Chief Wellness Officer at First Abu Dhabi Bank | On a mission to help 1 million executives by 2030 to get lean, increase energy & build confident bodies! Follow me for simple tips to optimize your health and body

I don't believe in "wellness" as a soft skill. I believe in biological resilience as a competitive economic asset.

As Chief Wellness Officer at FAB and an Ambassador for the Global Wellness Institute, I operate at the intersection of high-performance business strategy and the $6.8 trillion global wellness economy.

My value proposition is simple: I filter the signal from the noise.

The current market is flooded with "fake wellness" and conspiracy theories. 

As an insider, I leverage exclusive macroeconomic intelligence to help executives navigate: 

* The Productivity Paradox: Why working longer hours in an AI-driven world is a losing strategy for biological performance. 

* The Longevity Bubble: Distinguishing between speculative investment hype and the habits that actually extend your healthspan.

* Data-Driven Execution: Medicine 3.0 protocols that are measurable, trackable, and rooted in science, not trends.

If you value a direct, evidence-based approach to optimizing your performance, send me a private message.

-> Follow the daily process: @wellnessofficer

In 2026 I have one rule: no carbs before 7 p.m. My wife said it would make me miserable.

It did the opposite.

Most of my meals now look like this in the photo:

protein, healthy fats, fibre… almost no carbs.

The TIMING was killing my energy, not the carbs.

Here’s what changed:

My energy is constant instead of a rollercoaster.

Stable daytime glucose made fat loss easier to keep.

No more thinking through mud after lunch. 

My output at 5 p.m. with my kids feels like 10 a.m. at work.

Carb backloading in simple terms:

Daytime: protein, fats, fibre, water.

Evening: main carb hit, ideally after some movement.

I moved glucose away from my peak performance window so my brain could do its job.

If your days feel heavy, try it for 7 days:

Keep carbs for dinner.
Eat protein rich meals during the day.

Watch what happens to your focus, mood and waistline.

It’s a tiny rule. But it definitely worked for me.

Diego Carrete

Chief Wellness Officer @ First Abu Dhabi Bank | Ambassador, Global Wellness Institute

It was an honor to meet Sheikh Nahyan bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Chairman of the Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan Charitable and Humanitarian Foundation and Chairman of the Abu Dhabi Sports Council, during the Open Masters Games Abu Dhabi 2026. A true inspiration in leadership, with a deep commitment to advancing sport and philanthropy.

My wife dropped by the office last week.

"No wonder you don't like to work from home"

These 5 things keep me focused without energy dips

1/. I avoid overhead blue lights

They suppress melatonin production too early.

This prevents the glymphatic system (the brain’s waste clearance system) from activating.

2/. I match the screen brightness to the wall behind it.

Contrast glare increases brain load by up to 20%. 

Your brain pays a tax just to process the light.

3/. I wear a jacket 

My office is at strict 19 degrees

A cooler environment forces the body into mild cold stress, which activates BAT (brown adipose tissue), forcing the brain into an engaged state.

4/. Static posture leads to a static brain. 

If I am on a call, I’m pacing or standing and have a treadmill under the desk.

5/. I keep a plant in my line of sight. 

Your brain focuses best when it feels safe. Leaf patterns trigger a reset that cuts stress by 40% in under a minute.

Save this post so you can remind yourself this week.

And the best part is that most of the above costs $0.

The next frontier of medicine isn’t better tech; it's women's health

For decades, medical research has focused on males.

As a father, I think about this every time I look at my daughter. 

I don’t want her health to be a "best guess" based on studies that only used the male body as the default.

Women control $32 trillion in global spending and make 80% of all healthcare decisions.

Only 2% of health venture capital is directed toward women’s specific needs outside of reproduction.

Big Pharma currently invests less than 1% into women specific research.

This leaves ovarian aging woefully underserved.

In women’s health, its decline accelerates aging, from heart disease to dementia.

Because we ignored female biology, women currently spend 25% more of their lives in poor health than men.

The next decade will be won by those who provide care based on female biology, tracking ovarian health as a "vital sign" and building muscle to keep the body strong for years to come.

We need to stop treating 51% of the world as an afterthought.

Less tech is the future of corporate wellness.
Every company has an app. Very few people use it.

Workplace wellness is now a $53.3B market...

Yet, it has barely moved since 2019.

That’s what happens when we keep adding apps instead of removing friction. 

Only ~9.81% of workers even have access to workplace wellness programs globally.

Save this article; it might be useful moving forward.

The Wellness Leadership Report – 23rd February 2026 By Diego Carrete, Chief Wellness Officer Happy morning, amigos. This year, wellness continues to e

Open article: The future of wellness looks like 2005 (and that’s good). by Diego Carrete • 3 min read

The future of wellness looks like 2005 (and that’s good).

The longevity market has largely been built around male biology.

That is starting to change.

One of the most important shifts for 2026 is the move toward women’s healthspan and the growing recognition that women age differently, with ovarian health playing a far bigger role in long-term health than most people realize.

This is not just a medical story.
It is a business story.

It creates new demand across:

- Diagnostics
- Telehealth
- Gyms
- Wellness resorts
- Hormone platforms
- Preventive care
- Women-first longevity programs

The bigger opportunity is not just menopause support.

It is building earlier, smarter, life-stage-specific interventions for women in their 20s, 30s, 40s and beyond.

The longevity market may have been built for men.

The next chapter looks very different.

Women’s healthspan may be one of the most underbuilt opportunities in wellness right now.

The Future of Wellness is Female

The $6.8T wellness boom is not for everyone.

Behind the headlines, there's a shift in the center of gravity.

Some of the world's most established markets are technically shrinking.

The winners: 

🇦🇪 UAE: +14.3%
🇸🇦 Saudi Arabia: +12.2%
🇮🇳 India: +11.3%

The “losers”: 

🇳🇬 Nigeria: -7.6%
🇯🇵 Japan: -2.0%
🇪🇬 Egypt: -0.2%

However, numbers can be deceptive.

Japan is a “loser” on paper, but if you measure that market in local yen, it actually grew by 4.6%.

The “decline” is a currency illusion, not a lack of demand.

True stagnation happens where innovation has stalled.

For example, in markets like Hong Kong, we see genuine declines across Traditional Medicine.

Wellness is not a lifestyle category anymore; it’s critical infrastructure for economic growth.

With the market projected to hit $9.8T by 2029, the question is whether you’re positioned in the right sectors to capture it.

I’d love to hear your thoughts below and save this for future reference.

The Wellness Shift: Winners, Losers, and the New Hierarchy

Using weight loss injections with no plan is like taking a big loan with no salary.

You’ll feel the relief fast.

But nobody thinks about the repayment.

The data suggests around 12% of Americans use these injections. 

Companies spent $714m in 9 months advertising these drugs.

—

On the surface, it looks like a win…

People using them are buying less alcohol and less junk food.

The trap is what happens after.

When people stop the injections, they regain weight almost four times faster than people coming off a typical diet.

—

I am not against using them.

I am against using them like a magic trick.

If you want these to work long-term, you need three things while the appetite is low:

1/. Protein first.

These drugs don’t protect muscle. 

And muscle is the difference between you living until 70 or 90. 

If you’re over 35, it’s not just grams, it’s frequency. 

More protein moments across the day. 

Your ability to absolve protein decreases as you age.

2/. Lift weights.

Training is the only message your body understands: “keep the muscle even if weight is dropping.” 

If you weren’t strength training before, two sessions a week is the minimum dose now.

3/. A clean exit plan.

Use the drug window to build the habits you’ll rely on when the prescription ends. 

Because it will end, either by choice, cost, or side effects.

If you’re considering GLP-1s, what’s your plan to keep the results when you come off?

Happy to help, drop your comments.

We spend 90,000 hours in a chair.
But we were built for taking the long way home.
We were built for the "slow" parts of life, like watching the seasons change.

Biologically, we aren't designed for a life of constant achievement.
But the modern office has a hidden cost that makes those moments harder to reach.

The evolution of sitting:

1950s: 3–4 hours/day
1970s: 5–6 hours/day
1990s: 7–8 hours/day
2025: 9+ hours/day

The data is a gut punch:

- Desk jobs have increased by 83% since the 60s.
- Sitting for long periods raises heart attack risk by 147%.
- You will spend 1/3 of your adult life (roughly 90,000 hours) at work.

Your office is either a health asset or a health liability.
Some treat the desk as the only place where "real work" happens.
This creates a neural map where the brain associates being "productive" with being "static."

No bueno.

Ignoring this costs organizations 15–20% in lost productivity due to mental fatigue.

A 45-minute gym session cannot fix a 9-hour block of physical stagnation.

A good starting point?

Re-engineer your space using "Brain Routes":

1/. Spatial anchoring:

Create a "Thinking Route."
Take your difficult problems for a walk around the floor.
Your brain will eventually associate that specific path with creative problem-solving.

2/. Friction-based movement:

You don't need "willpower" to move; you need friction.
Move your bin to the other side of the room.
Place your water bottle where you have to stand up to reach it.

3/. Visual cues for energy:

You might not be able to change the building’s lighting, but you can change your desk.
Use a high-quality desk lamp with warmer tones for the afternoon to signal to your brain that it’s time to wind down cortisol production.

Your office environment decides how well and how long you live.

If this was valuable, save it so you can benefit from it later; keep this reminder.

We are witnessing the end of the "attendance-based" office.

Not long ago, real estate was a desaturated cost center designed for surveillance and shallow work. 

It forced our nervous system into a chronic fight or flight, fueled by static blue light. 

This is a fast path to depletion and burnout.

In the near future, the office becomes Performance Infrastructure. 

--

We are pivoting towards Neurowellness.

Creating environments that:

- Use circadian lighting to manage melatonin and cortisol.

- Create "sensory safety" to enable deep work.

- Filter microplastics to protect brain health.

Does your environment make your people healthier?

If your headquarters doesn't actively repair your team, it is a liability on your balance sheet.

What office spaces will look like in 2030

Many organizations live in permanent crisis mode, mistaking constant urgency for necessary resilience. Unfortunately this creates a paradox:

the more we normalize crisis, the less resilient we actually become.

The global economy loses $438 billion every year to disengaged workforces. 

For decades, the corporate response to this was a $53 billion industry of perks: gym memberships, meditation apps, and fruit bowls in the break room. 

Things that check a box and move nothing.

That era is ending.

What's replacing it is Wellness Intelligence: the translation of human biology into organizational decisions that reduce risk, protect performance, and keep the people running the company actually capable of running it.

This is the shift.

What are your thoughts on this topic? Where do you see this going?

The $6.8 trillion wellness economy is a room most people can’t enter because they’re speaking the wrong language.

When you tell a CFO you want to help their team with “mindfulness,” they hear distraction.

When you mention “self-care,” they hear “hobby.”

But when you talk about operational risk and nervous system regulation, now you have their attention.

I know a lot of wellness experts are missing opportunities because they don’t know how to articulate their value and speak to their ideal prospects. 

They try to impress them instead of impressing upon them.

Hopefully, today’s newsletter sheds a bit of clarity on what I feel works best when it comes to creating impact in the wellness economy.

Buenos días, amigos! I was grabbing coffee at McDonald’s a couple of days ago, prepping my day, when I met a man who used to be the CFO of one of Abu 

Open article: companies don’t want wellness experts; they want risk partners by Diego Carrete • 3 min read

companies don’t want wellness experts; they want risk partners

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