Rethinking Wellness

Alan Levinovitz, religious-studies scholar and author of Natural and The Gluten Lie , joins us to discuss the problems with framing eating and wellness practices as “natural,” the weird parallels between gun culture and wellness culture, the tricky balance between empathizing with why people are driven to harmful wellness practices and being clear in calling out misinformation, the need for nuance...

Fitness and wellness historian Natalia Mehlman Petrzela joins Christy to discuss her new book, Fit Nation ; the historical shifts that made fitness go from being viewed as a narcissistic practice to being seen as a good thing across the political spectrum; why so many people are disillusioned with our medical system and looking for answers and validation in the alternative medicine space; how peop...

Casey Gueren, award-winning health journalist and author of It's Probably Nothing , joins us to discuss how to deal with health anxiety, strategies for recognizing and avoiding wellness misinformation online, how to develop greater media literacy, and more. Casey Gueren is currently the Head of Content at Wondermind and the former Executive Editor and Health Director at SELF Magazine. An award-win...

Jenée Desmond-Harris, Slate Magazine's Dear Prudence advice columnist, joins us to discuss her history with wellness culture, how infertility can make people desperate enough to try dubious wellness treatments, the harmful wellness messages she’s gotten while navigating her son’s sensitive stomach as a breastfeeding parent, how social media influences our relationships with food and body, and lots...

Welcome to Rethinking Wellness, a podcast exploring the diet culture, disinformation, dubious diagnoses, and disordered eating that are so pervasive in contemporary wellness culture—and how to avoid falling into these traps so that you can find your own true well-being. Subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts for new episodes every other Monday, and get transcripts via email by visiting rethinki...