There’s a particular kind of tiredness that comes from trying to be healthy. Not the tiredness of a long hike or a day spring cleaning, but the mental fatigue of constantly navigating a world that makes health feel like a full‑time job. It’s the exhaustion of being told that wellness is simple;
“Just eat better, move more, stress less”…
..while living in a system that makes all three of those things surprisingly difficult.
Trying to be healthy today means reading ingredient labels and carrying an invisible checklist everywhere you go.
What am I eating?
Is it organic?
Is it ultra‑processed?
Is it inflammatory?
Is it going to wreck my sleep?
Will it spike my blood sugar?
Should I be keto, low‑carb, Mediterranean, carnivore, plant‑based, or some hybrid that requires a spreadsheet and a degree in biochemistry?
And feeling health-guilt for not doing enough, not knowing enough, not being consistent enough, even for not caring enough. Feeling guilty when your husband says, ‘am I allowed to eat that?’ in case you’ve become dictatorial. It’s absurd, but it’s a fact that we are living in a culture where health choices have become moralised. You’re not just making simple food choices, you’ve been weighed in the balances and found wanting.
People who say “just follow the science” don’t actually agree on what the science says. One expert says seed oils are fine; another says they’re the nutritional equivalent of lighter fluid. One says red meat is a carcinogen; another says it’s the most nutrient‑dense food available. One says fasting is dangerous; another says it’s the key to metabolic repair.
All of them are absolutely certain they’re right, and have YouTube followings to prove it.
There may be science [somewhere] to show how a plant-based diet/carnivore diet/low-histamine diet/paleo diet is the right way to eat for better health. But in all this food noise, we have to make a decision that is right for us.
I hold that there are certain facts that are unassailably true: butter is better than margarine, ultra-processed food is not really food and should not be consumed on a regular basis if at all, and sugar in all forms can be a threat to health.
Apart from that I am cautious to make sweeping statements about eggs, milk, meat and specific vegetables [ever since I heard a nutritionist say a boy with allergies got better when he gave up broccoli! I thought broccoli was a superfood…]
The truth is that being healthy shouldn’t be this hard. Humans managed it for most of history without apps, macros, trackers, or influencers. But Western society has created a mismatch between what our bodies need and what our environment provides. We’re swimming against the current, and then being blamed for not swimming fast enough. And yet, despite the exhaustion, people keep trying. They keep experimenting. They keep learning. They keep listening to their bodies. They keep searching for what actually works for them rather than what they’re told should work.
Maybe that’s the real health-journey today; not perfection, not purity, not adherence to a protocol, but persistence. The willingness to keep going, keep adjusting, keep paying attention, even when the whole thing feels like a slog.
Because underneath the fatigue is something else: a quiet refusal to give up on yourself and let ‘Big Food’ win….
