Dr. Cindy’s Random Thoughts - Wellness Without the Obsession

There was a time when butter was bad, eggs were dangerous, and everyone proudly ate fat-free cookies while somehow gaining weight.

Then suddenly butter became healthy again, eggs made a comeback, and now half the internet walks around with a protein shaker bottle like it’s a designer handbag.

As someone who spent years in medicine and wellness, I’ve watched health advice swing back and forth like a tennis match. One decade we feared fat. The next decade we feared carbs. Now we fear seed oils, gluten, sugar, processed foods, and apparently not getting 147 grams of protein before noon.

Honestly, it can become exhausting.

Somewhere along the way, wellness stopped feeling healthy and started feeling stressful.

Don’t get me wrong — taking care of yourself matters. Moving your body matters. Strength matters. Feeling good matters. But there’s a difference between healthy awareness and turning every dinner into a chemistry experiment.

One week coffee is killing us. The next week it’s extending our lifespan. Eggs are in. Eggs are out. Butter is terrible. Wait — now European butter is practically a superfood.

Meanwhile, many of us grew up in the 1980s fat-free era, where grocery store shelves became filled with “healthy” low-fat snacks loaded with sugar and chemicals. Ironically, while everyone was avoiding butter, obesity rates continued climbing. It turns out replacing real food with highly processed “diet food” may not have been the wellness miracle we were promised.

Now we seem to be entering the era of wellness over-optimization. Every meal is tracked. Every step is measured. Every ingredient is analyzed on TikTok by someone wearing beige activewear and speaking in alarming tones.

At some point, wellness became less about living well and more about chasing perfection.

Personally, I think there’s something refreshing about returning to balance. Eat mostly well. Move often. Laugh more. Sleep. Play golf. Go to dinner with friends. Drink champagne occasionally without needing to “earn it” with a three-hour workout the next morning.

Health is important. But so is joy.

I’ve started to believe that some of the healthiest people are not the ones obsessively tracking every bite of food — they’re the ones who have learned how to live with a little more moderation, a little less fear, and a lot more fun.

Maybe wellness was never supposed to be this complicated.

Maybe it’s okay to eat the egg. Use the butter. Skip the protein math once in a while. And enjoy your life a little more in the process.