In this solo episode, Christy discusses the evidence on sugar and health—specifically what the science really says about the links between sugar and the risk of various chronic diseases, as well as the inherent limitations of the data. Plus, in honor of Halloween this week, she shares some thoughts (and some data) on princess culture and girls’ body image, and why she’s starting to let go of some of her angst about her daughter’s current princess obsession.

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.

Cognitive psychologist Gordon Pennycook explains the psychological reasons we fall for misinformation, conspiracy theories, and general bullshit (a technical term!). We discuss why people with an analytical cognitive style tend to be more skeptical of alternative medicine and health misinformation, some of the pitfalls of intuitive thinking (and why intuitive eating may actually be more of an analytical or deliberative process), why being skeptical of out-there wellness practices is actually a sign of open-mindedness, why even very smart people can fall for wellness misinformation, and more. Behind the paywall, we get into the difficulty of trusting experts in matters of health and wellness, the importance of thinking critically about science, the attention economy and how it contributes to incentivizing misinformation, how conspiracy theories have touched Gordon’s life, his surprising findings about what it takes for people to drop conspiracist beliefs, and the best ways to stop the spread of misinformation.

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. 

Gordon Pennycook is a Himan Brown Faculty Fellow and Associate Professor in the Department of Psychology at Cornell University. He obtained his PhD in Cognitive Psychology at the University of Waterloo in 2016 and held a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada Banting Postdoctoral Fellowship at Yale University. 

His expertise is human reasoning and decision-making, and he has published over 100 peer-reviewed articles, including in journals such as Nature and Science. He has published research on the spread of fake news and misinformation, as well as the first ever paper on the psychology of bullshit.

Gordon has received several awards, such as the Governor General’s Gold Medal, Poynter Institute’s International Fact-Checking Network “Researcher of the Year,” and early career awards from the Canadian Society for Brain, Behaviour, and Cognitive Science, the Psychonomic Society, and the Association for Psychological Science. He was elected to the Royal Society of Canada’s College of New Scholars, Artists, and Scientists in 2020.

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Support the podcast by becoming a paid subscriber, and unlock great perks like extended interviews, subscriber-only Q&As, full access to our archives, commenting privileges and subscriber threads where you can connect with other listeners, and more. Learn more and sign up at rethinkingwellness.substack.com.

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.

New York Times bestselling cookbook author Julia Turshen joins us to discuss intuitive cooking and how it relates to intuitive eating, how diet-culture recovery has influenced her approach to cooking and recipe writing, learning to accept that not every meal is going to be stellar (and why that’s a powerful antidote to social-media diet culture), her new book, What Goes with What, and more. Behind the paywall, we discuss how we’ve both gotten to a place where work isn’t our whole life, some behind-the-scenes looks at book publishing and book deals, Julia’s experience of powerlifting and how it’s changed her relationship with her body, how she navigates the diet and wellness culture in powerlifting, and both of our thoughts on the extreme protein consumption pushed by strength coaches and “protein girlies.”

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.

Julia Turshen is a New York Times bestselling cookbook author. Her latest book, Simply Julia, is an IACP award-winning national bestseller. Julia has written for multiple publications including The New York Times, The Washington Post, and Vogue. 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 IACP-nominated podcast Keep Calm and Cook On, which the New York Times has called “an antidote to diet culture.” Epicurious has named Julia one of the ‘100 Greatest Home Cooks of All Time.’ 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 writes a weekly newsletter, teaches live cooking classes every Sunday afternoon, and is a competitive powerlifter. Julia lives in the Hudson Valley with her spouse Grace and their many pets. Her next book, WHAT GOES WITH WHAT, will be out on October 15th.

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Support the podcast by becoming a paid subscriber, and unlock great perks like extended interviews, subscriber-only Q&As, full access to our archives, commenting privileges and subscriber threads where you can connect with other listeners, and more. Learn more and sign up at rethinkingwellness.substack.com.

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.

Registered dietitian and author Shana Minei Spence joins us to discuss how a career in fashion affected her relationship with food and her body, her experience with a holistic provider who recommended elimination diets, how values and social norms influenced her use of alternative medicine, her disordered motivations for becoming a dietitian, and more. Behind the paywall, we get into how she recovered from her eating disorder, why she takes an anti-diet approach to nutrition, her experience working in the public-health field, cultural appropriation in wellness, and where she stands on wellness culture and alternative medicine now.

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. 

Shana is a Registered Dietitian Nutritionist based in Brooklyn, New York. She currently works in public health for the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, doing community nutrition lessons, and also owns her own company, The Nutrition Tea ®. She describes herself as an "all foods fit" dietitian. and creates a platform for open discussion on nutrition and wellness topics that are inclusive, non-diet, and weight-neutral, all with an intersectionality of social justice. She also writes frequently for publications such as Self, Shape, Outside, and Well + Good Magazines. Her debut book came out in August 2024, titled Live Nourished: Make Peace with Food, Banish Body Shame, and Reclaim Joy (Bookshop affiliate link). Speaking engagements include Peloton, NEDA, Eating Recovery Center, The Rose Retreats, Food Fluence, Eat Well Global, and NBC. She can be seen in media such as NPR, Shape Magazine, GQ, SELF Magazine, Women's Health Magazine, Outside Magazine, ABC Good Morning America, and Healthline.

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 extended interviews, subscriber-only Q&As, full access to our archives, commenting privileges and subscriber threads where you can connect with other listeners, and more. Learn more and sign up at rethinkingwellness.substack.com.

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.

In this solo episode, Christy discusses how evidence-based mind-body practices like yoga and meditation can be essential for balancing overactive minds, helping us shift out of our intellects and into different modes of being—but they can also act as a gateway into the more out-there parts of wellness culture, where we get exposed to ideas and protocols that are lacking evidence and riddled with pseudoscience.

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.

Registered dietitian Kat Garcia-Benson joins us to discuss the multilevel marketing (MLM) industry and its connection to diet and wellness culture, her experience of getting recruited to an MLM as a new dietitian, how she eventually got out, why she shifted to an anti-diet approach in her work, and more. Behind the paywall, we get into how MLMs affect people’s relationships with food and their bodies, how to make peace with food after an MLM, what to do if you know someone who’s involved with a wellness MLM, what makes people vulnerable to recruitment, how the MLM experience affected her sense of self, and how she’s found healing.

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. 

Kat is a registered dietitian nutritionist and board-certified sports dietitian with a unique background in Multi-level Marketing (MLM), now dedicated to helping individuals break free from nutrition MLMs and the constraints of diet culture and nutrition misinformation. Specializing in digestive health and sports nutrition, she creates empowering content designed to cultivate a healthy relationship with food and body.

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 extended interviews, subscriber-only Q&As, full access to our archives, commenting privileges and subscriber threads where you can connect with other listeners, and more. Learn more and sign up at rethinkingwellness.substack.com.

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.

In this solo episode, Christy shares the first in what has become a multi-part series about why bright, analytical minds are often susceptible to wellness woo.

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.

Clinical psychologist, author, and science communicator Jonathan Stea joins us to discuss why there’s such a huge market for pseudoscientific mental-health practices, the truth about diets for mental health, how to recognize misinformation and develop science literacy, and lots more. Behind the paywall, we get into TikTok therapists, what the science really says about supplements for mental health, the origins and harms of the anti-psychiatry movement, true vs. commodified mental health, genuinely evidence-based ways to improve mental health, and how our values relate to our health choices. 

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. 

Dr. Jonathan N. Stea is a full-time practicing clinical psychologist and an adjunct assistant professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of Calgary. He’s a two-time winner of the University of Calgary’s Award for Excellence in Clinical Supervision and co-editor of the book Investigating Clinical Psychology: Pseudoscience, Fringe Science, and Controversies. Dr. Stea has published extensively, with regular contributions to Scientific American and Psychology Today, among other outlets, and has appeared on numerous mainstream television and radio shows, as well as podcasts. He was the 2022 recipient of the John G. Paterson Award from the Psychologists’ Association of Alberta, an annual award presented for the exceptional contribution to portraying psychological knowledge to the public. 

His new book, MIND THE SCIENCE: SAVING YOUR MENTAL HEALTH FROM THE WELLNESS INDUSTRY, aims to educate and embolden those who wish to make informed decisions about their mental health, to improve science and mental health literacy, and to pull back the curtain on the devastating consequences of allowing pseudoscience promoters to target the vulnerable within our society. It’s a must-have for readers of popular science who are curious to understand what mental health really means, or who have been touched by mental illness in some way. It provides readers with a science-backed takedown of pseudoscience, as well as an understanding of its evolution, seduction, and solution. In part, this involves exposing the mental health misinformation that pervades healthcare, pop culture, social media, and the wellness industry. Connect with him on X (Twitter), Facebook, Instagram, and Threads.

Order Dr. Stea’s MIND THE SCIENCE: SAVING YOUR MENTAL HEALTH FROM THE WELLNESS INDUSTRY here: JonathanStea.com

Dr. Stea’s free newsletter: https://jonathanstea.substack.com/p/its-time-to-mind-the-science-when

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 extended interviews, subscriber-only Q&As, full access to our archives, commenting privileges and subscriber threads where you can connect with other listeners, and more. Learn more and sign up at rethinkingwellness.substack.com.

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.

Nutritionist and author Laura Thomas joins us to discuss what it’s like for kids living in the long shadow of “clean eating,” the “almond mom” trend on TikTok, the "wellness to woo pipeline," how parents and caregivers can let go of wellness-culture beliefs about food for themselves and their kids, and more.

Laura Thomas is an anti-diet Registered Nutritionist. Her clinical work focuses on supporting parents and families to end intergenerational dieting and body shame, and work towards a greater sense of embodiment and ease in their relationship with food. She supports families of children experiencing a wide range of feeding and eating challenges, such as concerns with weight, very selective eating, food preoccupation, and other feeding and eating differences. Laura also runs the newsletter, podcast, and community Can I Have Another Snack? on Substack, where she is exploring bodies, appetite, and identity with a focus on parenting. She is the author of two books: Just Eat It and How To Just Eat It.

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.

Pre-order Christy's upcoming 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.

Medical doctor and pharmaceutical-policy researcher Joel Lexchin joins us to discuss the impact of industry sponsorship on medical research, why merely disclosing these financial conflicts of interest is not enough (and may not be accurate or complete), some of the surprising tactics drug- and device-makers use to get more favorable study results and conclusions, and lots more. Behind the paywall, we discuss how to think critically about industry-sponsored research without getting sucked into conspiracy theories and becoming vulnerable to the wellness industry, the role of pharmaceutical companies in creating the craze for GLP-1 weight-loss drugs, and the disturbing truth about many patient-advocacy groups. 

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. 

Joel Lexchin received his MD from the University of Toronto in 1977. He is a Professor Emeritus in the School of Health Policy and Management at York University in Toronto, Canada, where he taught health policy until 2016. In addition, he worked in the emergency department at the University Health Network in Toronto for over 34 years. He has published two books since 2016: Private Profits vs Public Policy: The Pharmaceutical Industry and the Canadian State (University of Toronto Press, 2016) and Doctors in Denial: Why Big Pharma and the Canadian Medical Profession Are Too Close for Comfort (Lorimer, 2017). He is a member of the Foundation Board of Health Action International and the board of Canadian Doctors for Medicare. He is a fellow of the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences and is among the top 2 percent of the world’s most highly cited researchers.

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 extended interviews, subscriber-only Q&As, full access to our archives, commenting privileges and subscriber threads where you can connect with other listeners, and more. Learn more and sign up at rethinkingwellness.substack.com.

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.