Rethinking Wellness

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit rethinkingwellness.substack.comIn this bonus episode, illustrator and author Eliza Wheeler returns to discuss how to support a loved one with chronic illness, navigating her own symptoms alongside a partner who also has chronic conditions, and more. Hear more from Eliza in episode 15 at rethinkingwellness.substack.com.Eliza Wheeler is an illustrator and author of books for children, and was a recipient of the Sendak Fellowship Award. Her first picture book, Miss Maple’s Seeds, was a New York Times best seller, and her newest book Home In The Woods is based on the true story of her grandmother’s childhood experience of living in a tar-paper shack in the woods with seven siblings and their single mom. Eliza grew up in the northwoods of Wisconsin, lived in Los Angeles, CA for a time, and now calls Minneapolis, Minnesota home. Learn more about her work at wheelerstudio.com, and subscribe to her Creativitea Time Substack.This episode is for paid subscribers. Listen to a 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, which is enrolling a new cohort now!

Illustrator and author Eliza Wheeler joins us to discuss the intersection of chronic illness and disordered eating. She shares the unexplained symptoms that led her to try more than a dozen different “wellness” diets, her winding path to an eventual diagnosis of Lyme disease under stringent CDC criteria, why the functional-medicine approach didn’t work for her, how starting to heal her relationship with food has made her chronic illness more manageable, and more.Eliza Wheeler is an illustrator and author of books for children, and was a recipient of the Sendak Fellowship Award. Her first picture book, Miss Maple’s Seeds, was a New York Times best seller, and her newest book Home In The Woods is based on the true story of her grandmother’s childhood experience of living in a tar-paper shack in the woods with seven siblings and their single mom. Eliza grew up in the northwoods of Wisconsin, lived in Los Angeles, CA for a time, and now calls Minneapolis, Minnesota home. Learn more about her work at wheelerstudio.com.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. Sign up now 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—enrolling now for a new September cohort! 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

The podcast explores strategies for navigating friendship with someone in wellness culture and discusses alternative perspectives on diet and wellness. It also delves into the impact of wellness culture on middle-aged adults with eating disorders.

Writer and ex–wellness influencer Lee Tilghman joins us to discuss how she got into wellness influencing in the first place (and the role of her eating disorder in that process), how it affected her mental well-being to be so wrapped up in wellness for work, what it’s been like to leave influencing, her upcoming book about influencer culture, tips for shifting your relationship with social media, and more.Lee Tilghman is a blogger, writer, creator, and speaker who has had many internet evolutions over the last decade and a half. Her blogs, For the Love of Peanut Butter and Lee From America, both reached mass audiences through her food photography, essays, relatable content, and honesty. She is currently working on her first memoir which explores her time as an influencer and why she stepped away from thousand-dollar brand deals to find sanity again. Be sure to check out her Substack newsletter, Offline Time.If you like this conversation, subscribe to hear lots more like it!Get the podcast in your inbox, plus biweekly Q&As about wellness culture and more, by signing up at rethinkingwellness.substack.com.You can also support the show by becoming a paid subscriber for just a few bucks a month. With a paid subscription, you unlock great perks like bonus episodes, subscriber-only Q&As, early access to regular episodes, and much more. Sign up now 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.comIn this bonus episode, Christy answers audience questions about how to be involved in the food and farming world without falling prey to diet and wellness culture, whether mindful eating is a dieting behavior, how to know if you’re not eating enough, and more. (This episode is a recording of the July Q&A for members of Christy's Intuitive Eating Fundamentals course, which will be enrolling a new cohort in the next few weeks.)This episode is for paid subscribers. Listen to a 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.

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit rethinkingwellness.substack.comIn this bonus episode, Christy answers audience questions about whether diet drugs can really quiet “food noise,” and whether it means anything for your eating-disorder recovery if you don’t want sweet foods. This episode is for paid subscribers. To hear the full episode, sign up for a paid subscription 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.

Dr. Dan Wilson of Debunk the Funk joins us to discuss how he went from believing in conspiracy theories about “hidden” cancer cures to becoming a scientist, what led him to rethink his conspiracy beliefs, the crossover between the anti-vax industry and crunchy wellness spaces, how to think critically about common wellness conspiracy theories, and more.Dan Wilson, Ph.D. Is a molecular biologist who earned his doctorate in biological sciences at Carnegie Mellon University. He currently works as a senior associate scientist at Janssen and spends part of his free time exercising his passion for science communication on his YouTube channel, Debunk the Funk with Dr. Wilson. His channel focuses on debunking anti-vaccine myths and disinformation using sources from the primary scientific literature.If you like this conversation, subscribe to hear lots more like it!Get the podcast in your inbox, plus biweekly Q&As about wellness culture and more, by signing up at rethinkingwellness.substack.com.You can also support the show by becoming a paid subscriber for just a few bucks a month. With a paid subscription, you unlock great perks like bonus episodes, subscriber-only Q&As, early access to regular episodes, and much more. Sign up now 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

Author and journalist Rennie Dyball joins us to discuss why she's reconsidered the rave review of a gut-health diet book she wrote for a major media outlet years ago, why journalists don't often ask critical questions of wellness "experts," why most wellness-diet testimonials you see online are probably wrong, the intersection of wellness culture and breastfeeding, her new book, B Is for Bellies, and lots more.Rennie Dyball is an award-winning author who has written 16 books and counting, from middle grade novels to celebrity memoirs. She has worked in many areas of media and publishing, and holds a special place in her heart for picture books as a way to connect with the youngest of readers—as well as the adults reading the books aloud. A former writer and editor for People magazine and People.com, Rennie currently reviews books for the brand. She is the managing editor for The Plaid Horse magazine, a lifelong horse lover, a competitive equestrian, and the author of several horse novels. Rennie is also a former diet and wellness culture devotee who is now dedicated to promoting body acceptance in her writing and beyond. Rennie lives in Towson, Maryland, with her husband and two young daughters.Hear a bonus episode with Rennie about how she avoids getting pulled down wellness rabbit holes online (and what still hooks her), ways to minimize getting targeted with “solutions” to your health concerns, how she sees diet and wellness culture affecting kids, and more.If you like this conversation, subscribe to hear lots more like it!Get the podcast in your inbox, plus biweekly Q&As about wellness culture and lots of cool bonus content, by signing 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

Colleen Derkatch, author and rhetoric professor, discusses the benefits and harms of wellness culture, exploring how it sells an alternative to the biomedical model but often fails. Topics include the distinction between restoration and enhancement in wellness, the influence of wellness as a language on decision-making, the appeal of detoxes, and the impact of social media on well-being.

New York Times bestselling cookbook author Julia Turshen discusses her history with an eating disorder, how diet talk boundaries impacted her relationship with food, and how letting go of diet and wellness rules changed her cooking. She also explores the similarities between social media and diet culture, and why she has taken a step back from it.