Rethinking Wellness

Latest Episodes:

Why You Probably Don’t Have a Leaky Gut, and Other Wellness Misconceptions with Jonathan Jarry Jun 03, 2024

Show notes

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit rethinkingwellness.substack.com

Science communicator Jonathan Jarry joins us to discuss his history of turning to alternative cures for chronic pain, how he came to be skeptical of the wellness industry, the problems with science journalism, why you probably don’t have a leaky gut (despite what many influencers and wellness practitioners claim), the critical article about “leaky gut syndrome” that resulted in death threats, and lots more.

Paid subscribers can hear the full interview, and the first half is available to all listeners. To upgrade to paid, go to rethinkingwellness.substack.com.

Jonathan Jarry is a science communicator with McGill University’s Office for Science and Society (OSS), dedicated to separating sense from nonsense on the scientific stage. He has a Master’s degree in molecular biology and he brings his experience in cancer research, human genetics, rehabilitation research, and forensic biology to the work he does for the public. With cardiologist Dr. Christopher Labos, he co-hosts the award-winning medical podcast The Body of Evidence, which aims to contextualize findings in the realm of health research and answer the public's most pressing questions about the biomedical sciences while also being funny and entertaining. He talks about science most Fridays on CTV Montreal News and is regularly interviewed in both English- and French-language media. Learn more about his work at jonathanjarry.com.

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Christy's second book, The Wellness Trap, is available wherever books are sold! Order it here, or ask for it in your favorite local bookstore.

If you're looking to make peace with food and break free from diet and wellness culture, come check out Christy's Intuitive Eating Fundamentals online course.

A Popular Protein Myth, and What the Science Really Says May 29, 2024

Show notes

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit rethinkingwellness.substack.com

Christy answers an audience question about how much protein you really need—and explores why a certain piece of incorrect advice is so popular among influencers and “protein girlies.”

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!

Get full show notes and references here.

Ask a question of your own for a chance to have it answered in a future episode!

Christy's second book, The Wellness Trap, is available wherever books are sold. Order it here, or ask for it in your favorite local bookstore.

If you're looking to make peace with food and break free from diet and wellness culture, check out Christy's Intuitive Eating Fundamentals online course.

Repost: The Wellness Trap with Christy Harrison and Katie Dalebout May 27, 2024

Show notes

Katie Dalebout guest-hosts the show to interview Christy about her new book, The Wellness Trap! Christy shares why she wanted to write a book about wellness, the potential harms of integrative and functional medicine (and why we’re understandably attracted to these approaches), the connections between wellness culture and diet culture, the legacy of the “hysteria” diagnosis and why women are still having to push back against the idea that symptoms are all in our heads, the role of social media in spreading wellness mis- and disinformation, and more.

Christy Harrison, MPH, RD, is a registered dietitian nutritionist, certified intuitive eating counselor, and journalist who has been covering food, nutrition, and health for more than 20 years. She is the author of two books, The Wellness Trap and Anti-Diet, and the producer and host of the podcasts Rethinking Wellness and Food Psych, which have helped tens of thousands of people around the world think critically about diet and wellness culture and develop more peaceful relationships with food. Her writing has appeared in the New York Times, SELF, BuzzFeed, Refinery29, Gourmet, Slate, the Food Network, and many other publications, and her work is regularly featured in national print and broadcast media. Learn more about Christy and her work at christyharrison.com.

Katie Dalebout is a writer who produces and hosts podcasts. Her weekly interview show, Let It Out, began in 2013 and now has over 400 episodes. In 2019 she started producing Spiraling, a mental health show she co-hosts with Serena Wolf. In 2016, she published her book Let It Out, an interactive book about using writing for emotional wellness. She now teaches writing workshops, consults with individuals and brands on creative strategy, and writes a weekly newsletter. She lives in Los Angeles where she walks everywhere like she still lives in New York.

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Pre-order Christy's new book, The Wellness Trap, for its April 25 release, and get access to an exclusive webinar discussing the book by submitting your proof of purchase at christyharrison.com/bookbonus !

If you're looking to make peace with food and break free from diet and wellness culture, come check out Christy's Intuitive Eating Fundamentals online course.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit rethinkingwellness.substack.com/subscribe

Critical Thinking About Social-Media Wellness Culture and the Plant-Based Diet Trend with Pixie Turner May 20, 2024

Show notes

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit rethinkingwellness.substack.com

Psychotherapist, nutrition counselor, and author Pixie Turner joins us to discuss her history with wellness culture, the Belle Gibson scandal and how it ignited her skepticism, how we can think critically about the plant-based diet trend, the truth about “what I eat in a day” videos, and how social media influences our relationships with food. Then, in the paywalled portion of the interview, we get into her controversial take on how we should approach wellness content on social media, the troubling reason why some people who are skeptical of pseudoscience and the wellness industry are NOT skeptical of diet culture, how people who want to make certain food choices for ethical reasons (like eating fewer animal products) can do that without falling into disordered eating and black-and-white thinking, and more.

Paid subscribers can hear the full interview, and the first half is available to all listeners. To upgrade to paid, go to rethinkingwellness.substack.com.

Pixie is the director and lead clinician at The Food Therapy Centre. As a psychotherapist and nutrition counselor, she specializes in disordered eating, body image work, and LGBTQ+ concerns. She has several years of clinical experience in all these areas, as well as experience in working with complex trauma and how it manifests in someone’s relationship with food/themselves in adulthood. She takes an integrative approach, discussing both food and emotions to get a more complete understanding of a person. Her overall aim is to help improve someone’s relationship with both food and themselves. Outside of her clinical practice, her science communication work extends across several platforms: social media, teaching at BSc/MSc level, public speaking, writing, and media work.

If you like this conversation, subscribe to hear lots more like it!

Christy's second book, The Wellness Trap, is available wherever books are sold! Order it here, or ask for it in your favorite local bookstore.

If you're looking to make peace with food and break free from diet and wellness culture, come check out Christy's Intuitive Eating Fundamentals online course.

What Netflix's New Doc Gets Wrong About Gut Health May 15, 2024

Show notes

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit rethinkingwellness.substack.com

In this bonus episode, Christy discusses Netflix’s new gut-health documentary—and why the film’s claims that gut microbes directly influence weight and disease are more hype than science.

This episode is for paid subscribers. Listen to a free preview here, and sign up for a paid subscription to hear the full episode!

Get full show notes and references here.

Christy's second book, The Wellness Trap, is available wherever books are sold! Order it online or ask for it in your favorite local bookstore.

If you're looking to make peace with food and break free from diet and wellness culture, come check out Christy's Intuitive Eating Fundamentals online course.

Healing from Dubious Diagnoses, Disordered Eating, and Overwork with Kirsten Powers May 13, 2024

Show notes

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit rethinkingwellness.substack.com

New York Times bestselling author and former CNN political analyst Kirsten Powers joins us to discuss her history of chronic fatigue and illness, her experience with dubious diagnoses and wild wellness treatments, what she discovered about the true causes of her issues, how disordered eating helped mask and exacerbate her symptoms, how she’s rethought her relationship with work in general and her own past work in particular, her viral post “The way we live in the United States is not normal” and her decision to move to Italy, and more.

Paid subscribers can hear the full interview, and the first half is available to all listeners. To upgrade to paid, go to rethinkingwellness.substack.com.

Kirsten Powers is a New York Times bestselling author and writes the bestselling Substack newsletter Changing the Channel. Kirsten served as a CNN senior political analyst for seven years, providing on-air analysis for major political and cultural events. The Columbia Journalism Review called her "an outspoken liberal journalist" in a sea of opposition at Fox News, where she previously served as a political analyst. She was a columnist for USA Today for more than a decade and, before that, for the Daily Beast and the New York Post.

If you like this conversation, subscribe to hear lots more like it!

Christy's second book, The Wellness Trap, is available wherever books are sold! Order it here, or ask for it in your favorite local bookstore.

If you're looking to make peace with food and break free from diet and wellness culture, come check out Christy's Intuitive Eating Fundamentals online course.

The Dangers of Diet Drugs: Behind the GLP-1 Weight-Loss Hype with Ragen Chastain May 06, 2024

Show notes

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit rethinkingwellness.substack.com

Writer, speaker, and weight-inclusive health/fitness professional Ragen Chastain joins us to discuss the potential side effects and other downsides of using GLP-1 drugs (like Ozempic and its ilk) for weight loss, the massive influence the manufacturers of these drugs are having on the public discourse about them, why the media don’t often report on these conflicts of interest, how drugmakers have co-opted talking points about weight stigma and weight cycling, how opposition to these drugs in some integrative- and functional-medicine spaces still perpetuates stigmatizing ideas about body size, and more.

Paid subscribers can hear the full interview, and the first half is available to all listeners. To upgrade to paid, go to rethinkingwellness.substack.com.

Ragen Chastain is a speaker, writer, researcher, Board Certified Patient Advocate, multi-certified health and fitness professional, and thought leader in weight science, weight stigma, health, and healthcare. Utilizing her background in research methods and statistics, Ragen has brought her signature mix of humor and hard facts to healthcare, corporate, conference, and college audiences from Kaiser Permanente and the Diabetes Education Specialists National Conference, to Amazon and Google, to Dartmouth, Cal Tech and canfitpro. Author of the Weight and Healthcare newsletter, the book Fat: The Owner's Manual, co-author of HAES Health Sheets, and editor of the anthology The Politics of Size, Ragen is frequently featured as an expert in print, radio, television, and documentary film. In her free time, Ragen is a national dance champion, triathlete, and marathoner who holds the Guinness World Record for Heaviest Woman to Complete a Marathon. Ragen lives in Oregon with her fiancée Julianne and a rotating cast of foster dogs.

If you like this conversation, subscribe to hear lots more like it!

Christy's second book, The Wellness Trap, is available wherever books are sold! Order it here, or ask for it in your favorite local bookstore.

If you're looking to make peace with food and break free from diet and wellness culture, come check out Christy's Intuitive Eating Fundamentals online course.

"Sunlight Before Screen Light" and Why You Don't Need to Worry May 01, 2024

Show notes

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit rethinkingwellness.substack.com

In this bonus episode, Christy discusses the science (or lack thereof) behind the wellness-culture slogan “sunlight before screen light.”

This episode is for paid subscribers. Listen to a free preview here, and sign up for a paid subscription to hear the full episode!

Get full show notes and references here.

Christy's second book, The Wellness Trap, is available wherever books are sold! Order it online or ask for it in your favorite local bookstore.

If you're looking to make peace with food and break free from diet and wellness culture, come check out Christy's Intuitive Eating Fundamentals online course.

How "Workplace Wellness" Can Create Disordered Eating and Worsen Well-Being with Heather Sayers Lehman Apr 29, 2024

Show notes

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit rethinkingwellness.substack.com

Employee well-being consultant and health coach Heather Sayers Lehman joins us to discuss how workplace wellness programs often make people LESS well by promoting disordered eating, body shame, and even some woo-woo wellness trends. She also shares her history with diet and wellness culture, how having thyroid issues made her vulnerable to wellness misinformation, and more.

Paid subscribers can hear the full interview, and the first half is available to all listeners. To upgrade to paid, go to rethinkingwellness.substack.com.

Heather Sayers Lehman, MS, NBC-HWC, CSCS, NASM-CPT, CIEC, CWP, is a behavior change expert and certified health and wellness coach. She has enjoyed a passionate career in health and well-being for over 30 years. Heather is a TEDx speaker who loves speaking engagements for employee well-being and conferences.

She founded and operates Overcoming U - Cultivating Employee Well-Being. Overcoming U provides in-depth health and well-being courses, webinars, and health coaching for employee wellness programs. The focus is building skillsets and changing mindsets to create and maintain healthy habits.

Heather hosts the podcast The Air We Breathe: Finding Well-Being That Works. She enjoys candid conversations with experts, doctors, creatives, and activists, debunking health myths, navigating health enhancement without diet culture, and learning to seek peace over perfection.

She authored Don’t Eat It. DEAL With It! Second Edition: Your Guidebook on How to STOP Eating Your Emotions to help you create a healthier relationship with food. The guidebook enables you to improve self-talk, expand emotional coping skills, create mindful eating practices, and foster self-compassion.

You can find Heather at HeatherSayersLehman.com and OvercomingU.com. She is available for one-on-one health coaching, employee wellness program consulting, and weight-inclusive, anti-diet health education for employees.

If you like this conversation, subscribe to hear lots more like it!

Christy's second book, The Wellness Trap, is available wherever books are sold! Order it here, or ask for it in your favorite local bookstore.

If you're looking to make peace with food and break free from diet and wellness culture, come check out Christy's Intuitive Eating Fundamentals online course.

Long Covid and the False Promises of Wellness Culture with Kate Leaver Apr 22, 2024

Show notes

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit rethinkingwellness.substack.com

Journalist and author Kate Leaver joins us to discuss her experience with long Covid, all the weird wellness-y stuff she tried out of desperation, and why it’s so hard to think critically about interventions that promise healing when you’re so sick you barely have the energy to read an email, let alone do a deep dive into the science. She also shares how working with a naturopath as a kid sparked her eating disorder, how she found her way to recovery, and lots more.

Paid subscribers can hear the full interview, and the first half is available to all listeners. To upgrade to paid, go to rethinkingwellness.substack.com.

Kate Leaver is an author, journalist and former professional fairy. She’s worked for a glossy magazine, a leading Australian women’s website, an evening radio show, and the digital offshoot of a major literary franchise. She covers topics like love, science, celebrity, pop culture and why dogs are so great. She’s currently writing her debut novel and she publishes the newsletter ENTHUSIASM.

If you like this conversation, subscribe to hear lots more like it!

Christy's second book, The Wellness Trap, is available wherever books are sold! Order it here, or ask for it in your favorite local bookstore.

If you're looking to make peace with food and break free from diet and wellness culture, come check out Christy's Intuitive Eating Fundamentals online course.

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