Dear Wildling,

The basics are why Elon Musk has done what he has done with SpaceX and Tesla. He calls it First Principles thinking, a way of reasoning that focuses on the bare essential knowns of a problem, topic, subject, etc.

Regarding Health, First Principles thinking allows you to safely ignore the majority of new health claims, research, books, etc., that come out daily. And that’s good because most of it is noise and will confuse the typical person.

I have a gripe with most health/nutrition-related research because it is lacking and downright wrong at worst. The reason for this is simple: you can’t lock humans in a cage and control every aspect of the environment.

So any research done in humans—you know, the ones that smoke, sleep more or less, move more or less, eat this or that, have x genetics, have X stress, and lie on tests and polls and questionnaires—is absolutely and unequivocally unable to prove causation. Yet you see, the media pick up studies, which are nothing more than HYPOTHESIS (this is science, after all), and use research to make all kinds of bold, attention-grabbing claims. Instead, we focus on the First Principles of Human Health, which are rooted in certain things we KNOW FOR SURE.

Building on this foundation means most people can achieve as much as 99% of their goals. Could you keep it simple and focus on the basics? I recorded a short solo podcast that covers these. Check it out here. These foundational principles should be the base of any health program.

Yours in Health,

Colin Stuckert,​Founder/CEO, Wild Foods Co