Can't Keep Up With Wellness Trends? What An Integrative Doctor Actually Recommends To Get Healthy
When I meet someone new in the wellness world, the first question is often the same: what peptides are you taking? My answer is none, and it's not because I'm opposed to them. I just haven't identified something I'm trying to solve. When I brought that up with Keshav Grover, D.O., M.S., an integrative medicine physician and author of the book Wellness Bridge, he told me that was the exact principle he was taught in his fellowship, and that it applies to a lot more than peptides.
Grover trained at the Andrew Weil Center for Integrative Medicine, and his core tenet has stuck with me since we recorded: what is the least number of interventions we can input into the body to have the maximum effect?
It's a simple question, but it cuts against a lot of what wellness culture rewards right now.
The problem with health maxxing
Grover and I talked about Bryan Johnson, the tech entrepreneur known for his exhaustive personal health regimen. Grover didn't put Johnson down—he made it clear that he respects his effort—but he wants people to recognize that Johnson's approach is a highly specific case study, not a template for how most people should live.
That's the tension right now. Wellness culture has made it feel like more is always better: more supplements, more testing, more interventions stacked on top of each other. Grover's training pulls in the opposite direction, toward figuring out the smallest, most targeted thing that will actually help your body do what it already knows how to do.
Applying that to peptides
Peptides are a good test case because they're everywhere right now but, as I mentioned, not everyone needs them.
Grover walked me through what he calls hia "peptides 101." He described them as short chains of amino acids, some of which have been part of medicine for a long time, like insulin and collagen. GLP-1 medications like semaglutide and tirzepatide fall into this category too.
Then there are the stacks people talk about constantly online. The "Wolverine stack" combines BPC-157 and TB-500, which are both associated with tissue repair and inflammation. The "Glo stack" includes GHK-Cu, a copper peptide, sometimes with KPV added in.
Every intervention, as he put it, has to be matched to the right lifestyle and need, so Grover made sure to flag some caution points. People with precancerous lesions should be careful with peptides that increase VEGF, a growth factor involved in building new blood vessels. "You don't want to increase blood vessels to a cancer or feed something that could turn into a cancer," he explained.
Sourcing matters too. He only uses certified pharmacies and distributors that provide a certificate of analysis proving the product's purity, and everything his practice uses is produced in the U.S.
The free test almost nobody bothers with
I asked Grover where he'd have someone start if they're serious about their health, and his answer wasn't a fancy panel. Before any blood work, he wants to know your vitals. He specifically mentioned blood pressure, which can prevent cardiovascular disease, the number one killer in the U.S. "You can even walk into your pharmacy and get that checked," he says.
From there, his clinic runs a broad baseline: a comprehensive metabolic panel, a complete blood count, thyroid, sex and adrenal hormones, a lipid panel, advanced cardiac markers, inflammatory markers, and micronutrient testing. He rechecks those labs every three to six months, and every 90 days if someone is on hormone replacement therapy or another active intervention. If he's tracking blood sugar, he watches hemoglobin A1c, which he described as the 90-day picture of your blood glucose, alongside a fasting insulin. Only after that does he even think about going deeper with an advanced stool test, a breath test for small intestine bacterial overgrowth, a DUTCH test for a closer look at hormones, or a mold test.
You might expect him to be a fan of the full-body scans, but he is more skeptical. "There are a lot of findings that are truly benign that come up and that cause anxiety for patients," he says, which then require follow-up for something with a very low likelihood of mattering. He'd rather see that effort go toward the things with more bang for your buck.
The gut check you can run yourself
The best example of Grover's philosophy toward less intervention came when we discussed gut health, because Grover's first move isn't a test at all. It's a list of questions you can answer on your own, in your bathroom, for free:
- Acid reflux — do you get it after eating?
- Bloating — does it happen, and if so, when?
- Abdominal pain — are you having any?
- Bowel movements — how often are you having one?
- Blood in stool — is there any?
- Feeling emptied — do you feel that way after a bowel movement?
- Float or sink — which does your stool do?
Answering these questions can give you clues as to what a $500 stool test might reveal, Grover says. He may still orders further testing to get more precise information and guide treatment, but a lot of what he learns about his patients comes from simply having a conversation.
Letting go of being the wellness police
Grover told me he used to be the "wellness police" in his own household. Every label had to be scrutinized. He'd even get on his parents' case about what they were buying at the store.
But, after watching people age well into their 70s, 80s, and 90s while still enjoying their lives, he started to rethink that rigidity. His view on alcohol shifted has also shifted. He noticed a period where the message online had moved hard toward zero as the only acceptable number, then went back through the research while writing his book. "If you don't drink, I'm not saying you need to start," he told me, but he sees value in is what happens at a table when people share a glass of wine over a meal together. The context is everything.
The takeaway
"If I can get somebody to feel 5% or 10% better, and then that can snowball into 20%, or 30%," Grover said. He's all about taking small, concrete steps that lead to meaningful change.
So, before you order the panel or buy the stack, check your blood pressure and answer his seven gut questions. No need to try every intervention at once.