The Habit Healers

Every week, Chef Martin Oswald and I go live on Substack to dig into one concept and build a meal around it. This week, Martin did something I hadn’t seen before. He set out five items on his counter. A pumpkin, a jar of miso, a handful of blueberries, a potato, and a single leek. Then he asked a question that reframed how I think about plant diversity. You’ve heard the recommendation. Eat 30 diff...

In 2018, researchers at MIT published a study in Science that tracked how different types of information move through social media. They found that false and emotionally charged content spread roughly five times faster than accurate information. That number came up in my monthly conversation with Dr. Jud Brewer, a psychiatrist and neuroscientist who specializes in anxiety and habit change. Jud has...

In 1983, your cell phone weighed two pounds, cost four thousand dollars, and could only make calls. And strangely enough… it may have been better for your brain. In this episode, I explore how we traded a heavy, inconvenient tool for a featherlight slot machine — and why that design shift quietly rewired our attention, our posture, our sleep, and our relationships. I explain the neuroscience behin...

Chef Martin Oswald and I filmed this live from two different continents (he was in Austria, I was in the U.S.) and we spent over an hour fighting technical issues before we actually got the thing to work. So if you watched live and stuck around through all of that, thank you. Genuinely. Once we got going, we covered three things. The dirty dozen. The clean 15. And then a conversation Martin wanted...

Why can a 150-pound man develop Type 2 diabetes… while a 300-pound man does not? For decades, we were told a simple story: gain weight, get sick. Stay thin, stay safe. But that story falls apart the moment you look at real patients. In this episode, I walk you through the concept that changed how we understand diabetes: the Personal Fat Threshold. I explain why the issue isn’t how much fat you car...

Chris Miller MD and I went deep on this one. We sat down for a Friday live and covered something that gets overlooked in the constant noise about macronutrients, protein targets, and which diet trend deserves your attention this week. We talked about the micronutrients that actually keep your brain and body running, the ones most people never test for, and what happens when they quietly fall short...

In this week’s live session, Chef Martin Oswald pulled back the curtain on something most people never think about: calorie stacking. It’s the way traditional cooking piles fat on top of fat, layer by layer, from the oil you sauté in to the cream in the sauce to the cheese on the finish. By the time a plate of pasta or a restaurant entrée reaches your table, those invisible layers can easily add u...

What happens if you stretch for just three minutes every morning for two weeks? Not an hour. Not a hot yoga class. Not a heroic “new year, new me” overhaul. Three minutes. In this week’s Habit Healers Live Lab, I share what actually changed in my own hip after seven days of micro-dosing mobility — and why biology responds to consistency far more than intensity. We treat stiffness like a project th...

In this episode of "Learn My Lesson," I had the pleasure of speaking with Dr. Jake Goodman, a psychiatrist and the writer behind the "Mental Health Movement" Substack. Dr. Goodman shared his inspiring journey into medicine, detailing his early aspirations, the challenges he faced getting into medical school, and his eventual specialization in psychiatry. He also discussed his personal experience w...

I get referred patients regularly because I practice what people call “holistic medicine.” And the story is almost always the same: they’ve been through conventional medicine, they keep getting more prescriptions, their numbers may look fine on paper, but they don’t feel any better. Sometimes they feel worse. There’s a lack of vitality that nobody seems to be addressing, and nobody is asking why ....

Watch the full live cooking session with Chef Martin Oswald in the video above. Recipes for the creamy tofu scramble, tofu medallion with lupini bean cake, and peanut butter chocolate mousse can be found here. Join us in the Habit Healers Skool community where Chef Martin and I work together to bring culinary medicine and healing habits to you live every week in our exclusive community. Most peopl...

You’ve seen the headlines: “Drug cuts heart attack risk by 50%.” It sounds dramatic. Reassuring. Urgent. But in this episode, I show you exactly how that single percentage is designed to mislead you. I break down the difference between Relative Risk and Absolute Risk — and why one makes for great marketing while the other tells you what actually matters to your life. We walk through real numbers t...

This article is based on my conversation with Chef Martin Oswald , author of the Chef Martin’s Healing Kitchen Substack , this is day 6 and the finale of the first-ever Brain Health Substack Summit, hosted by The Habit Healers . If you missed Day 1 of our Brain Health Summit with Julie Fratantoni, PhD you can watch it here . We discussed how to exercise your brain day to day. If you missed Day 2 o...

This article is based on my conversation with Chris Miller MD , author of the Chris Miller, MD Substack, this is day 5 of the first-ever Brain Health Substack Summit hosted by The Habit Healers . Click here to join, our final conversation tomorrow with Chef Martin Oswald and we will dive into all the delicious recipes he created for each of our Brain Health Substack Summit panelists. If you missed...

This article is based on my conversation with Dr. Dominic Ng , author of the Brain Health, Decoded Substack, this is day 4 of the first-ever Brain Health Substack Summit hosted by The Habit Healers . Click here to join tomorrow for Brain Health Substack Summit Day 5 with Chris Miller MD , where will discuss the brain and inflammation. *Our final conversation will be on Saturday with Chef Martin Os...

This article is based on my conversation with Jud Brewer MD PhD , author of the Inside the Curious Mind Substack and the book, Unwinding Anxiety among others, this is day 3 of the first-ever Brain Health Substack Summit hosted by The Habit Healers . Click here to join tomorrow for Brain Health Substack Summit Day 4 with Dr. Dominic Ng If you missed Day 1 of our Brain Health Summit with Julie Frata...

In this episode, I’m unpacking a new warning that caught a lot of people off guard: a late-2025 conference abstract suggesting long-term melatonin use may be linked to higher rates of heart failure and worse outcomes . The headline is scary, but I’m going to walk you through what it actually means, what it doesn’t prove, and why this one study raises questions that a single abstract can’t answer....

This article is based on my conversation with Annie Fenn, MD , author of the Brain Health Kitchen Substack and cookbook, this is day 2 of the first-ever Brain Health Substack Summit hosted by The Habit Healers . Click here to join tomorrow for Brain Health Substack Summit Day 3 with Jud Brewer MD PhD . If you missed Day 1 of our Brain Health Summit with Julie Fratantoni, PhD you can watch it here...

This article is based on my conversation with neuroscientist Julie Fratantoni, PhD, author of the Better Brain by Dr. Julie Substack, as part of the first-ever Brain Health Substack Summit hosted by The Habit Healers . Click here to join tomorrow for Brain Health Substack Summit Day 2 with Annie Fenn, MD . In the late 1990s, I was sitting in a pharmacology lecture during my first weeks of medical...

Thank you Marg KJ , Afsi , Lydia R , Tony , and many others for tuning into my live video with Chef Martin Oswald ! This week on Habit Healers Live, Chef Martin and I turned brain science into brain food, literally. Inspired by Dr. Dominic Ng ’s recommendations for the Brain Health Substack Summit happening next week, Chef Martin prepared two stunning salmon dishes designed to preserve omega-3 fat...

In this episode, I’m digging into a question that sounds almost absurd until you look at the data: why is pickleball—arguably the “sweetest, safest-looking” sport in the park—sending so many people to the emergency room? Pickleball looks harmless. The court is small. The serve is underhand. The ball is basically a wiffle ball. And yet, ER records tell a different story: fractures (especially wrist...

Thank you Marg KJ , Afsi , Sherrie McGraw , Eve Franco , Tony , and many others for tuning into my live video with Chef Martin Oswald ! Brain Food That Actually Tastes Good: A Feast for Your Neurons (and Tastebuds) We went live today from Las Vegas to Vienna, and if you missed it, you missed a masterclass on how to turn “medical advice” into a culinary masterpiece. We are gearing up for the Brain...

In this episode, I’m sharing a movement that looks a little ridiculous… but tells you a lot about your body in seconds: the duck walk —walking forward while staying in a deep squat. I take you back to where it actually came from: not fitness, but medicine. In the 1950s, orthopedic surgeons used the duck walk as a quick stress test for knee problems—especially the meniscus—because deep bending unde...

Thank you Rod Miller , Afsi , Diane J Jacobs , Ann Therriault , and many others for tuning into my live video with Chris Miller MD ! You Are Only as Old as Your Endothelium We often ask, “How is your blood pressure?” or “How is your cholesterol?” But when was the last time anyone asked you, “How are your blood vessels?” In this chat, Chris Miller MD and I stop looking at the heart as just a pump a...

Thank you Cindy Chance , Marg KJ , Afsi , Cathy Moffitt Boyd , Denise Tarasuk , and many others for tuning into my live video with Chef Martin Oswald ! We have a massive announcement! We are thrilled to officially announce the upcoming Brain Health Mini Substack Summit , a mini Substack summit taking place the last week of February (Feb 23rd - 28th) . I think this will be the first of its kind! (P...