There's a guy I know here in Saigon.
He eats a croissant every morning. Sometimes a banh mi from the corner cart - the one with the questionable meat situation. He drinks on weekends and some weeknights. He smokes too. He does none of the things. No vitamins/supplements, no wearables, no “biohacking”. He does train regularly...
And he feels fantastic.
That's an expression of health - working exactly as it should.
Your body has reserves. Buffering capacity. The ability to absorb punishment and keep running. When someone eats garbage and bounces around with energy,that's the body doing its job well.
We have built-in detox systems running 24/7. The liver carries out hundreds of functions, including breaking down and neutralizing compounds that enter your bloodstream. The kidneys filter roughly 180–200 liters of fluid every day, carefully balancing what to keep and what to excrete. The lymphatic system helps clear cellular waste, your gut eliminates byproducts through digestion, and your skin plays a minor supporting role.
All of this happens continuously - no cleanse, juice protocol, or “detox reset” required.
That said, these systems do depend on basic inputs: enough protein, micronutrients, hydration, and overall metabolic health.
When those reserves run out is when people start googling symptoms at 1am.
Most people don't walk into the health rabbit hole because one day they feel so good they think "you know what, I should optimize."
That's not how it works.
You get in because something breaks. A number comes back wrong. A close friend or family member has a health scare. You hit 30, 35 or 40 and suddenly the hangovers last three days and you can't remember the last time you slept past 5am without waking up anxious. That's the door most of us walk through.
I did.
So did most practitioners I know.
We in the health world - coaches, practitioners, doctors - we sometimes get called out on this.
"You're so into health but you still have X." The implication being: if you really knew your stuff, you'd be immune.
That's the same logic as saying a car mechanic should never experience car problems.
Mechanics have car problems. Not zero problems - just a better shot at understanding them faster and fixing them without getting ripped off at a dealership.
That's the actual advantage.
Zoom out further.
Do cardiologists die of heart attacks? Yes. Do oncologists get cancer? Yes. Cancer and heart disease remain the top causes of death globally - including among physicians themselves. The knowledge doesn't grant immunity. What it potentially grants is earlier detection, better decisions at the margin, and less panic when things do go wrong.
Old age, sickness, death and loss. None of this is going out of fashion.
The goal was never to live forever. The goal is to feel good while you're here and to have some say in how the middle part goes.
So if you're someone who currently eats whatever, drinks, smokes and feels fine - good. (ignorance is bliss, enjoy).
Genuinely. That's your body doing what it's supposed to.
And if you're someone who started paying attention because something went sideways - also good.
That's awareness. The rabbit hole, for all its anxiety, may lead somewhere useful.
The mistake is thinking that obsessing over health equals health. It often doesn't. Fixation is usually a symptom, not a solution.
Think about what that actually looks like. Someone already living super high performance, high stress lifestyle - overscheduled, overcommitted, not sleeping enough, stressed out. They know they have to take better care for their health. And so their answer is to add a 5am run, cold plunges, a new supplement stack, and a guilt spiral every time they eat something "bad."
Or the classic: big night out, feel rough the next day, punish yourself with a brutal workout to "flush the toxins out." That's not recovery. That's just adding more stress to an already stress-flooded system.
More stress on top of stress doesn't cancel out. It compounds.
The body doesn't know the difference between running from a tiger and running at 6am because you hate yourself a little. It responds the same way.
The people I see thriving long term aren't the ones tracking every metric and "optimizing" their HRV at 5am. They're the ones who sorted out the basics, stuck to foundations that actually mean something to them, stopped worrying, and got on with living their life.
Does a so-called healthy lifestyle give you better odds? Statistically, yes.
Spiritually/Karmically? Not really. You can do everything right - or everything wrong - and you still have to let go of your expectations either way. There's something to be said for applying wisdom and compassion to everything and everyone - including yourself and your own body.
Healthy lifestyle gives you better odds but it doesn't give you immunity. The gap between "doing the basics" and "optimizing everything" is much smaller than the gap between doing nothing and just doing the basics.
You don't have to become a saint or a total health freak to know what matters to you right now. Which, if you've spent any time in HCMC, you know - takes some conscious work. Prevention is generally easier than the alternative.
The bloodwork markers guide below is for people in both camps.
If you feel great right now - use it as a baseline. Know your numbers while you're healthy.
You'll want something to compare to later.
If something's off - even if your last test came back "normal" - it'll show you what's actually worth looking at.
[Get the Bloodwork Guide - Free]