What it takes for me to approve someone's health strategy.
And how you can do it yourself.
Hello friends,
Lately, I’ve been reflecting on the quiet assumptions we make when it comes to our health—the ones we don’t even realize we’re making. We follow routines, take advice, buy products, and build habits that we hope are helping. And sometimes they are. But other times… they’re just things we keep doing without stopping to ask why. I’m here to illuminate inconsistencies in our thinking.
As I get closer to launching my book, Health Shift, I keep coming back to this idea: that one of the greatest gifts we can give ourselves is the ability to pause, reflect, and redirect to make better health decisions—not based on fear, habit, or hype, but on clarity, alignment, and insight.
This article touches on one of the quiet patterns I often see that we can all relate to. A well-meaning soul starts the day with a handful of supplements—maybe a multivitamin, something for energy or their immune system, and a fruit-and-vegetable blend or smoothie that promises to fill nutritional gaps.
They tell me it feels like an act of self-care, a bit of insurance to make up for skipped salads, takeout dinners, and late nights. Because we often disregard our health needs because life is busy, supplementing seems reasonable to keep our health balanced and prevent future health issues.
Then, they often pause to see if I agree. Their stance looks almost defensive, and I sense that they really don’t want to hear my answer.
In these situations, I find myself speechless. Do they really want my answer?
Usually not— they want my affirmation. So, I’m writing this article to refer to these well-meaning individuals. I write this with respect to your freedom to choose whatever you think is best for you… but also with a call to question.
Happy Tuesday, health heroes! And welcome to another edition of Health Shift. Let’s dive in!
Health choices are rarely questioned. We assume they’re helping. We assume they’re safe. We assume they’re better than doing nothing.
Maybe they are, but how do we know? We rarely slow down to ask ourselves what we don’t know about what we’re implementing. We trust we know enough. But do we?
Could this supplement interact with medications? Could it be redundant—or worse, harmful—when layered with something else we’re taking? Is it actually addressing a need in our body, or just permitting us to keep doing the things that led to the need in the first place? What if it’s doing nothing at all - is a more logical answer?
I imagine that most of the time, the consequences of minor health choices aren’t dramatic. If we take a supplement or try a new health intervention, we may never see a significant negative impact, or associate it with the said intervention, even if we had one. But these random interventions may add up financially, physiologically, and psychologically over time. We spend more, expect more, and sometimes improve very little. Often, the risk is less about danger and more about misplaced confidence. We might be aiming at the wrong health target without even realizing it.
That’s the challenge with health decisions: we often act based on what we can see without realizing how much we can’t.
I want well-meaning individuals who justify their health promotion interventions to dive into the unknown before deciding to take supplements or try diets - it’s a simple act of questioning. When we make decisions—whether about supplements, medications, or any intervention—we usually don’t question. But it’s in the blind spots and unknowns that the most insight—and the most significant opportunity for better outcomes—can be found.
That’s where curiosity, self-awareness, and a dose of health humility come into play. The goal isn’t to become an expert in everything.
It’s recognizing that we don’t know everything and staying open to learning what we’re missing.
After embarking on a supplement regime or other health intervention, one way to check if it’s genuinely impactful is something I’m a big believer in: auditing your health interventions.
Most of us make health decisions with emotion baked in. We take something because we’re afraid of what might happen if we don’t. We follow advice because someone we trust swears by it. We start something new and then never really revisit it—we just keep doing it.
An audit is a simple way to check in with ourselves. No spreadsheets are required, just an honest moment to ask:
🍃Is this still helping?
🌱Am I doing this because it aligns with what I know to be true—or because of something someone told me once?
📝Do I have any evidence that this is working, or have I just assumed it is?
🌵If I stopped doing this for a few weeks, would anything change?
💔Am I doing this out of fear, habit, logic—or something else?
This doesn’t mean tossing out everything that doesn’t produce a measurable result. Some things—like massage, breathwork, or prayer—are incredibly valuable for calming the nervous system, even if they don’t “fix” a condition directly. Their value is in how they support your inner environment, your stress response, and your sense of groundedness. That’s a legitimate reason to keep them.
But the point of the audit is to become conscious again, to shift from auto-pilot to awareness, to stop assuming and start noticing.
Health isn't just about what we do—it's about why we do it. Sometimes, the biggest breakthroughs come not from adding something new but from stepping back and seeing what no longer makes sense.
The Problem with Assumptions (and the Temptation of Easy Answers)
We live in a culture that rewards speed, certainty, and “quick fixes.” When you’re handed a supplement at the health store, talked into the latest diet trend, or prescribed medication in a rushed appointment, it’s easy to assume:
This must be good for me.
I need this or else…
If it helps others, it’ll probably help me.
What’s the worst that could happen?
But here’s what we don’t usually ask or think about:
Do I really need this?
What’s the downside?
Could I do other things that are more holistic and potentially helpful?
What are the downsides of this?
Could this be taking the place of something better?
Did past generations need to take this, too?
Supplements are just one example, but I think it’s important to recognize that most of our health decisions, small or large, have unknowns. We don’t know—and that’s the point. Instead of pretending certainty, we need to practice some other things: health humility with curiosity grounded in logic.
The Role of Health Humility
It’s hard to admit what we don’t know; sometimes, we don’t want to know or are impatient and want to move forward despite what we don’t know. I think this is one of the biggest challenges we face today: We don’t practice health humility, which is recognizing we don’t know everything and then asking more questions. We must admit we have a lot to learn, and there are some things we don’t know, but we can try and learn enough to know enough. It also means sharpening our discernment.
“I don’t know everything about how this will affect me—so let me pause. Let me look. Let me ask.”
When we do that, we shrink the unknown and become the kind of people who make smarter, more strategic health decisions.
Questions to See What You’re Missing When Making a Health Decision
Here are some questions to help you illuminate what you might not know in the moment of a health decision:
💡What do I know about this solution, and what might I be assuming?
🥅What’s my goal—and is this the only (or best) way to get there?
🔦Could someone else see something I’m missing?
✨Am I reacting emotionally or deciding with intention? And how do I know this to be the case?
🪺Who is situated to profit from this decision?
🪴What else am I currently doing or taking that could impact this choice?
✍🏼How do I know this will help?
🏔️What would the future look like for me if I made this choice?
🌻Is this really necessary for my overall health?
These are just a few questions that can help us discover the unknown. They require curiosity. And that one shift in mindset—from passive acceptance to thoughtful exploration—can change everything.
From Unknown to Empowered
So, my answer will always ultimately be a question for those of you looking to me to affirm your supplement regimen or any other health decision.
Have you taken the time to ask the right questions and explore the reality? Is there something you don’t know and are assuming? Is there another way? Why do you think this is the best solution?
At the end of the inquiry, you may end up with the current protocol or choice, but that’s because you have thought through the unknowns and can feel confident that you are making a solid choice.
The more questions we ask, the more we start to uncover the unknowns, open the window, and let a little light in. I’m also happy to help anyone sort through those questions—I’m here for you.
But I have confidence in you. You read through this article, so I know that you will ask enough questions and get to the heart of it so that you are confident in your choice without assuming.
In good health,
Dr. Alice
✨
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A little more about Dr. Alice Burron and Strategic Action Health:
Dr. Burron is a co-founder of Strategic Action Health, dedicated to helping organizations help their employees make better health decisions. Come check us out here!
Catch us on Instagram: @the.health.navigator and @dr_burron
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Health Shift: Your Strategic Guide to Making Strategic Health Decisions book will officially launch on May 17, 2025! Mark your calendars! And if you’re in Cheyenne, join us for our party at Blacktooth Brewery. Have a beer on us! More information is coming soon.