I’m going to say something that might get me kicked out of the "wellness" club: I am officially bored of data.
I’m tired of seeing plates of food broken down into percentages. I’m tired of apps telling me I’m "low on potassium" while I’m literally enjoying a beautiful meal. We’ve turned the act of nourishing ourselves, something humans have done instinctively for thousands of years, into a data entry job.
In 2026, the real "superfood" isn’t a powder or a pill. It’s Intuition.
The Death of the "Spreadsheet" Diet
For the last few years, we’ve treated our bodies like machines that need the perfect "code" to run. We track every macro, every gram of sugar, and every calorie burned. But a machine doesn't have a soul. A machine doesn't have a "favorite" meal that makes it feel safe.
When we look at nutrition through a screen, we lose the sensory joy of eating.
- We stop smelling the garlic and onions sautéing in the pan because we're too busy scanning the label on the olive oil.
- We stop tasting the crunch of a fresh apple because we're worrying about the fructose.
Real nutrition is messy. It’s about a stew that’s been simmering all afternoon. It’s about the crusty bread your neighbor baked. It’s about the way a warm bowl of soup feels when you have a cold. An algorithm can’t feel that, and it certainly shouldn't be in charge of it.
The "Grandma Test" for 2026
If you want to know if something is actually "wellness," stop looking at the barcode. Use the Grandma Test.
Look at your plate and ask: "Would my great-grandmother recognize this as food?"
- The Lentil Stew? Yes. That’s iron, fiber, and history.
- The "Engineered" Protein Cookie with 24 ingredients? No. That’s a chemistry experiment.
We’ve over-complicated things to the point of exhaustion. Humans didn't evolve to eat "bio-available isolated soy lecithen." We evolved to eat plants, animals, and grains that grew in the dirt.
Why "Shared Joy" is a Macronutrient
There is one nutrient that no app can track: Connection.
In the world’s "Blue Zones", the places where people live the longest, they aren't all eating the same diet. Some eat high carbohydrate, some eat high fat. But they all do one thing: They eat together. They sit at long tables. They talk. They laugh. They drink a little wine. They aren't checking their watches to see if they’ve hit their "protein window." They are feeding their nervous systems with safety and belonging. In 2026, I’m making that my #1 health goal.
3 Human Rules for the Week
If you’re ready to "un-track" your life, try these:
- The "Eyes-First" Rule: Before you take a bite, look at your food. Notice the colors. Smell it. Give your brain 10 seconds to realize you’re about to eat. Your digestion will literally work better.
- Delete One App: Pick the one that makes you feel the most guilty. Delete it. Try eating for 48 hours based only on your physical hunger.
- The One-Ingredient Shopping Trip: Try to fill your cart with things that are the ingredient (carrots, eggs, rice, beans) rather than things that have a list of ingredients.
The Takeaway: You are more than a metabolic rate. You are a human being with a culture, a history, and a set of taste buds that deserve to be excited. Let’s stop "hacking" our dinner and start enjoying it again.
