No, Karen at HR Doesn't Know Your Cholesterol: How to Sort Real Health Advice From Well-Meaning Nonsense

Last month a patient told me she'd started taking three new supplements because her CrossFit coach 'swore by them.' The month before, someone else told me his HR department's wellness portal diagnosed him with prediabetes based on a five-question quiz. And at nearly every family gathering, someone tells me about the cure-all their cousin found online.

I'm not annoyed by any of this. Honestly, I get it. Health information is everywhere, appointments are short, and co-pays add up. But here's the thing: not all advice is created equal, and some of it can genuinely set you back. So let's build a filter together.

The Three Questions That Change Everything

When someone hands you health advice—whether it's a trainer, a coworker, or your Aunt Deb—run it through these questions:

1. Do they know your specifics? Your kidney function, your medications, your family history, your last labs? If not, they're guessing. A great tip for a healthy 25-year-old can be genuinely dangerous for someone on blood thinners.

2. What's in it for them? Coaches selling supplement lines have an incentive. So do influencers with affiliate links. That doesn't automatically make them wrong, but it means you should slow down.

3. Can they tell you the downside? Every real intervention has one. If someone promises a benefit with zero risks, zero side effects, and zero tradeoffs, they're selling you something, not informing you.

The Usual Suspects, Ranked

Let's be fair to the sources, because some are better than others.

Your workplace wellness program. Step challenges? Great. Free flu shots? Take it. But be wary of any program that involves biometric screenings followed by a hard sell, or health 'coaching' from a vendor your company hired to cut insurance costs. Some are staffed by real clinicians; others are basically a quiz with your data attached.

Personal trainers and coaches. A good one is worth their weight in gold—for movement, form, and programming. The moment they drift into hormones, medications, or supplement protocols, that's outside their lane. The best trainers I know say 'ask your doctor about that' constantly. That's a green flag.

The relative who 'does their own research.' Research isn't reading headlines or watching a documentary. It's reading actual studies—ideally lots of them, ideally with an understanding of how the evidence stacks up. Loving your family doesn't mean adopting their supplement stack.

Social media. Some physicians and pharmacists post excellent, accurate content. Plenty of others are cosplaying expertise. Credentials matter, and a medical license is easy to verify.

When the Weird Advice Is Actually Worth Keeping

Here's my honest admission: sometimes the non-doctor in your life catches something I'd want to know about. Your spouse notices you snore like a freight train. Your trainer spots that your left knee tracks differently. Your sister mentions everyone in the family has had their thyroid checked except you.

That's not medical advice—that's observation. And observations are gold. Bring them to your appointments. 'My partner says I stop breathing in my sleep' is one of the most useful sentences a patient can say to me about sleep apnea screening.

A Simple Rule of Thumb

If the advice is about habits—more walking, better sleep, more vegetables, less alcohol—it's usually low-risk and worth trying. If it's about interventions—supplements at specific doses, medications, protocols, fasting regimens, hormone anything—that's where you want a professional who can see your whole picture.

Habits are rarely harmful. Interventions can be.

And if you're not sure which bucket something falls into? That's exactly what the patient portal message function is for. Send it to us. We'd rather answer ten 'is this legit?' questions than untangle one bad outcome from a supplement your coach recommended.

Your people love you, and most of them mean well. But loving you and knowing your labs are two different things. Keep the first, verify with the second.