\u201cHand on heart, I thought, maybe 20 per cent,\u201d he says. \u201cFor the other 80 per cent, sure, I\u2019d done something \u2013 I\u2019d given a prescription<\/a>, referred them, sent them for a scan \u2013 but I knew they\u2019d be back. We hadn\u2019t got to the root cause.\u201d<\/p>\n It wasn\u2019t a failure of effort or empathy; it was a mismatch between a system designed for acute crises and a modern reality dominated by chronic, lifestyle-driven conditions<\/a>. And that stark truth stayed with him.<\/p>\n \u201cAfter seeing that list, I thought, I can\u2019t do this for the next 40 years,\u201d he recalls.<\/p>\n Rather than opt out of medicine altogether, Dr Chatterjee<\/a> began immersing himself in the world of lifestyle medicine, attending conferences, interviewing experts and, eventually, in 2018, launching a podcast to bring those conversations to a wider audience.<\/p>\n Seven years and nearly 600 episodes later, Feel Better, Live More has passed 300 million listens and become the number one health podcast in Europe on multiple metrics. The guest list is wide and eclectic: Holocaust survivor and psychologist Edith Eger; The Let Them Theory author and coach Mel Robbins; psychotherapist Julia Samuel; public speaker and former monk Jay Shetty\u2026 It is a show built on range, curiosity and, crucially, practicality. <\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m very conscious, in a world where people say health and wellness<\/a> is the reserve of the middle classes, of keeping things accessible,\u201d says Dr Chatterjee. \u201cSure, there are some things that are expensive, but I\u2019m always thinking about those who have little time and money. Sunlight, a walk, a breathing practice \u2013 most of what I talk about on the show is free.\u201d<\/p>\n Dr Chatterjee is speaking to me on Zoom from the same home studio where he interviews his guests. When we talk, he has just released the first episode of the new series \u2013 a conversation about successful relationships with philosopher Alain de Botton \u2013 after taking the show off-air for its annual summer break.<\/p>\n In the hyper-competitive world of podcasting<\/a>, a six-week pause is almost heretical, but Dr Chatterjee treats it as a principle. \u201cThere\u2019s this message in the modern world that you can\u2019t stop \u2013 that if you pause, someone else will take your slot,\u201d he says. \u201cI won\u2019t subscribe to that. I think that\u2019s why we\u2019ve got a stressed-out, burnt-out culture.\u201d<\/p>\n That refusal to be led by urgency or metrics runs through the way he makes the show. If Feel Better, Live More resonates, he thinks it\u2019s because the intention has never been commercial. \u201cLots of people start podcasts to make money, but I genuinely started mine to help people,\u201d he says. \u201cFor the first two years I didn\u2019t even take sponsorship.\u201d<\/p>\n The process remains stubbornly handmade. \u201cI still hand-pick every guest. I don\u2019t have a booking agent. I do all the research myself. People have teams that hand them notes \u2013 that would save me time, but I realised I don\u2019t want my time saved. I enjoy immersing myself in a guest\u2019s life. It leads to a much more intimate conversation.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n Keeping control also lets him platform differing ideas without forcing consensus \u2013 or pretending that wellness is a monolith.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve had people on who are proponents of a plant-based diet and others who are proponents of a ketogenic diet,\u201d he says. \u201cThey both have evidence. We all see the world differently.\u201d<\/p>\n And he doesn\u2019t need to agree with someone to have them on the show. \u201cI don\u2019t say, \u2018I disagree,\u2019 which is inflammatory. I\u2019ll say, \u2018That\u2019s interesting; I see it slightly differently \u2014 my perspective is this.\u2019 It keeps things warm. It\u2019s not about me or my guest being right; it\u2019s about exploring ideas together.\u201d<\/p>\n That commitment to nuance also means resisting the algorithm\u2019s siren call. \u201cPeople have told me, \u2018Be more divisive and the videos will fly,\u2019\u201d he says. \u201cYou blow up on YouTube<\/a> by being more controversial. But if the cost is my integrity, I can\u2019t sit with that.\u201d<\/p>\n Holding that line in public brings its own scrutiny, which leads to a more personal question: with millions listening, does he feel obliged to be the perfect health role model?<\/p>\n \u201cI used to feel the pressure to be a certain way,\u201d he admits, recalling a transatlantic flight where the cabin crew told him they\u2019d been watching what he ate. \u201cBut, you know, if someone saw me having a croissant one day, <\/a>who cares? I\u2019m a human being. I don\u2019t claim to be perfect.\u201d<\/p>\n He still has a sweet tooth and sometimes scrolls before bed, but otherwise tries to live healthily on the whole. \u201cBut I don\u2019t feel I need to prove anything to anyone. I\u2019m no one special \u2013 just a dad, a husband, a doctor trying to make my way in the world.\u201d<\/p>\n Dr Chatterjee was raised in an Indian immigrant family where medicine was normalised \u2013 his father came to the UK in 1962 as part of a drive to recruit doctors into the NHS. \u201cWhen you grow up in that world, becoming a doctor is just the norm,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n He also saw what care looked like up close \u2013 his father with patients, his mother\u2019s instinct to look after others. \u201cI genuinely cared about people too<\/a>. I\u2019ve always wanted to help.\u201d<\/p>\n But helping within the NHS started to feel impossible. \u201cThe NHS was set up in a different era for a different set of problems,\u201d he says. \u201cThe whole model is about diagnosing disease and treating it with drugs. It\u2019s very good at that. But creating health and diagnosing disease are two very different things.<\/p>\n \u201cWe think the solution is to pour more money into the NHS. I think we need a different approach \u2013 one that shifts the focus towards cultivating health through lifestyle, which in turn would make a lot of downstream symptoms disappear.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/SEI_265377849.jpg\")
Dr Chatterjee\u2019s podcast has been hugely successful <\/p>\n