Saturday 7

Published: Sat, 12/13/25

Updated: Mon, 12/15/25

Good morning!

Here's your Saturday 7 roundup!

🥩 What is moving in opposite directions:

An overweight patient asked me about my diet. I said it's a lot of red meat. She said that's a recipe for diabetes.

But the #1 risk factor for diabetes is overweight/obesity.

And over the last 50 years:
• Red meat consumption is down 40%
• Obesity is up 300%

So if your hypothesis is that red meat causes diabetes, but red meat consumption is inversely correlated with its #1 risk factor, then you may need to revisit your hypothesis.

🤒 How to stay healthy:

Here's your "Stay Healthy Starter Pack" during cold season.

Medicine Cabinet: This medicine cabinet helps prevent sickness.

I like to combine this medicine with as much sun exposure as the weather and my schedule allows. And with the recent snow fall in St. Louis and a crazy end-of-year schedule I've been supplementing with red light.

I've been using it for over a year now. Research continues to mount showing how red light therapy helps almost everything—from burning mouth syndrome to hair loss. (r)

Take a listen to this new podcast on the science behind photobiomodulation and add this to your Christmas shopping list.

P.S.

Just in case, this is the secret to clear a stuffed nose. I posted this 3 years ago to the day, and every year since it starts getting a lot of new views at this time of year, nearly 1M in total now.

📆 When to get ready:

Red meat. Red light. Ready...

The New Year is just a few weeks away. This is one of my favorite times. I love end of year reviews and new year planning.

Right now I'm reviewing my 2025 Challenge. The first half of the year was an A+ but the second half I give myself a C. So now I'm seeing how I can implement my learnings, the good and bad, what worked and what didn't, to be more effective in 2026.

I'm also gearing up for my new 2026 Challenge. It's crucial that I start preparation in December so I can take off on January 1. More info on this Challenge coming soon...

If you have 2026 goals that you want to accomplish, now is the time to set them and prepare. If you have health and fitness on that list, check this out, because the time to start getting ready is now.

💡 Are you successful:

I had a revelation. Maybe it's obvious. But try this. Ask yourself,

"Am I successful?"

If you answered, "No," or any variant of "I'm not sure," then you're missing just one or two things. And no, it's not money or a relationship.

If you answered, "Yes," without hesitation, then you almost certainly have both of these things.

The revelation I had is that success requires 2 things:

Success requires that you Define it.
Success requires that you Live in congruence with it.

First, "success" can ONLY be defined by you.

Imagine working hard, accumulating accolades, wealth, status—having it all—but throughout you struggle and finally look around and realize that you're unfulfilled because you lived out your parents' or society's definition of "success" and not your own.

What looks like success is actually failure.

The only way to be successful is to take the personal responsibility to define what success means for you, and then have the courage to live in congruence with what you truly value.

🧠 What quote I've been thinking about:

"You are the author of your own life, and it’s never too late to replace the stories you tell yourself and the world. It’s never too late to begin a new chapter, add a surprise twist, or change genres entirely."

– Tim Ferriss, on success