes — and the Korean principle of "ppali ppali," or doing everything as quickly as possible.

Kim wanted to lose fat, and fast. When she didn't, she felt deflated and quit. "It was just a cycle of trying weight loss and then failing at it. Then hating the journey and really being negative on myself. Then wanting to try again and just this endless negative loop," she said.

Things shifted in 2021 when Kim looked into the science behind losing fat safely, and realized it couldn't be achieved quickly but should be part of a bigger goal of developing healthier habits.

"That gave me a lot of, I guess, courage to be more patient with the journey and to realize it's not a short sprint, it's a marathon," she said.

She started to make small changes to her lifestyle and lost 22 pounds in a year. She has kept the weight off for three years and now finds it easy to maintain.

Here are the two simple changes Kim made.

Going on 10-minute walks

In the past, Kim had joined a gym three times but quit after six months because her motivation to look a certain while would eventually wane.

When she started thinking of weight loss as a long-term investment in 2021, she was leading a fairly sedentary lifestyle: eating whatever she felt like, often including takeout, and didn't exercise regularly.

She knew that even a small change would ultimately make a difference, so she started by going on a walk. "I realized, 'OK, if I choose today to go outside for a 10-minute walk, that's still a win in my book,'" she said.

She set herself the goal of moving every day and found workouts online that aligned with her non-perfectionist approach and matched her mood, which helped her develop a love for exercise.

"If I was in a mood to just dance for a bit, I'd search up dance workout," she said.

Sticking to her daily calorie budget

Before 2021, Kim ate a lot of ultra-processed foods, including chocolate and cake, Korean fried chicken, and fast food. At the time, she had no idea how many calories they contained or that to lose weight, a person needs to be in a calorie deficit, meaning they burn more calories than they consume.

When she started her weight loss journey, she tracked her calories with an app to calculate her daily budget, or how many calories she needed to eat to lose weight. The "eye-opening" process enabled her to make more intentional choices.

"If I had 100 calories left, what's going to make me feel good? What's going to give me more energy?" she said.

At the start, she gave herself a leeway of around 120 calories but she mainly stuck to her budget. She also made sure to not demonize or cut out any foods, but tried to opt for lower-calorie versions of her favorite, less nutritious foods.

"It was definitely enjoyable. I wasn't just cutting things out straight away," she said.

Over time, she naturally started to focus not just on how many calories she consumed but the nutritional value of food. She reframed whole foods and fresh produce as treats because of how they made her feel.

"Now that I know the whys behind, 'why do you have to exercise?' 'Why do you have to eat well?' And it's ultimately so that your body can function the best it can," Kim said.

• Human metapneumovirus is spreading in China, but health experts say it's not a repeat of COVID-19.
• Unlike COVID-19, HMPV has been around for decades, so we know how it spreads and how to treat it.
• But China must still monitor the situation to keep it under control.

Five years after COVID-19 began spreading in the Chinese city of Wuhan, cases of human metapneumovirus, which also causes respiratory infections, have risen in the country, particularly among children.

Between December 23 and 29, cases of HMPV rose from the week before, particularly in northern China and in children under 14, the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention said on Thursday. Cases of influenza, rhinovirus, and mycoplasma pneumoniae also increased, it said.

Online videos of crowded hospitals in China are reminiscent of the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, and Google searches in the US related to HMPV and the likelihood of a coming pandemic and lockdowns have spiked in recent days.

But HMPV doesn't pose a similar threat to COVID-19 because it's not a new virus, meaning we understand how it affects humans and most people already have some immunity against it.

HMPV causes coldlike symptoms that don't typically require treatment

HMPV usually causes coldlike symptoms, such as coughing, wheezing, a runny nose, and a sore throat, that clear on their own in three to six days. But it can lead to more serious conditions, such as bronchitis or pneumonia, particularly in young children, adults over 65, and people who are immunocompromised. Infections are most common in colder seasons.

Most people get HMPV before they turn 5, so symptoms tend to be more severe in children as they haven't yet built up immunity against it. A person gains some immunity to the virus when they first catch it, so symptoms are typically mild if they're reinfected.

It spreads through coughing and sneezing, direct contact with an infected person, or touching surfaces contaminated with the virus, such as phones.

There are no antiviral medications for HMPV, but if a patient becomes seriously ill, doctors may use oxygen therapy to help them breathe or antibiotics to treat secondary infections. There isn't a vaccine, but there are some in development.

Unlike COVID-19, HMPV is not a new virus

HMPV was first identified in the Netherlands in 2001 but is believed to have been infecting humans for decades.

"This is very different to the COVID-19 pandemic," Jill Carr, a virologist at the College of Medicine and Public Health at Flinders University in Australia, said.

"The virus was completely new in humans and arose from a spillover from animals and spread to pandemic levels because there was no prior exposure or protective immunity in the community," Carr said of COVID-19.

There's a broad understanding of how HMPV spreads and affects humans, as well as diagnostic tests to identify it.

"HMPV can certainly make people very sick, and high case numbers are a threat to effective hospital services, but the current situation in China with high HMPV cases is very different to the threats initially posed by SARS-CoV-2 resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic," Carr said.

The World Health Organization does not view HMPV in China as an emergency

A spokesperson for the World Health Organization told Business Insider via email that higher levels of respiratory illnesses, including HMPV, are expected at this time of year, adding that the rate of "influenza activity" was lower than in the same period last year.

On Thursday, the Chinese CDC advised people to take health precautions, such as maintaining good hygiene, covering their mouths and noses with a tissue or elbow when coughing or sneezing, washing their hands frequently with soap and water for at least 20 seconds, and wearing masks in crowded spaces.

But in a press conference on Friday, the Chinese government appeared to push back against online speculation that the situation could overwhelm hospitals and lead to a new pandemic, The Guardian reported.

"Respiratory infections tend to peak during the winter season," Mao Ning, a spokesperson for China's foreign ministry, said Friday. "The diseases appear to be less severe and spread with a smaller scale compared to the previous year."

China needs to share its data on the virus to lower the risk of a public health crisis

Vasso Apostolopoulos, a professor of immunology at the School of Health and Biomedical Sciences at RMIT University in Australia, said that the growing number of cases and pressure on healthcare systems in densely populated areas like China highlighted the need for enhanced surveillance strategies.

"Ensuring effective monitoring and timely responses will be key to mitigating the public health risks of this outbreak," she said.

• The US Surgeon General issued a report warning alcohol is associated with cancer.
• He cited 4 recent studies to make his case that alcohol should have warning labels like cigarettes.
• Some scientists disagree: Another major report, published in December, found alcohol has benefits.

Dr. Vivek Murthy, the U.S. Surgeon General, said Americans need to know there's a link between alcohol and cancer, citing four recent studies.

Murthy said all alcoholic beverages should have cancer warning labels on them, a measure Congress would have to design and approve.

In a new report, published January 3, Murthy outlined the research that persuaded him — and other medical professionals — that alcohol is a serious and under-appreciated health concern.

We want to hear from you about your drinking habits. If you're comfortable sharing with a reporter, please fill out this quick form. Note: We won't publish any part of your submission unless we contact you first.

Here's the data that backs up Murthy's advisory, with some caveats:

How alcohol causes cancer

There are four ways alcohol causes cancer, Murthy said, citing a 2021 Nutrients study.

The first two are widely accepted, he wrote. Most physicians agree that when alcohol breaks down in the body it can bind to DNA, damaging cells and fueling tumors. There is also robust evidence that alcohol can drive inflammation, which is linked to cancer.

The study points to newer research that suggests alcohol may influence hormones like estrogen, paving the way to breast cancer, though it's not exactly clear how.

Another emerging idea is that alcohol seems to provide a literal melting pot for other toxins. Tobacco, for example, dissolves in alcohol, which could make it easier for the body to ingest, the study says.

3 studies linking alcohol to cancer

To back up his argument for warning labels, Murthy pointed to a 2015 meta-analysis published in the British Journal of Cancer, which found "a significant relationship" between alcohol consumption and seven cancers.

The team of researchers from Italy, the US, France, Sweden, and Iran examined data from 572 studies, featuring 486,538 cancer cases. They compared the cancer risk of heavy drinkers with occasional drinkers and nondrinkers.

They found heavy drinking was linked to cancers of the mouth, throat, esophagus, colorectum, liver, larynx, and breast.

Murthy also referenced a 2020 study, published in Nature, that specifically looked at alcohol as a risk factor for head and neck cancer.

The research on around 40,000 people in 26 studies found higher-intensity drinking — consuming more drinks per day, and drinking more years in a lifetime — was correlated with higher risk of head and neck cancers.

The third significant study that Murthy highlighted was a 2018 global systematic analysis looking at alcohol-related deaths in 195 countries over the course of 26 years. That report, published in The Lancet, concluded that there is no safe level of alcohol consumption when it comes to cancer.

Each report has caveats. For example, the 2015 meta-analysis used varying measurements of alcohol and the 2018 study did not differentiate between drinking patterns, such as binge-drinking or moderate drinking.

Still, the studies are comprehensive, significant, and have informed many of the physicians who say that alcohol is a serious health concern.

Some scientists disagree

Murthy said he was motivated to publish this report because surveys suggest more than half of Americans do not recognize a link between alcohol and cancer.

The science on alcohol is not cut-and-dry, though.

Some of the healthiest people in the world — in the Mediterranean and so-called Blue Zones — drink wine daily. Researchers believe the social aspect of alcohol may have strong benefits for longevity.

Plus, Murthy's report clashes with a major report by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, which was published in December.

The paper, which will be used to inform the new 2025 Dietary Guidelines, found that moderate drinkers have a lower risk of premature death from heart attack and stroke than people who don't drink at all. It also found an increased risk in breast cancer.

The Department of Health and Human Services is due to publish its own analysis of the latest science on alcohol in the coming weeks.

• Dr. Vivek Murthy, the US Surgeon General, has released a report warning that alcohol causes cancer.
• It is the third leading cause of preventable cancer in the US, after smoking and obesity, he said.
• The report follows a growing number of studies showing the potential harms of drinking alcohol.

The US Surgeon General wants to see cancer warnings on wine, beer, and spirits.

Alcohol is a leading cause of cancer, but less than half of Americans recognize it as a risk factor, Dr. Vivek Murthy said in an advisory published Friday.

This is in contrast to the 89% of Americans who are aware of the links between smoking cigarettes and cancer, according to a 2019 survey of US adults aged 18 and older carried out by the American Institute for Cancer Research.

Alcohol consumption is the third leading preventable cause of cancer in the US, after tobacco and obesity.

Research has found that drinking alcohol leads to an increased risk of seven cancers, including breast, colorectal, esophageal, liver, mouth, and throat and larynx, the advisory said.

The risk increases the more a person drinks, and for certain cancers like breast, mouth, and throat, the risk can start to rise at one or fewer drinks a day, according to the advisory.

Warning labels on alcoholic drinks haven't changed since the '80s

Murthy recommended updating warnings on packaging to raise awareness of alcohol's link to cancer.

"Health warning labels are well-established and effective approaches to increasing awareness of health hazards and fostering behavior change," the advisory said.

Currently, health warning labels on alcoholic beverages mention general "health risks," as well as instructing pregnant women and those about to drive or operate machinery not to drink.

They have not been changed since 1988, The New York Times reported.

Ian Hamilton, an associate professor at the University of York's Department of Health Sciences, who researches drug use, policy, treatment, and prevalence, told Business Insider that there is a general lack of understanding of the role alcohol plays in several types of cancer.

"Many people aren't aware of this, so having this clearly laid out and explained is a welcome development," he said.

Richard de Visser, a professor of health psychology at Brighton and Sussex Medical School, UK, who researches alcohol use and behavior change, told BI that warning labels could be useful for raising awareness but should be part of a comprehensive approach to alcohol harm reduction.

"We also need to develop individuals' motivation and skills, and also provide opportunities for healthier behavior," he said.

• Many people associate losing weight with restrictive dieting, but that is unsustainable for most.
• Three people who met their weight loss goals sustainably shared how they did it.
• They learned it's not necessary to cut out entire food groups or eat tiny portions to lose weight.

Three people who lost weight sustainably after years of yo-yo dieting shared the most valuable lessons they learned about fat loss.

Weight loss and restrictive diet culture are almost synonymous in our culture, meaning most people who want to lose fat start by cutting out the foods they enjoy. But research shows that this rarely works long-term, and eating too few calories can have unintended health consequences, such as malnutrition, disordered eating, and fertility problems.

Experts who have spoken to Business Insider in the past agree that to lose weight you need to be in a calorie deficit, burning more calories than you consume — but that shouldn't mean going hungry, cutting out entire food groups, or spending hours doing exercise that you dread.

Three people who learned this through experience shared what helped them lose fat in a healthy way.

Prioritize health over appearance

"You can't shame yourself into weight loss," Alaias Bertrand, a 25-year-old content creator and marketer in Florida who lost 75 pounds in three years, previously told BI.

Bertrand said she previously tried "everything under the sun" to lose weight, including diets like keto and intermittent fasting. But they didn't work because she was too focused on the end result, and she was hungry all the time, she said.

It was only when she started making lifestyle changes for her health and wellbeing that she lost weight naturally.

"My adjustments became less about 'I need to look a certain way' and more so 'I want to feel a certain way. I want to feel good in my body,'" she said.

You can eat foods that you enjoy and lose weight

Benji Xavier, a 28-year-old content creator, lost 100 pounds in just over a year, and has kept it off for two years, by making healthier versions of his favorite foods at home.

Xavier, who is based in New Jersey, previously lost 100 pounds in high school by "falling victim to toxic diet culture" and heavily limiting what he ate. But it left him obsessed with food and miserable, and he regained the weight a few years later.

In August 2021, he tried to lose weight again but was determined not to restrict himself.

"I was just sick of it. I'm like, 'no, I can't do this. I can't torture myself anymore. I'm just going to try to eat healthier.' And it worked," he said. "You can still have foods that you enjoy and lose weight."

Find activities you actually enjoy

Mae Suzuki, a content creator based in New York, lost 40 pounds after being stuck in a cycle of restrictive dieting and bingeing for years.

She used to force herself to do boot camp-style workouts that she hated and eat food that she didn't like. When she didn't see the scale shift after a few weeks, she would give up because she wasn't enjoying the process, she previously told BI.

Suzuki realized that she needed to make the process fun, so she joined a gym and tried all the different classes until she found what she actually enjoyed. She learned that she loved weightlifting but wasn't so keen on cardio.

"Once I stopped focusing on the things that I didn't like in order to lose weight, that's when I saw gradual but consistent weight loss," she said.

Find someone to come on the journey with you

Bertrand said she found adding a social element, whether that's a friend, coach, or team, can help with motivation when losing weight.

"When you tell someone that you respect and admire a goal of yours, you are more likely to accomplish it," she said.

For her, being a member of her high school and college track and field team was a catalyst for learning how to fuel her body, stay active, and be held accountable.

Focus on little milestones

Xavier said that focusing on little milestones helped him stay motivated. "If I were to sit here and think 'I need to lose 100 pounds,' that's a lot. You don't want to do that," he said.

Fixating on his end goal made him feel overwhelmed and discouraged when life got in the way and he didn't achieve his goal as quickly as he had planned.

"It takes time to achieve your goals, and you get there step by step, not all at once."

He added: "Just take it day by day, week by week."

• Evidence suggests that fermented foods such as kimchi can boost gut health.
• A diverse microbiome is linked to overall good health.
• The gut-health researcher Emily Leeming uses tricks such as adding kefir to salad dressing.

Fermented foods such as kimchi and pickles are great for supporting the gut microbiome, the trillions of microbes that help shape our health.

Made when live bacteria or yeast are added to ingredients such as tea, milk, or vegetables, fermented foods contain probiotics, the "good" bacteria in our guts. The microbiome contains "good" and "bad" bacteria. Eating a diverse range of fiber-packed plant foods feeds the good ones, while ferments are thought to introduce new "good" elements to the microbiome.

Emily Leeming, a microbiome researcher at King's College London, dietitian, and former private chef, told Business Insider that she tries to eat fermented foods every day.

Emerging research suggests that fermented foods increase the diversity of the gut microbiome, a key marker of a healthy gut, and reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes, according to a 2022 review in the journal Nutrients.

"We are really understanding more and more that this collection of a hundred trillion microorganisms are influencing every aspect of our health," said Leeming, the author of "Genius Gut: The Life-Changing Science of Eating for your Second Brain." And what we eat has a major influence.

Leeming shared four ways she adds fermented foods to her daily diet.

Using kefir instead of yogurt

Kefir is a fermented milk drink similar to yogurt but thinner in consistency and with more live microbes.

For this reason, Leeming tends to opt for kefir anytime a recipe calls for yogurt. She might put it in a smoothie or in overnight oats, for example.

"Kefir I find really easy to incorporate in different things," she said.

Keeping fermented veggies in the fridge

Leeming keeps fermented veggies such as sauerkraut, kimchi, and jars of fermented beetroot and carrots in her fridge and adds them to a dish whenever she thinks it'll enhance the flavor.

"I like to have a mix of different ones in the fridge as they last a long time and it means there's more flavourful variety rather than eating the same ones all the time," she said.

She likes to mix kimchi into rice-based dishes, for example, or sprinkle some fermented veggies on top of avocado toast or eggs.

"Nobody wants to eat kimchi on its own. You want to think how it fits into your dish," she said.

David Zilber, the former director of fermentation at the celebrated restaurant Noma, previously told BI that he always keeps pickled jalapeños, sauerkraut, and kimchi in his fridge.

Changing up salad dressings

As a chef, Leeming considers the taste of a meal to be equally as important as its nutritional value. One of her hacks for making any vegetable delicious is making a flavorful salad dressing.

For this, she always has a good quality extra-virgin olive oil in her store cupboard. EVOO is high in polyphenols, a compound responsible for the pigment in lots of plants that research suggests gut microbes break down into beneficial molecules, she said.

And to make it even more gut-friendly, she often adds kefir.

Using miso as a soup base

Miso is a paste made from fermented soybeans. Leeming suggested using it as a base for soups for "that umami, fermented kick."

Marika Mancino, a dietitian, previously told BI that miso is also a great lower-sodium swap for stock.

• Hanna Kim lost 22 pounds in a year when she changed her mindset toward weight loss.
• She tried fad diets for years but couldn't sustain them.
• Kim learned to be consistent, not perfect, and celebrate small wins.

After years of trying to lose weight through restrictive diets that didn't work and left her feeling deflated, Hanna Kim lost 22 pounds in 2021 and has kept it off. She shared the two biggest lessons she learned.

Kim, a 24-year-old YouTuber in Sydney, was stuck in a cycle of trying to lose weight through restrictive dieting, hating the process, giving up, and feeling like a failure. "It was just this endless negative loop," she told Business Insider.

It was only when she started to question why it wasn't working and educate herself on sustainable weight loss that she made progress. She learned that there is no quick fix for weight loss, but making small, healthy changes and focusing on health over appearance makes a difference, she said.

Previously, Kim led a fairly sedentary life, did no exercise, and ate a lot of fried food and takeout. She knew that jumping straight into a 45-minute HITT session would be overwhelming, but wanted to commit to some movement each day. She started by going on a 10-minute walk.

She also calculated how many calories she could eat while remaining in a calorie deficit, the state where you burn more calories than you consume. Experts agree this is necessary for weight loss.

She began to eat within her calorie budget, but she didn't cut out any foods. "I learned that I can be flexible with what I eat, so having a Kit Kat bar is fine as long as I'm within my calorie budget," she said.

Weight loss can be enjoyable

Kim used to have a negative association with weight loss because it made her feel terrible about herself.

But when she shifted her mindset to see it as an opportunity to invest in her long-term health and forming healthier habits, she saw it as a positive.

"It's a good thing. It's something that can be enjoyable and something that could be fun," she said.

Over time, she grew to love exercise and eating a more nutritious diet because she went in with a curious mindset. "It's something you should wake up looking forward to. What am I going to learn new today? What new recipe can I make today? What exercise is going to make me feel good today?" she said.

She saw the journey as a way to work on herself more generally and find what made her feel good mentally and physically.

It's not about perfection

Kim learned to take things slow and let go of perfectionism by accepting that she won't be able to stick to her regime 100%. By giving herself grace when she did eat more than her calorie budget for example, she was able to keep going on her health journey rather than give up like she had in the past.

"It's going to be a long-term investment, and everything that I do is ultimately going to make a difference," she said.

She found that being consistent was more important than being perfect and she celebrated "small wins" along the way.

• Ultra-processed foods, which contain additives, have been linked to cancer, diabetes, and depression.
• Nutritionist Rob Hobson tried to eliminate them from his diet as much as possible last year.
• Now, he incorporates them into his diet in a way that works for him.

Since deciding to cut down on ultra-processed foods a year ago, nutritionist Rob Hobson has developed a more "realistic" view of how they fit into a healthy diet, he told Business Insider.

UPFs have made headlines this year as public awareness grew of the potential health risks of eating too many. Studies have linked a diet high in UPFs to a higher risk of 32 illnesses, including type two diabetes, cancer, depression, and cardiovascular disease.

UPFs tend to be highly marketed, shelf-stable, and hyper-palatable, making them easy to overeat, Hobson previously told Business Insider. Soda, candy, and fast food are obvious examples.

At first, Hobson, who is based in the UK, tried to eliminate UPFs from his diet as much as possible and to cook everything from scratch. "I was like a vigilante," he said. But now he incorporates them into his diet in a way that works for him. "I eat less ultra-processed food, but in a way that still makes it easy and convenient to eat. So there's certain foods now that I don't worry too much about, the healthier UPFs," he said.

Hobson, who still limits his intake, shared three changes he's made.

Healthier' UPFs for cooking

Cooking from scratch three times a day simply became too time-consuming, Hobson said. So now he uses some "healthier" UPFs in his cooking to "make life easier."

Previously Hobson would have been strict about only making a pasta sauce from canned tomatoes and fresh produce, for example, but now if he's strapped for time or energy, he's happy to pick up a pre-made sauce from the store. However, he still checks labels and looks for the items with the fewest ingredients.

"I still believe the first port of call is cooking everything as much as you can from scratch. But I'm not going to give myself a hard time about buying a tomato sauce, I'll just buy the best one I possibly can," he said.

Some UPFs are nutritious

Foods like packaged wholemeal bread, and baked beans, which are popular in the UK, might be considered ultra-processed because they contain additives, but unlike soda and cookies, they do have nutritional value.

"These foods still have a lot of fiber. They still contain protein. But they do contain a few additives," Hobson said.

He includes UPFs he considers healthier in his diet if he doesn't have time to cook from scratch or simply is craving them, he said. But he'll still aim to make it a balanced meal by adding some vegetables, a side salad, or some grains.

Eat unprocessed — no cooking required

Over the past year, Hobson learned that putting different foods together on a plate is the easiest way for him "to eat unprocessed."

"Just putting plates together rather than thinking you have to create a proper big meal with lots of ingredients," works well, he said. Cooking a piece of fish or chicken and pairing it with some potatoes and vegetables is simpler than following a recipe and making, say, a pasta dish or a curry, he said. Hobson often adds bags of pre-cooked grains, too.

"It's great to spend time in the kitchen when you have the time, but then when you don't, you have to find all these ways of eating that are really simple," he said.

• Bogus health advice is widespread online, and often follows a few strategies.
• Misinformation can harm a person's physical and mental health.
• Look out for big claims and conspiratorial tones, Dr. Idrees Mughal advised.

A doctor who challenges nutrition misinformation online and wrote a book about common tricks, listed red flags to look out for.

Health misinformation can cause real damage to physical and mental health so it's crucial to learn how to spot it, said Dr. Idrees Mughal, a medical doctor with a master's degree in nutritional research.

Mughal was speaking last month at an online nutrition misinformation conference hosted by the Royal College of Medicine and the nutrition organization Nutritank.

It's impossible to be knowledgeable about all health claims, but being able to spot patterns can help you spot fakery, Mughal said.

He are his three red flags:

Absolute language

Words like "most," "top," "worst," "best," "always," and "never" do not belong in health advice because they don't consider individual differences, Mughal said. "No one who is truly evidence-based would use terms like these."

People have different needs and goals, and no one ingredient or diet can be the top way to eat for the whole population, he said.

Take nuts for example: They are a good source of fiber, protein, and healthy fats, and some studies suggest that eating them regularly is linked to longevity. But nut allergies are widespread, and can be fatal — so the advice won't work for everyone.

A quick fix

"The promise of a quick fix is always a massive red flag," Mughal said.

People are much more receptive to things that can be done fast. Silver-bullet-type content tends to garner more engagements, clicks, and likes, he said.

But chronic diseases that can be impacted by our lifestyle choices, such as obesity, type 2 diabetes, and cardiovascular disease, require a long-term lifestyle management treatment plan. "If you didn't develop them overnight, you're not going to fix them overnight," he said.

Creating an 'us versus them' mentality

Health misinformation can undermine public health and lead to mistrust in medical professionals, Mughal said.

Some wellness influencers leverage this mistrust to market themselves and create an "us versus them" mentality, he said.

Rather than providing evidence-based information, they might say things like, "The healthcare industry doesn't want you to know this. I'm about to let you in on a huge secret," which frames them as an expert with hidden knowledge, he said. At the same time, it encourages you to distrust the more established authorities

"It's a very kind of predatory wellness marketing tactic," Mughal said.

• Fibrous foods like beans, nuts, and seeds feed the "good" microbes in the gut.
• Most Americans are not meeting the daily recommended fiber intake.
• Emily Leeming opts for whole grains instead of white carbs and sprinkles seeds on her breakfast.

When it comes to your gut health, eating enough fiber is crucial.

Emily Leeming, a dietitian and gut microbiome researcher at King's College London, told Business Insider how to improve.

From our immune system to our emotions, a growing body of research suggests that the state of our gut health affects the whole body.

The gut microbiome, the trillions of "good" and "bad" microbes that live in the digestive lining, is heavily shaped by what we eat, said Leeming, the author of "Genius Gut: The Life-Changing Science of Eating for Your Second Brain."

The Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommends adults eat 14g of fiber per 1,000 calories. They say more than 90% of women and 97% of men do not.

Leeming, who used to work as a private chef, takes a simple approach to meeting her daily fiber goal, while keeping her meals tasting good.

She shared four tips for easily adding more fiber to your diet.

Stock up on high-fiber foods

Leeming knows which foods are particularly high in fiber and she makes sure to add them to her shopping list.

"There are high-fiber foods that probably surprise people like dark chocolate and avocados," she said. One avocado is about 10 grams of fiber, and two pieces of dark chocolate contain about two grams.

Leeming focuses on what she calls the "B-G B-Gs," which stands for beans, greens, berries, grains, and seeds.

"It's the beans, whole grains, nuts and seeds that tend to contain more fiber than the fruits and vegetables," she said, adding that fruits and veggies are of course still important.

She said berries tend to be higher in fiber than other fruits because they contain seeds.

Make your grains wholegrain

Wholegrains such as oats, quinoa, wild rice, and wholemeal bread, are great sources of fiber, Leeming said. Opting for a wholegrain such as brown rice over its white counterpart is an easy swap that will up your fiber intake, she said.

"I absolutely love pasta. So I do wholegrain pasta," she said. Leeming also adds legumes such as beans or lentils to dishes to up the fiber content even more.

"I'm a really big fan of beans and lentils with tomato sauce and some green veggies or maybe a salad on the side," she said.

Sprinkle nuts and seeds on top of any dish

Sprinkling some mixed nuts and seeds over a dish is a quick way to add some more fiber into your day.

"You can add them to anything. It could be your breakfast in the morning, it could be a salad that you've just made," Leeming said.

Chia seeds and flax seeds are particularly high in fiber, she said. Chia seeds contain about 30 grams of fiber per 100 grams, and 20 grams of flax seeds provide about 6 grams of fiber.

Keep healthy snacks in your line of sight

Leeming also keeps a jar of mixed nuts by her kettle so that she can snack on them when she goes to make a cup of tea.

"The things that I want to eat more of, I keep in my line of sight. That just visually prompts you to go for them as a first step," she said.

• RFK Jr. was spotted wearing jeans and hiking boots in one of America's most exclusive gyms.
• His unusual workout gear reflects the contradictory nature of his persona and views, historians said.
• Showcasing his fitness at 70 helps to signal that his controversial views on health are legitimate.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. wants you to know that he's healthy, rugged, and has an Equinox membership.

Donald Trump's pick for secretary of Health and Human Services was spotted working out at the elite gym in Manhattan's swanky Hudson Yards wearing jeans and hiking boots, Page Six reported Sunday.

The 60,000-square-foot fitness complex contains both a saltwater lap pool and a heated outdoor pool, a sundeck, a restaurant, Pilates studios, and saunas. Membership costs $405 a month.

We can't know for sure why Kennedy chose that outfit, but consciously or not, it sends a certain message. The combination of denim and sturdy outdoor footwear against the backdrop of a luxury gym encapsulates his "insider-outsider vibe," which helps him to appeal to his varied audience, historians told Business Insider.

Many find it curious that Kennedy is aligned with discredited causes such as the link between the MMR vaccine and autism, while his assessment of certain health issues, such as the link between chronic disease and ultra-processed foods, seems sound. His gym clothing reflects this dichotomy.

Since the COVID pandemic, groups of people with seemingly opposing political stances have converged in unexpected ways. This includes libertarian conspiracy theorists, "crunchy" moms, and "manosphere" figures like Joe Rogan, whose views on some healthcare issues now align, Peter Knight, a professor of American Studies at the University of Manchester, in the UK, said. Kennedy, who is against fluoridated water, has promoted anti-vaccine conspiracy theories, and believes the Food and Drug Administration undermines public health, taps into all of these audiences, he said.

"This is the world that he's been moving in for a long time, and a lot of it is not preplanned, but there is an awareness of appealing to these different kinds of groups that have really come together since the pandemic," Knight said.

The 70-year-old is signaling that his brand of wellness works

Earlier this month, the swole 70-year-old shared a video in which he wore the same jeans-and-boot combo but was shirtless and flexing his muscles in an iconic body-building gym in Venice, California.

Promoting exercise — and showing off his own personal strength — is "absolutely" part of his political identity, Natalia Mehlman Petrzela, a history professor at The New School in New York City, said. It implicitly signals "the efficacy of his own unconventional ideas about health."

Other politicians, including Teddy Roosevelt, John F. Kennedy, and Jimmy Carter, used their personal exercise routines to convey their fitness for office, Mehlman Petrzela said.

"But in doing so at the age of 70, and so clearly to show off his looks as much as his health, he is almost painting himself as superhuman, able to transcend the traditional rules of aging," she said of Kennedy.

Sonya Abrego, a design historian specializing in the history of American fashion and an assistant professor at the Parsons School of Design, said the image of Kennedy working out shirtless was reminiscent of a 1980s or '90s action-movie hero.

"Like someone who just sprung into action, ripped off a shirt, and started lifting weights," Abrego said. "I mean, obviously it's showing off the way his body looks as an older person and promoting his ideas about health and diet."

The outfit evokes traditional, rural American masculinity

While jeans are ubiquitous today, they were historically worn by blue-collar workers and they're reminiscent of the American West when worn with cowboy boots and hats, Abrego said.

For someone of Kennedy's generation, jeans and cowboy boots could still be associated with "the kind of rugged masculinity" they exude, she said: "Something of an outlier, something a little bit rebellious, especially someone coming from an elite background that he comes from."

"He's rich and cool and aspirational enough to have access to elite circles, but still sufficiently a man of the people such that he seems out of place there," Mehlman Petrzela said of Kennedy's Equinox visit.

The choice to wear jeans could be read as him positioning himself as "more of an everyman" or possibly a nod to a more rural, traditional American masculinity, Abrego said. The hiking boots also signal his connection to the outdoors and environmental causes.

"He often just dresses like a typical politician in a suit," Mehlman Petrzela said. "So it does feel like an intentional break from how he presents publicly. It also sort of tracks with his unusual and often kind of inconsistent persona and ideals."

• Gut health is a key cornerstone of our overall health as it can affect many bodily systems.
• A diet high in fiber, fermented foods, and polyphenols can help support a healthy gut microbiome.
• Emily Leeming, a gut health expert and dietitian, sees her breakfast as a chance to boost her fiber intake.

A gut health scientist and dietitian shared the two breakfasts she often eats to help boost her gut microbiome.

Gut health is a key cornerstone to overall health because it is thought to influence everything from the immune and endocrine systems to the brain, Emily Leeming, a gut microbiome researcher at King's College London and a former private chef, told Business Insider. Experts consider a gut that contains a diverse community of microbes healthy.

What's great about the gut microbiome, the name for the trillions of microbes that live in the gut lining, is that what we eat shapes it, Leeming, who is based in London and the author of "'Genius Gut: The Life-Changing Science of Eating for your Second Brain," said.

Eating a diet packed with fiber, polyphenols — the compounds that contribute to the pigment in many fruits and vegetables — and fermented foods, can help those microscopic bugs thrive, she said.

Leeming sees her first meal of the day as a key time to boost fiber by adding some veggies or fruits if she's preparing something sweet. She also tries to get around 20 to 30 grams of protein in each meal, including breakfast.

"It's those simple small changes that we make on a regular basis that actually have the most impact," Leeming said.

She combines all those elements while making her meals taste great.

"Food has to taste delicious, otherwise life is sad," she said.

Roasted veggies and eggs on rye pumpernickel toast

Leeming is a big fan of pumpernickel rye bread as it's high in fiber. "For one slice, it's around seven grams of fiber," she said.

She loves to pair it with roasted vegetables and eggs. She places them all in a small oven dish and roasts them for 15 minutes at 392 degrees Fahrenheit.

"At the moment, I've been doing zucchini and baby tomatoes," she said, adding that she mixes in harissa and crumbles feta cheese on top.

At the end, she sprinkles some mixed seeds on top for added fiber and protein.

"What's really surprising to many people is that whole grains, beans, nuts or seeds actually tend to contain much more fiber than fruits and vegetables, although of course we still need to get fruits and vegetables," she said.

Overnight oats

Overnight oats prepared in batches are another breakfast favorite, Leeming said. She uses rolled oats and adds kefir, grated carrot, apple, blueberries, cinnamon, mixed nuts, chia seeds, and flax seeds.

Leeming's oats contain lots of gut-loving ingredients. Chia seeds feature about 30 grams of fiber per 100 grams, and berries tend to be higher in fiber than other fruits because they contain seeds, she said. They're also high in polyphenols.

She opts for kefir, a fermented milk drink, instead of yogurt because it tends to contain more probiotics, the good microbes.

• In 2018, Madalin Giorgetta was a fitness influencer with one million followers.
• She looked healthy online, but struggled to eat nutritious food in real life.
• After training as a nutritionist, she found ways to add more nutrients to the foods she loves.

In 2018, Madalin Giorgetta was an influencer with one million followers on social media, an ambassador for the clothing brand Gymshark, and the owner of a fitness empire. She embodied the curvy, muscular, beauty ideal of the late 2010s and would get 60,000 likes on a bikini photo shared on Instagram.

She looked the part of the "fitness girlie" who meal-prepped with "clean" food. But behind the scenes, she was struggling both with her nutrition and body image.

"Before I got into fitness, I didn't look at my body that much. My body was my body. But when I started constantly looking at it in the mirror and taking photos of it, I became very fixated on everything," Giorgetta, 35, who is based in Melbourne, told Business Insider.

After reaching a breaking point in 2019, Giorgetta reevaluated her content, which she realized subconsciously celebrated thinness. "It was clear to me that I was telling people that their body wasn't good enough and needed to change," she said.

Giorgetta took two big steps. She overhauled her social media accounts to promote anti-diet culture messages, earned an undergraduate degree in nutrition in 2023, and registered with the Nutrition Society of Australia. She sees one-to-one clients remotely and shares educational nutrition content on Instagram.

"Even though I don't make nearly the same money, not having to sacrifice my values feels good. Before I felt like I would have to really convince myself into it or not question it at all. This feels right now," she said.

Giorgetta shared how she used to eat when she was a fitness influencer and what her diet looks like now.

Giorgetta was a 'neglectful' eater

Despite looking the picture of health, Giorgetta said she ate barely any nutritious food at the peak of her career as a fitness influencer and didn't eat enough for her training program. In a typical week, she did resistance training four times a week for 45 to 60 minutes.

She described her eating style as "neglectful," with minimal structure and little focus on nutrition. "I would just grab something quick from the fridge, often preferring simple foods like cheese on toast," she said.

Although she promoted a lifestyle of eating more calories and more nutritious food online, she struggled to eat that way herself most of the time. As a result, she often felt tired and lacked energy.

On an average day, she used to eat:

• Post workout: A protein shake with milk, peanut butter, and banana
• Breakfast: Buttered toast with jam and honey
• Lunch: Snacks, such as cheese and crackers
• Dinner: Whatever her husband made, which was usually a Hello Fresh meal or a cheese toastie
• Dessert: Ice cream

She adds nutrients to meals and snacks she likes

Since training as a nutritionist, Giorgetta has prioritized eating a more balanced diet, but it's not "perfect."

She said that she implements strategies that help her get enough nutrients throughout the day, while working around her natural eating habits and preferences. She doesn't follow any particular eating plan.

"I often gravitate toward simple foods like toast with spreads, but now I've tried to implement small changes which don't overwhelm me," she said.

She eats a substantial breakfast, has nutrient-dense snacks, and adds extra protein or fiber to meals. "Instead of having toast with jam, I now have toast with eggs, and instead of a plain cheese toastie, I'll add salad," she said.

Giorgetta strength trains three to four times a week, but also runs once or twice a week. She fuels her body depending on the workout she's doing: for example, she eats a carb-heavy meal or snack before running.

On an average day, she now eats:

• Breakfast or post-workout: Buttered wholemeal toast with cheesy scrambled eggs and avocado
• Snack: Cucumbers and tzatziki dip
• Lunch: A salad sandwich with shredded cheese, lettuce, avocado, red onion, grated carrots, and garlic aioli
• Snack: Greek yogurt, canned peaches, and honey
• Dinner: Green tofu curry with mixed veggies (corn, cauliflower, and peas) and a side of rice
• Dessert: Ice cream or a homemade baked good

• Ulku Dogan had surgery to make her eyes blue after wearing colored contact lenses for years.
• Keratopigmentation involves making a channel in the cornea and placing colored dye inside.
• The procedure has gained traction online but isn't FDA-approved.

For 20 years, Ulku Dogan, a wealth advisor in San Francisco, wore colored contact lenses because she longed to have blue eyes.

Seven weeks ago, her dream came true when she flew to New York and paid $12,000 for surgery to permanently change her eye color from brown to blue.

"I feel confident, very happy. It is the best investment I've ever done for myself," Dogan, 49, told Business Insider. "I wish I had done this 10 years ago."

To change her eye color, Dr. Kevin Niksarli, one of a handful of ophthalmic surgeons in the US to offer cosmetic keratopigmentation, used a laser to poke two holes in her corneas, the clear, outermost part of the eye. This creates a channel that sits atop the colored part of the eye, which is then filled with dye.

Niksarli has been performing corneal laser eye surgeries for 30 years and started offering the procedure to patients in 2023. At his clinic, Manhattan LASIK Center, patients can choose from 11 shades, including emerald green, lagoon, and honey.

First, he colored Dogan's left eye. He let her assess it and asked if she wanted to make any changes to the shade before moving on to the right eye.

"I'm like, 'Doctor, can you go a little brighter?' And then he went a little brighter, and I loved it," Dogan said.

Though keratopigmentation is not FDA-approved, interest in the procedure is growing. In a medical context, it's used to treat patients with iris loss, damage, or trauma. But TikTok videos showing before-and-after images of patients who've undergone the procedure for aesthetic reasons have racked up millions of views.

Dr. Alexander Movshovich, who in 2019 became the first doctor to offer the procedure cosmetically in the US, saw 15 patients in his first year, he told The Wall Street Journal. He's now performed the procedure over 750 times, he told Ophthalmology Times.

"This procedure is safe and that was proven in the peer review literature," Movshovich told BI in an email, noting that people with chronic eye diseases would need to have an individual consultation to assess whether they would be a good candidate.

The American Academy of Opthalmology warns against cosmetic eye treatments

The permanent procedure is painless and fast, said Dogan, who experienced no side effects other than discomfort on the first night and some light sensitivity for a few days.

Some doctors, however, argue that there isn't enough evidence that the benefits of cosmetic eye surgery outweigh the known and potential long-term risks.

In January, the American Academy of Ophthalmology warned that keratopigmentation could cause infections, light sensitivity, and damage to the cornea that could lead to cloudiness, warpage, fluid leakage, or vision loss.

"Patients contemplating these procedures for cosmetic reasons alone must weigh these serious risks against the potential gain," the AAO said.

In a 2021 study published in the Journal of Cornea and External Disease, 12 out of 40 keratopigmentation patients experienced light sensitivity in the first month. Five said the pigment faded or changed in color after 29 months, and one who had previously had Lasik, a type of vision-correction surgery, developed corneal ectasia, a condition that causes the cornea to thin and bulge outward. All of the participants said they were satisfied with the cosmetic results.

"Personally, if it were me, I would rather use colored contacts for a cosmetic benefit instead of putting myself at risk of long-term side effects that we don't even know because research hasn't even been able to go that far," Dr. Julian Prosia, a board-certified optometrist in Canada, said in a TikTok video.

In a letter sent to the AAO in July, Movshovich and three other ophthalmologists who provide or research the procedure said that many of the possible risks listed on the AAO warning "have never occurred with keratopigmentation" and are "not founded on fact."

The AAO told BI that it stands behind the evidence provided. "Everything in life has some degree of risk, including getting out of bed in the morning. The question is how common, severe or reversible are the adverse outcomes compared to potential benefits or alternatives. The calculus for medical/therapeutic applications is completely different from that for cosmetic procedures," Stephen D. McLeod, CEO of the AAO, told BI in an email.

Dogan was willing to take the risk

Dogan had looked into iris implant surgery, in which an artificial iris made of silicone is inserted into a slit cut into the cornea and adjusted to cover the natural iris. But the procedure wasn't offered in the US at the time, and she deemed it too risky. In January, the AAO warned against iris implant surgery, which it said could cause permanent damage, vision loss, and glaucoma.

She hadn't heard about keratopigmentation until a trusted friend who's a plastic surgeon had the procedure.

"He got his eye colored, and I'm like, 'What else do I need?'" Dogan said. "It's confirmed results." She quickly booked an appointment with his surgeon.

Although Dogan was aware of the potential risks of the surgery, she chose to go ahead and is pleased with her results.

"When people ask me now, 'Do you have contact lenses?' I can say, 'No, these are my eyes,'" she said.

• More adults under the age of 65 are having strokes, according to the CDC.
• Actor Jamie Foxx shared on Tuesday that he had a stroke in 2023.
• To lower the risk of stroke, a neurologist advised stopping smoking, eating healthy, and doing daily cardio.

Jamie Foxx said that he had a stroke at the age of 55 last year, amid a trend of more younger adults experiencing the condition.

Strokes, which occur when a part of the brain doesn't have enough blood flow, are life-threatening and most common in older people. But strokes in people under 65 increased by around 15% in the US from 2011 - 2013 to 2020 - 2022, a CDC study, published May 23, found. This corresponds with a rise in cardiovascular risk factors such as obesity among younger, working-age adults, it said.

If brain cells go too long without oxygen, they die, which can lead to permanent damage and the loss of certain abilities like speech or sight, according to The Cleveland Clinic. That's why acting fast and educating the public about stroke risk factors are crucial, the study said.

The fifth leading cause of death in the US in 2021, stroke also cost the country about $56.2 billion between 2019 and 2020, according to the CDC.

In his Netflix comedy special "What Had Happened Was," which premieres Tuesday, Foxx, now 56, said he was hospitalized after complaining of a bad headache and passing out while on set. He said he was unconscious for weeks and couldn't remember 20 days during that period. The stroke was caused by a brain bleed, he said.

It's unclear what contributed to Foxx experiencing a stroke.

Researchers are working to uncover what's behind the uptick in strokes among younger adults, but possible factors could include pollution and stress, Dr. Neshika Samarasekera, a clinical neurologist, researcher, and senior clinical lecturer at the charity Stroke Association, told Business Insider.

While stroke can affect anyone at any age, there are things you can do to lower the risk, she said.

Stop smoking

"Firstly, if you're smoking, stop," Samarasekera said.

Smokers are around three times more likely to have a stroke than non-smokers, and twice as likely to die from a stroke, according to the Stroke Association. This is because tobacco smoke contains thousands of harmful chemicals that, when inhaled, enter the bloodstream and damage cells all around the body.

Smoking can reduce oxygen levels in the blood, increase blood pressure, trigger atrial fibrillation, a type of irregular heartbeat, raise levels of 'bad' cholesterol, and raise the risk of a blood clot, according to the charity. These are all known stroke risk factors.

Some risk factors, such as age and genetic disposition, are out of our control so it's important that we try to reduce the ones we can control, Samarasekera said.

Eat five portions of fruit and vegetables a day

Eating a healthy diet can help reduce stroke by keeping risk factors under control.

Samarasekera recommended eating five portions of fruit and vegetables a day, with a focus on colorful vegetables such as broccoli and carrots, which are packed with antioxidants.

There's evidence to suggest that inflammation plays a role in causing stroke, and "antioxidants, put simply, help to mop up that inflammation," she said. They are also nutrient-dense and contain dietary fiber.

The American Heart Association recommends limiting ultra-processed foods, alcohol, and foods with lots of added sugar and salt.

Get your heart rate up every day

Samarasekera said that ideally, everyone should aim to do 30 minutes of moderate exercise that gets their heart rate up each day.

"Something that does visibly increase your heart rate, be that brisk walking, be that running," she said.

Aim to up your heart rate in a "graded way," she said: "you don't want people going from zero to really pushing themselves."

Doing 30 minutes of exercise five times a week is thought to reduce the risk of stroke by 25%, according to the World Stroke Organization.

This is because it plays an important role in reducing several stroke risk factors, including hypertension, diabetes, and cholesterol.

The AHA recommends at least 150 minutes of moderate physical activity or 75 minutes of vigorous physical activity a week.

• Science-washing is when a company markets itself as science-backed without proper research.
• Some companies attach doctors to a product to give it credibility or cherry-pick research.
• A nutritionist who works in the industry explained how to notice these tricks.

A nutritionist who works in the food industry broke down the marketing tricks companies use to make them seem more grounded in science than they are.

The global wellness industry is now estimated at $6.3 trillion, giving companies lots of incentives to draw in consumers even if the science behind their products isn't solid — a process called science-washing.

Emily Prpa, a nutrition lecturer at King's College London who also works in the food industry, described them in a call with Business Insider.

Trick 1: Skipping proper research

Prpa said the first thing you should do when deciding if a product is worth buying is check if the company is doing its own research.

Firsthand research is expensive, and companies often cobble together existing studies to back up their products.

For example, they could cite the benefits of individual ingredients without actually assessing whether the combination in their product is effective.

This is especially prevalent with greens powders, which contain lots of different vitamins, minerals, and probiotics.

"A lot of the time, I see that they have vitamins and minerals that compete for the same absorption channel, so actually you're not going to be getting the exact dose that they say you will on the packet," she said.

Companies can also cherry-pick which studies they include, she said, ignoring unfavorable research.

If a company has funded independent clinical trials to test their product, they're likely to make that clear on their website, Prpa said. "They'll often be very proud to state that because it's giving them that distance and showing that this isn't biased."

Trick 2: Flashy endorsements

Sometimes a company will attach a doctor or other professional to a product. They might bring them on as a scientific or medical advisor or publicize that they endorse the product.

This can give the consumers the impression that the company is credible, but that's not always the case, Prpa said. "Does that product really hold up to the claims on the website?"

It isn't necessarily a red flag if a doctor is the face of a product, Prpa said, but that alone does not mean a product has health benefits.

"You are not buying the medic as your private consultant, you are buying a product," she said.

Trick 3: Promises that sound too good to be true

It sounds simple: if a product is marketed as a fix for stacks of health problems, it's probably overpromising.

"I don't know a product or an app on the market that can simultaneously lower blood sugars, improve sleep, improve cognition, and focus," Prpa said. "If it is sounding too good, it probably is."

• Looking after our musculoskeletal health can help us stay strong and active as we age.
• Dr. Vonda Wright is an orthopedic surgeon specializing in healthy aging.
• She lifts heavy weights and does a weekly jumping practice to age well.

A muscle and bone doctor who specializes in healthy aging shared her weekly workout routine, which helps her maintains strength and mobility as she ages.

Dr. Vonda Wright, 57, is a Florida-based, double-board-certified orthopedic surgeon, who helps elite athletes, including Olympians and World Rugby Sevens players, optimize their performance.

In our 30s and 40s, we naturally start to lose muscle mass, which is crucial for continuing to do everyday movements, such as standing up from a chair. The process picks up between the ages of 65 and 80.

It's important to stay active to prevent our bones and muscles from weakening, and those who lead a sedentary life with eventually lose strength and balance and start to topple over or shuffle when they walk, Wright told Business Insider.

Around 12% of US adults older than 50 have osteoporosis, and 43% have low bone mass, a precursor to osteoporosis, according to the National Center for Health Statistics. But exercising greatly decreases the risk, Wright said

"Musculoskeletal aging and healthy aging is a lifelong pursuit," she said. "Just show up every day for yourself."

The "critical decade" for people to start developing habits that will allow them to live healthy, active lives into old age is between the ages of 35 and 45, said Wright, the author of "Fitness After 40,"

"70 to 80% of how we age is due to the lifestyle choices," Wright said.

With that in mind, she exercises five to six days a week, including cardio and strength training.

Powerlifting

Wright recommends that everyone learns to lift weights to build and maintain muscle mass.

She is a fan of powerlifting, which consists of deadlifts, bench presses, and squats. She does four sets of four reps of each and ensures she challenges herself with heavy weights.

"I can do four with good form. I'm exhausted. I may be able to do five, but I cannot do six. If I can do that, it's too light, and I need to go up," she said.

Alongside these, she does some accessory lifts, which are targeted at individual or smaller muscle groups, typically focusing on her biceps, triceps, lats, and deltoids. She does four sets of eight reps.

Running with the 80/20 rule

When it comes to aerobic exercise, Wright follows the 80/20 rule, meaning she does low-intensity training, also known as zone 2 training, 80% of the time and high-intensity training the remaining 20%.

Research suggests this approach builds endurance and improves cardiovascular health.

"For everyone, the very beginner runner to the most elite athlete, longer runs where you're maintaining a low heart rate are really beneficial for building aerobic endurance," Dr. Morgan Busko, a sports medicine physician at NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia University Irving Medical Center, previously told BI. "By running slower for longer periods, you're setting yourself up to be able to run faster."

Wright typically runs on a treadmill for 45 minutes at about 60% of her maximum heart rate, and twice a week, she ends with some speed training. She sprints as fast as she can for 30 seconds four times.

"When you sprint like that and you really push yourself, no matter what age you are, you kind of feel like a badass," she said.

Jumping practice

To maintain bone density, everyone needs a jumping practice, Wright said, particularly if you sit at a desk all day. This can be jumping off a box, jumping rope, or even running up the stairs hard, she said.

She does box jumps between lifts twice a week and gets up from her desk and jumps up and down 20 times during the day. "My patients are used to seeing me jump around," she said.

In a 2009 study published in the journal Sports Health: A Multidisciplinary Approach, Wright and her colleagues measured the bone density of 560 senior athletes with an average age of 65.9. They found that those who did high-impact sports, such as volleyball, basketball, and running, had the highest bone density.

When a person has low bone density their risk of breaks and fractures, as well as osteoporosis, increases.

• Townsend Davis and his wife had been married for 10 years when she was diagnosed with Alzheimer's.
• He told The New York Time's Modern Love podcast he started a relationship while caring for his wife.
• Davis said his new partner felt like an interloper at first, but now the "unorthodoxy" is normal.

Townsend Davis, who lives in Brooklyn, New York, and his wife Bridget had been married for a decade when she was diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer's in June 2015.

She was 51, Davis told The New York Times Modern Love podcast.

Nearly 10 years after the diagnosis, Davis started a new relationship with another woman while still caring for his wife. Now, the three of them are navigating an unorthodox life together.

Early signs of memory loss

Davis first noticed something was off in 2013 when Bridget, who was typically organized, started having trouble managing her calendar.

He told the podcast she missed appointments or forgot playdates for their two kids. Her cognition continued to deteriorate and she was diagnosed with early on-set Alzheimer's in 2015.

Alzheimer's is a progressive disorder that affects a person's memory, thinking, and behavior. Around one in nine Americans over 65 live with the condition, but cases in people under 60 are rare.

Around 200,000 Americans are estimated to have early-onset dementia, according to a 2024 report from the Alzheimer's Assocation.

By May 2022, Davis said Bridget confused him for their female housekeeper. "She was not seeing me as her husband," Davis told the podcast.

Shortly after Bridget was diagnosed, she told Davis she wanted him to meet someone else.

He never considered it until he met Deb seven years later.

Seven years into Bridget's diagnosis, Davis met someone

When Davis met Deb, a friend of a friend, he told her that he wasn't dating, although he was lonely.

He told the podcast he was still living with Bridget, but she needed full-time carers who came to the house day and night.

Deb and Davis started hanging out as friends and texting. "I was like, 'Wow, this is fun.' I forgot what this feels like," Davis said.

After a couple of months of "non-dating dating," Davis and Deb's relationship became romantic.

Davis felt "alive and electrified" by the new relationship and said caring for Bridget and dating Deb at the same time was easier than he'd thought.

Davis told the podcast, "I can still do her pillbox. I can still talk to her. I can still hold her hand, do all the things that we do. And I was like, maybe this can work."

Three months later, he told Bridget that he had a new partner but would stay married to her and look after her "until the end."

He said he was unsure if she fully understood but responded, "I think that's a good idea."

Deb found their relationship hard at times

That year, Davis brought Deb to the family Thanksgiving. Bridget was there with her carer and their two sons, William and Teddy. Deb told Davis afterward that she felt like "an interloper."

"She just had these feelings of trespassing on our family tradition," he said. Deb had said she was OK with not getting married, but after Thanksgiving, she admitted the situation was difficult, and their romance felt limited.

"I tried to reassure her," Davis said.

All 3 adults plan to live in the same apartment building

Since that dinner, Bridget and Deb have spent more time together, and their unusual setup seems to be working. "That lack of orthodoxy seems to be something that is very routine for us," Davis said.

Bridget now lives in an apartment in the same building as Davis, who lives in their original place. Davis said that while Deb helped move Bridget, his wife told his new girlfriend she was "a good person."

Davis told the podcast that Deb plans to move in with him after they renovate the apartment to make it feel like a new home.

"I can't imagine my life without either of them, really, at this point," Davis said.

• Preventive health tests that bypass a person's regular healthcare provider are a growing market.
• This trend made a Business Insider health reporter fear she was unknowingly unhealthy.
• A buzzy health test gave her the all clear but felt like a waste of money.

It was a Friday afternoon in London's financial district, and I was standing barefoot on a scale, blood freshly extracted from my arm.

I'd just spent £65, around $80, at a private clinic on a buzzy preventive health test to check my heart health, diabetes status, blood, inflammation level, and body composition.

I stay on top of health trends as a reporter at Business Insider, and, despite being only 27, I'd become increasingly paranoid about the poor health indicators you can't see, such as high cholesterol or visceral fat, which surrounds the organs and increases the risk of heart disease, cancer, and type two diabetes.

The rise of wellness culture, preventive medicine, longevity treatments, and misinformation on social media made knowing how to care for my health confusing. I might be eating lots of fiber and vegetables, but am I spiking my glucose levels too much? And is my gut microbiome diverse enough? I work out, but is my VO2 Max high enough? Is my muscle-to-fat ratio OK?

Adding fuel to the fire, as a health reporter, I'm also acutely aware of the unavoidable elements of modern life that can impact our health. From the ultra-processed foods linked to 32 health problems that make up 73% of the US food supply to the endocrine-disrupting microplastics that have been found all over the human body to how sitting at a desk all day can increase the risk of early death.

It feels like there's an endless list of bodily systems and functions to consider, and all of this culminated in a quiet but persistent voice in my head that worried, "Even though I seem healthy on the outside, am I really?"

To soothe that anxious voice, I booked an appointment with a company that provides a wide range of direct-to-consumer health tests, which can be done at home or in one of their clinics. These are widely available in the UK, where healthcare is free at the point of delivery via the National Health Service, and in the US and other countries.

I chose the most basic in-clinic test because it was the cheapest option, and I've struggled to take my own blood at home. But there was a similar general at-home health test that cost $82.

Such at-home and clinic-based direct-to-consumer tests, which involve little or no involvement from a healthcare professional, are becoming increasingly available — with the market forecast to be worth $2 billion by 2025, according to a 2023 research letter published in JAMA Internal Medicine. While such tests provide accurate results, experts say it's debatable whether they are useful for the average consumer or feed on health anxiety.

Healthcare companies are capitalizing on the boom in at-home testing

Since COVID, interest in health and wellness has skyrocketed. The global wellness industry is now estimated to be worth $6.3 trillion, up from $4.2 trillion in 2018, according to a report issued this year from the Global Wellness Institute, and it has become more common to do health tests at home.

"We all got quite used to testing ourselves regularly, and now we think, 'OK, so if I did it for that, why not for other things?'" Annette Plüddemann, a senior research fellow at the Center for Evidence-based Medicine at the University of Oxford, told Business Insider.

Companies have jumped on the bandwagon because there's money to be made, Plüddemann, who studies the evidence for diagnostic tests and technologies and whether they provide health benefits, said.

With a quick Google search, you can find tests for almost anything and get them delivered straight to your door. Meanwhile, luxury longevity-based healthcare companies such as Canyon Ranch in Arizona offer in-depth diagnostic testing retreats costing $20,000 for four days. And luxury hotels such as One&Only, Four Seasons, and Six Senses are adding these services to their offerings.

The test results were reassuring, but I felt like I wasted my money

A few days after I had my blood taken, my height, waist, and hips measured, and my body mass weighed, I received an email with a 15-page report detailing my results. I was relieved to learn that there was nothing to be concerned about. My good cholesterol was slightly low, as was my platelet count, but that was all.

I also had a remote appointment with a doctor from the clinic to discuss my results, and she assured me that my health was good overall. Essentially, no notes. That cost me another £60 (approximately $76).

I did feel reassured, and in all honesty, it has squashed my worries. So I am happy I did it.

But I questioned if I had wasted my money as a young, fit person. I paid $156 to have tests that I didn't need, to ease anxiety created by the idea that knowing for sure would make me healthier.

The noise around preventive medicine made me think that regular exercise, good sleep hygiene, and a healthy diet weren't enough.

I may have felt differently if the results were concerning.

More testing isn't necessarily better

People tend to think that tests can only do good, but unnecessary health testing can actually be harmful, Plüddemann said. Results can be inaccurate, leading to a false sense of reassurance or misdiagnosis, and when done outside a clinical setting, you don't always have a doctor to contextualize the results, she said.

Plüddemann added that despite the notion that tracking all of our health markers will lead to longer, better lives, there's good evidence to suggest that general health checks don't necessarily improve a person's health outcomes.

"Whether people have been either given a health check or not, overall, hasn't meant they necessarily live longer or better lives," she said.

In a 2023 study published in the journal BMJ Open, researchers in Australia looked at 103 types of direct-to-consumer tests and 484 individual products ranging in price from 13 Australian dollars ($8.44) to $AUS1,947 ($1,264). The researchers found that 11% of the tests were likely to benefit most consumers.

The authors wrote for The Conversation: "Direct-to-consumer tests might seem like a good idea, but in most cases, you'd be better off letting sleeping dogs lie if you feel well or going to your GP if you have concerns."

Testing when you have symptoms, are at risk for a certain condition, or are following population-wide medical advice like getting a colonoscopy from the time you're 45 is important and can be life-saving.

But getting tested when I had no reasonable basis for worrying about being unhealthy felt like it was more beneficial to the company's health than mine.