Rethinking Wellness

Latest Episodes:

How Disordered Eating Can Play Into Chronic Illness with Eliza Wheeler Aug 28, 2023

Show notes

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 relationship with food has made her chronic illness more manageable, and more.

Eliza Wheeler is an illustrator and author of books for children, and was a recipient of the Sendak Fellowship Award. Her first picture book, Miss Maple’s Seeds, was a New York Times best seller, and her newest book Home In The Woods is based on the true story of her grandmother’s childhood experience of living in a tar-paper shack in the woods with seven siblings and their single mom. Eliza grew up in the northwoods of Wisconsin, lived in Los Angeles, CA for a time, and now calls Minneapolis, Minnesota home. Learn more about her work at wheelerstudio.com.

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Support the podcast by becoming a paid subscriber, and unlock great perks like bonus episodes, subscriber-only Q&As, early access to regular episodes, community threads, and much more. Sign up now at rethinkingwellness.substack.com.

Christy's new book, The Wellness Trap, is now 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—enrolling now for a new September cohort!

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

Bonus: Friends in Wellness Culture, the Anti-Aging Trap, and More Aug 25, 2023

Show notes

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 a recording of the August Q&A for members of Christy's Intuitive Eating Fundamentals course, which is enrolling a new cohort now!

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

Christy's new book, The Wellness Trap, is now 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.

A Former Wellness Influencer Shares What It Was Really Like with Lee Tilghman Aug 14, 2023

Show notes

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, and more.

Lee Tilghman is a blogger, writer, creator, and speaker who has had many internet evolutions over the last decade and a half. Her blogs, For the Love of Peanut Butter and Lee From America, both reached mass audiences through her food photography, essays, relatable content, and honesty. She is currently working on her first memoir which explores her time as an influencer and why she stepped away from thousand-dollar brand deals to find sanity again. Be sure to check out her Substack newsletter, Offline Time.

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

Get the podcast in your inbox, plus biweekly Q&As about wellness culture and more, by signing up at rethinkingwellness.substack.com.

You can also support the show by becoming a paid subscriber for just a few bucks a month. With a paid subscription, you unlock great perks like bonus episodes, subscriber-only Q&As, early access to regular episodes, and much more. Sign up now at rethinkingwellness.substack.com.

Christy's new book, The Wellness Trap, is now 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.

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

Bonus: Food and Farming without Wellness Culture, Mindful Eating without Dieting, and More Aug 11, 2023

Show notes

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 for members of Christy's Intuitive Eating Fundamentals course, which will be enrolling a new cohort in the next few weeks.)

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

Christy's new book, The Wellness Trap, is now 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.

"Food Noise" and Diet Drugs, Not Wanting Sweet Foods, and More Jul 31, 2023

Show notes

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 here!

Christy's new book, The Wellness Trap, is now 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.

Challenging Conspiracy Theories and Embracing Science with Dr. Dan Wilson Jul 31, 2023

Show notes

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 who earned his doctorate in biological sciences at Carnegie Mellon University. He currently works as a senior associate scientist at Janssen and spends part of his free time exercising his passion for science communication on his YouTube channel, Debunk the Funk with Dr. Wilson. His channel focuses on debunking anti-vaccine myths and disinformation using sources from the primary scientific literature.

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

Get the podcast in your inbox, plus biweekly Q&As about wellness culture and more, by signing up at rethinkingwellness.substack.com.

Christy's new book, The Wellness Trap, is now 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.

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

Why Rave Reviews of Wellness Diets Are Probably Wrong with Rennie Dyball Jul 17, 2023

Show notes

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, and lots more.

Rennie Dyball is an award-winning author who has written 16 books and counting, from middle grade novels to celebrity memoirs. She has worked in many areas of media and publishing, and holds a special place in her heart for picture books as a way to connect with the youngest of readers—as well as the adults reading the books aloud. A former writer and editor for People magazine and People.com, Rennie currently reviews books for the brand. She is the managing editor for The Plaid Horse magazine, a lifelong horse lover, a competitive equestrian, and the author of several horse novels. Rennie is also a former diet and wellness culture devotee who is now dedicated to promoting body acceptance in her writing and beyond. Rennie lives in Towson, Maryland, with her husband and two young daughters.

Hear a bonus episode with Rennie about how she avoids getting pulled down wellness rabbit holes online (and what still hooks her), ways to minimize getting targeted with “solutions” to your health concerns, how she sees diet and wellness culture affecting kids, and more.

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

Get the podcast in your inbox, plus biweekly Q&As about wellness culture and lots of cool bonus content, by signing up at rethinkingwellness.substack.com.

Christy's new book, The Wellness Trap, is now 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.

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

Why Wellness Sells - the Benefits and Harms of Wellness Culture with Colleen Derkatch Jul 03, 2023

Show notes

Author and rhetoric professor Colleen Derkatch joins us to discuss why wellness sells (and her new book by that name), how wellness culture promises an alternative to the biomedical/pharmaceutical model but fails to deliver, why it’s important to acknowledge that certain aspects of wellness culture are helpful to people even as we critique its harms, and more.

Colleen Derkatch is Associate Professor of Rhetoric in the Department of English at Toronto Metropolitan University. She is the author of Bounding Biomedicine: Evidence and Rhetoric in the New Science of Alternative Medicine (University of Chicago Press) and Why Wellness Sells: Natural Health in a Pharmaceutical Culture (Johns Hopkins University Press). Her Twitter handle is @ColleenDerkatch.

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

Get the podcast in your inbox, plus biweekly Q&As about wellness culture and lots of cool bonus content, by signing up at rethinkingwellness.substack.com.

Christy's new book, The Wellness Trap, is now 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.

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

Cooking Without Wellness Rules and How Social Media Is Like Diet Culture with Julia Turshen Jun 19, 2023

Show notes

Cookbook author Julia Turshen joins us to discuss her history with an eating disorder and how orthorexic thinking showed up in her work, how a loved one’s boundary on diet talk helped her realize her relationship with food was problematic, how letting go of diet and wellness rules changed her cooking, how social media is like diet culture and how she’s taken a big step back from it, and more.

Julia Turshen is a New York Times bestselling cookbook author. Her latest book, Simply Julia, is a national bestseller. She has written for multiple publications including The New York Times, The Washington Post, Vogue, and more. She is the founder of Equity At The Table (EATT), an inclusive digital directory of women/non-binary individuals in food, and the host and producer of the podcast Keep Calm and Cook On. She sits on the Kitchen Cabinet Advisory Board for the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History and is a member of God’s Love We Deliver’s Culinary Council. She lives in the Hudson Valley with her spouse Grace and their pets. She teaches live cooking classes every Sunday afternoon. Find her online at juliaturshen.com.

If you like this conversation, subscribe to hear lots more like it! You can also sign up to get the podcast in your inbox (with a full transcript), plus biweekly Q&As about wellness culture, at rethinkingwellness.substack.com.

Christy's new book, The Wellness Trap, is now 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.

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

How to Fight Wellness Misinformation and Counter Conspiracy Theories with Seema Yasmin Jun 05, 2023

Show notes

Journalist and medical doctor Seema Yasmin joins us to discuss why misinformation and conspiracy theories about health and wellness are so alluring; how to recognize and fight back against false claims; the difference between misinformation, disinformation, and malinformation; holding the two truths that science is one of the best tools we have for finding facts and science hasn’t always gotten it right; and more. Plus, Christy shares an excerpt from the audiobook of The Wellness Trap about wellness mis- and disinformation and how they’ve come to proliferate online.

Dr. Seema Yasmin is an Emmy Award-winning journalist, Pulitzer prize finalist, director of the Stanford Health Communication Initiative and professor of crisis communication at UCLA. Yasmin served as a disease detective in the Epidemic Intelligence Service, and a science correspondent for major newspaper and broadcast outlets. She is the author of five books, including What the Fact?! Her reporting appears in The New York Times, Rolling Stone, WIRED, Scientific American, and other outlets. She received her medical degree from the University of Cambridge and trained in journalism at the University of Toronto.

If you like this conversation, subscribe to hear lots more like it! You can also sign up to get it in your inbox each week (with a full transcript) at rethinkingwellness.substack.com.

Christy's new book, The Wellness Trap, is now 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.

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

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