Rethinking Wellness

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit rethinkingwellness.substack.com A critical look at the evidence on hair analysis, DUTCH testing, and heavy metals in chocolate—and why it’s worth being skeptical of tests positioned as “new science.” Get full show notes and references here . The full version of this episode is for paid subscribers. Listen to the first question here, and...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit rethinkingwellness.substack.com In this bonus episode, journalist and The Gospel of Wellness author Rina Raphael returns to discuss how the wellness industry is changing to respond to more skeptical consumers—and why that might be making it even harder to tell what’s truly evidence-based. Rina Raphael is a journalist and the author of T...

Journalist and The Gospel of Wellness author Rina Raphael joins us to discuss why most media coverage of wellness is so uncritical, and how that allows misinformation to spread; why “science-washing” is rampant in the wellness industry; how wellness is used as a band-aid for systemic issues and ironically doesn’t get to the “root cause” that’s so often touted in wellness culture; her own complicat...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit rethinkingwellness.substack.com ​A critical look at research on the gut-brain axis, including whether certain gut bacteria are linked to anxiety and depression, whether probiotics have any benefit for mental health, whether you need to take digestive enzymes for anxiety, and more. The full version of this episode is for paid subscribers...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit rethinkingwellness.substack.com Professor and SUGAR RUSH author Karen Throsby returns for a bonus episode to discuss how her own relationship with sugar has changed since before she wrote her book, the role of influencers and social media in spreading anti-sugar messages, why news media report so uncritically on government recommendatio...

Professor and SUGAR RUSH author Karen Throsby joins us to discuss why sugar became demonized despite a lot of actual uncertainty in the science, how anti-sugar sentiment is bound up with anti-fat bias, the different rhetoric around sugar that’s dominant in diet culture vs wellness culture, what the research really says about the supposed addictiveness of sugar, and lots more. Karen Throsby is Prof...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit rethinkingwellness.substack.com In this bonus episode, psychiatrist and REAL SELF-CARE author Pooja Lakshmin returns to discuss how to tune in to your inner voice—and why that process isn’t as simple as it might seem. Plus, in a special segment for paid subscribers, Christy answers a question about how to avoid comparisons and start not...

Psychiatrist and REAL SELF-CARE author Pooja Lakshmin joins us to discuss her experiences with faux self-care and toxic wellness culture, her definition of real self-care and how it can fit into your life, the importance of setting boundaries (and what that actually looks like), how to tell if you need self-care or professional help, and more. Dr. Pooja Lakshmin MD is a psychiatrist and author, th...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit rethinkingwellness.substack.com Q&A: A critical look at diet advice for period pain and endometriosis. Check out the transcript for links to all referenced studies.  The full version of this episode is for paid subscribers. Listen to the first question here, and sign up for a paid subscription to hear the rest! Christy's new book, The W...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit rethinkingwellness.substack.com In this bonus episode, registered dietitian Jonah Soolman returns to discuss the role of acceptance in navigating chronic health conditions, whether eating-disorder recovery can ever be compatible with alternative medicine, what to look for in a healthcare provider given the problems with the alternative-...

Registered dietitian Jonah Soolman joins us to discuss his time working in an alternative medicine clinic run by integrative doctors. He shares some of the shady practices he saw his bosses engaging in, why food-sensitivity testing and other alt-med tests are often misleading, the dangers of trying alternative or integrative medicine if you’re in recovery from an eating disorder, the devastating s...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit rethinkingwellness.substack.com Q&A: how to know whether a particular test is legit. Plus, in a bonus answer for paid subscribers, Christy discusses what to say to a doctor who’s recommending a diet for ME/CFS or other poorly understood illnesses. Listen to the first question here, and sign up for a paid subscription to hear the full ep...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit rethinkingwellness.substack.com In this bonus episode, anti-diet Pilates instructor Helen Phelan-Guillemot returns to discuss workout selfies, the way people respond on social media to images of her body, Christy’s own experience navigating other people's opinions on social media, the lack of regulation in the fitness industry and why i...

Anti-diet Pilates instructor Helen Phelan-Guillemot joins us to discuss her history as a dancer and how that affected her relationship with food and her body, how she moved from disordered eating into wellness obsession, how she’s come to hate toxic fitness culture while still loving physical activity, how to know when you need to take a break from fitness, why we don’t need to constantly self-opt...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit rethinkingwellness.substack.com Q&A: The next time you come across a wellness influencer saying sensational things, try this. Plus, in a bonus answer for paid subscribers, Christy discusses whether seed oils are as bad for you as some sources claim.  Listen to the first question here, and sign up for a paid subscription to hear the full...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit rethinkingwellness.substack.com In this bonus episode, Ling Ling Huang returns to discuss how wellness culture affected her creativity and work as a professional violinist, how she’s changing her relationship with social media, how algorithms led her to questionable wellness products out of a desire to help a loved one, her upcoming TV...

Author and violinist Ling Ling Huang joins us to discuss her new novel, Natural Beauty, and the fraught nature of that term; how working in the clean-beauty and wellness space affected her eating-disorder recovery and her mental health; why she invested so much in wellness culture at a time in her life when she could barely afford food; the fetishization and appropriation of Asian cultures in well...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit rethinkingwellness.substack.com In this bonus episode, illustrator and author Eliza Wheeler returns to discuss how to support a loved one with chronic illness, navigating her own symptoms alongside a partner who also has chronic conditions, and more. Hear more from Eliza in episode 15 at rethinkingwellness.substack.com . Eliza Wheeler i...

Illustrator and author Eliza Wheeler joins us to discuss the intersection of chronic illness and disordered eating. She shares the unexplained symptoms that led her to try more than a dozen different “wellness” diets, her winding path to an eventual diagnosis of Lyme disease under stringent CDC criteria, why the functional-medicine approach didn’t work for her, how starting to heal her relationshi...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit rethinkingwellness.substack.com In this bonus episode, Christy answers audience questions about how to navigate a friendship with a naturopath while trying to reject diet and wellness culture , how to avoid getting sucked into wellness culture's anti-aging advice , dealing with pre-wedding body image struggles, and more. This episode is...

Writer and ex–wellness influencer Lee Tilghman joins us to discuss how she got into wellness influencing in the first place (and the role of her eating disorder in that process), how it affected her mental well-being to be so wrapped up in wellness for work, what it’s been like to leave influencing, her upcoming book about influencer culture, tips for shifting your relationship with social media,...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit rethinkingwellness.substack.com In this bonus episode, Christy answers audience questions about how to be involved in the food and farming world without falling prey to diet and wellness culture, whether mindful eating is a dieting behavior, how to know if you’re not eating enough, and more. (This episode is a recording of the July Q&A...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit rethinkingwellness.substack.com In this bonus episode, Christy answers audience questions about whether diet drugs can really quiet “food noise,” and whether it means anything for your eating-disorder recovery if you don’t want sweet foods. This episode is for paid subscribers. To hear the full episode, sign up for a paid subscription h...

Dr. Dan Wilson of Debunk the Funk joins us to discuss how he went from believing in conspiracy theories about “hidden” cancer cures to becoming a scientist, what led him to rethink his conspiracy beliefs, the crossover between the anti-vax industry and crunchy wellness spaces, how to think critically about common wellness conspiracy theories, and more. Dan Wilson, Ph. D. Is a molecular biologist w...

Author and journalist Rennie Dyball joins us to discuss why she's reconsidered the rave review of a gut-health diet book she wrote for a major media outlet years ago, why journalists don't often ask critical questions of wellness "experts," why most wellness-diet testimonials you see online are probably wrong, the intersection of wellness culture and breastfeeding, her new book, B Is for Bellies ,...