Health Hats, the Podcast

About Health Hats, the Podcast

Learning with people on the journey toward best health.

Publisher

Danny van Leeuwen, Health Hats

Category

health & fitness · health & fitness · health & fitness

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

18 Apr 2021

Latest episode

3 Oct 2026

Latest episodes

131 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   3 Oct 2026

   Endometriosis: A Web You Can Touch

   Danny and Phee open their endometriosis series: how they met, Phee’s decade-long journey to diagnosis, and what this disease actually does to the body. Click here to view the verbatim (https://health-hats.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/HHP255-Endometriosis-compiled-transcript-20260925.docx) transcript Click here to read the newsletter (https://health-hats.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/HHP255-Endometriosis-newsletter-20260925-.docx) Summary Danny and Phee Marcial launch their co-produced series on endometriosis by telling the story behind it: Phee’s mom, Danny’s old friend, introduced them after years of talking about hard-to-diagnose conditions in her own family. Phee walks through growing up with unexplained GI and menstrual symptoms that got waved off as IBS, the gender-identity reasons they resisted the diagnosis even when a partner suggested it, and the pelvic floor therapist (Ariel Gallop) whose phone consultation finally pointed them toward surgery. Along the way, Phee describes what endometriosis physically is — tissue growing where it shouldn’t, “a literal web” binding their organs together — and what it’s like to live in a body that seems to work against itself. Danny closes by naming his own blind spots as a white, cisgender man producing this series, and previews Episode 2: a conversation with Ariel Gallop herself. Contents Episode Proem: Know Enough to be Dangerous Health Hats: Welcome to a new Health Hats series, co-produced with Phee Marcial, about endometriosis. Why endometriosis and why co-produced? I’m curious about common diseases such as multiple sclerosis, which are difficult to diagnose without fully understanding their causes and really mess with quality of life. I know enough about endometriosis to be dangerous. Here’s my interpretation of what I’ve read. Endometriosis causes chronic pain and makes it harder to get pregnant. It’s not cancer, but it’s very common. Endometriosis is estimated to affect at least 6.5 million people in the United States—about 11 percent of women ages 15 to 44—though the true burden is difficult to measure because diagnosis is often delayed and some people remain undiagnosed. The federal Office on Women’s Health uses the “more than 6½ million” and “at least 11 percent” estimates.[i] (#_edn1) By comparison, nearly 1 million people in the United States are living with a diagnosis of multiple sclerosis (MS), according to a 2019 prevalence study funded by the National MS Society.[ii] (#_edn2) Doctors still debate endometriosis because no one fully understands what causes it or how it behaves in the body. Recent research points to a mix of factors: genetics, hormones, inflammation, and immune system quirks. Why co-production? As a master networker and rabid mentor, I consider co-production my superpower. Co-production is more than an interview or a guest appearance. Phee and I will partner to create these episodes—bringing our different experiences, deciding together what matters, shaping the conversation, and sharing responsibility for the result. Sometimes that will look like a mentor–mentee conversation; in later episodes, it will include more joint planning and creative decision-making.[iii] (#_edn3) Introducing Phee Marcial Health Hats: Phee, hi. I’m so glad we’re doing this together. Phee Marcial: Me too … Health Hats: I love the idea of co-production, and it’s time I put my money where my mouth is. Thank you for the opportunity to co-produce a series together. Why don’t I spend a couple of minutes and share with our audience how I got to this point of meeting you, having these conversations, and learning more about each other’s experiences and skills. Feel free to interrupt me at any time with any comments or questions. Meeting Each Other People may or may not know that I met you through your mom, Laura. We’ve been friends for a long time, pre-COVID, for many years. We’ve worked together in many ways. It’s not important how. We’ve grown from colleagues to buddies. We’re very interested in each other’s families and our family experiences. Your mom was the first person to introduce me to endometriosis. We had been having a conversation about conditions that are hard to pinpoint, diagnose, and understand, that aren’t clear-cut. And maybe it started with the challenges I had getting diagnosed with MS, but it was more than just MS. Laura started talking about endometriosis, and at that time I had no idea this was a family story she was talking about. She opened my eyes, and I became really interested. Another reason I was interested is that I feel like healthcare and people managing their health are a family affair. It’s a community affair. Phee Marcial: Always Health Hats: People have families; some don’t, but still, it isn’t just the person who has the label. Everyone who touches it has a role. When I listened to your mom talk and educate me, you know, she would send me clips of this or that as we do, and then she suggested you and I meet. Phee Marcial: Nice. She pretty much did the same thing with me. Obviously, I’ve heard about you, Danny, for a long time. Yeah, I kind of grew up hearing your name around the house and sometimes hearing your voice through computer speakers. And yeah, I think I really struggled with no diagnosis and no clear idea of how to move in my very clearly chronically ill, but unnamed, body. I had no idea how to talk about it with people, and no idea how to seek the support I needed, let alone offer support to others. So yeah, when my mom suggested we connect, it was almost a year after my first endometriosis excision surgery. The actual anniversary of that will be tomorrow. So that’s cool. Health Hats: Wow. Mazel tov. Written Off Phee Marcial: Thank you. That gave me time to sit with what I was going through, learn more about it, and process the trauma of needing surgery, undergoing it, and recovering from it. I think this project came at a really good time for me and, I think, at a really important time for endometriosis generally. Yeah. Maybe even the whole spectrum of chronic autoimmune disorders. But yeah, the road was not an easy one, and it doesn’t really look like it’s getting easier any time soon. But it is interesting, and I’ve found it’s definitely worth sharing my story because everybody’s story is different, and yet we are always able to find something in somebody else’s story that connects to us and resonates with us. I was diagnosed with endometriosis last year at the age of 23. I had lived my entire life up to that point with all the hallmark symptoms of endo, including menstrual and gynecologic symptoms, as well as other symptoms I didn’t know were related, mostly gastrointestinal and bowel symptoms. Like many other people with this condition, I often had these symptoms written off as a sensitive gut, IBS, or this or that or the other. Health Hats: What’s IBS? Phee Marcial: Irritable bowel syndrome.[iv] (#_edn4) There are kinds of diagnoses, like interstitial cystitis, which is a type of chronic bladder inflammation. And yeah, I had this constellation of symptoms, including menstrual pain, heavy bleeding, bowel problems, like lots of pain with bowel movements, lots of bowel pain in general, lots of upper GI symptoms, acid reflux, chronic nausea. And some psychological symptoms as well, which were very difficult for me to manage. Severe anxiety with somatic expression of that anxiety. Depression, suicidality, and very sensitive emotional responses to medications, particularly hormonal medications. All of this was peppered throughout my childhood. Not Recognizing Myself My current partner suggested that I might have endometriosis, but I didn’t really think about it. I had known people with endo before. But the disease is described with so much emphasis on gynecologic symptoms. I had a difficult time relating to those symptoms, even though I had a lot of them, because I was maybe thinking they weren’t severe enough. Maybe, in my case, it’s not actually that bad, or that dealing with gynecologic symptoms would mean having to, yeah, give up some aspect of my gender identity, which, for my entire pubescence, was still developing, and I didn’t have a chance to get that kind of care in an environment that wasn’t going to automatically assume that I was a woman or that I was becoming a woman. Pelvic Floor Therapy As that all changed and I made it through college and started graduate school, I realized that what I had going on was completely untenable. And that the things I was doing to manage my chronic pain were just not cutting it. So I left school and spent some time in Virginia with my current partner. When I came out to San Diego last year, I decided on a whim to reach out to this pelvic floor therapist. Her practice is five minutes from where I live, so I was like, ‘What the hell, sure.’ I’d only really heard about pelvic floor therapy in passing. I’d seen people post on Reddit about it and stuff like that. I thought, “What could it hurt?” I looked her up and called her office. I soon found out she’s a one-woman show who does everything from scratch and cares for all her patients with almost frightening tenacity. I got on the phone with her later that day for a 30-minute consultation intake call. Is this a good fit? What do you have going on? She does this all the time, as she made clear to me during that phone call. But by the end of it, I mean, it wasn’t by the end of it. It was like five minutes in that she was telling me, “You definitely have endometriosis.” But by the end of it, I was seeing a path toward learning more about what I had going on in a meaningful direction. Not just chasing empty threads. And yeah, that was what started me down my diagnosis journey. I don’t think I would be where I am without that phone call. Health Hats: She’s a physical therapist? Phee Marcial: She’s a physical therapist, yes. I had looked into various gynecologists. I’d been taking shots in the dark about who was actually a specialist and who was just a regular OB doing their best, right? And yeah, I got in. Ariel Gallop is my pelvic floor therapist. I got in, and she was like, “You need to see this person. You need to see her fast. She’s going to want to do surgery on you. Also, her wait times in her office are super long, so if you’re there for three hours waiting for an appointment, I’m sorry, but you must see her. So bring a book. Make sure you block out your schedule.” And all of those things were true. Surgery for Endometriosis I did need surgery. I did need to see this woman, this surgeon. I did have to wait a long time to see her. But when I did, things moved much more quickly. And yeah, that’s the kind of thing patients really need right now. I mean… people with endometriosis are on a wait list that can be a year or more long for surgery because there aren’t a lot of surgeons who do it well, and there aren’t a lot of surgeons, period. Getting insurance to pay for this was a challenge. Managing the recovery was intense. It was severe. It was not open-abdomen surgery, since it was a laparoscopic operation.[v] (#_edn5) But it was, for- Health Hats: They’re messing around a lot in there. Phee Marcial: Lack of a better term. Health Hats: Even if it’s a small incision. Phee Marcial: Yeah. Scrambling my guts. Yeah. Because I had it everywhere. And by it, perhaps we can describe what endometriosis actually is. We don’t know much about it, so I am by no means an expert. And the experts that there are are still learning about it. But as far as we understand, it’s tissue that should be growing inside the uterus that is growing outside the uterus, in the abdominal cavity, in other organs, or, in certain cases, this is called adenomyosis[vi] (#_edn6), an overgrowth of tissue within the uterus. And as far as we understand, this tissue is hormonally mediated in some way and produces estrogen, and its growth is also increased by estrogen in the body. But the various ways those different hormonal substances interact with the endometrial tissue is still not completely understood. But what it did to my body was coat my abdominal organs, mostly the small intestine, colon, and rectum, as well as the abdominal cavity, bladder, and uterus, and cause everything to hold tightly. If you imagine it like cobwebs, strong cobwebs that hold these organs together. I was constantly bloated. My abdomen felt heavy. I had extreme pain with certain kinds of movement, like cardio exercises and certain types of abdominal exercises, certainly with pooping and peeing, and certainly with any kind of sexual activity. A Web You Can Touch And these things are… They seem like so many different systems at once, and they are, right? But the thing connecting them is very literal. It is like a web, a literal web of tissue. It was interesting to learn that endo is something you can touch. In the body, it is excised because it’s something you can remove. It’s something that can be killed, basically. And I think many people who have experienced chronic disease struggle to reconcile the idea of the body as something that can turn on itself. Everybody struggles with this, but for me, I always felt at odds with how my body worked and like I couldn’t trust myself to work properly. And it’s complicated when it is me. In a sort of pseudo-cancerous way, it is my own body that is causing my body not to work properly, quote-unquote. So yeah, that’s a little bit about me and a little bit about endo. Hopefully, when we have other guests on this podcast, we’ll get some more informed perspectives on how the disease works and what it is. Reflection Health Hats: My mind can go crazy about where this can go. I feel like, as you said, learning more about endo, learning more about the endo industrial complex, such as it is or isn’t, about family, and about the role of identity and gender identity, and the experiences of other people. I thoroughly enjoyed creating this episode, getting to know Phee, deepening my understanding of endometriosis, and collaborating on production. I’m infuriated by how gender roles and racial bias are baked into our health system, as seen in Phee’s experience. How much does being a white, cisgender, privileged man color my understanding? I look forward to continuing the series with Phee and with you, my dear readers, listeners, and watchers. In our next episode, we will interview Ariel Gallop, a pelvic floor physical therapist, and learn more about endometriosis and the work that Ariel does. Thanks [i] (#_ednref1) https://womenshealth.gov/a-z-topics/endometriosis (https://womenshealth.gov/a-z-topics/endometriosis) [ii] (#_ednref2) https://www.nationalmssociety.org/about-the-society/who-we-are/research-we-fund/ms-prevalence (https://www.nationalmssociety.org/about-the-society/who-we-are/research-we-fund/ms-prevalence) [iii] (#_ednref3) https://www.learningforinvolvement.org.uk/content/resource/nihr-co-production-in-action-number-one/ (https://www.learningforinvolvement.org.uk/content/resource/nihr-co-production-in-action-number-one/) [iv] (#_ednref4) https://www.niddk.nih.gov/health-information/digestive-diseases/irritable-bowel-syndrome (https://www.niddk.nih.gov/health-information/digestive-diseases/irritable-bowel-syndrome) (#_ednref5)[v] https://www.leedsth.nhs.uk/patients/resources/deep-infiltrating-endometriosis/ (https://www.leedsth.nhs.uk/patients/resources/deep-infiltrating-endometriosis/) [vi] (#_ednref6) https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/adenomyosis/ (https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/adenomyosis/) References Phee Marcial’s website: https://hvmator.com/home (https://hvmator.com/home) Inspired by and Grateful to: Laura Marcial, Chandra Spring-Robinson, MD, Alyssa Yee, MD Related Episodes https://health-hats.com/pod254/ https://health-hats.com/health-inequities-and-racism-doing-my-own-work/ https://health-hats.com/pod213/ Please comment and ask questions: at the comment section at the bottom of the show notes (#commentform) on LinkedIn  (https://www.linkedin.com/in/healthhatsdannyvl/) via email (mailto:danny@health-hats.com) YouTube channel  (https://www.youtube.com/@dvanleeu) DM on Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/healthhats/), TikTok to @healthhats (https://www.tiktok.com/@healthhats?lang=en) Substack (https://healthhats.substack.com) Patreon (https://www.patreon.com/c/HealthHats) Production Team Kayla Nelson: (https://twitter.com/lifeoflesion) Web and Social Media Coach, Dissemination, Help Desk Steve Heatherington: Help Desk and podcast production counseling (https://thepodcastingworkshop.com/the-team/) Joey van Leeuwen, Drummer, Composer, and Arranger, provided the music for the intro, outro, proem, and reflection Claude (https://claude.ai/), Perplexity (https://www.perplexity.ai), Auphonic (https://auphonic.com), Descript (https://web.descript.com/), Grammarly (https://www.grammarly.com), DaVinci Resolve, (https://www.blackmagicdesign.com/products/davinciresolve) DaVinci AI Art Generator, (https://davinci.ai/app/video?tab=creations) OpenArt AI Creator Studio (https://openart.ai/suite/create-video/pixverseC1) Artificial Intelligence in Podcast Production Health Hats, the Podcast, utilizes AI tools for production tasks such as editing, transcription, and content suggestions. While AI assists with various aspects, including image creation, most AI suggestions are modified. All creative decisions remain my own, with AI sources referenced as usual. Questions are welcome. Creative Commons Licensing CC BY-NC-SA (https://health-hats.com/pod209/) (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)This license enables reusers to distribute, remix, adapt, and build upon the material in any medium or format for noncommercial purposes only, and only so long as attribution is given to the creator. If you remix, adapt, or build upon the material, you must license the modified material under identical terms. CC BY-NC-SA includes the following elements: BY: credit must be given to the creator.   NC: Only noncommercial uses of the work are permitted. SA: Adaptations must be shared under the same terms. Please let me know. dannyhealthhats@gmail.com  (mailto:dannyhealthhats@gmail.com)Material on this site created by others is theirs, and use follows their guidelines. Disclaimer The views and opinions presented in this podcast and publication are solely my responsibility and do not necessarily represent the views of the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute®  (PCORI®), its Board of Governors, or Methodology Committee. Danny van Leeuwen (Health Hats)

2. 

   13 Sept 2026

   The Gods Fight: Intro to Endometriosis Series w Phee Marcial

   Phee Marcial’s artwork opens our co-produced endometriosis series: Armor, Light, and Power. A conversation about art, pain, and process. Click here to view the verbatim (https://health-hats.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/HHP254-Endo-intro-tanscript-20260912.pdf) transcript Click here to read the newsletter (https://health-hats.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/HHp254-Endo-intro-newsletter-20260913.pdf) Summary Phee created art; Health Hats was floored. They are well into co-producing a series about endometriosis. Health Hats knows little about endometriosis or manga/anime-adjacent art. Phee knows little about podcasting and video production. Both share vibrant curiosity. What a setup for the series. Hang on tight. [ Episode Proem Health Hats: I’m bursting with excitement. I’m partnering with my new friend, Phee Marcial, to produce a series about Phee’s experience with severe endometriosis. Phee is an artist, storyteller, and expert in the classics. Phee and I have met and recorded seven hours together. We have two interviews scheduled. Phee created an image for our series. This intro is about that image. Readers and viewers can see the image. Listeners can hear it described on the podcast audio. We encourage listeners to watch, and we hope you enjoy this intro as much as we did. Body You Can See Through Health Hats: This is a three-dimensional picture. This person is wearing some kind of wispy clothing you can see through. It has movement. This is an image of a person lunging forward. I was going to say with their chest, but it really isn’t. It’s with their hips. Leading with their hips, with their hair flowing in the background. Phee, what do you see? Armor, Light, and Gore Phee Marcial: Their kind of armor is indistinguishable from their body. The color suggests this armor is some kind of metal. Their right arm and both of their legs below the quads are made of this metal. So is most of their chest and some of their neck. And there’s very heavy contrast light coming from the east, falling along the front of the figure’s body and casting a shadow towards us behind them. And there is some kind of gore dripping from the figure’s right arm onto the ground and staining some of their body. Art in this Body Phee Marcial: I made this piece some time after surgery. Whether it was specifically about the surgery is, I think, irrelevant, because that’s how art feels when you’re living in a body. But I have been developing this character for a long time and wanted to play with light and color a little more. It began, as with most of the works I’m proudest of, with sketching whatever was in my head on paper or on my tablet. Usually, it was completely in black and white. Almost always, it was about how the figure interacts with light and shadow. And the color came later. I didn’t really know at first whether the color would distract from the kind of movement and, yeah, the visceral nature of that movement. The sense of sharpness. It’s always nice when color kind of manifests itself without being asked for. I think that’s one of the most wonderful ways to engage with color, at least for me. Discipline <-> Freedom Phee Marcial: It was very exploratory. I typically work in a super regimented way. I like to be organized. Which, yeah, you may not get from the visual result, but I am typically quite rigid with my process, so it’s nice to see something turn out more freely. That’s something I’ve been noticing more in my work, and I’ve had to adapt to what is available to my physical body and my health at any given moment. And so, it has the opposite effect of what I would expect, which is that it makes me freer rather than more rigid. I think because I want to be able to, it feels more precious, right? The time that I get to spend in that space. So, it’s fewer and further between but more precious. Power! Health Hats: What I like about it, first, is the power. This is a powerful image of a powerful person with an outside and an inside, and you can really feel that the outside and inside are connected; you allow us to see movement, pain, and strength. I’m floored by it. I’m really looking forward to this conversation, to subsequent episodes, and to seeing how it colors our understanding of you and endometriosis. Thank you. Phee Marcial: Thank you. Reflection Health Hats: Are you ready for the first episode? Watch for it in two weeks. What do you see in Phee’s powerful artwork? Do you want to see more? References Phee Marcial’s website: https://hvmator.com/home (https://hvmator.com/home) Inspired by and Grateful to: Laura Marcial, O and Michelle Horvath, Barby Ingle Related Episodes https://health-hats.com/pod135/ https://health-hats.com/overtreated-untreated-and-mistreated/ Please comment and ask questions: at the comment section at the bottom of the show notes (#commentform) on LinkedIn  (https://www.linkedin.com/in/healthhatsdannyvl/) via email (mailto:danny@health-hats.com) YouTube channel  (https://www.youtube.com/@dvanleeu) DM on Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/healthhats/), TikTok to @healthhats (https://www.tiktok.com/@healthhats?lang=en) Substack (https://healthhats.substack.com) Patreon (https://www.patreon.com/c/HealthHats) Production Team Kayla Nelson: (https://twitter.com/lifeoflesion) Web and Social Media Coach, Dissemination, Help Desk Steve Heatherington: Help Desk and podcast production counseling (https://thepodcastingworkshop.com/the-team/) Joey van Leeuwen, Drummer, Composer, and Arranger, provided the music for the intro, outro, proem, and reflection Claude (https://claude.ai/), Perplexity (https://www.perplexity.ai), Auphonic (https://auphonic.com), Descript (https://web.descript.com/), Grammarly (https://www.grammarly.com), DaVinci Resolve, (https://www.blackmagicdesign.com/products/davinciresolve) DaVinci AI Art Generator, (https://davinci.ai/app/video?tab=creations) OpenArt AI Creator Studio (https://openart.ai/suite/create-video/pixverseC1) Artificial Intelligence in Podcast Production Health Hats, the Podcast, utilizes AI tools for production tasks such as editing, transcription, and content suggestions. While AI assists with various aspects, including image creation, most AI suggestions are modified. All creative decisions remain my own, with AI sources referenced as usual. Questions are welcome. Creative Commons Licensing CC BY-NC-SA (https://health-hats.com/pod209/) (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)This license enables reusers to distribute, remix, adapt, and build upon the material in any medium or format for noncommercial purposes only, and only so long as attribution is given to the creator. If you remix, adapt, or build upon the material, you must license the modified material under identical terms. CC BY-NC-SA includes the following elements: BY: credit must be given to the creator.   NC: Only noncommercial uses of the work are permitted. SA: Adaptations must be shared under the same terms. Please let me know. dannyhealthhats@gmail.com  (mailto:dannyhealthhats@gmail.com)Material on this site created by others is theirs, and use follows their guidelines. Disclaimer The views and opinions presented in this podcast and publication are solely my responsibility and do not necessarily represent the views of the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute®  (PCORI®), its Board of Governors, or Methodology Committee. Danny van Leeuwen (Health Hats)

3. 

   30 Aug 2026

   100 Elephants, Same Blind Spot

   My first-ever post (2012) meets 100 life-sized elephants on Commonwealth Ave. Episode 625. I still haven’t found the whole animal. Click here to view the verbatim (https://health-hats.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/HHP252-Two-Minute-Bitch-Session-transcript-Descript-20260813.docx) transcript Summary I revisit my first-ever blog post, a 2012 story about two strangers in wheelchairs, each certain the other had it worse, as I ride my wheelchair through The Great Elephant Migration’s 100 life-sized sculptures on Boston’s Commonwealth Avenue. Fourteen years and 625 episodes later, the argument holds: best health isn’t fixed, and no one, not the patient, not the organization, not me, ever gets the whole animal. Episode Proem: Orientation On July 24, 2012, over 14 years ago, I published my first post, Best Health: Different Lens, Different Point of View. I wrote it while vacationing on Cape Cod with my family. My son-in-law, Eric Pinaud, helped me set up my website. The episode has stood the test of time. For those of you listening instead of watching (see the video in the show notes), I’m on my trike on Commonwealth Ave, threading through a hundred elephants. They’re not real. They’re not statues either, not exactly — they’re woven. Dried lantana root, an invasive weed, hand-carved by artisans in India’s Nilgiri Hills. Each one modeled after a real elephant those artisans know by name. Calves knee-high, matriarchs taller than my head, tusks close enough to touch. A mile of them, all facing the same direction, as if they’re walking somewhere together. I’m riding at wheelchair height, which means I see knees, trunks, and the undersides of ears before I see a whole animal. One elephant at a time. Never the herd. Episode #1 featured two people with recent disabilities approaching each other in wheelchairs in a rehab hallway. An eighteen-year-old with a gunshot wound, learning to steer with his mouth. A fifty-year-old stroke patient, learning to steer with one hand and a foot, with his wife behind him, dressed up and disgusted. The younger one muttered, “Glad I’m not him.” Neither of them was wrong about what they saw. Neither saw the whole thing. Best health isn’t one thing. Not for you, not for the person next to you, not for the organization billing you for services. Best health moves. It depends on which part of the elephant you’ve got your hand on. So today: the old post, the new elephants, and a hundred and sixty-nine months of me still not knowing the whole shape. This is episode #625. Yikes. 2012, Uncorrected: First Lens This first blog sets the stage. “Best health.” How will we recognize it? For individuals, could it be love, peace of mind, a cure, the ability to perform activities of daily living, or freedom from dis-ease? For organizations, could it be profitability, increased volume, high overall satisfaction, or a high Net Promoter score? Just like anything in the human condition, best health isn’t static. It’s constantly changing. At one point in my life, while working for a landscaping company, I had to complete the final hand raking of topsoil for a brand-new 2-acre rolling lawn. It took 20 hours. Through the lens of that solitary, monotonous gig, I learned that there is no up without a down. Every depression had a corresponding rise. Zen for the 20-year-old! Best implies less than best, always together. While in nursing school, I worked as a rehab aide. I was walking down the hall with an 18-year-old quadriplegic from a gunshot wound to the neck, learning to maneuver his wheelchair with his mouth. Coming the other way was a 50-year-old man suffering from a debilitating stroke, learning to propel his wheelchair with his left hand and foot. Behind the drooling, slouching, struggling man was his beautiful 20-something wife, dressed to the hilt, looking completely disgusted. Out of the corner of his mouth, my young patient muttered, “glad I’m not him.” It’s all relative. Different lens, different point of view. Attaining best health means figuring out the unique goal of the person or organization and working toward that goal collaboratively. I invite you to tell your story. Reflection: Still Best Health, Somehow Fourteen years ago, I used one cane, no forearm crutches, no wheelchair. I was between jobs after being laid off from Boston Children’s Hospital. My oldest grandson was four, and my youngest was one. I was playing bari sax in Herb’s Heard Big Band. I had just begun my relationship with PCORI. Today, I still have best health! Life is good. Please comment and ask questions: at the comment section at the bottom of the show notes (#commentform) on LinkedIn  (https://www.linkedin.com/in/healthhatsdannyvl/) via email (mailto:danny@health-hats.com) YouTube channel  (https://www.youtube.com/@dvanleeu) DM on Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/healthhats/), TikTok to @healthhats (https://www.tiktok.com/@healthhats?lang=en) Substack (https://healthhats.substack.com) Patreon (https://www.patreon.com/c/HealthHats) Production Team Kayla Nelson: (https://twitter.com/lifeoflesion) Web and Social Media Coach, Dissemination, Help Desk Steve Heatherington: Help Desk and podcast production counseling (https://thepodcastingworkshop.com/the-team/) Joey van Leeuwen, Drummer, Composer, and Arranger, provided the music for the intro, outro, proem, and reflection Claude (https://claude.ai/), Perplexity (https://www.perplexity.ai), Auphonic (https://auphonic.com), Descript (https://web.descript.com/), Grammarly (https://www.grammarly.com), DaVinci Resolve, (https://www.blackmagicdesign.com/products/davinciresolve) DaVinci AI Art Generator, (https://davinci.ai/app/video?tab=creations) OpenArt AI Creator Studio (https://openart.ai/suite/create-video/pixverseC1) Inspired by and Grateful to: Eric Pinaud, Jane Sarasohn-Kahn, and my sisters Artificial Intelligence in Podcast Production Health Hats, the Podcast, utilizes AI tools for production tasks such as editing, transcription, and content suggestions. While AI assists with various aspects, including image creation, most AI suggestions are modified. All creative decisions remain my own, with AI sources referenced as usual. Questions are welcome. Creative Commons Licensing CC BY-NC-SA (https://health-hats.com/pod209/) (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)This license enables reusers to distribute, remix, adapt, and build upon the material in any medium or format for noncommercial purposes only, and only so long as attribution is given to the creator. If you remix, adapt, or build upon the material, you must license the modified material under identical terms. CC BY-NC-SA includes the following elements: BY: credit must be given to the creator.   NC: Only noncommercial uses of the work are permitted. SA: Adaptations must be shared under the same terms. Please let me know. dannyhealthhats@gmail.com  (mailto:dannyhealthhats@gmail.com)Material on this site created by others is theirs, and use follows their guidelines. Disclaimer The views and opinions presented in this podcast and publication are solely my responsibility and do not necessarily represent the views of the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute®  (PCORI®), its Board of Governors, or Methodology Committee. Danny van Leeuwen (Health Hats)

Who has been a guest on Health Hats, the Podcast

Names identified in recent episode analyses. Showing up to five guests.

• Danny van Leeuwen
• John Marks
• Amy Price
• Dave deBronkart
• Emily Hadley

Reach and audience

Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.

YouTube views

96,257

Score snapshot 15 Sept 2025

Apple Podcasts (US)

5.0 / 5

20 ratings

Spotify

5.0 / 5

1 ratings

Podcast Authority Score: 73 / 100

A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.

Quality

66

Social presence

91

YouTube

76

Engagement

77

Contact Health Hats, the Podcast

Guest appearances

Does not typically book guests

Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.