Unlock Your Health Potential
Faizan Ahmed 
The Curdling Myth I Finally Looked Into Properly My aunt told me when I was 12 years old that drinking milk and then eating oranges immediately freezes in my stomach and makes me sick. He said it with such conviction, in the same tone he used to use for really important warnings, that I adopted … Read more
What I Found Out When My Wife’s Heartburn Got Worse Sometime in the ninth week of pregnancy, my wife developed a real passion for oranges. Sometimes I don’t feel that way. She really wanted, sometimes two or three at a time, to gather quickly at the kitchen counter to prove a habit she couldn’t describe … Read more
What I Found Out After Blaming the Wrong Fruit for Years For almost two years, I silently blamed oranges whenever my stomach felt stiff and bloated after eating. I would often eat an orange in the afternoon, almost as a reaction, and when I felt bloated later that day, the easiest thing to do was … Read more
Introduction I’m Faizan Ahmed, and picking oranges when my throat hurt was such a deep family reaction that I kept it with me until adulthood without ever questioning. This logic seemed undeniable to me: vitamin C helps with immunity, malts contain vitamin C, so malts treat sore throats. Then I noticed a consistent pattern — … Read more
Introduction For about a year, I started most mornings with an undisputed healthy habit: a large glass of orange juice first. I’m Faizan Ahmed and I write about health, which makes it even harder to think that the glass in my hand might be the problem. Then I spoke to my GP due to a … Read more
Introduction For most of last year, my workout routine remained the same for most weeks: nothing from Monday to Friday, then long walks or compressed gym sessions between Saturday and Sunday. At first I felt a little guilty about it, because online fitness content usually makes you feel like you don’t do something every day. … Read more
Introduction For a few months, my evenings followed a predictable pattern. At lunch I would eat a large bowl of fruit or a fruit-rich smoothie, feel great for about 40 minutes, and then drop hard until 2:30 p.m., irritable and unable to focus on anything that really requires attention, even on days when nothing else … Read more
Introduction Three summers ago, during a heat wave that brought our apartment close to the greenhouse, I drank iced coffee as if it were the only thing that kept me standing. By the third week of that summer, my stomach was constantly uncomfortable, I couldn’t sleep well, and a friend who had come from Pakistan … Read more
Introduction After so much research and writing about the side effects, gastroparesis, trials, and warning updates coming years after Ozempic patients, I had quietly assumed that I had already stopped writing about the drug. Then, a Stanford study appeared in my feed that made me stop scrolling. The headline said that researchers point to a … Read more
Introduction My GP read my cholesterol number in the same nonchalant, nonchalant tone he uses for most things, but I noticed that he paused and then said, “Nothing concerning, but I should be vigilant.” This kind of phrase sticks with you longer than a dramatic warning, especially since it gives you a chance to act … Read more