Maintenance Phase
Debunking the junk science behind health fads, wellness scams and nonsensical nutrition advice.
Episodes
This week, Mike and Aubrey take on a manual for creep behavior masquerading as a diet book. Along the way, we cover shopping guides, journalism salaries and the proper preparation of Cornish game hens. We love our curvy husbands.
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Debunking some of the most widely repeated myths about fat and health.
Here's Mike's new video!
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Thanks to Doctor Dreamchip for our lovely theme song!
Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/maintenancephase)How a liberal journalist entrenched a libertarian fantasy.
Thanks to Sarah Taber for helping us with the research for this episode!
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This week's show is still in the oven so we're releasing one of our first Patreon bonus episodes. We asked our listeners for the wildest and wackiest fad diets they've ever tried and ended up doing mini-deep dives into The Rotation Diet, The Shangri-La Diet, The Special K Diet, Bethenny Frankel's "Naturally Thin" plan and the Blood Type Diet. Enjoy, and see you next week!
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In 2019, Jordan Peterson disappeared from public life. One year later, he re-emerged with a diagnosis, a story and no self-reflection whatsoever.
Thanks to Katelyn Burns and Talia Lavin for help fact-checking this episode and Doctor Dreamchip for our lovely theme song!
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Oops all meat: How a '50s bodybuilder, a Grateful Dead roadie and an unreadable professor accidentally launched one of America's wildest fad diets.
Here's Mike's "Cancel Culture" video!
Note: In our discussion of Jordan Peterson’s political correctness lecture, I made a sarcastic comment about looking “slim in this dress.” After the episode came out, we started hearing from listeners that my comment reminded...
Aubrey thought she could swear less in this week’s episode. She was wrong.
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In 2015, Belle Gibson was an Australian "eco-preneur" with a vegetarian cookbook, a blockbuster wellness app and a terminal cancer diagnosis. Today, she's one of the most hated figures in the country.
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Who’s that Bond villain stroking a cat and yelling at beloved public figures? It’s Karl Lagerfeld! This week, Mike and Aubrey go in on fashion’s favorite turbo troll and his fancy, joyless diet. This episode serves four.
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How America's oldest fat camp — and the inspiration for Disney’s "Heavyweights" — became the symbol of a health intervention that enjoys worldwide popularity despite no evidence that it improves anyone's health.
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Matthew Walker's "Why We Sleep" was one of the most popular and acclaimed wellness books of 2017. There's just one problem: Much of it isn't true.
Thanks to University of Ottawa Postdoctoral Fellow Dylan Smith for helping us with the research!
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It's a sexual health episode! This week, Mike and Aubrey dive into the hotly debated medical history of vibrators and ask: who fact-checks the fact-checkers?
Note: A previous version of this episode included language that referred to “the female downstairs,” implying both that gender is linked to genitals (it isn’t) and that vibrators were used primarily by cis women (they weren’t). We love our trans listeners and we don’t want...
For nearly four decades, Americans have heard a simple story about health, longevity and obesity. This week, we learn it's a little more complicated.
Thanks to Katherine Flegal, Paul Campos, Jeff Hunger and Jason Salemi for helping us research and fact-check this episode!
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At the height of her "Murder She Wrote" fame, Angela Lansbury released a home workout video full of synth music, peach jumpsuits and ~sensuality~. This week, we’re exploring the anti-Goop-ness of Angela’s fitness book and video, "Positive Moves."! It gets a little heavy toward the end, but we promise: No one was canceled in the making of this episode.
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In the sequel (sorry) to our first installment, we take a deep dive into Rachel's wildly problematic books and deeply weird downfall. Along the way we discuss allyship etiquette, MLMs and Ronald Reagan. We remain convinced that getting matching tattoos was the right decision for us.
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Girl, stop reinforcing the status quo.
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Last year, spiritual leader Marianne Williamson made headlines when she ran for president. But 10 years earlier, she wrote a bestselling book that promised to teach readers how to “surrender" their weight forever. This week, Mike and Aubrey take a deep dive into Williamson’s life story and her 2010 book, “A Course in Weight Loss." Along the way we talk nonprofit drama, Eleanor Roosevelt and gays for Marianne. Plus, Mike’s...
How Nestlé executives, global health institutions and a very racist white lady seeded a series of nutritional misconceptions we're still living with today.
Special thanks to John Nott for helping us out with this episode! Here's his papers on the history of protein and the British Empire.
Over the last 30 years, fatness has been defined as a risk factor for disease, then a disease in itself, then a global epidemic. What caused this rapid shift? Who’s gonna join our group of B-roll vigilantes? And did we just hear Morgan Freeman?
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The BMI is EVERYWHERE. But is it scientific or scientif-ish? While many Americans think of the body mass index as an objective measure of health, its history reveals a more complicated story. This week, Mike and Aubrey tackle the first in a two-part series about the BMI and the “Obesity Epidemic.” Along the way they visit 18th century Belgium, learn a gross new acronym and dissect Dracula's facial features.
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