A blog by
Michael Butler

About me

I am comfortable in a range of scientific disciplines, thanks to broad-based formative training and business experience.  I’ve worked in ecological monitoring, environmental risk, and human health assessment in the context of pharmaceutical drug and microbiome product development.  The details may be found at my LinkedIn page.

In 2017 I was diagnosed with advanced heart disease.  This serious condition developed despite my following contemporary diet, exercise and medical guidelines, and advice from my doctors.  Subsequent research led me to surmise that whilst I may have been genetically predisposed to a risk of heart disease, it manifested itself because of poor nutrition.  I looked healthy on the outside, but I was sick on the inside and decided to understand my own health more deeply. Since my retirement in 2020, I have broadened my research into the effects of nutrition and lifestyle on human health and longevity.

Author’s thoughts

Three themes have dominated my life for as long as I can remember and shaped how I behave and think.  These are a desire to understand the world around me, my enjoyment of physical exercise, and a deep connection with nature.

How does that work?

Wanting to understand how things work began in my childhood as I roamed around exploring the hills of Scotland and has persisted through each stage of my life.  As a teenager I spent long hours helping my father in his automotive repair business, I dedicated my 20s to university (when I occasionally studied), and then embarked upon a decades-long fruitful career managing science-based businesses around the world.  Consequently, I now believe that a motivated individual can gain at least a basic knowledge of any subject if they take their time and stick to understanding broad principles that have the greatest impact.

Exercise is a brain tonic

Physical exercise was a prerequisite to my early life in Scotland wandering around the countryside and growing up in an athletic family.  I persisted later in life through team sports, trail running and now mountain biking and weight training.  From my earliest days I knew I felt better when I exercised.  The real revelation came to me later when I found myself able to solve previously intractable problems as I ran or cycled, so much so that on my busiest days I could barely wait until I could hit the trails, lose myself in the moment and experience the rush of new ideas presenting themselves.

Nature is like chicken soup for my soul

I’ve always been attracted to the natural world and have shied away from living in cities, or at least have ensured an easy escape route.  I’m especially attracted to old forests and unspoiled seashores.  There is something just right about those places that I’m comfortable not being able to describe.

Don’t sweat the details, just get started

This blog is intended for a motivated lay person to explore how nutrition and lifestyle are fundamental to longevity.  As I draw upon my experience, I hope to apply certain principles that will help my family and friends to understand how they can help themselves.  These are:

• Each of us is quite unique and we should try to understand what works individually.  There is no silver bullet solution, no one-size fits all (diet or pill) for human health

• Good health starts with acknowledging that we are dependent upon beneficial microbes

• Our specific need for nutrition and lifestyle will change as we seek a life well lived

• A healthy diet includes nutrition of different types, great diversity, and adequate density

• A healthy lifestyle includes good sleep, exercise, intermittent fasting, and spending time in the natural world

• Consistency of healthy behaviour will result in the most benefit

• Human health and environmental health are inseparable

• Many diseases are improved or eliminated with nutrition and lifestyle

• Each of us is extraordinarily sophisticated and flexible if we care for ourselves