Curiosity as a Health & Performance Catalyst: Kate Hubber on Asking “Why” in Health, Performance, and Life
In this clip from a recent conversation, OFM's Peter Defty chats with endurance athlete Kate Hubber about something that’s not listed on any label—but might be the most important ingredient for your health and performance: CURIOSITY.
Kate recalls a scene from the TV series Ted Lasso—a moment where Ted encourages a rival to “be curious.” That simple phrase stuck with her. It’s become a personal philosophy she applies to parenting, work, athletic training, and even challenging conventional health wisdom. As Kate shares, many of the health struggles she once faced, like being 15 kilos (33 pounds) heavier, constantly hungry and painful menstrual cycles—were tied to blindly following the conventional wisdom of sports nutrition instead of asking enough questions why she was eating that way.
Too often, the standard advice is packaged up and handed down like this:
As Kate found, those one-size-fits-all solutions often ignore the deeper metabolic truths of how our bodies actually work. Curiosity became her pivot point—from trusting the system to exploring OFM’s individualized approach to fat adapted health & performance.
Peter expands on this to deepen our understanding
- 1Fear-based messaging keeps people entrenched in a certain way of thinking that is rigid and lacks curiosity.
- 2Following the conventional wisdom and being told what to do is mentally convenient.
- 3People gain a sense of comfort in doing what others are also doing, even if it is not working for them
- 4True transformation only begins when we have the mental and emotional freedom and confidence to challenge the norm—to be uncomfortable, to explore, to ask why. This is curiosity in motion.
That mindset shift, from passive follower to curious investigator, is a critical element of OFM and why OFM athletes succeed. It’s not about rejecting science—it’s about diving deeper into it to develop YOUR science!. And most importantly, it's about reclaiming autonomy and agency over your own health and performance which is why, here at OFM, we consider ourselves Guides, not Gurus.
Conclusion
Kate’s story reminds us that optimal health and performance starts with curiosity and the courage to question convention. Conventional Sports Nutrition is built upon the ‘commoditization’ of the athlete whereas OFM takes the individualized approach. While we are all the same in terms of the metabolic and physiological pathways, we are uniquely different in how those pathways operate in terms of those “Last Mile” variables that make you, YOU. Whether it’s running on a treadmill watching Ted Lasso or rethinking fueling, curiosity opens the door to personal transformation. When you stop blindly following expert advice and start exploring how your body really works, you’ll begin to unlock the true potential of metabolic freedom.
