A health & wellness podcast

For the people who stopped taking health advice at face value.

Long conversations with the doctors and researchers other shows won't book.

Top 10% on Spotify in 2024 & 2025.
Question the conventional.
Explore the unconventional.
Seek truth in health and wellness.
See who's been on
Look who's been in the room

Two dozen MDs, PhDs, and researchers have sat for the long conversation.

You'll know some of the names.

78+
episodes
20+
expert guests
Top 10%
on Spotify, 2024 & 2025
  • Dr. Peter McCullough
  • Dr. David Healy
  • Dr. Robert Lufkin
  • Dr. Joel Kahn
  • Nicolas Hulscher
  • Dr. Jack Kruse
  • Erwan Le Corre
  • Dr. Shawn Baker
  • Dr. Michael Twyman
  • Dr. Suneel Dhand
  • Dr. Renee Dufault
  • Dr. Charles Glassman
  • Dr. Michael Arloski
  • Dr. Stanley Ridgley
  • Bas Wouters
  • Sgt. Boone Cutler
  • Dr. Amy Loden
  • Dr. Lynn Fynn
  • Dr. Rachel Maurice
  • David Gruder, PhD

Episodes

The drug everyone's asking about
Ozempic episode: five doctors break down the GLP-1 drugs on the Healthy & Awake Podcast
Featured episode

Ozempic: 5 doctors, one supercut.

Five medical doctors on the GLP-1 drugs everyone's asking about. The mechanisms, the tradeoffs, and what the marketing leaves out.

Latest from the show

Follow on Spotify
  • From SEAL Team 6 to child rescue, with Craig Sawyer
  • The scientist who healed herself, with Dr. Dorinda Smith (Ep. 78)
  • 12 alternative cancer treatments, with Dr. John Catanzaro (Ep. 77)
  • Are we poisoning our pets?, with Dr. Judy Morgan (Ep. 76)
Mike Vera, host of the Healthy & Awake Podcast
Your host

Why these experts say yes to a long conversation.

I'm Mike Vera, a board-certified health and wellness coach (NBC-HWC) with a master's in exercise science. I ask the questions you'd ask if you had these people in the room, and I let them talk long enough to actually say something. No gotchas, no rage-bait. Evidence over authority.

The newsletter

Every episode, in writing. With the sources.

The claims, the evidence, the sources, in one place. Plus the deep dives the show only had time to scratch. Free, always.

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Quotes worth sharing

Quotes worth sharing
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  • "The biggest act of rebellion against the system is to try to be healthy." Dr. Suneel Dhand
  • "Doctors don't make me healthy. They just make me less sick." Dr. Robert Lufkin
  • "Western medicine doesn't hold the key to good health." Dr. Renee Dufault

Real quotes from the episodes. Each one links to where the guest said it. Shared for discussion, educational content, not medical advice.

Knowing better is the easy part.

I take on a small number of people through Avantia Health Optimization. Board-certified health coach (NBC-HWC), built around your situation, not a template. If the show resonates, this is the next step.