Rethinking Wellness

Intuitive Eating co-author Elyse Resch joins us to discuss her history with the natural-food movement, how trying to eat “naturally” led her into orthorexia and other forms of disordered eating, how intuitive eating is being co-opted by wellness culture, what to consider if you’re interested in “natural” foods, and more.

Elyse Resch, MS, RDN, CEDS-S, Fiaedp, FADA, FAND, is a nutrition therapist in private practice with over 40 years of experience specializing in eating disorders, Intuitive Eating, and Health at Every Size. She is the co-author of Intuitive Eating, now in its 4th edition, the Intuitive Eating Workbook, and The Intuitive Eating Card Deck: 50 Bite-Sized Ways to Make Peace with Food. Elyse is also the author of The Intuitive Eating Workbook for Teens and The Intuitive Eating Journal: Your Guided Journey for Nourishing a Healthy Relationship with Food and a chapter contributor to The Handbook of Positive Body Image and Embodiment. She has published journal articles, print articles, and blog posts, and does regular speaking engagements, podcasts, and extensive media interviews. Her work has been profiled on ABC, NPR, CNN, and NBC, and in the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, the Associated Press, and USA Today, among others.

Elyse is nationally known for her work in helping patients break free from diet culture through the Intuitive Eating process. Her philosophy embraces the goal of reconnecting with one’s internal wisdom about eating and developing body liberation, with the belief that all bodies deserve dignity and respect. She is a social justice advocate, a Certified Eating Disorder Specialist and Supervisor, a Fellow of the International Association of Eating Disorder Professionals, a member of the Healer’s Circle of Project Heal, and a Fellow of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, and she supervises and trains health professionals. Find her at elyseresch.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. Learn more and sign 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

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What if disagreements and differences are a matter of risk perception? Plus: Is weight loss really the only way to be well?

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 show notes and references 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.  

In this bonus episode, writer and podcaster Amelia Hruby returns to discuss why it’s important to question science with nuance, our different takes on astrology and tarot, how to dabble in “woo-woo” practices that feel fun to you without getting sucked into harmful beliefs and conspiracy theories, the role of social media in those rabbit holes, and more.

Amelia Hruby is a writer, educator and podcaster with a PhD in philosophy. Over the past decade, she’s been a university professor, a community organizer, and a radio DJ. Now she is the founder & executive producer of Softer Sounds, a feminist podcast studio that supports entrepreneurs and creatives. She’s also the host of Off the Grid, a podcast about leaving social media without losing all your clients.

This episode is for paid subscribers. Listen to a free 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.

Writer and podcaster Amelia Hruby joins us to discuss the intersections in her processes of breaking up with social media and with diet culture, how being off the platforms has benefited both her mental health and her business, how to handle guilt over leaving, ways to get exposure to greater representation and body diversity without social media, and more.

Amelia Hruby is a writer, educator and podcaster with a PhD in philosophy. Over the past decade, she’s been a university professor, a community organizer, and a radio DJ. Now she is the founder & executive producer of Softer Sounds, a feminist podcast studio that supports entrepreneurs and creatives. She’s also the host of Off the Grid, a podcast about leaving social media without losing all your clients.

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

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. Learn more and sign 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

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

A critical look at the evidence on hair analysis, DUTCH testing, and heavy metals in chocolate—and why it’s worth being skeptical of tests positioned as “new science.”

Get full show notes and references here.

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'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, check out Christy's Intuitive Eating Fundamentals online course. 

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

In this bonus episode, journalist and The Gospel of Wellness author Rina Raphael returns to discuss how the wellness industry is changing to respond to more skeptical consumers—and why that might be making it even harder to tell what’s truly evidence-based.

Rina Raphael is a journalist and the author of The Gospel of Wellness: Gyms, Gurus, Goop, and the False Promise of Self-Care. She writes for the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Wall Street Journal, New York magazine, and Fast Company, among other publications. Her wellness industry newsletter, Well To Do, covers trends and offers market analysis.

This episode is for paid subscribers. Listen to a free 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.

Journalist and The Gospel of Wellness author Rina Raphael joins us to discuss why most media coverage of wellness is so uncritical, and how that allows misinformation to spread; why “science-washing” is rampant in the wellness industry; how wellness is used as a band-aid for systemic issues and ironically doesn’t get to the “root cause” that’s so often touted in wellness culture; her own complicated history with wellness; and more.

Rina Raphael is a journalist and the author of The Gospel of Wellness: Gyms, Gurus, Goop, and the False Promise of Self-Care. She writes for the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Wall Street Journal, New York magazine, and Fast Company, among other publications. Her wellness industry newsletter, Well To Do, covers trends and offers market analysis.

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

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. Learn more and sign 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

​A critical look at research on the gut-brain axis, including whether certain gut bacteria are linked to anxiety and depression, whether probiotics have any benefit for mental health, whether you need to take digestive enzymes for anxiety, and more.

The full version of this episode is for paid subscribers. Listen to the first part here, and sign up for a paid subscription to hear the rest!

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

Professor and SUGAR RUSH author Karen Throsby returns for a bonus episode to discuss how her own relationship with sugar has changed since before she wrote her book, the role of influencers and social media in spreading anti-sugar messages, why news media report so uncritically on government recommendations to cut sugar, and more.

Karen Throsby is Professor of Gender Studies and the Head of the School of Sociology and Social Policy at the University of Leeds. She has been researching issues of gender, technology, bodies and health for over 20 years, including work on reproductive technologies, weight loss surgery and endurance sport. She is the author of Immersion: Marathon Swimming, Identity and Embodiment (Manchester University Press, 2016), When IVF Fails: Feminism, Infertility and the Negotiation of Normality (Palgrave Macmillan, 2004) and most recently, Sugar Rush: Science, Politics and the Demonisation of Fatness (Manchester University Press, 2023).

This episode is for paid subscribers. Listen to a free 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.

Professor and SUGAR RUSH author Karen Throsby joins us to discuss why sugar became demonized despite a lot of actual uncertainty in the science, how anti-sugar sentiment is bound up with anti-fat bias, the different rhetoric around sugar that’s dominant in diet culture vs wellness culture, what the research really says about the supposed addictiveness of sugar, and lots more.

Karen Throsby is Professor of Gender Studies and the Head of the School of Sociology and Social Policy at the University of Leeds. She has been researching issues of gender, technology, bodies and health for over 20 years, including work on reproductive technologies, weight loss surgery and endurance sport. She is the author of Immersion: Marathon Swimming, Identity and Embodiment (Manchester University Press, 2016), When IVF Fails: Feminism, Infertility and the Negotiation of Normality (Palgrave Macmillan, 2004) and most recently, Sugar Rush: Science, Politics and the Demonisation of Fatness (Manchester University Press, 2023).

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

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. Learn more and sign 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