5HT: 5 Healthyish Things, including chicken quality and adult tummy time

Thanks to TikTok, tummy time is now trending for adults—and I am into it. 

According to Bustle, the idea first came from TikTok creator @chsnwhn, who called tummy time one of the best fixes for tech neck. It's gone viral since. So many of us spend our days at desks, in cars, and glued to screens, developing "tech neck,” tight hips, rounded shoulders, and compressed lower backs. 

The idea is tummy time (think sphinx pose in yoga) counteracts all of that by gently opening up tight areas around your spine and decompressing your lower back. Apparently, just 5-10 minutes in this prone position could help relieve tension, improve posture, and give your lower back a much-needed break from sitting all day.

Bonus: You can do it while journaling, reading, or scrolling 5HT. 😏 Win-win-win.

Worth saying I’ve found this pose isn’t great for me. 🙁 For one, I’ve got a big head (more than 8 pounds, is my guess), and apparently, my “spinal extensors are weak,” so it puts too much pressure on my upper back. It’s child’s pose for me.

There’s a growing push for what I’m calling “producer-direct food,” sourced straight from the farm, fishery, or field and sent directly to your doorstep. 🚚 It’s fresher, often flash-frozen or air-chilled. The meat is wild and lean. The seafood is lab-tested and microplastic-free. The produce tastes better. 

It’s a sharp contrast to the bland, shrink-wrapped, ultra-processed foods we’ve gotten used to. To me, this movement is a direct response to modern consumers losing trust in the industrial food system—and part of a broader cultural shift: People want to know where their food comes from, who raised it, and how it was treated. They want to cut out the middleman and vote for more transparency with their purchases.

Plus, when you buy from a producer-direct food brand, you’re not just buying food—you’re buying values. It becomes an identity thing. Like a wine club, but one that includes companies that do things like “wild-harvest Axis deer grazing on volcanic soils in Hawaii at night under stress-free conditions to help balance the population.”

Here are a few brands I’ve discovered that are rethinking how food gets to your plate:

🥬 Produce

• Misfits Market: Rescues organic produce and pantry items that would otherwise go to waste.

• Farm Fresh to You: Ships seasonal organic produce straight from a family-run farm in California.

• Local Roots: Delivers weekly shares of hyper-local produce and pantry goods from small farms in the Northeast.

🐟 Seafood

• Seatopia: Delivers microplastic-free, lab-tested seafood from regenerative aquaculture farms.

• Alaskan Salmon Company: Sources and ships wild-caught, flash-frozen salmon from sustainable Alaskan fisheries.

🥩 Meats 

• Lineage Provisions: Makes grass-fed organ meat snacks from regenerative U.S. farms.

• Maui Niu: Harvests invasive Axis deer to produce ultra-lean, wild game (I’ve written about them before).

• Crowd Cow: Sources and ships traceable, pasture-raised meat from independent U.S. ranchers.

• Porter Road: Offers hand-butchered, pasture-raised meat from small farms—shipped fresh, not frozen.

Okay, so technicallyyy, this producer-direct model isn’t new, it’s kinda old. Like early-1900s milkman old. In the 1910s, milkmen were delivering fresh bottles of milk from local dairies straight to people’s front doors—often in reusable glass bottles. In some ways, we’re just looping back—only now, the milkmen have websites, and we have smart refrigerators that tell us when our milk will expire.

Speaking of buying local, I recently heard Kevin Fishner, the owner of Radius (a very cool farm-to-table butcher and grocery here in Austin), share their learnings from trying to source the highest-quality chicken.

Now, I consume a lottt of chicken, but I never knew what all went into it. For example, did you know nearly all chicken 🐔 in the U.S. comes from the same breed: The Cornish Cross? It’s bred for rapid growth, but quality, slow-growth breeds like the Freedom Ranger and Hubbard Redbro typically lead to better flavor and texture. Who knew? I didn’t! 

But breed is just one piece. Chickens are raised in wildly different conditions, with various feed and processing methods—all of which affect the nutrients (or lack thereof) we put in our bodies. 

And then there are the labels—many of which are misleading:

• ❌ No hormones added (prohibited anyway)

• ❌ Natural / all-natural (never means anything, basically)

• ❌ Free range (doesn’t guarantee real outdoor access)

• ❌ Cage-free (applies more to eggs; most meat chickens aren’t caged)

• ❌ Vegetarian-fed (chickens are omnivores, lol) 

Sooo what chickens do you buy?

• ✅ USDA organic

• ✅ Air-chilled (sounds weird, but way better)

• ✅ Aged 8–10 weeks 

• ✅ Certified Humane/Animal Welfare Approved/GAP 

• ✅ No antibiotics added

That checklist is a great starting point, but as Kevin pointed out, most people will still reach for cheap, convenient chicken—even when they know what to look for. Then, with little incentive for farmers—who already earn very little—it’s tough to justify raising slower-growth breeds unless there’s consistent demand. 🙁

That said, things are shifting. More producer-direct brands are popping up because demand for more transparent and ethical food is growing! So maybe soon we’ll have nutrient-richer options that are better for our bodies, better for farmers, and better for the planet—without the steep price tag. 🤞

One last note: If you’re a sucker for rotisserie chicken (like me), know most are loaded with additives 👎. Whole Foods sells organic, air-chilled birds (for a premium). Costco’s has fewer additives (but still lacks transparency). Your best bet is getting pasture-raised rotisserie chickens from a local butcher or a co-op like Radius.

Friend Dan McCormick, who built the modern creatine brand Create, recently posted on LinkedIn that the #1 best-selling product on Amazon under “Sports Nutrition Endurance & Energy Supplements” is a creatine gummy… without creatine. 🤨

Apparently, he (and others) have actually tested the product and found <150mg per serving of creatine vs. the 625mg the label claims. He claims Amazon hasn’t responded to complaints. Based on the comments, it sounds like sus products exist in many supplement categories.

Yes, part of what makes Amazon so appealing is the endless options, but that also means endless knockoffs. You may not realize it, but Amazon is less “retailer” and more “marketplace.” For some stuff, it’s low risk. An Amazon Basics dumbbell? Probably solid. A stainless steel strainer from a brand you’ve never heard of? Probably fine. But if you’re putting something in your body, I’d go the extra mile to research and opt for brands you trust and recognize (like my suggestions for a basic supplement stack). 

And remember, best-selling doesn’t necessarily mean best.

Injectables might be the GLP-1 standard—for now. 

Rumor has it (thanks, the New York Times) that Eli Lilly is cooking up a game-changing GLP-1 pill called orforglipron. 💊 Eli Lilly expects FDA approval next year, and when it lands, I bet usage will skyrocket. Already, more than 1 in 10 U.S. adults have tried a GLP-1. Take away the needle? That number’s going way up.

Because here’s the thing: Pills are far more appealing than a needle for most people. Research shows up to 30% of people are afraid of needles 💉, and self-injecting has long been a hurdle—whether it’s managing diabetes, navigating fertility, or now, GLP-1s. TikTok is basically a support group for first-timers figuring out how to jab themselves.

But orforglipron offers a way around all of that (though, yeesh, this really needs a strong brand name). So far, clinical trials show it’s similarly safe and effective as existing injectables—but far more convenient. So, no needles. No refrigeration. No meal timing. Just a once-daily pill, whenever, wherever. 

As someone currently experimenting with microdosing GLP-1s, I’d totally rather pop a pill. And I know I’m not alone.

Speaking of, I’m planning the next special edition of 5HT on microdosing GLP-1s. What questions do you have that you want answered? Hit reply 📩 and I’ll get your questions in.

Other things

• The ice bucket challenge 🪣 is having a comeback—only now, it’s for your mental health. 

• This Reddit thread SparkNote’d 50+ Andrew Huberman episodes into one epic wellness cheat sheet—sleep, hormones, supplements, the works—using NotebookLM.

• Superpower just raised $30M in Series A as they get ready to launch the world’s first health super app. If anyone can do it, it’s them. 👏 

• There was drama between AG1 and the great Eric Topol (FYI, I’m excited about his new book, Super Agers: An Evidence-Based Approach to Longevity).

• Most clicked last week? Seed Health’s DS-01® featured in our first-ever sponsored issue. It’s now actually the #1 most-clicked link in 5HT history! 🎉Glad it resonated with a lot of you. (Know a brand that might want to sponsor a future 5HT? Send them my way.)

👋 Who are you again? I’m Derek Flanzraich—founder of two venture-backed startups in Greatist (👍) and Ness (👎). I’ve worked with brands like GoodRx, Parsley, Midi, Ro, NOCD, and Peloton. I now run Healthyish Content, a premium health content & SEO agency (among other things).

Every Thursday, I share 5 health things I feel strongly about so you can live healthyish. (Disclaimer: I’m more your friend with health benefits. None of this is medical advice.)

And oh, you also feel strongly about some health things? Hit reply—I’d love to hear it.