The Best Investment for Your Health in 2026
One of the ways I am trying to drive traffic to my blog is by subscribing to a reporter network called Quoted. Reporters in need of quotes from experts post their query to the website, which then blasts out the request to email subscribers based on whatever keywords you’ve selected.
I’ve replied to a few requests so far, although none of my insight has made it into print. Even though I am an expert, I lose out to replies from people with more authoritative health credentials. Of all the qualifications I’ve earned over the years, my personal training certification is the one I shouldn’t have let lapse.
In any event, here is a request I recently received via Quoted, and my response.
Request: Health and finance experts — What Is The Best $ You Can Spend On Your Health In 2026 To Save Healthcare Costs Later? …
Hi Bill,
The truth is that real health is free.
For example, look at GLP-1 medication, like Ozempic. The average cost even with insurance is over $300 per month. Natural substitutes exist that are free of charge and free of harm, but the pharmaceutical industry works hard to hide them.
In the early 2000s, drug company Amgen was conducting trials for synthetic leptin (hunger hormone) to develop a treatment to help people lose weight. Leptin is a hormone produced primarily by adipose (fat) tissue. It is released in proportion to the amount of body fat a person has. High leptin signals to the brain that the body has stored enough energy, and the hormone reduces feelings of hunger.
Then Amgen abruptly stopped running its trials. According to celebrity neurosurgeon Dr. Jack Kruse, Amgen abandoned synthetic leptin because 1) the company realized that if people understood the fundamentals behind how leptin worked, there would be no reason for the drug, and 2) it recognized that GLP-1 drugs would be far more luctrative than selling sun exposure, cold therapy, and ancestral diets aligned with your season and latitude.
Kruse noted that after Amgen terminated its leptin trials, drug companies rushed to patent medications that interact with cold receptors in the body: GLP-1 receptor agonists; and synthetic, longer lasting GLP-1 hormones.
Safer and Cheaper
Ozempic and similar drugs can have significant side effects. In addition to muscle loss, GLP-1 drugs can damage the retina, potentially leading to an eye disease called NAION. Artificial blue light exposure worsens the damage by raising blood sugar and insulin levels, accelerating eye aging, and increasing the risk of cataracts and blindness.
How about a better way to achieve the same results?
Morning sunlight exposure
Sunlight in the morning — a circadian reset — regulates metabolism by balancing cortisol, melatonin, insulin, and leptin, the same hormones affected by Ozempic. Leptin levels are meant to fluctuate diurnally — dipping during the day to encourage humans to forage for food, and peaking at night when the body is at rest.
Cold exposure
Cold exposure activates GLP-1 naturally by stimulating brown adipose tissue (BAT), which burns calories to generate heat. This process releases fatty acids and increases energy expenditure, which in turn causes the gut and pancreas to secrete more GLP-1. Cold exposure also activates the sympathetic nervous system, increasing norepinephrine levels, which stimulates GLP-1 secretion from intestinal L-cells and the pancreas.
Fasting
During periods of fasting or eating only in brief time windows, the body experiences changes in hormone levels that help regulate energy balance. The body adapts by increasing GLP-1 levels and becoming more sensitive to the effects of GLP-1.
It’s worth noting that artificial light and thermoneutrality (constant warmth) disrupt these natural processes and impair leptin signaling. The result is increased hunger, poor fat burning, and weight gain.
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The article that reporter Bill eventually published recommended spending money on health in 2026 on: consulting with a registered dietitian, contributing to tax-advantaged health accounts, and investing in meditation apps.
I think my submission was better.