Well, Now

We all know the food we eat directly impacts our physical health. But that’s just the start of the story.Food fuels our emotional well-being, connects us with one another, and fosters a key source of identity.On this week’s episode of Well, Now we speak with award-winning food journalist Mary Beth Albright on her new book Eat & Flourish: How Food Supports Emotional Well-Being.If you liked this episode, check out: No, Netflix Isn’t Forcing You to Go VeganWell, Now is hosted by registered dietitian nutritionist Maya Feller and Dr. Kavita Patel.Editing and podcast production by Vic Whitley-Berry with editorial oversight by Alicia Montgomery.Send your comments and recommendations on what to cover to wellnow@slate.com.Want to listen to Well, Now uninterrupted? Subscribe to Slate Plus to immediately unlock ad-free listening to Well, Now and all your other favorite Slate podcasts.Subscribe now on Apple Podcasts by clicking “Try Free” at the top of our show page. Or, visit slate.com/wellplus to get access wherever you listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Research going back decades shows adding more fruits, vegetables, and non-animal sources of protein helps us live longer, healthier lives. A study featured in the Netflix docuseries You Are What You Eat: A Twin Study took that to the next level. Stanford researchers asked 22 sets of identical twins to go 8 weeks eating a healthy, varied diet and regularly exercising. One twin ate an omnivore diet, the other vegan.On this week’s episode of Well, Now we talk to the lead researcher of the “twin study” Christopher Gardner on his findings and whether we really all need to go vegan to stay healthy.If you liked this episode, check out: How Your Food Can Fight Climate ChangePodcast production by Vic Whitley-Berry with editorial oversight by Alicia Montgomery.Send your comments and recommendations on what to cover to wellnow@slate.com.Want to listen to Well, Now uninterrupted? Subscribe to Slate Plus to immediately unlock ad-free listening to Well, Now and all your other favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe now on Apple Podcasts by clicking “Try Free” at the top of our show page. Or, visit slate.com/wellplus to get access wherever you listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It’s a fact that summers around the world are reaching record-breaking temperatures.Heat-related illness and death have hit a crisis point, and staying cool is more important than ever.On this week’s episode of Well, Now we speak with someone living in one of the country's hottest states. Dr. Richard Carmona is a career first responder with more than 50 years of experience caring for people in crisis. A veteran of the U.S. Army as a special forces medic, Carmona also served as the 17th U.S. Surgeon General under President George W. Bush. Currently, Carmona is a professor at The University of Arizona in Tucson.If you liked this episode, check out: How a Former Surgeon General Took on a $5,000 ER BillWell, Now is hosted by registered dietitian nutritionist Maya Feller and Dr. Kavita Patel.Podcast production by Vic Whitley-Berry with editorial oversight by Alicia Montgomery.Send your comments and recommendations on what to cover to wellnow@slate.comWant to listen to Well, Now uninterrupted? Subscribe to Slate Plus to immediately unlock ad-free listening to Well, Now and all your other favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe now on Apple Podcasts by clicking “Try Free” at the top of our show page. Or, visit slate.com/wellplus to get access wherever you listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A key component to wellness is gut health. But what determines if you have a healthy gut? On this week’s episode of Well, Now, we dive into the fascinating world of the gut microbiome, a collection of bacteria and sometimes fungi that live in the human digestive system. We are provided with insight from Dr. Colin Hill, professor of Microbiology at APC Microbiome Ireland on how to properly take care of your microbiome and why it is essentialIf you liked this episode, check out – Doctors Agree: Obesity is a Disease. The Public Needs to Catch Up.Well, Now is hosted by Dr. Kavita Patel and registered dietitian nutritionist Maya Feller.Editing and podcast production by Kristie Taiwo-Makanjuola and Vic Whitley-Berry.Editorial oversight by Alicia Montgomery.Send your comments and recommendations on what to cover to wellnow@slate.com.Want to listen to Well, Now uninterrupted? Subscribe to Slate Plus to immediately unlock ad-free listening to Well, Now and all your other favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe now on Apple Podcasts by clicking “Try Free” at the top of our show page. Or, visit slate.com/wellplus to get access wherever you listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We all know about the mental health crisis wreaking havoc throughout the nation and world. On this week’s episode of Well, Now we’re continuing our ongoing discussions of mental health, and this time we’re tackling men’s mental health as a whole. Prime’s new show Counsel Culture, hosted by Nick Cannon and medical professionals across the spectrum, invites men to open up about their histories with anxiety, depression, grief, addiction, and more. Dr. Mike Dow is the resident psychotherapist for the program.If you liked this episode, check out: Eating Disorders Are Rising Among Boys. Why?Well, Now is hosted by registered dietitian nutritionist Maya Feller and Dr. Kavita Patel.Podcast production by Vic Whitley-Berry with editorial oversight by Alicia Montgomery.Send your comments and recommendations on what to cover to wellnow@slate.com Want to listen to Well, Now uninterrupted? Subscribe to Slate Plus to immediately unlock ad-free listening to Well, Now and all your other favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe now on Apple Podcasts by clicking “Try Free” at the top of our show page. Or, visit slate.com/wellplus to get access wherever you listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Harvard professor Dr. Fatima Cody Stanford discusses GLP-1 agonist drugs like Ozempic, their impact on weight management, personalized healthcare approaches, challenges with access to medication, and the importance of seeking proper medical treatment for obesity.

Women, girls, and people assigned female at birth make up more than half of the world’s population. Yet, many of them say they don’t feel supported, heard, or cared for in the doctor’s office — even in spaces designed specifically for their care like obstetrics and gynecology.Dr. Sharon Malone, veteran OB/GYN, is on a mission to change that.On this week’s episode of Well, Now, we speak with Dr. Malone on how to advocate for the care you deserve at every stage of life. It’s the subject of her new book Grown Woman Talk: Your Guide to Getting and Staying Healthy.If you liked this episode, check out: How Doulas Make Childbirth Safer for EveryoneWell, Now is hosted by Dr. Kavita Patel and registered dietitian nutritionist Maya Feller.Editing and podcast production by Vic Whitley-Berry with editorial oversight by Alicia Montgomery. Production assistance from Kristie Taiwo-Makanjuola.Send your comments and recommendations on what to cover to wellnow@slate.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

For years, psychiatrists have been researching new methods to help people with treatment-resistant mental illness. These include severe cases of depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, and other debilitating diagnoses.One type of drug has seen some positive results in clinical trials: psychedelics like psilocybin, MDMA, ketamine, and LSD.In professional medical settings, they’re used as a part of a multifaceted approach to mental health treatment, including supervised therapy sessions while a patient is on a drug.Recently the pharmaceutical manufacturer Lykos petitioned the FDA to approve the psychedelic MDMA as a part of caring for treatment-resistant PTSD.Earlier this month, an advisory committee to the FDA released their vote of rejecting to approve the drug. Now it’s up to the FDA to make the final call, but the odds are not in the favor of Lykos and many psychiatrists and patients who’ve seen positive outcomes as a result of these MDMA-assisted trials.Psychiatrist and entrepreneur Dave Rabin is one of the doctors pushing to approve psychedelic-assisted therapy. On this week’s episode of Well, Now we ask him about the results of his trials using psychedelics in therapy as well as what he thinks the future holds for this field as we wait for the FDA’s final verdict.If you liked this episode, check out: “As Little Regulation As Guns”: How Social Media Hurts Youth Mental HealthWell, Now is hosted by Dr. Kavita Patel and registered dietitian nutritionist Maya Feller.Editing and podcast production by Vic Whitley-Berry, with support this week from Kristie Taiwo-Makanjuola.Editorial oversight from Alicia Montgomery, Vice President of Slate Audio.Send your comments and recommendations on what to cover to wellnow@slate.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Everyone knows the quality of the air we breathe directly affects our health. As the summer rolls along and more people seek reprieve from the heat indoors, it’s important to be sure our indoor air is clean and toxin-free.One pollutant to keep an eye out for is mold.Mold inside a home could hurt your health both immediately and in the long term.So to help us better understand how to spot mold in the home and how to get rid of it, we’re joined by air quality expert Michael Rubino, president of the Change the Air Foundation and the founder of HomeCleanse.If you liked this episode, check out – Doctors Agree: Obesity is a Disease. The Public Needs to Catch Up.Well, Now is hosted by registered dietitian nutritionist Maya Feller and Dr. Kavita Patel.Editing and podcast production by Vic Whitley-Berry, with support this week from Kristie Taiwo-Makanjuola. Editorial oversight from Alicia Montgomery, Vice President of Slate Audio.Send your comments and recommendations on what to cover to wellnow@slate.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ever since it showed up on the Body Mass Index, the label “obese” has been used to judge and often shame people with larger bodies.Medical providers, family and friends, even strangers make assumptions about fat people’s health solely based on their size.At the same time, excess quantities of fat can lead to poor health outcomes such as high blood pressure, heart disease, and diabetes.Over the decades, medical associations have evolved their understanding of obesity. The American Medical Association, the National Institutes of Health, and the American Obesity Society all classify obesity as a disease requiring medical treatment. How does that change the way medical providers care for their obese and overweight patients? And does that mean people with fatter bodies can now face less discrimination?As a part of a series of ongoing conversations on Well, Now on weight and health, we discuss the current medical definition of obesity and how to treat it with Dr. Angela Fitch, former Associate Director of the Massachusetts General Hospital Weight Center.If you liked this episode, check out: The Isolation of a Life-Threatening DiagnosisWell, Now is hosted by registered dietitian nutritionist Maya Feller and Dr. Kavita Patel.Editing and podcast production by Vic Whitley-Berry with oversight from Alicia Montgomery.Send your comments and recommendations on what to cover to wellnow@slate.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices