Almost every day I read about the latest health hack, miracle diet (carnivore is currently the one trending), or some influencer spending millions to try to “reverse” their biological age. It seems to me like most of these things I read about would eventually suck the joy directly from your life and dollars from your wallet like some hungry vampire.

I see so many people on my social media feeds now participating in the “90-day carnivore challenge”. I like steak, butter, and eggs as much as the next person but to eat these things exclusively, on a day-to-day basis, sounds like the perfect recipe for misery to me. I like big hunk of crusty bread, chocolate, fresh vegetables, and pasta way too much. I also really enjoy a beer or glass of Cabernet with dinner.

A steady stream of diet and health fads pretty much have always existed in each generations’ cultural zeitgeists for a reason—they make people crazy rich. Really, who doesn’t want to live a longer life and avoid chronic illness? I’ve lived through the calorie-counting craze of the 70’s, low-fat diets in the 80’s, Atkins and Keto diets in the past two decades.

As humans we're always looking for that single simple solution to improve the quality of our lives with as little effort on our part as possible. People are constantly in search of someone who appears to have all the answers even if, deep down inside, we realize isn’t much new under the sun. Once a person is completely captured by one of these miracle fad diets it can become a cult-like obsession, some people even resort to arguing and trying to convert the uninitiated. I've seen many instances of this on social media.

Time dutifully cranks out an endless supply of eager customers looking to reclaim the vigors of their youth. When we think of the big picture, who wants to live a formulaic, meticulously measured, highly-restrictive life and what value is there in it? Another question, is this really living?

I have one rule in life, trust but verify, and once you start to stumble down this path of verification when it comes to longevity, there’s usually one thing all the fads have in common—a small group of folks making a big pile of money.

For example, the Blue Zone Diet books have had an extremely long and successful run but even this philosophy is beginning to show its cracks and wrinkles. A growing group of critics are claiming the entire Blue Zone Diet concept is flawed, driven by bad data.

Every generation falls into its own particular trap believing they’ve found a miracle cure-all in regard to wellness. Given enough time these so called cure-alls are usually revealed for what they really are and fade into nothingness.

After delving into Gabor Maté’s book, The Myth of Normal I’m beginning to believe that prioritizing our own happiness is one of the most important things we can do. Happiness is one true life hack that moves the wellness needle significantly in the right direction despite other factors. Of course, diet, genetics, and lifestyle play a role but when studying larger groups who are living healthier and longer lives there are a few things they have in common:

Of all of the ills of modernity I think taking ourselves too seriously ranks high atop the list. There’s far too little emphasis being given to that last bullet point in our modern world—joy/happiness/optimism. These three simple things seem to be in such short supply today.

So many people in our modern world are continuously seeking but it seems like very few of them are actually finding lasting happiness. Maybe it’s just we’re looking in the wrong places?

Maybe there more truth in that old saying laughter is the best medicine than we ever realized.