"I am a self-professed wellness enthusiast. If I can buy it and it can make me feel like I'm doing something about my body," she says. "There's nothing wrong with all these things you want to buy, but don't believe all of the health claims because so much of this is just psychology" She adds: "A lot of these things are entertainment or fashion."
Juicing, biohacking, mindfulness apps, collagen supplements: the wellness industry has exploded into a $4.4 trillion movement. Wellness industry journalist Rina Raphael says that the self-care movement has taken sound ideas about nutrition and fitness and packaged them up into exploitative offerings with questionable claims. Drawing on her new book, The Gospel of Wellness: Gyms, Gurus, Goop and the False Promise of Self-Care, Raphael discusses how women in particular are targeted and pressured into a cycle of sacrifice and performance, encouraged to purge their bodies of excess fat, rid their minds of negative thoughts and cleanse their organs of ’toxins’ – in order to maintain an illusion of control. In conversation with journalist Nelufar Hedayat, Raphael shows us how we can find evidence-based, personalised solutions to our problems and get ourselves onto the path of genuine wellbeing.
...
Did you know that Intelligence Squared offers way more than podcasts? We’ve just launched a new online streaming platform Intelligence Squared+ and we’d love you to give it a go.
It’s packed with more than 20 years’ worth of video debates and conversations on the world’s hottest topics. Tune in to live events, ask your questions or watch back on-demand totally ad-free with hours of discussion to dive into for just £14.99 a month. Visit intelligencesquaredplus.com to start watching today.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices