⚡ 6 Wellness Trends Making You Weaker

The Miss: Artificial sweeteners like Splenda and Equal promise zero calories, but studies have linked them to metabolic issues, gut health problems, and potential cardiovascular risks. You're trading sugar for uncertainty.

The Fix: Monk fruit. It's a natural sweetener with zero calories, no blood sugar spike, and no concerning health studies—unlike artificial options.

The Catch: Pure monk fruit is 100x sweeter than sugar, so it's blended with fillers. Many brands use erythritol, which carries its own cardiovascular concerns. Read the label.

The Winner: NatureBell Monk Fruit with Allulose. Allulose is a natural, ultra-low-calorie sugar without the erythritol risks. It's a 1:1 sugar replacement (1 tsp = 1 tsp sugar) that works in coffee, baking, and cooking. No aftertaste like stevia. No suspicious ingredients like erythritol. Just clean sweetness. Not a paid recommendation—we tested several brands and this one won.

Other Options: Taste is personal—Lakanto, Whole Earth, and Pure Monk are other popular alternatives. Try a few and find what works for your palate..

The Mettle Take: Read the label. The blend matters more than the brand name on the package.

Details that do more.

The Story: Frank August launched in 2022 and has quickly carved out space among modern Kentucky bourbons. Each batch blends 10–15 hand-selected barrels from an undisclosed Kentucky distillery—tight control, small scale, and serious quality. In 2025, it earned a 98-point rating at the IWSC, one of the year’s highest for bourbon.

The Pour: 100 proof. Caramel and vanilla lead, followed by butterscotch, honey, cinnamon, and a flicker of red fruit. Mid-palate spice and subtle oak keep it balanced. Smooth for the proof, finishing medium-long with a clean sweetness that pulls you back in.

The Move: Drink it neat or over one large cube. This bourbon’s balance is the whole point—sweet enough for newcomers, complex enough for enthusiasts. Don’t bury it in cocktails.

The Mettle Take: Modern classic energy. Around $70 retail—but we found it at Costco for under $50. Only a few bottles on the shelf, and distribution there isn’t wide. If you see it, buy it. No gimmicks, no allocations, no hype—just a capable, well-built bourbon that’s quietly earning its reputation.

Not the bottle they expect. The one they remember.

The internet's obsession with optimization has created a minefield of bad advice disguised as health hacks. Here are six popular "healthy" habits you should quit immediately.

Turning Everything Into Protein Yes, protein matters. But if your entire diet is shakes and bars, you're throwing off your nutritional balance. Your body needs carbs, fats, and fiber too. Supplement your protein bars and shakes with real, whole foods. Clean eating beats macro-obsession every time.

Treating Self-Improvement Like a Full-Time Job Mental health awareness is good. Constantly diagnosing yourself with disorders you read about on Instagram is not. When every mood gets pathologized and every behavior gets analyzed, you lose perspective. Sometimes a bad day is just a bad day.

The "No Days Off" Grind Rest isn't weakness—it's when your muscles actually grow. Pushing through without recovery leads to injury, burnout, and ironically, worse results than if you'd just taken the damn day off. Elite athletes rest strategically. You should too.

Waiting Until You're Hungry to Eat Hunger cues aren't reliable, especially with medications, stress, or inconsistent schedules. Skipping meals leads to energy crashes, poor focus, and binge eating later. Eat on a schedule—every 2-3 hours—whether you feel hungry or not.

Detox Cleanses and Metabolism Resets Your liver and kidneys already detox your body 24/7. Juice cleanses and colon flushes just spike your blood sugar, drain electrolytes, and stress your system. Want to actually support your body's detox systems? Drink water, eat fiber, sleep well, and hit the sauna.

Skipping Sunscreen Social media influencers are warning about "dangerous chemicals" in sunscreen, but skin cancer rates keep climbing. UV damage is cumulative and irreversible. Sun exposure without protection ages you faster than anything else. Use broad-spectrum SPF daily. Not negotiable.

Health isn’t complicated. The Internet just makes it that way.