Rethinking Wellness
Rethinking Wellness offers critical thinking and compassionate skepticism about wellness and diet culture, and reflections on how to find true well-being. We explore the science (or lack thereof) behind popular wellness diets, the role of influencers and social-media algorithms in spreading wellness misinformation, problematic practices in the alternative- and integrative-medicine space, how wellness culture often drives disordered eating, the truth about trending topics like gut health, how to avoid getting taken advantage of when you’re desperate for help and healing, and how to care for yourself in a deeply flawed healthcare system without falling into wellness traps. **This podcast feed shares generous previews and very occasional full-length episodes. To hear everything, become a paid subscriber at rethinkingwellness.substack.com.** rethinkingwellness.substack.com
Episodes
Q&A: A critical look at diet advice for period pain and endometriosis. This episode was originally published in 2023.
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 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!
Christy discusses the carnivore diet, why it’s concerning from a disordered-eating perspective, and what the science really says about this fad diet that doesn’t want to die.
This episode is for paid subscribers. Listen to a free preview here, and sign up for a paid subscription to hear the full episode!
Misinformation and media-literacy researcher Matthew Facciani joins us to discuss how he defines misinformation at a time when even the term itself is polarizing, why there’s so much misinformation about health and wellness in particular, how to navigate the current information landscape given the continued erosion of trust in ins...
Christy answers an audience question about the diets you don’t need to try in (peri)menopause—and ways to get your loved ones to stop talking about them.
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!
Science and parenting journalist Melinda Wenner Moyer returns to discuss the importance of self-compassion and how to practice it, why conveying a growth mindset is much more helpful to kids than giving compliments about fixed qualities, misconceptions about resilience (and what the science really says), the difference between tra...
Christy discusses what she’s been going through with IVF and how it’s affected her body image, plus 5 things she’s trying to keep in mind as she navigates a changing body—especially as we enter the summer season, with all the diet- and wellness-culture pressures that go along with it.
Journalist Virginia Sole-Smith joins us to discuss how GLP-1 hype has changed the conversation about diet culture, the importance of body autonomy, how “bro” diet culture became public policy, how she handles haters, the “fed is best” approach to parenting, and lots more. Behind the paywall, she shares her experience of weighing h...
Christy answers an audience question about whether fasting can help with chronic fatigue related to Long Covid—and what to do if your doctor recommends fasting when you have a history of disordered eating.
The full version of this episode is for paid subscribers. Listen to the first question here, and sign up for a paid subscriptio...
Health-misinformation researcher and science communicator Timothy Caulfield returns to discuss his new book THE CERTAINTY ILLUSION, why being too certain about anything makes us vulnerable to misinformation, how intellectual humility can help protect us, why science is sometimes “full of shit” and how to be a critical consumer of ...
Christy answers an audience question about the “adrenal body type” and unpacks the weight stigma, ageism, and pseudoscience embedded in this twist on the dubious diagnosis of “adrenal fatigue.”
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 th...
Parent coach Oona Hanson joins us to discuss how going to a physical therapist for back pain led her down a wellness-culture rabbit hole, why dietary restrictions to “fight inflammation” just ended up harming her relationship with food and her body, how she got the dubious diagnosis of “adrenal fatigue,” and more. Behind the paywa...
Christy discusses vitamin D for blood-sugar control and preventing diabetes (part of our series on commonly used supplements). If you spend a lot of time in online wellness spaces, you’ve probably heard a lot about how supplementing with vitamin D can supposedly regulate blood sugar and prevent diabetes. Even some mainstream diabe...
Philosopher and medical ethics professor Arianne Shavisi joins us to discuss why alternative medicine isn’t the answer to a patriarchal healthcare system—and why in many ways it’s even worse. We get into the common misconception that alternative medicine is feminist, how alternative medicine differs from scientific medicine, the r...
Christy discusses how to tell whether your symptoms are related to perimenopause or something else, what perimenopause has in common with dubious diagnoses (even though it’s a real condition), and what the best available evidence says about hormone therapy, weight gain, and more.
Author and activist Amanda Martinez Beck joins us to discuss her experience of taking Ozempic for diabetes while also working to accept her body and break down anti-fat bias in society. She shares her history of dieting and disordered eating, how chronic conditions including diabetes as well as fibromyalgia and post-Covid syndrome...
In this bonus episode, Christy shares some personal thoughts on how anxiety impacts the gut, and how to handle digestive distress that’s triggered by stress without getting pulled down wellness-culture rabbit holes—particularly if you have a history of disordered eating.
The full version of this episode (with 9 tips for coping) is...
Returning guest Amelia Hruby—who is now our very own podcast producer, as well as a podcaster in her own right with a PhD in philosophy—co-hosts this special episode for the 2-year anniversary of Rethinking Wellness. We discuss how Amelia’s thinking about astrology and tarot has shifted since her first appearance on the pod, why t...
Dietitian and diabetes educator Janice Dada joins us to discuss why there’s so much stigma and blame on people with diabetes, the wellness-culture belief that people can “reverse diabetes” by restricting foods and taking a bunch of supplements, why people don’t “give themselves diabetes” by eating too much sugar, the myth that peo...
Christy answers an audience question about the health effects of taking vitamin D supplements.
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.
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