"Wellness is a largely white, privileged enterprise catering to largely white, privileged, already thin and able-bodied women, promoting exercise only they have the time to do and Tuscan kale only they have the resources to buy."
This is the key sentence here. Wellness is not just about gender. It is also about class. Being thin and fit connotes prosperity, being fat poverty.
Of course, it has always been this way in societies where food was readily available. For instance, the nude male was the main sujet of Greek statuary, because statues were commissioned by aristocratic men, who had the time and leisure to build aristocratic bodies in the gymnasium. And because appearance and class are inextricably linked , this is unlikely to ever change.
Far more important than the travails of the rich and famous is the public health crisis lower down the social scale. The Wellness industry makes well-off women unhappy. Conversely, Big Agro and the processed food industry are destroying lives through the obesity crises.
Obesity leads to live-changing health problems such as cardiovascular disease, knee and hip replacements, and gastrointestinal cancers. That's what informed citizens should really care about, not least because it requires going against entrenched economic interests.
199
Well, just try telling PBS! They're tiresome pledge programs of mental and physical wellness are presented by mostly charlatans. Take a look at who's promoted these dreadful things!
107
@zighi
Amen to that! It never ceases to amaze me that PBS pledge drives consist mostly of infomercials that violate everything PBS is supposed to stand for. It's really horrible stuff made worse by being given the imprimatur of PBS. They should be ashamed.
95
At my mother’s, 92, assisted living, Brookdale Inc, there was/is a Wellness Director!?
23
" No one is telling men that they need to love their bodies to live full and meaningful lives."
I'm sorry, but do you actually know many men? Do they confide in you? I know lots of men, and from what they say they have as many insecurities and body-hatreds / obsessions as we do. You think they don't feel guilty for eating a cheeseburger? And grab handfuls of fat on their stomachs and hate it? And promise themselves they will work it off by suffering for hours in the gym? They are the same species as we are.
240
There are good reasons to restrict what you eat. You may be celiac and gluten makes you ill. You many have an autoimmune disease and do not want to spend the rest of your life on Prednisone. Some people cannot tolerate dairy as it is an inflammatory food. Myself I eat close to a Paleo diet with an occasional cheat of chocolate. I no longer have to take Prednisone every day and without even trying lost 30 pounds. I won't go back to eating dairy so I can eat cheeseburgers with the men. I can instead eat a hamburger and still feel good. No need to keep the dairy industry alive when I can have almond or cashew milk that tastes good and makes me feel good. Eat what you want, but stay healthy.
82
Intuitive eating is yet another prescriptive approach to dieting and living. This is yet another article telling women what to do written by a "thin" woman who has seen darkness and come into the light.
126
love how the author conflates every dietary trend. really helpful
55
I just learned the author of this article has been the senior editor of Cosmopolitan. I have disliked that magazine for years. It has consistently been one of the loudest written voices for women to be focused on their outer appearance and their successes with men. Even the covers jump out visually on the shelves with shallow articles. Maybe this was a learning experience for the author? You’d have to buy in pretty heavily to be the senior editor.
230
THANK YOU for naming this industry and all of the pseudo scientific diets for what they are - the new eating disorder.
36
The author bemoans the patriarchy but finishes her article by pointing to men as the standard women should emulate...
104
People in Europe smoke, and they have less problems with obesity and related illnesses. It would be interesting to compare the mortality trade-off. It is possible to get the benefits of smoking - nicotine, through vaping, which has minimal risks compared to smoking. Yes, nicotine is addictive, but so is food. Nicotine is also a relaxant, helps with stress and of course cuts your appetite. Pick your poison!
19
The inanity of this caption says it all - "At its core, wellness demonizes calorically dense and delicious foods." What???? No, at its core all wellness stresses nutrient dense unprocessed whole foods and supporting the body's innate healing processes.
107
Orthorexia is a uniquely American cultural pathology going way back to the mid 19th C, if not before. It's even been officially endorsed by the US government with, for example, its sponsorship of Fletcherism and endorsement of Kellogg -- two loons who promoted stupid ideas like endless chewing and yoghurt enemas. The rampant commercialism and celebrity culture of America are partly to blame. Vitamin and supplement makers, diet companies, self-help book sales, "health food" stores and all the rest are multibillion dollar US industries, all happily unregulated by government which requires them to provide no evidence for their foolish claims. No wonder Americans are so much more neurotic, unhealthy, and miserable than Europeans and Asians. Cults like Paltrow's destroy joy and common sense.
58
I thought this was a fantastic article with one major flaw. If you think that men aren't self conscious about their bodies and are not victims of the wellness industry, you are very wrong. Men see male models and movie stars with lean muscular bodies and feel inadequacy just as women do. Though I do not know how women feel in comparison to men on this issue, I can say that if men seem to not worry about their bodies, it's because it's a very "unmanly" thing to complain about.
80
Interesting comments. Three things: 1. The Wellness Industry is not a monolithic enterprise. Focus on weight loss, more energy etc etc just sells product. There are aspects of "the wellness industry" that are an attempt to educate one to nonpharmaceutical treatments, e.g. self care/empowerment.
2. Marketing has shown profits are made by focusing on women- white women are the most responsive demographic to this marketing agenda.
3. "hating your body" is no different than " hating yourself", really.
23
Your experience with food and diet is a familiar one for many women. And you found your way through the maze of 'consumer' based mis-information geared to make a buck, not genuinely help. Many don't, and everyone suffers on this path to figuring out a sane relationship with food.
However, I feel you've missed the point of the whole experience. You demonize 'wellness'. Right now in our culture, many demonize 'truth', beauty, religion, spirituality - fill in the blank - mistaking the 'thing' for what we often do with and to the 'thing' in the name of making money or gaining power or being right.
We need and must not demonize 'wellness'. Wellness is a birthright, a personal journey, part and parcel of figuring out what makes us happy.
35
"Occasionally, when I’m stressed, I comfort myself with food, and my dietitian assures me that’s an acceptable kind of hunger too."
The Germans have a word for this: kummerspeck. literally "grief bacon," which basically refers to emotional eating.
42
We call it comfort food of which an increased in consumption was reported after 9/11.
7
Someone once asked how I could live a life without chocolate, which she simply assumed, I figure because I’m not overweight and she is.
She was amazed when I informed her that I had chocolate for breakfast (a teaspoon of chocolate milk mix in my coffee) lunch (one chocolate-covered chocolate caramel for dessert) and dinner (chocolate chips for dessert).
My guess is that she binged on chocolate after depriving herself.
14
In defense of leafy greens: these foods (even kale!) can be delicious and plenty hearty! Cook your greens with oil and butter; enjoy your salad with a soft-boiled egg, nuts, cheese. The writer’s animosity towards greens seems to disprove all her points about appreciating food for what it is. Only if people stop the backhanded criticism of eating one thing or another will we move to the type of world she describes. (And while we’re considering greens, we should probably read Dan Barber’s piece in the same section.) Now excuse me while I prep some collards for tonight’s dinner....
45
I love this challenge! I take it: no talking about bodies, diets, and especially how I look with my women colleagues.
31
Okay, I get your suffering, but must every discussion be about "Patriarchy" that has ruined women's lives? Do you forget who nurtured the patriarchs? And seriously, do you think men never suffer from societal standards their mothers and fathers taught them?
53
I read this immediately after listening to a hilarious dialog in Knoll's latest audio book, The Favorite Sister. In it a food police woman is caught out by another woman who has been victimized by her. Picture w woman carrying in a box of groceries that spills to reveal only "bad foods." A delicious moment- made only more so and relived after reading this piece. yum!
3
The issue of diet and nutrition is way too complex than that and the author hasn’t done a good job in explaining that. Diet and nutrition are crucial for certain health issues (speaking from experience) and you can’t just simply assume that all or most people do it because of men, or because of “society” or whatever.
....
34
The logic of reproduction is that, as they say, "Men are attracted to women, and women want to be attractive to men". I don't think that's Patriarchy.
Like so much else for which men are blamed, this is almost certainly built into the sexes with hardwired structures and chemicals that are the biological bases for the rather extreme differences between men and women.
That is, I think the female symbol, a mirror, correlates with your female lunch discussions. It's very ancient. The idea probably goes back hundreds of thousands of years.
Being attracted and being attractive, the mainsprings of our sexual behavior, is not a new, male-imposed straitjacket. It exists in many other species.
Cats and dogs, mammals in general, are like humans. The female cat, for example is smaller and pretty: graceful, fine bone structure, soft high voice. She is less forceful in her demands, but more successful. And she waits, attracts.
The Tom thinks (in season only, lucky dude) about females all the time, and is certainly attracted by their attractions. His love life is successful, while he is not pretty, what with notched or cauliflower ears, missing fur, abscessed cheeks.
Men don't talk about their weight, ie women, at lunch. A male principle is that work, including working lunch, is serious business, to be done without the distraction of emotion. We sure talk about women after work, but not dieting.
You got the wrong guys, us men. Your sister Mother Nature done it.
16
The vast, vast majority can solve their dilemma with the following three words: Farmer’s market. Move.
Past that, this conversation is mostly whining: useless and boring.
41
I'm a Keto advocate. It helped me lose some 35 lbs about a year ago, and keep it off. Articles like this one, which imply that I'm stupid for following a certain diet, aren't actually helpful.
Intuitive eating? That won't work for everyone, just like Keto won't work for everyone, or Weight Watchers, or Paleo, etc. I'm a firm believer in finding what works and sticking to that, and not disparaging people who choose a different path. For me, I have to have a structured diet. Intuitive eating would never work for me, because I've tried that before, and my intuition simply led me to demolish a 14 oz bag of Lays in one sitting.
Smug comments like "I wish that everyone could enjoy all the good food at the potluck dinner, and tut tut the men who were on their Keto diet" aren't helpful, either. Are you a woman who doesn't have to diet? Well, good for you. Enjoy your desserts. As for me, my mother was over 200 lbs at 5 foot tall, and I have her body type to a T. I don't have the luxury of just being able to eat what I want, when I want. When I did that, I ballooned to 170 lbs. And believe me, even though I was eating everything I wanted, whenever I wanted, and "enjoying" food, I wasn't happy.
Keto works for me, because I don't feel deprived. I make my Keto cheesecake and chocolate, I have my delicious Keto chocolate shake, and I get to eat all the grass-fed butter, organic cream and cheese and nitrate-free bacon I want to eat. And I get to fit in my skinny jeans. Win-win.
39
Bacon is never nitrite free. Using celery powder is still nitrite.
14
Ever notice how people want to be somebody else, someplace else?
Men eat whatever and enjoy it, okay. Does any woman want to be that man? You know, the one with the gut, body hair and locker room mentality.
The one who plays…shudder…golf, and believes it’s a sport?
I don’t want to be a woman who gets what men have, they have nothing I want. Is it really worth the nasty competitive jungle? Is conformity the way ‘inside’? Inside what? The current nightmare of corporate America? Lean In? Nope, Lean Out.
21
Don't feel bad for the cooks, especially the ones that make the best stuff. We like to do it.
12
As the article points out, the obsession with wellness is really an obsession with thinness, which in turn is entirely due to the plethora of well toned bodies to which we are subjected in advertising, film and print media, which in its turn is due to our obsession with sex, which is entirely natural and unavoidable due to five hundred million years of natural selection for sex obsession. The problem is that our bodies are meant to hoard food in times of scarcity; eat food when you see it, because you may not see it tomorrow or this week. And to keep moving around looking for food. Of course scarcity doesn't happen in our highly processed, engineered and cheap carbohydrate saturated supermarkets and restaurants, and moving around is obsolete in the age of instant food delivery.
That is the reality, and we should just face it. The only answer is, as others have pointed out, to eat well, and get lots of exercise. Don't even bother trying to not eat; it only leads to bingeing. BTW, men aren't immune to body obsession. My teen age sons point to their own lean, rippling bodies and ask me why my fifty three year old body can't look the same. I'm trying, and it is a difficult battle. But if I'm a little over my ideal weight, the only one I blame is the guy in the mirror.
12
I appreciate this article and am glad to see over a thousand responses. I think Ms. Knoll makes some really good points about how to heal from an eating disorder or disordered eating, along the same lines, not as serious. But I also think that some people need to restrict what they eat for health reasons. These two things can go hand-in-hand because people are different and needs are different.
The biggest problem we have is the weight loss industry. People who are on keto diets to lose weight will have a really hard time sustaining this way of eating. But if you can manage your diabetes on a keto diet and help keep yourself from needing medication, that sounds like a plan you might be able to go along with.
The question of privilege is huge and speaks to issues that go far beyond what the author of this article is thinking about. She is making a good start, though, to question an industry that keeps women(and men) down. That's about weight loss. Not about health. Many people are helped through alternative medicine.
It's the divide between different ways of looking at problems that becomes the problem. People are different. Some need to eat more freely. Others need to eat more carefully.
Everyone deserves to have the choice. That's a bigger layer of a complex problem.
12
If I hear one more white, thin, rich woman tell me about her recent cleanse, I'm going to scream! My brother, a physician, told me years ago that the body does cleansing on its own using filter organs. Yes eat fresh whole foods and limit the processed stuff and exercise, but beyond that, if we don't revel in the joy of a family dinner, or a celebration with friends, we are truly missing out on life's greatest pleasures. Bravo Jessica Knoll for taking a stand and speaking truth!
45
Before a dinner party, we used to ask friends if they had preferences or food they avoided. It got too complicated to please our Paleo, vegan, keto and intermittent fasting low calorie friends, so now we announce what we're making. Anyone who doesn't want to eat our dinner can bring something, or pass! It's always gluten free vegetarian, with a gluten free, naturally sweetened dessert. My wife's cooking (I'm the sous chef) always gets raves, and friends are often surprised that simple meals can be so delicious. Except for meat, we'll eat anything when we're the guests, and we never ask for special consideration. Instead, we let our host know we'll be having a bit more salad or veggies, and we'll be more than content with whatever is offered. Then we tuck in and enjoy the bread and rich desserts and cheesy hors d'ouevres and whatever else we usually avoid. When in Rome. Always!
40
Follow the money. If we are generally satisfied with who we are, there is little profit to be made by corporations and hustlers telling us we are failures.
When I was a kid, on the inside front cover of many comic books was an ad for the male version of body shaming. It showed a hyper-buff guy kicking sand in the face of a normal, skinny guy with the result that the girl leaves the skinny guy and goes off with the hulking hunk. The ad was selling weight training.
One of the biggest contributors to ill health is anxiety. Creating and then offering a "cure" for the anxiety they produce is very profitable for corporations and hustlers. Think of it like an internet security company that goes around hacking things to get people to buy their "security" product. Yep, follow the money.
Granted it is only the experience of me and my friends, but by and large the popular, media promulgated image of the "perfect" female body is not something we have found particularly appealing. Not everyone wants to be told who and what to like. In any case, a million years of evolution worked quite nicely to get us here without input from ad agencies.
I am forwarding this article to lots of folks. Without comment, of course, as I simply intend for them to make of it what they will, not what I might get from it.
As for me, the great advantage of being old is I no longer need refrain from eating all the junk food that will kill me in thirty years. My condolences to you youngsters.
27
I, too, have concerns about the pseudoscience involved in the online wellness-sphere. Although I don’t view the wellness-sphere as limited to those seeking weight loss. In my case, I wound up exploring this world in an attempt to manage a health issue, and there are multitudes of people online claiming this can be achieved through strict adherence to bizarre and difficult to tolerate diets. It’s confusing for people with serious health issues to sort through what is real and worth trying and what is just nonsense cooked up by people who desperately want a sense of control over their own scary health issue or—alternatively—are looking to generate clicks that result in advertising income for them. This part of the wellness-sphere is similarly occupied by women—mostly women with serious health concerns like lupus, rheumatoid arthritis and other autoimmune conditions. Prior to clicking on this article, I was hoping to read an analysis of this sector of the wellness industry. I don’t think weight loss is the only concern that drives women into the world of no dairy, no wheat, no nightshades, no joy. And I’m curious about what’s going on there.
22
with with woman friends, or even talked to close friends when we haven;talked about our weight, even my friends who are male-approved thin. It is exhausting and depressing this article should be read by every woman before her next meal.
8
Men don’t need to love their bodies because they were never taught to hate them. Learning to love our bodies is a great act of self-compassion. The conversation needs to acknowledge that we’re all somewhere on the continuum of this journey. Instead of being critical of other women who are victims of the multi-billion dollar weight loss industry, let’s model how a healthy relationship to food and our bodies.
10
@Laurie Swan Unfortunately men have indeed been taught to hate their bodies -- that's why society enforces rules to keep them covered with suits and other restrictive clothing, even when it is sweltering.
4
To say that a wellness practice is only about making crazy diets is truly misleading...
How can someone with information assert such a narrow concept?
Healthy food is not about counting calories, but nutrients... Why is the author in a fight against healthy food, that is, not processed food, but natural ingredients?
Isn´t the author aware about the consequences of processed food, and the intake of excessive antibiotics and hormones through meat, poultry and fish?
There is a lot of scientific data out there...
What about other practices that enhance your health and well being besides food?
Astonishing to reduce the wellness concept to dieting...
33
I love food, good food. Unfortunately we have a lot of stuff that passes for food at the grocery store filled with additives, preservatives, flavor enhancers and so on. I've learned to eat fresh when possible including those yummy potatoes and wash it all down with a glass of an inexpensive Merlot.
25
I don't know what alternative universe I live in but it has been for 70 years and never once in my life have I heard or participated in a female conversation about our bodies. My husband, on the other hand, was a compulsive body builder for most of his life. You should hear those guys talk about their bodies, the exercises, the diets, even (some of them) drugs.
31
Young men are also being dragged into the wellness business. My son called and told me that he and his girlfriend have been "doing" the keto diet and that he's already lost four pounds in just a week. This is a guy who's thin as a rail. On the plus side, he said they've been having a lot of fun cooking all of their meals together, and that the food has been delicious. At least he's not eating the typical college-boy junk food any more - and he's developed an interest in cooking. Phew.
17
I know there are many people who must restrict their diet because of illness/conditions and ethics. But there are also many - men and women - who are just following the newest fad. I recently enjoyed dinner at a dear friend's home, and she hesitantly put bread on the table. Bread is the new poison apparently.
17
The title of this article gives it a spin it does not warrant. The author is very justified in saying what she says, given her experience and the others she sites.
But wellness is more than dieting for weight loss, for many of us. Wellness is something we need, and the search is a necessary one.
I've always objected to women dieting to look a few pounds thinner, to match some conceptual ideal of how they should look. But wellness is not about that.
I'm 69. A few years ago, I started working very hard in my home and garden. Despite moving all day long, I began to gain weight, but that was not the main problem for me: I did not feel well. I had no energy, I did not enjoy walking any more, and it dawned on me that I was understanding two things- age and stress.
Working very hard makes it hard to live a normal, balanced life. One's body compensates for the stress, even if one is moving and on one's feet all day, by accumulating weight. Which makes good movement harder, such as walking or exercising.
I found out that eating less carbs was very helpful. I had my energy back and incidentally lost weight. I don't do well with sugar; for me, it's a depressant and I may be pre-diabetic, so I get very thirsty.
There is ancient and new health knowledge that is not about fashion: it's about how to be healthy. Don't throw the baby out with the bathwater.
24
Several thoughts as I read this. First, this is such a “first world” problem. Why do we let ourselves waste our brief time on earth angsting over ourselves. There are so many more real things, people, situations, ideas and solutions to put our hearts and thoughts into.
Secondly, women’s body preoccupation is an advertising, capitalistic ploy to sell PRODUCT. From processed foods (filled with chemicals), packaged with eternal plastic, grown with life-destroying pesticides to clothing consumption made in non-first world countries by women struggling just to make enough to feed their children something nourishing.
Other thoughts, but I’m weary of this focus of my energies. I’m going to read Nicholas Kristof, garden, go to a rally for gun control, check out my grandkids and cook a little supper with a suggestion from Melissa Clarke. I wish the whole world could have not too much and not too little — just enough. Then we could, possibly, just be content and grateful.
29
With due respect, I think this is less about the "wellness industry," and more about the writer's unhealthy relationship to that industry/culture (by which she seems to mean food). What Kroll describes as an industry/culture is so narrowly confined to the worst aspects of that field -- focus on body image and diets.. She -- and -- the women she describes hanging out with --LA agents, writers and producers are likewise an extremely narrow demographic. Hollywood is not the place to look for healthy habits. Yet, her problems with food date back to childhood. It seems Kroll has a habit of looking for wellness in all the wrong places. Not all do. There are sensible diets for those interested. Exercise advice. Sleep research. There is plenty of great wellness research and writing out there. The New York Times alone has great wellness writers-- Tara Parker Pope, Gretchen Reynolds, Jane Brody, among them. The Berkeley Wellness Letter is another good source. The "industry/field" includes focus on exercise, mindfulness and sleep as well as food -- and while there may be many who fall for pseudoscience or intense marketing in these areas as well, there are plenty of good reliable places to turn for information and services.
32
I am skinny and always have been, which I always suspected was a genetic thing. I went to a genetic counselor once and confirmed that this was the case. But when I was a kid, I LOVED food. I had an enormous appetite. Even as early as elementary school, I remember being made fun of for how much I can eat. I was teased/mocked in middle school just for eating. I'm one of the lucky ones for sure, but I think this shows the extent to which women just can't win. It's not enough to be skinny--one has to deny thyself. It's somehow unseemly for women to love food.
I still have a pretty big appetite, though it slowed down in college. Now I just don't care as much what people think.
23
The author has some problems with food and her body image. Chronic inflammation, caused by maybe chronic stress, improper sleep, eating too much junk our bodies were never made for, does cause real illness or maybe symptoms. These include a variety of skin problems, bowel problems, various kinds of aches and pains, maybe fibromyalgia, whatever that is, and cancer. For some reason, some people are more affected than others, but as a population we are becoming more and more unhealthy. Clean eating just means giving our body the right fuel, just as we put the correct fuel in our cars. It isn’t about weight so much as health, but we have to have the right attitude about what we are doing when we say “no” to junk. Eat to live, don’t live to eat.
17
The author labels the destructive eating/cleansing regimens that she has followed as "the wellness industry." To me "wellness" is a positive term. At Stanford University, for example (I am an employee), it is attached to a system that counsels employees and students to eat well, exercise regularly, reduce stress in life and work, etc, as well as offering gyms and classes to encourage the pursuit of a healthy lifestyle.
18
Just to add to my previous comment, the situation in regards to wellness, healthy eating habits (intuitive or otherwise) and the rest, takes on a whole new meaning if you are poor, a visible minority, immigrant etc. These vulnerable and marginalised communities oftentimes don't have access to the resources or support systems needed for creating a balanced and healthy lifestyle.
It is hard to eat "intuitively" when you don't know where your next meal will come from (or if you will eat at all) or the only food you have direct access to or can afford is fast food.
11
I was slender as a college athlete, working out a couple of hours a day, 5 days a week. I concluded my genes are peasant genes, designed to allow me to work in fields from sunup to sundown and survive years with poor harvests. Instead of laboring, I work at a computer and have never gone to bed hungry in my 50 years of life.
2
I was awake at 0300 this morning lamenting all the food I ate yesterday and feeling sad about what I knew would be a disappointing weigh-in later this morning. At 55, I can say with total honesty, not a single day of my life has passed since I was 13 years old that I didn’t think about my weight, my shape and my food choices. I’ve weighed 112 pounds and 170 pounds as an adult (and I’m still lugging around 30 post-menopausal pounds) and there has never been even one day when the experience of eating and weighing and judging myself hasn’t occupied some of my mental energy.
In the meantime, I’ve gone to medical school, traveled and lived all over the world, read millions of words, seen horizons of art, enjoyed deeply rewarding work, built a loving family and there are so many days I’ve been far too busy to think about all I’ve ever loved, but you could wake me from a coma and I could give you the calorie count of most food items. (And for anyone who thinks being overweight is about eating manufactured, plastic-wrapped junk, come to my house where you can fatten on all manner of organic, imported, made-from-scratch deliciousness.)
A 40 year habit isn’t easily abandoned, but everyday I’m trying to release my grip on my depressing obsession and instead find enjoyment in eating and being alive in my aging but otherwise very healthy body.
71
Everybody's right. Yes, we're obsessed with how we look. Yes, many of us, in seeking a robust and natural health, are allowing ourselves to be exploited, not just by the diet industry but the supplements industry. And yes, a few careful and informed food choices can make a huge difference for many of us. But often these choices have nothing to do with those being promoted by the health/beauty industry. But paying attention to your body, what foods make your body suddenly feel like its blown up, or result in skipped heartbeats, or agitation (white sugarfoes all of the above to me) can make a huge difference. Being told by a physician at my primary care clinic, who had training in "holistic" medicine, that I should eat at least one cup of greens, preferably cooked, a day, with a healthy oil, resulted in a complete remission in my atrial fibrillation with none of the scary medication they recommend to treat A-fib. I can't tolerate most supplements because the manufacturers take one good thing, like a high quality fish oil, package it into capsules so you can't control the dosage and tell you to take way more per day than you need for no good reason other than their own profits, and throw in a bunch of stuff like vitamin D which acts like caffeine for me. One capsule of this "fish oil" stuff, no matter how "sustainably sourced" will keep me up all night, buzzed. Self education is imperative, but requires healthy skepticism and awareness of ROI lurking behind the seductive PR.
13
Why is this so difficult for most people? What have doctors been saying forever? Eat right and exercise regularly. If you don't understand what that means you need serious help. It's not rocket surgery.
6
I had anorexia from the age of 11 to 18 and I did not get better until I realized that it was not - the patriarchy, the media, or society as a whole that was causing me to feel bad about my eating habits, it was my immediate and extended family, many of whom made constant comments about what people were eating, wearing, what their "ideal" weight should be. Once I moved on I recovered. My advice to all is to surround yourself with people who have other things to talk about and who treat others with respect.
28
Jean,Jackson Wyoming
I think you might find that healthy eating is easy to read about in general but not the topic of discussion between my friends. We have so much more to talk about in world affairs, concerts, animals we see and hikes we take. We also discuss what friends need us now in complex lives of growing older and emotional challenges. We gave up obsessing about our bodies in our twenties and live life to the fullest since that time. It makes for stimulating friendships rather than Facebook bragging and selfies too.
4
The point of this article, if I understand correctly, is that it is optional to care about some things that readers, particularly women, care about.
And, as usual in New York Times opinion pieces, some external entity is getting blamed for the situation, in this case, the "wellness industry" or the "wellness culture." The person who cares unnecessarily is the victim.
Why does anybody need to be blamed? Isn't it sufficient to observe that one need not care about certain things?
Or perhaps the analysis could go more deeply into why those who do care about the things described here care about them.
7
Sadly, the blind lead the blind when it comes to the role of " nutrition". The CDC has categorized almost 40% of Americans as overweight or obese. The biology of obesity is becoming more clear and it is increasingly evident that the role of the colon microbiome and the status of myriad " inflammation " pathways are strongly implicated. In fact , the activation of inflammation at a cellular level is the key to a host of diseases sharing the same biology including heart disease, neurodegenerative disease, diabetes and cancer.
Pop culture abounds with the writers both social and political perspective. Let's all understand that biology is not a fashion nor a point for discussion. It is what it is. We are learning that lower intra-peritoneal fat, less metabolic fat in the liver, and a colon microbiome that resists pro-inflammatory bacteria are central to good health.
There should be an editorship that reviews articles relevant to the public health. Science and not " paternalism ' should be the language of the day.
15
I understand that the so-called "wellness industry" oftentimes promotes programmes, methods, diets, pills and other products that have little to do with an individual's actual health and well-being. It is pure and simple about money and profiting on people's pain, guilt and shame (oftentimes ideas and feelings pushed by the very industry). Gwyneth Paltrow's Goop brand comes to mind (just look at the controversy surrounding Goop's launch in Canada).
However when I see an obese teenager or worse, child, I don't see "intuitive eating", I see an individual setting themselves up for a lifetime of health problems with painful or deadly outcomes. There is a reason the phrase "mortally obese " exists. It is not an euphemism.
Let's not even get started on the costs this represents to already struggling health care systems...
15
As a nutritionist, I'm often bombarded at any social gathering with an onslaught of questions from other guests about whatever diet they're currently subscribing too, how 'bad' they've been and how to get back on track, or my thoughts on organic foods and various nut 'mylks'. Whatever the question is, and whatever is the gender of the questioner, there is always a wave of anxiety that comes along with their inquiry.
They just want to get it 'right'. They've been told for years and years that xyz is the definitive way to do that, until it isn't. The whiplash we all get from rerouting our food to fit the latest cure-all is exhausting and confusing and turns us outwards to cues about how to best serve our bodies. Instead of trusting ourselves and our innate abilities to care for ourselves, people look for the Whole30 label or WW point on their bacon to see if they have permission to eat it.
Ms. Knoll could not be any more correct in her criticism of the 'wellness industry' (and the bloggers that push much of it forward). They suggest that the healthiest thing they've done this year was incorporate (or take out) blah blah blah from their diet--insert affiliate link! When in reality, the healthiest, most impactful thing we can do and promote is a respectful, gentle relationship with our bodies, food and nutrition.
The wellness industry is a predatory one that preys on people who are simply trying to do right by their bodies, lives and mindset.
26
The same could be said for the pharmaceutical industry and much of healthcare dominated by the pursuit of the almighty dollar.
7
@Maggie Rouen Brava, Ms. Rouen! Can't help but feel that the so-called "wellness" industry is just a new-fangled way to judge and insidiously control women - primarily young women. It's not really about self-love or self-acceptance but offers up myriad ways to be self-critical that you'll never be "well" (aka ...thin) enough.
6
@Peter Belowski absolutely, Peter! The medical device industry, too.
4
I fear the physical power of males, generally, over females will continue to feed the patriarchy of culture which allows the judging of women based upon appearance first. If more girls were brought up in households that promoted common sense thinking, they could develop a self-concept that disregards the patriarchy of culture and develop a self confidence that allows them to define themselves rather than fall prey to the damaging, insidious messages that define them. Sadly, social media makes this even more difficult.
4
And not just the Wellness Industry. but Hollywood, TV, Netflix/PrimeTV, and many sports from figure skating to "Women's" gymnastics to tennis. They want women who have bodies like a 13-year old girl on the edge of puberty, and teenage girls who are virginal. Not the firm, muscled bodies we associate with male athletes the same age, but the 38-ish actress who looks like she is 15 1/2.
Is this a cultural extension of some male fantasy, some Freudian thing about daughters and sisters? (Yuch.) Or is this some broader if initially accidental marketing knowledge about how insecure people buy stuff including fantasies (movies, TV, porn) that make them feel like they are OK? Is it human psychology, capitalistic exploitation, or both? We now have some women moving beyond this, but media coverage is rare or 1st-time self congratulatory (SI's 2019 bathing suit-sploitation issue).
This is not about feminism, although feminists may lead the response. It is about people. People in your family and mine. Fellow citizens. Protecting our friends, partners, children, even seniors, from those who prey on insecurities. Guilting drives alcoholism, drug abuse, smoking, binge behaviors, and self-rejection even unto suicide.
Love your family. Love your neighbors. Love yourself (even though I really could stand to lose that 20#).
14
Now lets add the elephant in the TV room. What is with regular looking women who arrive to a news reporter position with a regular looking body and soon dink deep of the body disappearing craze. You have only to look at any news person. All they do is look at themselves in the camera. They cross their arms over their imaginary stomachs,they hold their reporting notes over their belly. They put their arms tight to their sides, to look like they are fatter than they are. They wear baggie blouses to hide their lack of any weight on them and they look so super thin on TV which adds 15 pounds to your frame. Makes no difference for these women and some men too look like PEZ dispensers. Are the male anchors and weathermen required to stand with their legs apart? Do they think we dont see all this and what a message this sends? Sad. An anchorette on FOX who is so thin and then a guest came on and made her look fat. How about the hair, not allowed to sit normally on them. Face framed into staying in place with glue. Also, as they get older they wear more and more extensions for a thicker look which only makes them look more ridiculous. When you are 50, cut your hair it looks so much better. What about the shortest dresses which show up to their butts and their leg cellulite which everyone has. There is more wrong here than food problems. I wonder about all they don't eat and when Elle Fanning fainted recently, she said her dress was too tight, no she is too thin and does not eat.
7
All these men man-splaining women’s self-hatred and shaming us for it. Sigh.
7
follow the money
4
Another label...What was it? Intuitive eating? I can see this new fad leading to a new group of guilt exploiting “counselors” telling you how to best “listen to your body”. My cure? Focus less attention on yourself, more on making others happy, or doing meaningful things, and relax... carpe idem.
15
I have a couple of conditions (gout, for one), that have dieticians crossing their eyes and muttering, "Well, you do you," as they stumble away from me. But the unsolicited body policing is what gets me. Why does it matter to you how fat or thin I am? Is it your deep love for me that makes you talk about my body?
This is a great article. I would only add a T-shirt slogan I saw once: "Eat right, exercise, and die anyway."
4
What a surprise, It is all men's fault. Women are part of the problem because of the way they judge each other.
3
I really don’t want to be disrespectful but it still sounds like you are obsessing though the topic of your obsession seems to have been somewhat modified.
16
Hooray
Thank you
1
I'm surprised that NYT made space for this article, because the author generalizes from her experience to all women excessively.
13
Bravo!
why do women get boob jobs when they are perfectly healthy?
8
Time for you to get out of California. Thanks God I left it nearly 4 decades ago. On my last visit -- over 5 years ago and I hope never to return -- within the first 24 hours my younger sister had (1) arranged an appointment for me with her hairdresser, (2) suggested I get facial waxing, (3) suggested I bleach my teeth, (4) told me to start wearing a bra for my minuscule little boobs, (5) told me that I needed to get a tan, (6) suggested that I start taking the cannabis derivative CBD, etc, etc.
Californians claim to be all about pure and natural, but all they really care about is the superficiality of looks and which celebrities they know. I grew up there and am very happy to have escaped.
14
Vanity, my dear. Is that sexist enough for you?
6
"...a dangerous con that seduces smart women with pseudoscientifc claims..."
The smart women are the ones who recognize and promptly ignore pseudoscientific malarky.
10
I do appreciate this article and I think women spend far too much time dieting and far too much money on plastic surgery. Our "models" in film and on TV are older women who don't look their age and young women who look like they're starving to death. People like Gwyneth Paltrow are making billions off the "health" industry, with back up "medically proven" ideas for better health like sticking porcelain eggs up your vagina. But my question is, why are Americans so fat? Fat is not healthy, fat makes you feel trapped in your body, fat shortens your life expectancy. The only possible answer is that we eat horrible, horrible food. American food producers put sugar in everything, which is against the law in many other countries. Fast food is still the go to food for most Americans. Eating out at Cheesecake Factory has become a yearned for experience, but check the salt content in their meals. There is such a thing as bad eating, for both men and women, and Americans are addicted to it.
15
Although this article focuses on women, more and more men are being sucked into this body-image obsession. Probably because the "wellness" fad has saturated the female market and needs a new supply of victims to fleece of health and money.
When examined in that light women are only slightly more vulnerable to the cult of the 'celebrity tout'; they were simply the first chosen targets.
1
"Wellness" goes far beyond just food, it would be so much easier to understand if it was only about healthy diets and weights. The epitome might be Gwyneth Paltrow's "goop" that wants to sell you vagina eggs, and a zillion other things that have absolutely zero scientific backing, other than the obvious proven hypothesis that it separates you from the money in your wallet while enriching a Hollywood celebrity who already had far more wealth than anyone needs to live a happy live full of service to others decades ago.
I'm a physician who took an interest in healthy eating and nutrition years before I started my med school studies. It wasn't emphasized in our curriculum, but I pounced on the meager offerings. I'm sure the author is familiar with Michael Pollan's simple rules we should have towards our food and I've found no better brief synopsis. I was also preaching mindfulness years before it became a trendy term with books and TED talks. Fwiw, most of what you hear preached about mindfulness gets it all wrong, but that's what happens when the target audience is the masses. I'm not even sure it can be taught, one either gets it or doesn't. Once you catch on though there's no looking back. Like most things in life, there's a bit of Zen involved. A fave quote- "how you do anything is how you do everything." Perfection ain't the goal though, just gradual improvement.
I'm in LA if Ms. Knoll cares to chat more, Dean Hillel Weiss on Yuckerberg's platform.
2
Do you really "want to be like a man"? Eating garbage, disregarding health advice because they know better, neglecting medical care and dying of a highly preventable illness? My husband died of colon cancer at age 50. A great number of his family members have died of cancer and heart disease yet he could not eat enough of everything doctors are telling us might cause cancer and contribute to heart disesse. When my father died of colon cancer, I made an appointment to have a colonoscopy right away even though I was under fifty and begged my husband, fought with him to get one too. He said "I was overreacting" and asked me to "stop telling him what to do because I was not his mother". Additionally p, I was severily overweight and I decided to change my eating habits and and incorporating exercise into my life. He made fun of me: nah, he did not need to exercise. Fast forward 4 years: excrutiating pain. A fight. A forced visit to the ER. Colon cancer, stage 4. About a year to live. Doctor said he must have been having symptoms for a long time that he just ignored. What he, I and our children went through during his treatment and death was horrific. So, NO, I "do not want to be like a man" oblivious to reality, and with a screwed up sense of invincibility without any regards to what would happen to their loved ones if they do not take care of themselves.
17
The author makes too many assumptions. Millennial men definitely do talk about dieting and are concerned about what they put into their bodies. We didn't invent plant-based, but we took it mainstream. And there's just as many men on Instagram trying to get paid through body dysmorphia, and just as much pressure to look good for sexual opportunity unless you are very rich. Eating disorders suck, but gender shouldn't be brought into it. We're more mindful of what we're putting into our bodies than any other point in human history, and it's good for our health. This article, if anything, notes the importance of the improvement we need on mental healthcare.
9
By all means, let's talk about something else. Weight, 'beauty' (i.e. makeup etc) and analyzing what the boyfriend did or said take too much damn energy out of women's lives, and demonstrate that we still don't feel worthy.
But while we're at it let's stop talking about our bodies as if they are separate from the rest of us. Bodies R Us.
4
Wellness is about changing the things we can control, giving us ability to cope with things beyond our control. If it helps with our well being and health, that's even better, but that's not what's really at play here.
2
The obsession with food and weight never seems to go away, even as we age. I have friends almost 70 who still are trying to reach or keep the weight they think is optimal. Both of them are too thin, in my opinion. On the other hand, I haven't owned a scale for about 10 years and I generally eat whatever I want. I'm a little more "filled out" than my friends. I figure I've lived a good many years and I'm just not so particular anymore about my waistline. I remember my mother, in her 90's, refusing a dish of ice cream because she was worried about the calories. I told her she had earned a treat, and she gave in and enjoyed it. But, I couldn't believe that even at that age, she was concerned about her weight. For some, sadly, the disappointment with one's body never ends.
13
I’d suggest that “the patriarchal beauty standard” is 99% the invention of women. Sisterhood is powerful!
9
There is nothing wrong, at all, with wanting to look and feel good. I'm at a point where I feel great, with fantastic, steady moods, and more energy than I know what to do with. But I am very, very unhappy with the way that I look right now. I went through a bad few years emotionally and spiritually that, I found out the hard way, even an entire ocean of wine couldn't cure. As a result, I'm carrying around about 40 extra pounds.
And it's absolutely miserable. It feels like I'm in someone else's body. I can't find any clothes that I like that actually fit. The feel of the fat rolling around, and rubbing against other fat, is disgusting. There is no other word for it.
This isn't about lack of self-esteem or some unrealistic, society imposed view of what I should look like. This isn't me being brainwashed into believing the "patriarchal beauty standard." This is about me, fully aware, deciding that I do not want this.
So now I'm fully focused on doing what I have to to get the weight off. And you know what? I'm doing it without blaming men, or white people, or the "wellness industry" for my situation or my experiences.
Why is it that so many women these days would rather paint themselves as victims and blame everything and everyone else for whatever they're struggling with in their lives?
18
@Kristin you’re correct; and there’s a fine line between insanely obsessing about weight and staying reasonably fit and attractive. I’d say that fine line is about 5 pounds. Good luck on dropping 35.
4
Thank you. And I'd love to have lunch with you. We'll go dutch treat.
"Intuitive eating has been around for decades, but it’s suddenly receiving a lot of attention."
Stop right there! Decades? How about since the beginning?!?!
How about that's how every primitive peoples eat. Thats how even more modern people, in less convenience prone and less commercialized cultures still eat.
"Intuitive eating" the label might be decades old, but the methods, the practices behind it - since day one!
Eat less. Eat whole, eat for nutritional reasons, but make the food tasty. Eat for pleasure for pleasures sake rarely, and then only in celebratory situations.
Why are Americans so willfully ignorant when it comes to their health Self-care? Was it the onslaught of convenience foods? The grab and go culture? The, I'm too busy to care about myself in mundane ways, culture? Where everyone is so busy (usually doing nothing meaningful) all the time, that they cant catch their breath syndrome of recent history...?
This is not a female only thing anymore. Oh no...American males have fully adopted the same behaviors as their American sisters. Weight obsessed. Diet obsessed. Clothing, and grooming obsessed. The same behaviors that American females are protesting has enslaved them to perpetual, systemic, generational Self-doubt, self-inflicted body shaming, binge eating and dieting, and the expense of the cosmetics and body sculpting industries.
Men might be slow to get in the game, and use different language, but they are IN the game.
Eat simply. Keep moving.
4
Julia Child said that too many Americans have an "infantile attitude" toward food. How right she was.
7
Conflating wellness with fad diets and the pursuit of thinness because the writer had problems with those is solipsistic.
9
A bit of defensiveness, and justification for her own choice, lilts in the background of this piece. Just because some people ‘use’ wellness as a cover for their obsession about their looks or their weight, does not mean that the wellness ‘perspective’ is superficial or false. One example: there is very good research that suggests that intermittent fasting (which humans have practiced through time, and is seen in many religions — i.e., Lent, Ramadan, vision fasting) actually can promote better metabolic balance and for some has actually moderated or reversed Type II diabetes, reduced inflammatory responses in the body, and more. Demonizing all of ‘wellness’ because the author herself got seduced into using it to regulate her weight is just her version of ‘do it right,’ a different kind of diet. Inform yourself, listen to your body (one approach is not going to work for everyone) — and don’t throw the science out with the fads or the sanctimony.
15
You are what you eat. Eat what you love AND what makes you feel good and healthy. We have poisoned our food supply with processed foods and don’t need a wellness community to tell us they are very bad for us. Occasionally a professional offers good, medically-sound guidance about how better eating can heal us. Learning how to shop and cook is very helpful. Teach your kids. Talking about weight and dieting is BORING for any gender.
3
An amazing story and more amazing comments.
It is, to me, just another aspect of what I call female inadequacy syndrome. It is a most peculiar disease where women will find some aspect of themselves wrong or inadequate. Smart or even brilianet woment are absolutely psoitive that they are dumb. Attractive, even beautiful women are confident that their bodies are defective in some way.
Ms. Knoll, despite the article, appears to exhibit this syndrome as well. It doesn't bother her that she believes that she is overweight, yet a review of her on-line photographs depict a remarkably attractive, desirable woman.
6
It has been medically proven over and over again that being over-weight (they used to call it “fat”) is unhealthy, reduces life expectancy, etc.
Why is this information so hard for people (yes, men as well as women) to hear and understand?
8
Clearly Jessica Knoll has never been to an all-male "business" lunch. First, the lunch is not about business. Otherwise, you wouldn't go out to lunch. You'd eat a working lunch in the office if you ate lunch at all. If you were really working hard, the boss might sponsor a take-out dinner delivered to your meeting room.
A "business" lunch is about team building, morale, and social camaraderie. The conversation is often just as forced and inane as the situations Ms. Knoll describes. Men make jokes about their older and younger colleagues as well as their own appearance. You might actually get made fun of for being too fit. This while everyone agonizes over what they should order that isn't going to put them to sleep all afternoon. You still have to go back to work.
Once the order is placed, the conversation descends into a few basic categories depending on the crowd. Family, sports, fitness or travel. If you're really lucky, you'll get someone good at telling anecdotes. They fill up the space where everyone else has nothing to say. That's why sales people are good at anecdotes. They also don't typically talk shop at the table. It's considered rude.
Which brings us back to the first point, you don't do "business" lunches voluntarily. You do a business dinner after the meeting is done because everyone wants a cocktail. That's how you build morale and social camaraderie and thereby a team. Hopefully work pays the tab.
5
When I read the title of this article I thought it would be geared toward the misleading claims of cures and treatments the wellness industry has made. I’ve never thought of the wellness industry as a diet industry so I was really thrown off by this article. I think the author interprets plant based diet with weight loss but it’s so much more than that. There is a lot of good in the wellness industry but they do need more evidence based science!
8
Look, we all know women are equal to men. However, women do think differently than men, not all women but certainly most.
The cosmetic industry is proof of this. Just look at the size of it! Even the author of this article indicates as much in the closing paragraph. Men may look for beauty but women in general push it to crazy levels. They certainly don't need to feel men force it upon them. Women are excellent at doing this to themselves.
Will it ever change? Despite feminism? I for one don't think so. Men and women are just different. Supremely equal but different nonetheless. Don't lose sleep over it...
230
@Billy Walker
The wellness industry is less of a problem than our collective -- male and female -- vanity. And our unfettered vanity (once it gets to that point) is a result of overvaluing appearances and undervaluing functionality.
There are many functions which require a larger size body but also many in which a thinner, more flexible, more agile body type is called for.
Spending less time on a scale, in a mirror, or in our heads, imagining how we should or shouldn't look instead of actually doing something makes our idealized body-type issues so much worse.
Women could be more prone to the second-guessing, but I also see many men at my gym locked into the ubiquitous mirrors and flexing this way and that.
Excess money, too much free time, and way too many foods containing way too many empty calories put the match to the gasoline of our dysmorphic insecurities and confusions.
Once we find our true paths, we can shape our bodies to accommodate the need or adjust to changes.
23
@Billy Walker This is a wildly simplistic view point. Cosmetics and skincare at their best are a fun form of self expression and self care, but at their worst are another capitalist trap designed to make women/femme identifying people spend money unnecessarily trying to achieve unrealistic patriarchal standards of beauty that we are told are essential to conform to if we want success in life, career and particularly love (more so if you love men).
The flippant advice of “don’t lose sleep over it” is beyond dismissive and quite dangerous.
Also, might I suggest you google “internalized misogyny” and educate yourself. Thanks!
143
@Billy Walker
It won't change until men stop using beauty as a top attribute in determining a woman's worth.
And since a large part of men's bias towards beauty seems genetically hardwired, it is doubtful that will happen anytime soon.
Try not wearing makeup as a woman and see how many men ask if you are sick, tired, stressed, etc.
So while I agree there are differences between the sexes, without both working together to overcome our biased differences, women are always going to be pressured to conform to men's standards of beauty.
142
This take is fairly true, but the wellness industry is (in my case and many others) appealing to women because we cannot get the health care we need. I have an autoimmune disease and have had to "experiment" on myself with herbs and diet and progesterone cream to get back to feeling normal. I lost almost a decade to post-partum anxiety, onset of an autoimmune disease and still-officially-undiagnosed fibromyalgia. When I complained of pain in all my muscles that worsened when I exercised, doctors told me to "work out more." Only through diet and supplements am I in any way returning to normal. The wellness industry is also about the lack of health care in our society.
8
Bravo, Jennifer! Your fury is fully justified. But...and this is the sad part...this gender inequality regarding attractiveness and how it is valued, I have a feeling, was shape in human prehistory, shaped by power and the many other subtleties that made sense...and still do to us. Long ago, I had an impressively heterosexual male friend who could truthfully aver that the way a woman looked held no valence for him. Cognitively, he could distinguish attractive from unattractive, but he didn't care. Whether or not there was actually something wrong with him, sort of like colorblindness, is not really important. The point is, how many men are there like that? I'm rooting for Ms. Knoll, but she is up against deeply entrenched elements of the human saga, a pact made long ago and imprinted into our very beings.
85
@Andy Moskowitz
Hi, if there is imprinting then it radically changes from culture to culture, and thus there probably is none. Or if there is imprinting, it is cultural, not genetic. Yet, both maybe linked epigenetically, who knows. This is getting as complicated as 'looking good' or having a meal. It was not that complex in prehistory I guess. Eat the mammoth or die!
16
@Andy Moskowitz
Andy, you're obviously looking for the idea and word of "human nature", but somehow don't dare to use that word.
4
@Andy Moskowitz
Ridiculous. We all should eat an unprocessed plant-based diet. Men don't overthink anything and they also are in poorer health and live shorter lives. They engage in riskier activities and don't much plan ahead, especially beyond breakfast. They don't look in the mirror and think their big gut is fine. I don't and I won't date any man who eats junk and is out of shape -- so there. I'm just as shallow as they are.
69 year old female who eats well and stays fit!
30
It isn’t binary. There’s a middle ground. Your obsessive past behavior suggests other issues.
I just spent a week with my buddies. They’re good men. We don’t obsess over women’s bodies, but we do like our women healthy and active. If the men in your life aren’t like that, you need a better class of men.
Women continue to respond favorably to all manner of men with large bank accounts. And many men destroy themselves trying to become one.
We all struggle to evolve.
40
@Patrick Michael thankful that I have my own bank account.
8
The writer ignores the ever-increasing level of serious, life-threatening obesity that is infecting every level and every location of our society. She seems to assume that most women are relatively thin, but this is certainly no longer the case. At the university where I have worked for over 25 years it used to be the case that obesity was essentially unknown. Now, however, that is no longer true; obese students form an ever increasing percentage of the student population.
113
@Skylarkmichelle -
Culprit #1 - Years of drinking sugar-laden drinks.
Culprit #2 - Years of eating hidden vegetable oils.
Culprit #3 - Increasing portion sizes.
13
@Skylarkmichelle -
Culprit #1 - Years of drinking sugar-laden drinks.
Culprit #2 - Years of eating hidden vegetable oils.
Culprit #3 - Increasing portion sizes.
Culprit #4 - Fat cells take about 10 years to die through apoptosis, programmed cell death at the end of their natural lifetimes, so no quick fixes.
8
The obesity explosion will be found to have everything to do with things like glysophate (roundup). It will be the tobacco fight of the 21st century@Skylarkmichelle
4
Great article.
There is no form of ritualized denial of who we are that is not pernicious, and somewhere at the end of its chain, someone is raking in the consequent cash.
3
Why would you vilify an 'industry' that is looking for the real causes and solutions for our country's health problems? There are many! Sure, hucksters exist anywhere fortunes can be made but there are also legitimate scientist, doctors and healers who are doing the work that falls outside of what the traditional medical field is doing. If you need to find a scapegoat for your own inability to accept your body why not call out industrial agriculture, big sugar or fast food to name a few possibilities. It's Ok for them to decide for us what is normal to eat but not Ok for an Osteopath to tell us that maybe we should look at how what we are eating is affecting our lives? I'm a woman and I've felt the pressures for how I should look but I've come to terms with it by listening to my body. My friends and I are obsessed with food and when we're together we cook AND we eat. A lot sometimes. I would encourage you to look past the selfies on these 'wellness' blogs and see that many of them can show you how to get really excited about food again. Comfort food does not have to involve cheese and gluten anymore, trust me.
7
I’ve been over the same path- including 15 eating disordered years. How wonderful to now be relaxed around food. To not be constantly judging my choices! Healthful eating is still important to me - but so is enjoyment! Great essay - thanks!
6
It is unfortunate that Jessica chose to conflate wellness with the diet industry & fasting binges. Because in my experience it applies to everything that does not fall under the umbrella of allopathic medicine. Maybe best not to trash that, as many are helped by preventative medicine.
5
I happen to be one of those skinny, high metabolic people who can sit and eat a quart of ice cream and a box of cookies, all after consuming a big plate of pasta, sausages, and garlic bread. I never gain an ounce and I have been the same size for over 30 years. I have a few thin friends, male and female, who are the same.
In my younger days I used to feel self-conscious about my weight and tried everything to gain weight... Yes thin people do too. But as I got older I learned to see being thin as a blessing and stopped eating so much because of what I may be doing to my heart and other organs.
As time went on I sympathized with friends and those who struggled with their weight and I saw all the many diet plans as scams to take advantage of people. I loved reading this article because I agree that everyone should accept whatever body structure that they have and enjoy life and foods of their choice. If people are eating themselves into morbid obesity that endangers their health and puts a cramp on their lifestyles, that’s a different matter but their own choices. But we all come in different sizes and we need to stop judging or taking advantage of people via the diet industry. It’s also heartening to finally see the fashion industry, especially for women, paying attention. Eat, drink and be merry!
2
Well, OK. As long the industry is smashed by individual and group choices and not by the bigger and badder government industries., federal state and local. (Same way the sedan industry was smashed by individual choices for SUVs.)
By way of community, I didn't notice marriage among your options. Put it there as a considered choice. Also church; small groups are in even if Jim Rutz's "The Open Church" is not.
I've been on every diet, own every diet book and I'm still about the weight at which I started. 23 and Me told me that I'm also the exact weight for someone my age with my genetic background.
But, I'd still like to get rid of my gut..apple shape...to use a wellness term.
I think there's something wrong with our food supply, all those additives that allow a twinkie to stay on the shelf for a year. Stand out side of Costco and see who goes in and out. The number of seriously obese people should worry us all.
Also, have you ever watched folkes go in and out o Costco and noticed now obese many are? Seriously, there's something wrong with our foo supply, too.
3
I imagine that outside of Los Angeles it’s easier to find friends who don’t talk about wellness and fad diets at every meal.
2
The writer has conflated so many issues and ideas, it's hard to know where to begin. Blaming the wellness industry is certainly the wrong target. This industry sprung up from an utter lack of real and reliable scientific information from western nutrition medicine, which employs soft research standards that result in recommendations that are forever contradicting one another. There are no doubt some charlatans out there but there's also a lot of good information in the wellness industry. And yes, our culture's insistence on a thinner prototype for women (and men) does not help. Hence the fact that otherwise intelligent women follow the most ridiculous 'diets' and protocols, which baffles me as well. People unquestionably eat for emotional reasons, which is why it's hard to maintain healthy habits. It's a complicated issue for a stressed out, anxious and complicated culture. Other, older or indigenous cultures do not encounter these issues. People need to re-learn what it feels like to be full and what it feels like to be genuinely hungry and to treat food as medicine and not a salve or entertainment, and most importantly to trust their own common sense.
60
@rp "to treat food as medicine and not a salve or entertainment"
Oh come on. Do you consider life with all its pleasures a joyless trudge to death?
7
@rp Thank you!
"Two years into my work with her, I feel lighter than I ever have."
I'm not sure the solution to the wellness industry is embrace of being overweight.
14
Just think of all the wonderful ideas and discussions that are being missed by these women. There's a big world out there. And woman are mad smart.
Loving this truth bomb. Thanks.
4
Let’s have lunch!
P.T.Barnum said it best: "There's a sucker born every minute.".
1
This misguided article transmutes the author's own negative feelings into an unfair attack on the health and wellness industry as a whole, dredging up tired feminist and class themes to bolster the argument without any real proof. That industry can and does help people in numerous ways, and has evolved with the times to emphasize healthy development. I do have skepticism about the business due to its need to make a profit on something that most can do for themselves through self-teaching and common sense, but no one is being forced to go to diet and wellness companies and spend their money, after all. The author has found her own path to wellness, which is terrific, but that's no reason to condemn an entire industry engaged in trying to help others to do the same.
9
The author is a senior editor at Cosmopolitan, a rag whose whole existence is selling toxic femininity, but has the nerve in this article to blame the amorphous "patriarchy". Brilliant.
23
Such good points made in this piece - but I think it's unfortunate that so much is non-specifically blanketed under 'wellness'. A marketing concept, to be sure - but with the real 'horror show' being the American food industry & the Standard American Diet which has wrought so much damage - keep in mind that when one's system is out of whack from growing up eating depleted & even artificial foods, then you bet you may have to cut out some things that you can no longer digest. The gluten-free label in advertising has been applied absurdly - but it's upsetting to see so many people here & elsewhere automatically assuming that those who go gluten-free are idiots if they're not celiac. I am not allergic to gluten, I'm sensitive to certain grains. I can no longer eat wheat without becoming paralyzed with fatigue & brain fog. My MDs agree that I need to avoid it. So gluten-free is better for me. Please, all of you who pronounce who can eat gluten and who can't - take care of your own bodies, & I will be responsible & look after mine.
It's also interesting to me that she describes a meeting with movie people - I spend most of my working time in close relationships with, frankly, movie stars. This stuff is, unfortunately, part of their job, and that culture also permeates the world of females in positions of power in the industry. I hope in the 'real' world we can be less obsessed, but you will see more extreme examples in show biz.
3
Congratulations! This article wins the Sunday morning "Most Myopic" prize.
Eating disorders can kill. The "fight" to "lunch like men do"? Not so much.
8
Sorry to be a spoiler, but you are so off track saying the wellness industry is the diet industry. It never started out that way and I encourage you to know what is best for you. I have always honored good eating and just figured that out on my own. In the mid 1980's I decided get more educated. I enrolled into the naturopathic college in Portland OR. I became well educated on how good eating along with good lifestyle makes sense and all the difference. The problem since then is the dietetic world industrialized it. And add to that America has a big problem with addictive behaviors. Food is meant to nourish the body and we as a culture have been so misled and as a people, we love to follow trends. Instead we need to think for ourselves. When I was a mother in the 1960-70's my focus was feeding my kids good food. I began by reading all labels. Back then even I figured out that if sugar is the first ingredient in a package, it went back on the shelf. Do not follow a study blindly. Many are flawed.
I like that you are following an intuitive practitioner. Once I overheard a dietician tell a newly diagnosed diabetic that artificial sodas were ok to drink. Such really bad advice. I have lost confidence in many dietitians.
Look inside yourself and ask the question of what is the right food for my body, Stop listening to outside rhetoric. Be loving and kind to yourself in everything you do. That is what I do.
Warmest regards, Pamela Jeanne ND
5
Ahhh! Triumphant!!!
It's called orthorexia.
1
I totally can relate to Ms Knoll's article. I got teary-eyed while reading her observations.
I'm a 63yo, white, upper middle-class woman, who has only in the past 3 yrs started accepting my body, jiggly butt and all, and I have no idea why now vs. when I was in my 20's,30's'40's and 50's. BTW, for those of you wondering if I am overweight and unhealthy, I am not. My life is now about moderation...
I eat whatever. I have also learned to listen to my body. I can't eat tons of nightshades because my autoimmune system goes bonkers. I can't eat too much dairy. 40 years ago, I gave up on all types of meat & try to eat so I don't have a negative physical reaction...simple as that.
The pressures we humans put on ourselves, to mirror what Wellness or 'lady magazines' fill their monthly publications with - like showing either how we could look (where to buy the $450 shoes or $120 yoga pants) so we can look like the model who is 5'9" and who weighs 110 lb; giving us this month's healthy recipes or articles of self-realization (how I lost 100 lb.) is making us all totally neurotic and unhappy.
Check out The Well - if that doesn't scream PRIVILEGED (and I do believe the article is right-on about how this IS mainly a privileged life-style), I don't know what does. It's all about the 'spin' the marketing teams have put out there for the gullible who feel desperate to be in the 'in' crowd.
https://www.the-well.com/about
2
I pretended that my weight was okay for several years, but then my blood pressure and my blood sugar began to creep upward. My choices became weight loss or an ever increasing number of pills and the inevitable complications of diabetes. I chose eating a little bit less.
My choice was hardly "pseudoscience" though. We have lots of data that tells us that overeating leads to weight gain and that excessive fat stores lead to diabetes. Your motivation for weight loss may be appearance in your thirties, but at some point in your life overeating will catch up with your health as well.
6
I recently looked at a photograph of the screaming kids in the audience of a Beatles concert at Shea stadium. No one was overweight. Look at any street photos from the 1950s 1960s 1970s... no one, particularly kids, were overweight. the food industry looking to maximize profit, and television advertising and the sedentary lifestyle from too much TV and time-saving devices has become a deadly combination.
16
The diet industry is a total mess, but then again so are most Americans eating habits. Because the author has struggled to come to terms with her own eating issues, is hardly a reflection of the diet industry. Binging on food, alcohol or drugs is a whole other issue. Forget white privilege, but making some attempt to educate the public that cooking your own food, from non processed ingredients is a good thing. Eating processed fast foods, while the country is in middle of a health care crisis of obesity, and a government that struggles to bring health care to all is not a wellness, white privilege problem. You outline your own problems with food, but don’t discourage others from taking a journey to find a healthier version of themselves. Maybe if you overcame your own issues you could contribute something positive to the discussion.
7
Just once I would like to read an article like this one which has NOT been written by a woman recovering from an eating disorder.
11
How about if the Times published fewer article on the "so-called wellness industry. Really
2
Perhaps there is something between trying to live off kale and stuffing your face with junk food?
6
This newspaper is part of the problem, with a recent article on eating your way out of depression, a big serving of detox recipes, and so on.
4
Good article but why the hostile title?
I’d just finished reading about online right-wing nuts and now this. Must our disagreements be articulated with violently suggestive language?
4
“Ms. Knoll is a novelist” ...maybe next time get “a biologist” to lecture us all about pseudoscience.
8
Somebody needs to read their Ben Goldacre before they start making pronouncements about the state of modern research community.
And anyone who takes their medical advice from a novelist should realize they're consuming a work of fiction.
I'd recommend an experienced functional medicine practitioner myself, for the latest and most accurate info on this.
And lastly ... yes, Ms. Knoll ... we're all different. One size never fits all ... in nutrition or anything else.
(And that, in combination with the corrosive influence of corporate domination of research funding today ... explains why otherwise rational people can get taken seriously when they write this tripe. Read your Goldacre, newbie ...)
3
This reminds me of the now accepted practice of women stripping every hair off her body . How many “smart” women, and feminists, go through the expensive and painful process of waxing (and sometimes dangerous) to look like a six year old girl? What’s sad is that this all began with men watching porn on the internet where the actresses were waxed smooth. Thus, a lot of women now look, unwittingly, like like porn stars.
7
Great piece, with you just about all the way, except for the reference to the "patriarchal beauty standard." Really, the wellness industry and all the miserable devotion to it we can see all over the place is due to some kind of "patriarchy"? I don't think so, and I suspect you don't either, as not a single line anywhere else in the piece tends to support that notion.
Folks resist acknowledging this, probably because it's always easier to focus on an external enemy, but it's the truth: The overthin magazine-cover and fashion models that can be so damaging to self-esteem don't remotely resemble what an average fellow thinks is an attractive body.
In any event, back to the positive: Congratulations on your adoption of intuitive eating and smart proposal to avoid obsessive body-talk.
5
YES thank you!
hmmm... so the female brain is wired a bit different? Go figure.. I wonder if someone can make money from that?
2
I am a male who lost 150 lbs and have kept it off for almost ten years. To paraphrase Sophie Tucker, “I’ve been fat and I’ve been thin and thin is better.” I agree with the author that body self loathing is not productive but I also realize that if you want to lose weight and keep it off you will have to make some fundamental and permanent changes whether you call it wellness, dieting or whatever. What I object to is the constant whining. If you want to lose weight then do it, if not then don’t but either way don’t whine about it.
12
good read...food good...body hate bad...
This article is much better—and FAR better written—than the concurrent piece by Larissa Zimberoff running in the Times about intermittent fasting. I wonder: How do Times editors justify running both these stories, with their conflicting messages about what constitutes healthy eating, at once?
1
@Sarah G, The Times put this in the Opinion section for a reason. We do and should stumble across all sorts of conflicting opinions in the Times Opinion section. It’s our job as readers to do the work needed to decide whether an opinion tracks closer to fact or fiction.
5
Great article; thank you. One edit, though: your paragraph that begins with "The diet industry is a virus" should have quotation marks around the word "healthiest" in the last sentence.
I try my best to be sensitive to and accommodate the wide, ever changing, variety of food preferences of my friends, family, and fellow Bookclubbers. Even so, the day my sister in law (a whole30 lifer) said she couldn’t have the salad dressing because the mustard I’d used had a (minuscule) amount of sugar...well, let’s just say for the sake of family ties I turned away from her until my eyebrow settled back into it’s normal position.
6
Whew! Reading this really exhausted me. It’s such a good example of how our capitalist, male-dominated society has punished women into hating themselves. And it ends with “intuitive eating” and “emotional eating”, as if these aren’t part of the wellness culture.
4
The last time Jessica Knoll published here, she wrote. "I Want to Be Rich and I'm Not Sorry." Now she want us to believe she wants to lunch like men whose plans are "to take up more space than they already do."
I'm sorry I don't buy it. She's just playing into the new zeitgeist that has us decrying the old adage that you can never be too rich or too thin. We want to believe that it's OK to eat what we want, that we are just fine with our now full figures. But is that really true?
Intuitive eating hasn't just been around for decades. It's been around forever, practiced by plain old ordinary people who never heard of Manolo Blahnicks, or zeitgeists. Appetites were whetted by hard work. Food was delicious, salty, fatty, wholesome, plain. Depending on where you lived in the world, you ate potatoes or rice, fish, fowl, or meat, largely vegetarian or completely carnivorous.
Then came fashion. Beauty standards that demanded deprivation from those who didn't conform naturally. From the tiny deformed feet, to the corsetted wasp waists, to the plastic surgeries, to the endless obsession with conforming to whatever the latest 'thing' is, we are whipsawed by the impossible demands of the beauty industry.
That the author is now two years into the work with a new dietitian who has her convinced (so far) that her appetite is a gift, but anyone who has a personal dietitian is still a part of the diet industry they decry, no matter what they claim.
15
Like most women, I've always hated my body, even when it was muscular, energetic, and pretty darned gorgeous, which I didn't appreciate at the time. I finally asked myself: When will I be good enough? Now, I'm 71, have had a number of injuries and surgeries, and I just can't do everything I'd like, anymore. Probably never will. Even gardening isn't as much fun, because of pain. I'm overweight, and "out of shape," the shape I was in just 20 years ago. So what? I'm going to sit around and waste time denigrating myself? Nope! I eat what I want, within reason, do as much as I can, and I try not to worry about it, enjoying the time that's left of my life. We're all beautiful in our own way.
15
Our food is nutritionally depleted because the soils they are grown in are nutritionally depleted from years of Big Ag, fossil fuel farming. Our bodies eat, then continue looking for the nutrition that was suppose to be in our food. Some foods, like genetically engineered, Round Up Ready corn, actually make small tears in our guts that lead to leaky gut. We need to fix our soil problem and then we can eat normally again. Right now, to get enough nutrition, one needs supplements or needs to overeat.
3
I have no disagreement with anything in this piece, but it speaks to a very particular psychopathology of the privileged. While there is no legitimate health basis for idealizing the body type of the beauty magazine, obesity is a scourge. The author's cheeseburger envy, or her implication that men eat such "calorie dense and delicious" foods without discretion and with impunity is incorrect and misleading. Healthy weight - as opposed to an unrealistic idealized beauty standard - is a vital concept and health goal.
12
The problem may be that we have a "food-as-entertainment" culture when our bodies did not evolve for that purpose. We can't change the culture, but we can be more conscious about when we should be eating for fuel and when we can eat for entertainment.
9
This breezy article showcases the author’s demons more than those of the wellness industry. The primary message of wellness is so much better than it was even 10 years ago. The best of this “movement” is based on sound science and common sense: sleep more, turn off your phone, hang out with friends and family, move more, eat fewer processed foods and go much easier on sugar. None of that is easy to do in this country, but there lies the rub.
15
One last comment:
I don't know any women who talk about their diets or bodies at lunch or any other time, nor have I ever. We talk about books, politics, work, family, travel, and ideas. Maybe find new friends.
15
There are lots of good reasons to choose and/or avoid specific foods, based on the individual, and being aware of our bodies and physical needs and stresses is a good thing... in moderation. But yes, it is all too easy to slide into obsession with both. I absolutely do feel physically better when I eat only foods that were eaten by my ancestors several generations ago, i.e. I mostly avoid processed foods. Additionally, and this point I haven't seen mentioned, is that "wellness eating" is also connected to environmental improvement, even to reducing climate change. Must we (should we?) eat fruit shipped from half way around the world when it's not in season (or even available ever) in our locale? Eating organic, locally grown fruit and vegetables shouldn't be a privilege, but, sadly, it very much is. Should we who are privileged continue demanding organic and local, so that the shift continues and becomes affordable to all? Many municipalities are supporting gardening co-ops, providing small garden plots free of charge or at nominal cost so that people can grow their own food. Personally, I think this is the healthiest when it's possible: when your hands are directly involved in securing some of your food, you are connected to it and it to you in a tangible and undeniably healthy way. Lastly, to quote my own dear father: Everything in moderation. Including moderation.
4
The comment made by the author's dietitian “What a gift,” she said, appreciatively, “to love food. It’s one of the greatest pleasures in life. Can you think of your appetite as a gift?” speaks clearly to the point I would like to make. Not all of those in the wellness field are looking to demonize food and encourage any person to shame, belittle or berate themselves into losing weight and I take some offence to the insinuation that we all operate with the same set of values in our approach. The reality is some of us are truly trying to help those who need the support in achieving their ideal state of overall health and wellbeing, which is individual to everyone. Perhaps the real issue at hand is the need to address the underlying cause of what may make an individual more susceptible than another to the influence of the harmful messages the diet industry is sending.
5
Most people agree that green leafy vegetables are good for you and obsession is bad. The rest is chatter.
3
Eat less, mostly vegetables. Simple as that.
4
@PeterC
Correct!
So why cast shame on those who choose to remain thin?
Yes, the "wellness" industry is a fraud. So is the notion that obesity just happens.
6
The author's recipe:
one part narcissism
one part man blaming
one part smug, one step ahead of the crowd trending
stir well and serve to others
16
Hi Jessica,
Could you please tell me the name of your dietician who specializes in intuitive eating?
I would so appreciate it!
Thanks in advance,
Michaela
Feeling oppressed as a woman and having bought in to silly food fads does not mean you now throw out all science and common sense. Your new eat whatever you crave strategy is just as nonsensical and unhealthy as the old diets. We are conditioned to crave sugar, salt, saturated fat, and whatever the industrial food industry finds most profitable.
Learn to make smart choices that please your taste, promote your health, preserve the planet, and nourish your body and spirit. It's really not that hard.
4
I read this op-ed a second time and realized that the author is effectively stating what is pretty obvious to most people.
Avoid packaged, processed foods of all kinds. Shop on the edges of the grocery store, where the produce and meat and fish sections can be found.
Everything is is merely commentary.
3
I don't know, Jessica. Seems to me like instinctual eating is yet another wellness thing.
8
The standard of beauty at the moment I entered early adolescence was Twiggy. The desperate attempts to be rail-thin and waifish ruined many young lives. Thankfully, we’ve come to a place where physical beauty is more closely associated with good health....but like everything else, it gets commercialized, marketed, and consequently obsessed over.
Maintaining reasonably good health is not that complicated.
5
What accounts for the extremely high obesity rate in America? Obesity is undoubtedly unhealthy. Has it happened because everyone is following a wellness regime or any kind of fad dieting? No, most seriously overweight and obese people are just eating what tastes good to them - they have other things to worry about besides having the perfect body shape. And what tastes good is intuitive - especially, people like sweet and fatty foods. Makers of prepared foods and restaurateurs (including fast-food sellers) maximize profits by taking advantage of these tastes.
The author is right that there is not sufficient knowledge at present to specify the ideal diet or how overweight people can lose weight and keep it off. Restricted diets can dangerous. But there is a major problem and telling people just to follow their intuition is not going to solve it either.
5
@skeptonomist
"No, most seriously overweight and obese people are just eating what tastes good to them - they have other things to worry about besides having the perfect body shape."
Nor are they tending to their minds -- which would be expanded ever so slightly by reading about the dangers of eating "what tastes good to them."
1
What we desire, both in ourselves and in our friends, is a healthy and active body, appropriate for our age. That does put some reasonable limits on the weight range that is desirable, at both ends of the scale. I recognize that there are genetic differences that make healthy weight control in our society very difficult for some people. When I was dating on Match, my post had nothing about age or weight or race requirements or the like, my only requirement was "that you can keep up with me." Next week my wife and I will be backpacking as usual. Do whatever works for you, to do your best to stay healthy and physical while accepting that age and unpredictable events will happen. We accept that, and now being in our 70's don't go on longer trips. In our 80's -- who knows. Will we love our bodies in our 80's? Is that relevant? The issue is, take responsibility for yourself (without obsessing) and then deal with what life sends your way, and you can accept yourself. That is enough.
4
Thank you. I am tired of hearing (until I can change the channel) from wellness "coaches" who have no compunction about telling people how they should live their lives; despite not having had the fortitude or the brains to get admitted to, study and pass courses in and graduate from a nursing school, medical school, counseling school or dietician school. These people have no licenses, no oversight boards and loud bullhorns in television, social media and self-publishing. They are not hindered by scientific research in forming and pushing their opinions. They are self-sure, self-important and self-interested. If they were truly motivated by concern for others they would want to prepare themselves to the highest standards to offer help.
2
Like much in life the key to a healthy diet seems to be moderation. And avoiding processed foods high in sugar and salt. I grew skeptical of the wellness craze a few years back when the promoter claimed oatmeal was unhealthy.
Still it is important for our country to remain vigilant in fighting the obesity epidemic. There is an ocean of difference between attempts to reverse obesity and faux philosophies catering to the elite suffering from ennui.
2
The wellness ideas that I and my wife follow are not targeted to women and have nothing to do with making women more attractive to men. Unfortunately for the author certain foods do have great health benefits and others have detrimental effects both on bodies and the environment, most notably the dairy, meat and sugar industries which are in their operations, though not enough laws exist to cover such, morally criminal. And what does she mean by "hearty foods men eat?"
3
@K. Norris
steak and cheese subs , pizza , burgers etc.
"guy food "
Oh, my! Have we never heard of a middle ground, as applied to eating, appearance, whatever? Have we never heard the caution re: taking ideas or recommendations to extremes? The author may be somewhat overenthusiastic about pitching out the "wellness" world. But she has a point.
I'd say: Give so-called "wellness" its place. It has caught people's attention, and maybe that's good. But, as with so much else in life, give it some thought and don't go overboard. And do not assume that one size fits all. We are individuals.
1
To answer your subtitle: Because 'smart' doesn't necessarily imply 'thinking'.
3
A great blog post and the declining standards of the NYT op-ed page on full display.
12
Wellness industry is more virulent than a virus. It is a cancer spreading to aspects of our lives and parts of our bodies that are intimate private and just fine as they are.
Hey what's wrong with a little spike in the coffee every once in a while?
But vodka? Blech!
WHISKEY!
6
One of the great advantages of being old is that I now do not have to refrain from eating all the junk food that will kill me in thirty years. My condolences to you youngsters.
4
I have bouts of “disordered” eating and blame it on Trump!!
When this happens, l pick up and reread “Eating in the Light of the Moon.” By Anita Johnston, PhD. It’s a brilliant read.
2
I invite others to take a pledge not to say anything negative about anyone else’s body. Ever. Including the stupid 1-10 scale.
Let’s make it the cultural norm that it’s considered rude and gauche to speak negatively about a person’s weight/body. Especially, and most importantly, your own. The author is correct, we have way more important and interesting things to discuss.
6
Although I agree with much of what the author says about food intake and pseudoscientific dieting, I'm concerned about her sexist views. Men get bashed a lot for their sexism, often deservedly so, but I think this author should be called out for her sexist attitude that concern about one's body and appearance is somehow uniquely an issue for women.
4
When the Times publishes stories like this they should have a disclaimer that they are written for and about the struggles and experiences of white upper class women only. So when the writer says "all women" we know who she really means.
7
Only in America. Only in a rich and privileged society obsessed with superficial appearances of beauty could this be a problem. Probably the majority of people on the planet worry on a daily basis about just getting enough good food to eat and clean water to drink. Period.
What a selfish, spoiled country we have become. Shame on women, especially those who think themselves ‘liberated’, for wasting time and money on such foolishness.
7
The author is 35 now and her youthful ignorance is glaring. Put on 5 pounds last year? No worries, right? But after 10 years that 5 becomes 50 and now you are in real trouble. Your Dr tells you that you are pre-diabetic and you laugh it off. Then your Dr tells you that you have Diabetes and you are scared to death. Amputation, blindness, heart disease, liver disease and kidney disease all become real, right now, enemies. So pout about simply accepting your 5 pound pouch now, just don’t come crying to me in 15 years when the rubber hits the road....
The only chains knotted in this article are the writers confusion over wellness and dieting. Not interchangeable words at all. I enjoy having dinner with a friend, making sound choices (I had an awesome veggie burger at a new place last night) and discussing best practices for optimal health. Turmeric as an anti-inflammatory? Yes! Green juicing for a few days to cleanse my system? Yes! Do I LOVE my body? Well, as a 57 year old divorced woman, putting her toe into the dating scene, it's tough some days. Advertising subliminal messaging, fads, have always been there. The writer has had a lifelong unhealthy relationship with food, until her present dietician. I get it. I was bulimic in my 20s, trying to fit a mold, an ideal, coupled with a distorted vision of my body. But through healthy eating, recommended moderate exercise, and a positive self image fostered by a love of life, compassion (towards myself included!), gratitude, and a spiritual connection, I am free from my demons of youth. Wisdom comes with age. I don't need to judge others and their standards of health. The body will someday be as all others, back to the Earth and her elements. I hope this writer frees herself from her demons and stops vilifying the lunch chatter of other women. Dealing with your food psychosis? Great. Now deal with your hatred of the feminine. Because your anger will get you in the end. This is a dated opinion if you ask me.
3
This piece goes hand-in-hand with the problems at YouTube which are coming to light. If one types in the innocuous search term "healthy eating", for example, the algorithm brings up the following videos on the "Up next" sidebar (this is a sampling, not the full list):
"7 Day water fast: No food for a week (Before and after)"
"Top 18 fat burning foods for women"
"Beat menopause belly fat by starving your fat cells"
"I drank celery juice of 7 days and this is what happened"
"How to reverse insulin resistance naturally"
"Dr. Oz: 5 ingredients you should stop eating Right Now"
All this because I typed in "healthy eating".
None of these are really related to healthy eating. They are all about losing weight and getting "healthy" in a manner that is dubious as well as dangerous, but highly profitable for YouTube.
The sad part is, I fear that many, many Americans turn to YouTube and other such sources when they want to learn about "healthy eating" and other health habits, and are immediately steered to the fringes of the "wellness" movement where money is made and lives are ruined.
4
Woody Allen already covered this ground in "Sleeper."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1yCeFmn_e2c
2
There’s a slick new “wellness” office in my work neighborhood that bills itself as a place for “longevity science, biohacking and intravenous lounge”. Only thing is, I’m pretty sure their main bread and butter is their “mobile rehydration I.V. concierge”... meaning intravenous fluids on demand for rich people hangovers.
2
I think you’re a part of it, with articles like this. Why did you have to google “ intuitive eating”? Was it not intuitive? And why did you need more and different experts? Because it’s all so complicated? The disease is finding every basic thing, like eating, to be a complex pathology only experts can cure, and about which tomes of how-tos must be written.
4
A man can eat just what he pleases/from hamburgers to foreign cheeses/But women seem bound/to watch ev'ry pound/as into tube dresses she squeezes.
4
The irony: for the last two years, a nutritionist has been guiding her eating, then she writes an article insulting other women's dieting efforts. Hilarious.
8
Plus ca change, plus c'est la meme chose. Feminists have ALWAYS said this.
Maybe the wellness cult is the same reason so many successful women joined the “nexium” cult.
2
This is the mother of all first world problems. If you have a modicum of education, how is it possible to believe in this stuff? As a society, we have a certain bandwidth with which to address problems: lead in the water and malnutrition amongst so many, access to actual health care (rather than the kale milkshakes or what have you), and so and so forth. Why is the plight of abundantly "educated" and obviously well to do idiots who've run open-eyed into the arms of the scam-artists and grifters of any larger societal concern?
3
Let’s just look at the ads the NYT places within this very article: exquisite, skinny women. Images that are impossible to achieve.
4
Wow, the author sure has men up on a wonky pedestal. She has an image of the “big boys” that is an acquiescence to the fantasy that women aren’t as important as men, talking their big business deals and corporate strategies and bottom lines while they eat steaks slathered in sauce.
The author is not currently in a position to lead women into the light she seems to think men enjoy.
5
There is abundant irony in a self-described "white, privileged" woman, who makes her living writing novels and manages to slip into the discussion that she works on the fringes of the motion picture business, railing against the "wellness industry" (whatever that is) in the pages of the New York Times. Apparently, it takes one to know one.
So please, dear Jessica, go ahead and eat your cheeseburgers, your super premium ice cream, and potatoes au gratin with cream sauce -- no guilt! But when the time comes for your quadruple bypass (if the initial heart attack doesn't take you out the first time), don't say that no one warned you.
The Times could have saved the valuable editorial space wasted on this whiny, indulgent bit of self-congratulation and instead made a much more salient point simply by repeating Michael Pollan's own three-sentence summation of his work, "In Defense of Food": "Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants."
Or perhaps that makes him a part of the "wellness industry," too.
17
@Jena-Auerstedt
What about the fact that the "wellness industry" is an industry where people become rich and famous promoting the next fad? Detox drinks? Don't our organs take care of the detoxing?
Oh, please. This article does a great disservice to actual care of your body. Yes, women are pressured to be not just thin, but beautiful and glamorous, but that has nothing to do with HEALTH.
You can intuitively eat all the french fries and ice cream you like and die early of coronary artery disease, the bills for which we all share, or you can give your body nutritious real food, avoid the sugar, saturated fat, and chemicals that make agribusiness rich while stressing your body, and have energy and emotional health. Why would you choose illness?
It's not about weight, although a reasonable weight for your height and frame helps you survive. That doesn't mean model thin, it means reasonable. And loving your body means taking care of it, just as you would your child, not stuffing it with illness causing, industrial, fake food. Michael Pollan had it right: eat real food, not too much, mostly plants -- and have a brownie once in awhile.
5
This is a great column with an important lesson. I would only add that plenty of men have body-image issues, too. They also express their self-hate and insecurity in harmful ways--just not the same ways used by some women.
6
The lack of enforcement by government agencies designed to protect us is appalling.
While the whole wellness thing is overinflated, the bogus claims by the makers and marketers of supplements, hair loss products, sexual enhancers, testosterone, energy pills, wrinkle creams, and weight loss cures is far more damaging- and expensive.
1
I agree that what's often called "wellness" is no such thing. Take the author's example of "dieting": "In preparation for my wedding, I worked out twice a day on 800 calories."
Her actions were not about wellness or, at root, getting more fit. They were about curating others' perceptions of her at a showcase.
The reason smart women succumb to so-called wellness industry messages are because, like everyone, they are susceptible to vanity, are concerned with others' opinions, and are seeking to feel good about themselves, to have a positive self-regard. In our society which fetishizes physical appearance and valorizes the "work ethic" in a environment where a healthy body is an achievement, these responses are the predictable result. It's also a way, as more and more of us or overweight and obese, to distinguish oneself that is within one's control--at least in principle. We are curating our physical selves much the same way we curate our virtual ones. We've attached our worth to our appearance, understandably in a world that does much the same.
A key step is compassion for oneself and others. It's an effective way to interrupt the cycle of harsh judgements we make about one another that spur the "violent binges" and shame. But note, many of us like that others' feel bad about themselves. We want others to feel shame and guilt, so much the better (but not necessary) if we are righteously indignant. That dynamic is common, but not inevitable. Try the empathy industry.
5
‘intuitive eating’ often doesn’t work for people with eating disorders. If I ate what, when, and how much my body wanted, I would be obese and have serious health issues. I have found a way of eating that, for me, works to keep me healthy. It’s not always easy and there are times I can’t join in with others enjoying certain foods, but it works for me. Just as some people make the decision not to have alcohol (for many different reasons), I have chosen to follow an eating plan that others might find difficult, maybe restrictive, perhaps too rigid, but it offers me a freedom that I have never before has when it comes to food.
6
The curious thing about this op/ed is that it calls for smashing the wellness industry, yet it isn't about the wellness industry. It's about the diet industry. These are very different things. The wellness industry is about improving one's health. The diet industry is about shaming people into losing weight by draconian measures.
9
It’s disappointing to see the author identify herself as having a ‘bout of bulimia’
Bulimia is a very serious and life-ravaging disease. The term shouldn’t be thrown around casually or be self-labeled as the author did. By definition, the disease would only be diagnosed when it’s been going on for quite an extended time, as well as paired with true mental disorder. A ‘bout,’ on the other hand, is defined as a ‘short period of intense activity of a specified kind’. Surely the author was just referring to a bout of purging. Bulimia ruins people’s lives. It’s irresponsible to use the term loosely, and it’s offensive to people battling actual eating disorders.
11
The health culture seems to be the new religion for upper middle class, mostly but not necessarily white people and comes complete with the same blind faith in things folks don't really understand coupled with the same intense desire to convert everyone else to their way of thinking. The churches of this religion are those expensive restaurants with one word names where the entrée consists of a couple of cauliflower florets and a sprig of raw kale--all artfully arranged of course.
Look, it's a free country. If you don't want to eat meat, or dairy, or grains or whatever for whatever reason, by all means do it. If yoga makes you feel good do it. Same thing with running, walking, dancing, weight training or whatever exercise floats your boat. Just don't expect that it's going to magically transform you into a supermodel or Brad Pitt. We are the product of our genes and if your genes (and hence your bones) dictate that you are going to be short and wide in the shoulder and broad in the hip and our culture dictates that you must be tall and lithe you have to realize that it just ain't gonna happen no matter how hard you punish yourself.
At age 64 my health goals are to maintain a good, active quality of life for as long as my aging body holds up. That includes occasionally (and the key word is occasionally) going out for dinner and digging into a big bowl of pasta (gluten free of course--I have celiac disease) or a nice juicy steak.
Bon appetite.
4
There was a time when it was agreed that three topics were off limits at a polite dinner table: sex, religion and politics. Those were the days and I sorely miss them. We should bring that back and add diets of all sorts to the list.
3
If you cook for yourself and avoid processed and packaged foods, you eat better, you eat less and you feel much better. Skip the wellness and diet industry chatter and get in tune with nourishing yourself, physically, psychologically and, if you can relate to it, spiritually. The preoccupations and confusion of weight and self-worth are destructive ideas. You can't not think them, but you are free to challenge them and think other things so that you can replace them and give them less attention.
5
Part of the problem is the fact that most of the drugs we have were never tested on females, human or animal. Their efficacy is only established on males. We are only recently discovering that medications function quite differently in males and females, for example pain medication. The result is that women's medicinal needs are simply not met and function basically on anecdotal evidence when compared to male responses. This gap is what I think creates space for the crackpots of all varieties eg: pain medication not working? Try a juice cleanse.
On the other hand, there is something clearly wrong with the food supply and/or meal timing, light exposure etc. Something has happened over the last 40 years to create the obesity and depression crisis. Both men and women are scrambling - women are doing it with smoothies and calorie counting, men are doing it with nootropics and 'the quantified self' tech.
2
I find your insight about the depression and obesity crisis interesting. There should be research on that as it is happening to our children at younger and younger ages.
Upper class white women are written off as silly people who have nothing to do but obsess about their diets. I find, in general, articles about upper class white women tend to portray them as useless, unimportant people. Poor women of any color are considered hard-working, middle class and upper class women of color are considered people who have beat the odds. But, white women?
I understand what the author is saying about people and diets, but she sweeps everyone into one category; those who want to lose weight. I would be interested in what these women have accomplished by changing their diets.
Many have corrected autoimmune disorders, like arthritis, and metabolic disorders, like diabetes. Both autoimmune and metabolic disorders plague women of all incomes levels. These upper class women, who have time and money to explore ways of correcting these epidemic problems, might actually be providing a valuable service. If only someone would collect their data.
Because, trust me, the producers of processed food (grain and sugar, for starters), are not going to put their money into research that doesn't support their bottom line. They probably benefit from the author's marginalization of these women's efforts to improve their health.
4
“I’m still trying to separate my worth from my appearance. They are two necklaces that have gotten tangled over the course of my 35 years, their thin metal chains tied up in thin metal knots. Eventually, I will pry them apart.”
What a beautiful metaphor. I, too, am trying to untangle those two strands. We will succeed.
3
I have always said I love to eat....food. No juice, no smoothies. There is something about the act of chewing and swallowing and tasting. But one thing that was noted that is important, you need to stay away from the center of the store or, as many new stores are doing, stay away from the aisles of processed, sugar laden, fat hiding foods and pick from the fresh produce, meat ,eggs and cheese. And lastly, learn to cook. Even simple cooking is delicious and so much more soul appeasing than a fast food burger and fries.
3
I never set out to loose weight but only to see what would happen to my health if I cut out all sugar, processed foods and grains. Eating only real food that one prepares oneself is transformative. It is also surprisingly inexpensive and one can still have large portions. An example of meals that I love:
Breakfast is three eggs and about 7 oz. of spinach sauteed, one half of an avocado and a spoon full of salsa over the eggs.
Cost is $2.50.
Lunch is a salad of one can of high quality tuna with chopped spinach, sweet onions, celery with spices, some mayo, some balsamic vinaigrette and one half of an avocado.
Cost is $2.70
Dinner is a chicken breast steamed with a pound of vegetables either frozen or fresh. Cost is $3.25.
I buy at the lowest possible prices from places like Aldi and other discount grocers that I wouldn't have thought to set foot in a year ago. I find excellent quality food. I've lost 30 pounds this year and spend only a fraction of what I used to on food. Remember that I did not set out to loose weight but I have lost significantly and I have more energy than ever and my meal portions are large and filling. My blood work is great also. I don't really exercise much at all so that is not a contributing factor. It's not a fad but just good sense to experiment to see what your body needs and especially what it should avoid.
8
Our bodies are built for scarcity, yet we live in a world of abundance.
Our bodies are built to move, yet we have created sedentary work.
Be mindful of what you put in your body, and move your body. Unfortunately, I can't make money off this plan, but I can assure you it works.
5
I’ve moved 17 times so I guess I’ve lived a stressful life? I don’t feel stressed but know that I eat badly (cookies, chocolates etc ) when I’m stressed. Also, when you drink , you dontcare so much about what you eat. There is definitely a connection. I love to cook and have started a kid of cooking class or club and we cook all kinds of things, some more healthy than others, but when we sit down to eat what we cooked, no one talks about diets or calories. My husband, on the other hand, is obsessed with weight so he goes back and forth losing weight and gaining weight. He’s 79 and healthy so I say, go ahead, do what you want but I eat what I want to eat. Thank God I love vegetables and fruits! So yes, let’s stop yo-yo dieting, start eating what we need but with the best quality ingredients .
1
I have found that if you just stick with unprocessed foods and cook everything from scratch yourself, you can pretty much eat what you want, when you want.
11
I don't understand the the whole "I hate my body" schtick.
The author says she will never "love" her body - I think she may need some counselling to learn to accept she has a body that functions and to ignore the external attitudes toward variations from an idealized, airbrushed female image.
3
This piece makes so much sense. You only need to visit another country to see how insane our culture is about eating and working out. I recently got back from Spain where diners eat loads of Tortillas (potatoes and eggs), olive oil, ham and cheese. I visited two cities and never saw a single sign for a gym or ‘health’ club. What I did see were reasonably sized people enjoying their meals with friends, drinking wine and eating with obvious spiritual abandon. It’s the same in Italy and France. The only fat people I ever ran across were from America. What is wrong with this picture??
11
Soooo, let me sum this up... Your solution to your past problems that revolved around the vicious cycle of looking for and doing the next magical "thing" is to indeed go pay a fancy dietitian to teach you the next magical "thing"??? And while your "teaching" is supposedly about not obsessing about your body, we somehow literally lose count of the word "body" in your article??? Here's a suggestion, and if you really can't follow it, I strongly urge you to pay for a psychiatrist rather than a "magic" dietitian: Eat healthy, stay away from sugar and carbs, minimize snacks, walk regularly, sleep well, drive less, and reduce stress. Oh, and trust me, decent men (and there's plenty that I know) most certainly won't care whether you have a few extra pounds on. But they most certainly get turned off if you're obsessing about it.
6
And then writing about it which is another way to obsess over it.
1
May I respectfully ask why the dieting excesses and body hating is ONLY the result of what women were “taught”? Where does individual agency and personal insight come into the equation?
3
What a whingeing narcissist Ms. Knoll seems to be! Also, what an ideologue! As noted in the two quotations following my comment, she manages to implicate not only racism but misogyny in her inability to control her OWN eating. So it is yet again the white male patriarchy that is responsible for her waistline being larger than she would prefer?
Really? Good grief!
I grant her point that there is an entire industry that exploits the physical insecurities of women (and many men). Still, she doesn't have to respond to it. That is her choice. The biggest lie in the world is "look what you made me do!" She might instead look in the mirror, take a little bit of responsibility for her own behavior, stop with the great big call-out of those nasty white men, and just eat what and as much or as little as suits her. She is (and always was) free to do that.
I think that she needs to get over herself.
"I am a thin white woman, and the shame and derision I have experienced for failing to be even thinner is nothing compared with what women in less compliant bodies bear. Wellness is a largely white, privileged enterprise catering to largely white, privileged, already thin and able-bodied women, promoting exercise only they have the time to do and Tuscan kale only they have the resources to buy."
"We cannot push to eradicate the harassment, abuse and oppression of women while continuing to serve a system that demands we hurt ourselves to be more attractive and less threatening to men."
6
The author should not assume that others--non-female or non-small individuals (as she self-identifies)--are having an easy time with these issues. I suggest that she be more inclusive in future editorials. Perhaps she intends to antagonize.
“Beauty is in the eye of the beholder”. Idealistic bodies and faces ebb and flow. In the forties, fifties and sixties it was the tall handsome man, and the “pert” nosed blonde or ravishing brunette or redhead, today it’s the stocky not so handsome guys(even the iconic James Bond Daniel Craig is a fire plug with a large schnoz as opposed to the dashingly tall Sean Connery): many of the leading ladies are ethnic and anything but the svelte, elegant Grace Kelley. This represents not only the changing ethnic mix of our nation but subliminally I would suggest it represents the men who are successful and likely to be imitated today, Mark Zuckerberg, Sergei Brin and Jeff Bezos, replace Henry Ford, Cornelius Vanderbilt, William Paley and Jack Kennedy. I can imagine mother’s in the future wanting their sons and daughters to have nose enlargements not “ bobjobs” and the sons in particular to not get to tall or be to handsome so they look like the “ successful guys”. In the times of Titan plump women were admired and painted, in the sixties and seventies you had the “ heroin chic” look (emaciated). As one who has spent my life making people as beautiful as possible I have one piece of advice take yourself for what you are as long as it’s healthy, be presentable and clean and most importantly wake up everyday with a smile on your face, love in your heart and the best of intentions: the rest will take care of itself.
2
We're asked in the subtitle: "Why are so many smart women falling for its harmful, pseudoscientific claims?"
Unfortunately, the answer to this crucial question cannot (and will not) be found here, where "here" means mainstream media and The New York Times at its center.
Why?—for both the question and my point following it:
The "smart women" here, and in fact the most highly educated people, are "typically the most profoundly indoctrinated and in a deep sense the most ignorant group, the victims as well as the purveyors of the doctrines of faith"—and, I would add to Noam Chomsky's accurate assessment of the educated classes (i.e., the "smart" people in question here), the victims as well as the purveyors of this pseudoscience, which is itself now a veritable quasi-religious industry in the United States.
While religion has long promoted itself though "spiritual wellness," the "Wellness Industry" is doing the very same thing, but through an even more powerful message: "Spiritual AND Physical Wellbeing." Indeed, the wellness industry is offering the total package!
So now the proper question (and powerful sales pitch) becomes:
What more could these 'smart'—and "most profoundly indoctrinated"—women want?
1
@Tom Wilde
A little bit of common sense, maybe?
1
Precisely, Marti Mart~
Indeed, common sense has long proven to be one of the most dangerous human faculties in many modern societies; therefore, this very same common sense is one of the first things replaced by "higher education."
Cheers!
Finally! Well said. The company who touts its "clean food" in a little girlie voice needs to be boycotted. Peer pressure which one gladly leaves behind after high school, forms the basis of media, particularly internet sites like Facebook. I refuse to become a pawn in the skinny industry. The French, Italians , and Spanish are good role models for enjoying good food.
2
Love this!! Thank you!
Not sure yet, but you may have just changed my life.
1
What do you mean "smart" women? Anyone who falls for this stuff is not smart. Do not apologize for this behavior.
3
Too much focus on controlling their body/weight and there are so many people looking to make money from this. Cleanses, superfoods, Goop, spas, blah blah. Even if you are thin you still have other problems.
Did you see Beyonce's concert (on Netflix)? She said that 6 months before she weighed 218 pounds (after childbirth.) She and her dancers had a lot more fat on them than was fashionable for white middle class baby boomers. Beyonce and her dancers probably eat 600 calories more per day than your average fashion oriented professional woman, maybe even more considering how much exercise they do.
Excellent article. Thank you.
1
This column is actually incredibly dangerous. I clicked on the link for Ms. Knoll at the bottom of the story and, lo and behold, she is a beautiful young woman who, according to her column, has not had to deal with weight issues, probably thanks to her genes. She writes: "Emotional eating is a coping mechanism. We’re told it is an unhealthy habit, one we must break, but that’s another wellness lie. It is not vodka in our morning coffee." Actually, based on the junk that we (men and women) put into our bodies, bad eating is even worse for us (in terms of our physical health) than a shot of vodka might be each morning. Ms. Knoll equates wellness eating with "yo-yo dieting," but that is just another example of the apples & oranges comparisons she makes here. Most interestingly, Ms. Knoll does not tell us what foods she is referring to as "calorically dense and delicious" of which the wellness industry supposedly is depriving her. Is it chocolate donuts? Women should be jealous of men who devour cheeseburgers at lunch? She should be writing, "What idiots." Or is Ms. Knoll suggesting that the Trump diet should be followed by women? Rather than focusing on the wellness industry as the root of the problem, Ms. Knoll should acknowledge that the real villain is our industrial-food complex that peddles cheap, sugar-filled, and fat-filled foods to all of us. Yes, our society absolutely is harmful to women's body issues, but promoting healthful eating is not the problem.
6
I especially wonder about all of the many detox methods that women are sold on. As if we are automatically toxic because we are female. There are juice detoxes, fasting detoxes, herbal detoxes, colonic detoxes. You name it there is a method for detoxing every part of the female body. Once I figured out that I was not toxic and did not need to detox I felt sooooo much better.
4
Well, I like the photo of the young and beautiful woman who illustrates this article. Why not use a photo of a the kind of woman spoken of by the author?
2
What is the difference between 'wellness' and 'health'? Other than marketing expensive nonsense to gullible women?
1
Americans have been preoccupied with fad diets and pseudoscientific gobbledegook since the beginning. This is nothing new.
Counterpoint:
"The average weight of American men has increased by about 15 pounds over the last two decades."
"The average woman in 1960 weighed 140.2 pounds. Today, the average weight for a woman is 168.5 pounds."
https://abcnews.go.com/Health/average-weight-american-men-15-pounds-20-years/story?id=41100782
And I'm supposed to believe that reversing the trend of increasing American obesity is a matter of "patriarchy", "privilege" or "whiteness"?
Sorry, I'm not convinced.
6
Ruth Draper did the ladies-luncheon routine years ago.
make friends? in Los Angeles? an appearance-obsessed industry town where women shop in their face-lift bandages? good luck with that.
"Why are so many smart women falling for its harmful, pseudoscientific claims?"
Because they hope, and hope is a weed that can grow in the dark.
1
Does anyone find it at all surprising the times would publish a piece with a laughably cartoons character of "men"? The author brings up important points and a serious discussion but the implied suggestion that men are not subjected to similar pressures or are just as susceptible to exploitive marketing is not only ridiculous but has the unfortunate effect diminishing the importance of the subject.
2
Are smart men not falling for these pseudoscientific claims?
2
I'm a doc and so is my wife. We pay no attention to "wellness" and neither do the other docs we know. Use the calories you eat, exercise, get enough sleep, stay away from drugs and irresponsible sex, and get a check up once in a while. It's the best you can do.
7
This is great and also so sad and messed up.
As Wendell Berry says “eating is an agricultural act.” That is what women (and men) should be thinking about while enjoying their sustenance- about the effects of their choices on the land, on communities, on farmers, on workers. This obsessive compulsive relationship is sick sick sick and so un-human and ultimately an expression of disconnection. Eat good food and enjoy it.
2
When I hear words you mentioned in your piece, such as 'wellness', 'influencers', or my current fave, 'self-care', I cringe. They are all vapid terms, and typically used to earn easy income by creating and/or latching onto current trends and regurgitating them for the fickle public.
As in all things, moderation is key. Don't buy into every new trend in diet and exercise. Do what feels right to you. Listen to your body. Pay attention to how you Feel, after doing something particular, after eating something particular, after being around someone in particular, etc.
4
Maybe walking to the restaurant and back would help.
2
It's actually worse than what this article describes. I find myself surrounded by pseudo-science every day and by pretty much everyone I know. OK, correction, to be honest it is mostly women. But it isn't all about weight control. Thin women are as likely to believe all the nutrition malarkey as any others. And when I try to point to the lack of science behind their beliefs about gluten and whatever, it only annoys them. I'm trying to learn to ignore all of that talk but it still gets under my skin. Smart enough women spouting utter nonsense.
Thank you, thank you, thank you.
Now will you tell this to the medical community?
The one word that should be obliterated forever is ‘influencers.’ Every time I see that word I want to scream.
This article is sexist. Women aren’t the only ones taken in by the “wellness” scam. Men have issues about their bodies. Not all men are comfortable ploughing through a 1/2 pound cheeseburger. It makes men sound like hulking cavemen, tearing into and gulping down limbs of raw, fresh-killed meat.
So many people have concepts about what is ok to eat. Just eat what tastes good and feels good. The key is always moderation.
You love cheese? Eat cheese. You love meat? Eat meat. You love fruits and vegetables? Eat them. Stop overthinking and enjoy what God has placed on this Earth.
Do you ever think about the fact that food comes right from the ground? From the plants and animals right on the planet? That is one of the most extraordinary realizations I’ve ever had. That we’ve been provided for, right from the planet we were born on.
2
Lovely article until the end, where exercise is characterized as something that “only privileged white women have time for.”
Which of course is pure rubbish.
Of everything mentioned in this piece, exercise is the one unalloyed good that all should strive to undertake. Those who view it as a luxury are committing the same crime as those who view food as some sort of sin.
3
The healthcare industry has let us all down, everyone except itself. It is a parasite on sick people and we are all now sick. We are all pre-something. So-called healthcare, as defined by government and industry, is killing us. If you eat their food pyramid (designed by the so-called food industry) you will die a nasty death.
So those of us who can still think are finding our own way through trial and error.
It gives us hope and any downside is far better than the alternative. We have found that if we ignore the so-called doctors and take responsibility we eventually get better and better and better.
Those of us on this righteous path are leading the way out of darkness. The key is to trust only yourself and ignore the so-called expert advice and their lie of a one-pill cure.
The diet industry would starve to death without the publishing industry.
3
Wonderful. Just wonderful. I'm a psychologist and I have to literally swim my way through similar garbage that is supposed to be helpful. Well, it IS helpful. To the purveyors of garbage.
The obesity epidemic is real and a major public health problem for both men and women. The author is apparently not overweight so that's great but that's not what the problem is about.
1
The suggestion that a woman's good health is somehow mandated by white male privilege - and should therefore be resisted - is not enlightened thinking. Women - and men for that matter - should value their overall health (not just their weight, as this article overly focuses upon, without mentioning the value of exercise).
The notion, described in this article, that men don't poke fun at each other's shape is a presumption that is not reflected in reality.
Maybe next week, the NY Times will publish an article about men struggling to maintain their weight - and their health too. Maybe, for that one day, instead of covering svelte professional athletes on its sports pages, the NY Times will cover softball games in Central Park, featuring guys with regular physiques. Guys who will never be gazelles on the diamond - or on the basketball floor or the football field.
Oops - the idea that the Media contribute to low self-esteem is a radical one.
4
The wellness industry is not gender-specific and is happy to take money from all. But since this piece is running in the Sunday Review, the Times's answer to Ms. Magazine, the author can be expected to see it that way.
3
Obesity is the norm in the United States. Food for thought.
2
The proof is in the comments. The bottom line is to be nicer to ourselves, divest food from its power over our self-worth. If out and feeling a burger, get one. Or get a salad. Or do whatever you feel like doing within reason. And yet the comments: Obesity epidemic! GMOs! Climate based eating! #notjustwomen! #notallwomen.... we fall into the trap, we're the folks at her table dissecting a menu when we should focus on learning ourselves.
2
I am so disgusted with the current emphasis on what women are talking about. On this topic I have listened to countless men discussing the same inane topics discussed in this article. I refuse to concede that men are even a bit smarter than women on the subject of food. Every man I know can't discuss any topic without adding in how their diet is going. Anyone who thinks women are different from men is either a mental defective, or just isn't paying attention. There, chew on that.
3
We all have a responsibility to ourselves, +honestly to the nation's economy if we are to soon have universal free health care, and we are! As to ourselves: eating healthy+ exercising (but not necessarily more than 10 minutes, 3x/week! Research High Intensity Interval Training, especially the Tabata method!) are crucial to not only happiness, but energy+ability to be a positive force in the world. Losing the fat is a by-product of being healthy! You blast healthy diets as "pseudoscientific", then set up a false dichotomy of vegetables versus meat. The diet I follow (no, not perfectly, but close enough!) is pretty much laid out by Dr. Mark Hyman, what he calls "Pegan", a mix of Vegan+Paleo, meaning make sure to favor the vegetables, as many "paleo" people do: 2/3 of what you eat should be vegetables, all the eggs you want, some fatty fish daily if possible (or at least fish oil, or both!), sm amt's grass-fed meat, NO dairy or wheat, but really, (especially f/ ppl w/ auto-immune "diseases", which are not diseases at all but really are just ppl's strong immune systems): LOW carbs too! Meaning, yes, try to go "organic" as often as possible, best by buying straight from farmers' markets! Do we need to make sure every American, rich or poor, dark or light skinned, has access to affordable or free farm food? Yes! Part of why I'm running f/president is to make pesticide-free farm food available to ALL! But sugar, wheat, alcohol are main cause of death: 1/3+! Breast Cancer, etc!-F
1
Eat more fruit & veggies, little meat.
Find something else to occupy your time besides yourself.
This is a east coast, west coast big city problem. A privileged white woman problem. If you have to work more than one job and care for others, obsessing about your weight and food is something you don’t have time for.
1
Women will never come completely into their power until they can stop valuing themselves for the quality of their hair, their skin and of course their weight. All of the energy and money that goes into appearance could be used on things that really matter. But patriarchy and capitalism need women to buy into this nonsense.
1
A lot of people on here need to check their ableism.
“Health” isn’t attainable for everyone, and it isn’t a measure of someone’s value or their character.
2
So in the final analysis, it’s the “patriarchy” or “men “ who are at fault for the narcissism, self absorption and vapidity of the modern female?
Sure, it is.
1
You have been listening to the wrong “wellness influencers.” The ones I listen to always encourage behaviors that promote connections and community. They stress the importance of social connections, relaxation, sleep, enjoying nature, and financial well-being. The idea that wellness = dieting is outdated. Modern well-being programs have very little to do with weight.
https://healthyliving.mayoclinic.org/the-mayo-clinic-difference.php
2
Great. Now I want a bacon cheeseburger.
Excellent article. I congratulate the author on finding the wisdom of intuitive eating, and away from diets.
Intuitive eating and not demonizing any food is something hard to do. It takes work to give up societal and marketing queues, to relearn how to eat.
But, please, no man bashing. Men area also victims of the food and diet industry, and while the author is right, they often don't sit around a lunch table and bemoan the state of their thighs, they suffer alone.
I've personally dealt with weight for decades, and am now working with a dietician on intuitive eating. It is as intense a therapy, focused on my relationships with food. And, I'm lucky. My brother, pushing 350 lbs, at 5'9" and destined for heart attack (heart history in the family) has bought into the same roller coaster lies of the diet industry. He needs help too.
And let's not even go down the Adonis-obsessed gay culture (I'm gay --- so no slams).
Long way of saying ... around finding healthy and satisfying ways to eat, we do need to find companionship, community and compassion. We can't do that, if the author, and women in general, fail to recognize that many men have significant health and body image problems. Unfortunately, we internalize them. Let's get them out in the open too!
2
The weaker species.
Simples.
I object to the idea that "wellness" is for rich white women. What in the world?
Anyway, I'm glad intuitive eating works for the author. It's just another wellness fad, but alas, work what works for you.
2
One of the great advantages of being old is that I now do not have to refrain from eating all the junk food that will kill me in thirty years. My condolences to you youngsters.
3
Our author used to be an editor at SELF and COSMO, two magazines (among others) whose business model is to make women neurotic, nervous, and insecure, then sell them solutions through advertising and fad of the month illusions. And she wonders why she has long-term food issues. Where you stand depends on where you sit,
7
Wellness is about “fitting in.” It is simply about weight or beauty. It is the adult woman’s version of a teenager girl having the right “look.”
Wellness has duped men as well. You might be surprised at some of their lunchtime conversations too.
1
One of the great advantages of being old is that I now do not have to refrain from eating all the junk food that will kill me in thirty years. My condolences to you youngsters.
2
You might liberate yourself from artificial definitions; put your descriptions on a diet until they describe without also containing conclusions for you to elucidate; and correlate carefully issues both women and men face with gender.
Your definition of “wellness” is artificial: “[T]his poisonous relationship between a body I was indoctrinated to hate and food I had been taught to fear ...” We can pursue health and well-being, watch out for people who exploit this need, and listen to our bodies without an artificial definition that presupposes scapegoats. (If your scapegoats are the guys eating cheeseburgers and not the women selling you stuff please explain why in ways that are not conclusory.)
“Pseudoscientific” is a loaded term. Some people do sell snake oil. But I wish I’d listened more to the early 20th Century lay people who said “carbs make you fat” and “get plenty of exercise” and listened less to late 20th Century scientists.
Both men and women need to “interrogate the systems that hurt and exploit us.” “Modern feminists” are not the only people duped “to participate under the guise of health.” I doubt “yo-yo dieting” poses a threat to women but not men.
As to “the patriarchal beauty standard”, if you value the opinion of men who say you’re too fat more than the opinion of men who like your type then I can’t help you and the problem is not the fault of men generally.
2
You're spot on about the stupid conversations women tend to have with each other about body flaws. Out-denying each other. Buying into the die-t call. Did you ever wonder why all those CEOs in the diet/nutrition/wellness industry want to make women smaller?
1
Just don't call it Wellness. I feel the same way about what much of the western dubs Yoga.
What the author is encapsulating with the label 'Wellness' is a commercial beast.
Sadly, she is willing to toss out many good things. Occasional fasts, cleanses, etc, are not damaging, and have proven helpful in many cases. But when these things are marketing gadgets in the hands of people who could-not-care-less about ....real Wellness....their true meaning, value, and net-worth to civilization gets reeeeeeeealy distorted.
I wish she would stop cherry picking like that in order to write something witty. If she is really smart, then she knows exactly what she is doing, and is being disingenuous. If not, then she should do her research a little better.
6
Over one thirs of Americans are obese. Add those who are overweight and there is half of the country. THe need for dieting is bigger than ever
2
Being a slightly over weight, almost fat Southerner, I follow the Gone With the Wind diet, as God is my witness I will never go hungry again.
3
Why demonize the word "wellness"? Her definition of it is bizarre, a tortured meaning to make an essay soundbite.
5
This story isn't about diet, but rather self-identity, self-esteem, and other issues belonging to our personal psychology.
Jessica, you really are not ready to advise people on diet.
4
Guys who can't eat specific foods do indeed talk about it when necessary.
"Want to share an everything pizza, Jack?"
"Hey, sorry, I can't because I've got celiac. Biut you guys go ahead. I'll order something else."
No big deal.
2
I was perplexed that the author demonizes fad diets in the beginning of the article then quickly switched to “I’m trying intuitive eating’. Isn’t this what she had just finished bashing? This was not well thought out.
4
Is this never going to stop?! When I was in High School I watched the other girls with the crazy diets, nutty exercising, and self-hatred. Now I'm 68 and its still going on. Women of America - stop the madness. Just Live. And remember this: any problem you put at the center of your existence will not, can not be solved because you have made it a part of your identity. The fat girl always on a diet can't lose the weight because then what would she do with her time and energy if she was thin.
1
I only hear about the patriarchy from a certain slice of America. And I don't think it's because they recognize it because they're smarter than the rest of us.
It reminds me of the brainwashed, dogmatic types I used to only encounter from religious cults.
1
New York L.A. You do the math. Eat right and exercise regularly. It's not conplicated. Don't blame men.
The generalization of men in this article is astounding, but I'm hardly surprised. I am a man (straight) and have body issues. Wow? Really? No kidding! And as a vegetarian I don't eat cheeseburgers. And by the way as a white man I do not lead a "full and meaningful life." I have no idea what a full and meaningful life is. I have even yo-yo dieted! And I don't think I'm unusual. These types of articles get old, so very old. Once again the trope about the "harassment, abuse and oppression of women ... to be more attractive and less threatening to men." Men are the doing the best they can. They are no immune to pain and suffering and death. Please. You may now punish me for being offended. Also, I have a pot belly. I've never been considered beautiful. Men are not expected to be beautiful. You see, body (and mind, and heart, and soul) issues run amok. Please don't think you own them!
3
@Anthony, while I support the author’s conclusions that (many) women need to let go of the obsessive focus with their appearance, I agree with you that we should not continue to blame men for this (there are so many sources for this obsession) or forget that these pressures affect men as well. Moreover, the vast majority of men in my life (husband, friends, past boyfriends) have always been supportive and accepting of how I looked, regardless of whether I was at my so-called “perfect” weight. I realize that not every women is so fortunate, but at least in my experience, men were supporters, not the problem. I am now 61, enjoying my food (with friends and family), focused on health and staying strong (keep moving), and grateful to my body for the amazing things it does for me each day. In return, I try to make reasonable food choices so that it can continue to do its job.
I think you’re describing orthorexia, not wellness.
Orthorexia is an unhealthy obsession with eating only so-called “healthy” food. Wellness incorporates foods known to be healthful but is more holistic and may include yoga, meditation, aromatherapy and so forth. It does not try to shame women.
2
This has got to be one of the most ridiculous articles I have ever read, especially when you consider the subtitle of the article about smart women falling for pseudoscientific claims. The author appears to be not that smart, and has fallen into yet another pseudoscientific claim....this time one called, 'intuitive eating'.
Apparently the author has also never traveled or lived outside the US. The obesity epidemic in America is like the gun violence....obvious causes....complete denial about how to fix it. If you leave the US you find ratio of men and women's healthy weight to obesity, completely revered. Is this because all of these people were the first to adopt 'intuitive eating'? Nope.
Like sex, so many smart American women seem to have an inability to accept their basic physiological needs. Everyone likes to eat....you don't need to pay someone to tell you that you should be celebrated for this...haha. The difference is that in America we have bad-cheese-encased-everything in portion sizes that would feed an entire family for a week. Like so many people that are bombarded with ads and the availability of cheap, fattening food, you have an inability to regulate your desire to eat. It's that simple.
4
And what they do to their skin! Peels, laser, copper, dermabrasion, microneedling!
I have battled my weight for nearly all of my 63 years. I don't like being overweighty, heavy.. it doesn't feel good and it isn't healthy. But still this article resonates. Especially the part about going out with friends and before anyone even orders, everyone is talking about their weight and the evilness of food. It makes each of these shared meals a miserable slog. If you want to follow some diet or other for whatever reason, that's fine. But keep it to yourself. No need to announce it to everyone at the table.
3
My question is, how do you starve the body without starving the brain?
The answer explains a lot about LA.
Thank you, Ms. Knoll, for this very good and common sense article.
Now: can you please make 10,000 xerox copies of it? and take them over to Jane Brody's office? and paper the walls and furniture with them?
Because Ms. Brody DEFINITELY does not get it -- she's 79 and still dieting like she's a teenager trying to fit into a prom dress. And she promotes all the unhealthy thinking you discuss here.
The average waist size of US women is 38.
1
Every woman needs to read this.
When Ms Knoll refers to the "patriarchal beauty standard" where women punish themselves, I am struck more by the way that women including Ms Knoll absolve themselves of the responsibility of setting their own course in life. Women worship the god of fashion spending 50% more than men. Women spend $60B per year on cosmetics enriching their chosen symbols of womanhood, the Khardashians . Weightwatchers, endorsed and invested in by Oprah, is run by a woman. Anne Wintour propagates the need for fashion, cosmetics and lack of eating as priorities in women's lives with more subscribers than the Nytimes. More women now graduate from college, medical school and law school than men. This obsession is self imposed by the sisterhood
3
This was written to amuse and it might do so for some
But science? No. A complete waste of time.
2
I never talk about dieting with female friends. Get new friends.
1
It checks some significant boxes. Women who literally and figuratively buy this quackery delude themselves into thinking they are taking control of their health while rejecting western male dominated medicine. It is a potent brand of snake oil boosted by the shills who are nothing more than unqualified celebrities with no medical or clinical training. Worst of all, it is women scamming other women. The wellness industry is not new. TC Boyle wrote a hilarious book that was made into a movie. They are a must-read/must-see.
Any kind of obsession related to eating is likely to be unhealthy. But why focus disapproval on the wellness industry? Idiotic though it may be, the wellness industry has caused far less damage than the industrial ag/industrial food engineering complex. The wellness phenomenon exists only because of the devastation industrial food has wreaked upon our health and overall well being. If we ate real food in the first place, we wouldn't be reading and commenting on this piece. There was no "wellness industry" 60 years; before frankenfood supplanted actual food and home cooked meals.
Obsessing over kale and acai berries is not the healthiest thing in the world. It's also a little silly. But it's far less harmful than craving the next *BigBoy Gutbuster*--the 1600 calorie double patty bacon cheese avocado tater tot chicken wing pepperoni super duper special accompanied by double fries w/cheese and a 32 ounce beverage containing 25 teaspoons of corn syrup.
2
Women! Release yourselves from the oppressor consciousness. People in power keep their power by making you oppress yourselves. It's a great tactic. Women have fallen for it for many, many years. Don't fall for it. You are you, and you have meaning and worth. Period.
Medical science fails women ALOT.
We do what we CAN do.
Oh golly is this true. A former partner of mine was on a wellness kick. It started with not eating bread, for some vague issue involving gluten, it graduated onto drinking only bottled water, as regular water had “toxin” minerals, (though why were plastic bottle particulates acceptable?). Then it was paleo, then it was juicing, then it was bone broth, beetroot smoothies, supplements, cutting out dairy, cutting all sugar, even more supplements. She spoke to people who I strongly suspected of being scammers on Skype who told her that This supplement will cure everything, and the next week it was This Supplement. Her food bill was enormous, she paid £100’s for private assessments which involved her sending blood, urine and other samples off to unknown addresses. She was obsessed with appearance, paranoid about skin, she pricked her face with needles to cleanse pores, insisted on boil-washing towels, brought expensive creams and salves.
At its heart, self-esteem. Dysmorphia. She needed a shrink, not a supplement. No matter how much I tried I could never convince her she was wonderful, she just refused to believe me and if I ever expressed curiosity or skepticism about it the barriers went up. She was never “officially” diagnosed with anything, in her telling she was always “just off”. For all her travails, she never looked healthy, always depressed at her “health”.
She also had a psychopathic lack of empathy, which is why we broke up - but that’s another story. It was a relief.
1
It is not fair to slander the entire wellness industry in this way, especially in the New York Times. The wellness industry is about a lot more than losing weight through fad diets. Shame on you.
4
Women: a male attracting product that sells better if thin?
2
I caught salmonella once. It took awhile to get better despite medical care. I was passing nothing but bloody water for weeks and lost a lot of weight very fast. People lined up to tell me how " great " I looked. " Wow", etc. I had not been overweight to begin with but now I was concave everywhere and had the thigh gap. I recall thinking: " Well, sometimes people die from this and I am weak and dizzy but everyone seems to think this is a great look... what is wrong with people ? The weaker and paler and thinner a woman can be the better she looks ?" That was 20 years ago. Nothing has changed as far as I can see. Perfectly beautiful, healthy, fit young women insist that they are " chunky monkeys", "disgustingly fat", "hate their bodies". I am glad to be approaching old and to have no energy for this battle anymore. And even when I was 50 men were still relentless rating women part by part with not all parts receiving a passing score. How did mens' contribution to this sad state of affairs come to be left out of this otherwise on point article?
1
Goop. Literally and figuratively.
4
Simple really - we, not just smart women, are all looking for that magic bullet and easy answers. And, darn it, it has to be true. It just has to be . . .dreamers we all are . . . if not that, then a fool and her/his money . . .
"When men sit down to a business lunch, they don’t waste it pointing out every flaw on their bodies." Really? Another incorrect assumption on your part!
1
.
TL;DR, but remembr, the universities & the feds like the CDC & Nat Institutes of Health & the USDA [ not just a mouthpiece for Agri-Biz ] are part of that industry
.
I went through a similar experience in my teens and twenties. Riding the wellness wave turned into extreme weight loss and orthorexia. I found recovery from food and body obsession when I learned how to eat whatever I wanted and listen to my body. I found that I actually don’t really care about food in a compulsive way, now that it’s all on table. I learned other tools to deal with emotional pitfalls and moments of self-hatred.
What frustrates me about this article is that this story gets told through an ideological lens. It tells half the story. Why? Well, I think I know why, but that’s another issue. Plenty of men suffer from the same issues all the time, especially now that’s it’s under the guise of wellness and fitness. I hear them going on about diet constantly at my gym. When I sought recovery in 12-step program, the rooms were half-men. Men are not immune from self-hatred and wanting to look and feel attractive.
Why call this a patriarchal operation? It’s not. We are tired of that word. There are plenty of smart, autonomous women running these magazines, Instagram accounts, wellness blogs, diet books, challenging you to be perfect like them, and women often look to women to compete with. Are we saying they don’t know what they’re doing? It’s not just “white men” twirling their mustaches with glee at the thought of driving women to obsession. In fact, you could argue men care a lot less about the particulars of a woman’s appearance than women do themselves.
3
Follow the money. There is little profit to be made by corporations and hustlers, if we are generally satisfied with who we are.
When I was a kid, on the inside front cover of many comic books was an ad for the male version of body shaming. It showed a hyper-buff guy kicking sand in the face of a normal, skinny guy with the result that the girl leaves the skinny guy and goes off with the hulking hunk. The ad was selling weight training.
One of the biggest contributors to ill health is anxiety, and creating and then offering a "cure" for the anxiety they produce is very profitable for corporations and hustlers. Think of it like an internet security company that goes around hacking things to get people to buy their "security" product. Yep, follow the money.
Granted it is only the experience of me and my friends, but by and large the popular, media promulgated image of the "perfect" female body is not something we have found particularly appealing. Not everyone wants to be told who and what to like. In any case, a million years of evolution worked quite nicely to get us here without input from ad agencies.
Though I am not a woman, there are a number of women I am forwarding this article to. Without comment, of course, as I simply intend for them to make of it what they will, not what I might get from it.
As for me, the great advantage of being old is I no longer need refrain from eating all the junk food that will kill me in thirty years. My condolences to you youngsters.
2
As I move onward in life (i.e. age) I encounter photos of myself when I was younger. I am often startled at how "good" or "slim" or "pretty" or "dynamic" I looked in those images. Yet, I also vividly remember the harsh perception I had of my appearance over all those years. It is painful to look back and realize how much unfounded self-loathing and fear of judgment from others I had for my body. yet there was absolutely nothing wrong with it!
I try to use that realization to put me in a better place as my body ages.
Strength and health are what matter. I don't want to waste the remainder of my life being upset that my body isn't serving me well because of natural features of having skin and body fat and bone. And I certainly don't want to bemoan the loss of youthful beauty since I now know really didn't even appreciate it when I had it!
3
@Lynn,
My experience exactly! I am trying to instill this wisdom in my 30-year old niece and any other young women in my workplace.
Follow the money. There is little profit to be made by corporations and hustlers, if we are generally satisfied with who we are.
When I was a kid, on the inside front cover of many comic books was an ad for the male version of body shaming. It showed a hyper-buff guy kicking sand in the face of a normal, skinny guy with the result that the girl leaves the skinny guy and goes off with the hulking hunk. The ad was selling weight training.
One of the biggest contributors to ill health is anxiety, and creating and then offering a "cure" for the anxiety they produce is very profitable for corporations and hustlers. Think of it like an internet security company that goes around hacking things to get people to buy their "security" product. Yep, follow the money.
Granted it is only the experience of me and my friends, but by and large the popular, media promulgated image of the "perfect" female body is not something we have found particularly appealing. Not everyone wants to be told who and what to like. In any case, a million years of evolution worked quite nicely to get us here without input from ad agencies.
Though I am not a woman, there are a number of women I am forwarding this article to. Without comment, of course, as I simply intend for them to make of it what they will, not what I might get from it.
As for me, the great advantage of being old is I no longer need refrain from eating all the junk food that will kill me in thirty years. My condolences to you youngsters.
2
eating is more than a 'gender issue'..... and 'intuitive eating' often means storing calories for the famine that never comes.
There's a middle road..... smart, informed eating. I highly recommend it.
Oh yeah, and ditch the soda, the chips, the excess sweets, and the excess booze....
3
Julia Childs wisely said something to this effect:
"Eat everything! But just a little bit..."
The diet industry is a con. As soon as one establishes that they are on a "diet" that is unsustainable, one has fallen for the con. Diets work for immediate weight loss. But statistics say one will gain it all back.
The author is wise.
The supplement industry is a con as well. I matured in a world where vitamins were worshipped and if you didn't eat sprouts you were a fool. Then I grew up. I am sure that there are people who can benefit from the addition of a few supplementmental elements - vitamin D, perhaps, or some missing component established by a scientific test. But "health food stores" and purveyors of vitamins and "natural products" are part of a business based con. They have achieved religious status and those of us who challenge them are heretics.
The author has clearly established the web of deceit that an unregulated industry of dieting, cleansing and over supplementation have created. It is a capitalists dream scam.
Supplements - wherever they come from are chemicals. Creating a "cocktail" of them based on anecdotal babble on websites and hints from friends makes you a science experiment. Stop being guinea pigs and petrie dishes.
Just eat a nice balanced variety of what you like and throw in a few things that aren't your favorites (broccoli?) - but not too much.
1
“(Food) has no moral value.”
Nor does money.
Nor fame.
Nor possessions.
Nor success.
Nor attractiveness.
Nor a “perfect” body.
Nor does a having a particular skill.
All those things Americans ascribe moral superiority to have, in fact, no moral value. At all.
Rich people are not morally superior. Famous people, like successful people, are not morally superior. Having more possessions does not give a person moral superiority. Yet, we often believe people who happen to have one or more of the above are somehow superior to mere mortals. They don’t.
Also, those things do not imbue the person with greater intelligence, happiness, better relationships, or a deeper satisfaction with their life.
3
Here's a thought: In order to be physically and mentally healthy, a person must be able to think for themselves and take responsibility for their own choices and decisions. If they can't, they will be susceptible to fads, trends and the whims of shady marketers mentioned in the article. Truth is, you can't depend on anyone but yourself, because no one is you, and no one knows you and your body better than you. So find what works for you and make it your own. Then you can take all the credit if it works, and all the responsibility to move on and keep trying if it doesn't.
4
I will never forget how, many years ago, I couldn’t help but overhear a couple of women chatting in the office cubicle adjoining mine. They were in enthusiastic agreement that having to eat was some kind of a curse. One of them said: Wouldn’t it be great if we didn’t have to eat? All I can remember is that I felt a profound sorrow for them. One of the great gifts that has been bestowed upon us is the enjoyment of food, akin to the enjoyment of sex. While gluttony is to be avoided, relishing food rather than eschewing it is an intrinsic part of our nature that we must not deny. That sort of denial leads only to misery.
6
For anyone. You don’t need a wellness expert like Goop. You don’t need specific supplements. It’s very easy. Cut sugar out of your diet,
Eat veggies and protein. Eat healthy fats! You won’t even have to go to the gym. Sugar, carbs the culprit.
2
It is possible to lose weight: the secret? Eat anything you want as long as you count the calories: 10x your current weight minus 300 - and recalculate when your current weight goes down (you can also minus 200 but it will take longer. And DO NOT exercise! If you do, you'll scare your poor, abused body into starvation mode and it will squeeze the last possible calorie out of that carrot you had for dinner. You'll also be miserable.
I went from size 8 to size 2 (three miserable months) and I'm still a 2 two years later.
As for miracle diets, remember the Roman centurions captured the entire world (known to them) on a diet of bread and beer (and plunder).
1
I was in a meeting in a community hospital where the medical director, director of nursing and vp of operations were all women. Impressive and progressive. Before the meeting began, the chit chat centered around self body bashing and their dietary sins. It was heartbreaking. As a registered dietitian I get a lot of "confessions and apologies" especially if sharing a meal. I've come to expect that. What was so unsettling is that we were meeting to discuss the hospitals new menu and meal delivery program that we deemed "Food is Care". And the ultimate irony to this was two of these fantastically successful and intelligent women were following a liquid protein fast.
Eat food, enjoy your food. If you happen to be eating with a registered dietitian, enjoy it even more. We are the advocates for food first.
3
Good points. Just don’t call these women successful.
I think everyone’s journey with their own body and how they wish to treat food is their own, and her way of shaming people who are trying to do the best for themselves is patronising. She makes zero mention of the established effects of obesity in America, but wants to talk about potential heart stress on yo-yo dieting.
As someone who is a chef and has a continuing evolving relationship with food I would never dare use my experience as the singular way for everyone to treat food as she does here.
Her attack on the “wellness” industry being white and privileged I get to some extent but she also neglected to point out the food-industrial complex of processing unhealthy, high carb and sugar foods and catering them to specifically to lower income people by making it cheaper which is far more damaging to them than pictures of a Whole30 meal on Instagram. Her own privilege fails to see that there is indeed a need for correction in the current American diet today, and if someone is led to believe that drinking sodas, eating fast food is okay because you love your body, then that helps explain why obesity and diabetes are on a meteoric rise.
True love of your body has nothing to do with its appearance and everything to do with nurturing it so it’s in the best health it can be. If some folks want to try that with whole 30 or quantifying good days with bad days so be it. To each their own as long as they are trying.
3
This is the most liberating thing I've read in a while. Thank you.
4
My mother had a stunning figure in her youth; in middle age she wore a girdle and we went out for ice cream and had big dinners every night of the week. Her mother always wore dresses and baked bread every week. Is it the "patriarchy" that told women they must look 20 when they're 50? For years we were told that fashion was a bludgeon of the patriarchy to make women's bodies attractive to the male gaze, so we ditched corsets, hats, and reasonable hemlines, yet here we are on an even worse treadmill of over-exposed skin and anorexia. Add cheap digital hook-up sites that ask "smart women" to market their bodies strictly based on sexual allure, and no wonder it makes people crazy. Middle age happens. Come on in, the water's fine.
7
The author's deconstruction of the manipulative "wellness industry" is welcome and right on, and there is a lot to be said for intuitive eating and trashing all those plans and systems and counters. But her gender-based analytical layer -- all men, seemingly, are wolfing cheeseburgers while all women, agonized, nibble on scraps of arugula, because patriarchy -- well, that's a crude cartoon of reality, and too facile by half.
Men at risk for heart attack, stroke, etc. must abandon the indulgent diet of a 20-year-old and, by their 50s, start hitting the arugula themselves. I am a middle-aged Type 2 diabetic who has had to virtually give up bread, rice, corn, and most sweets. I order kale salads (aargh) and drink one 2.5 carb Michelob Ultra (today Anheuser-Busch's second-biggest beer, burying regular Bud) not because I want them -- Ultra tastes like beer with sparkling water in it -- but because I don't want to drop dead at 60, fat and full of good food.
I wish the "patriarchy" would come to my rescue with a sack of White Castle, but life is more conplicated. It has been years since my last cheeseburger. A milkshake? Fuggetaboutit.
3
The basic assumptions in this essay are flawed, on many levels. First of all, men do get swept up in the “wellness” fads, although whether they talk about openly at a business lunch probably depends on the type of business they are in, and the people they are with. I’ve dined with countless men who were doing paleo, on Atkins, avoiding dairy, or trumpeting the fact that intermittent fasting was giving them back their mojo. In other words, men can be as vain and tiresome as any woman wanting to get back into her size 4 skinny jeans. So drop the sexism. Second, a woman with a history of eating disorders is probably not the right person to tell the rest of us to eat intuitively. Just saying. Third, the most avid and vocal stomach haters are not driven by self-hatred, but by vanity and narcissism. Yes, body dysmorphia is a thing and it a serious problem that should be addressed by a professional. But your average person kvetching — endlessly, boringly — about his or her muffin top or dimply thighs is motivated by vanity. Perhaps it would be better to stop looking in the more so much and put all that energy into helping or loving someone else.
4
There’s a reason this is called the “ Opinion Page”. There are somany different influences and factors going on in this article it would be impossible to discuss them all. Body image? Media related maybe? That’s been an ongoing battle women have been doing for decades. Calorie counting? Thank the zillion dollar diet industry. Nothing new there. What tastes good and why ? Babies are genetically programmed to like sweet things so that they like drinking their mothers milk which results in survival. That doesn’t mean that children should only eat the sweet things they obviously enjoy. Food is our survival tool. Nutrition through real food is the best way to get it. Using it for other purposes,including pleasure,is indeed our choice as adults. Allowing oneself to feel guilty about it or punished for it are also our choice . I believe there are people who sincerely want to guide us in making healthy choices so that we can live an optimal healthy life. In the end follow your gut feeling and your intellect.
1
The wellness industry relieves the swelling in your wallet.
3
well maybe not smash it... but how about scatter it..the wellness cliche, the self satisfied juggernaut... the insipid meme of all the swells and bon vivants never ending uproarious laughter and insane frivolity.
let us somehow recognize in a moment of spontaneous revelation that it is all just such pablum, and so embarrassing to boot.
wake up the next new day of creation and not try to be anything or anyone special and just go about our day, our lives, with no thought for this image mirage, these false architectures of personality- really not our own but foisted upon us by others and by the insecure and scheming parts of ourselves.
out past the initial emotional resistance lies open canvass- where we can discover what we truly feel and go on modestly from there.
But yes Walt Whitman.
Alone in the wilderness it all sharply drops away. And Hare Krishna to that
2
Wait wait wait. You couch wellness in with eating disorders and losing weight. You fail to mention wellness associated with those who have allergies, intolerances and serious food reactions where wellness or simply healthy eating helps us live happy and healthy lives. This is about fads and eating disorders and you fail to bring in the cases of those who follow wellness “diets” and live day to day happier and healthier lives because of it (and nothing to do with losing weight). We’ve always taken fads to extreme in the US but be careful of putting everything in one silo.
5
So I’m supposed to question my healthy eating choices and the entire wellness industry based on the experience of a woman who hates her body and has binge eating disorder? She presents no facts about the supposed pseudoscience of the wellness industry.
4
The "wellness industry" can only operate with willing victims who believe you can never be too rich or too thin. When it's plainly not true.
1
The female "shape" is determined by fashion. This Huffington Post article explains, https://www.huffpost.com/entry/perfect-female-bodies-no-such-thing_n_4726196
And aren't other aspects of our culture also driven by fashion -- like cars? There's no reason beyond fashion that SUVs and pickup trucks are outselling everything else.
Liberation from weight loss neurosis, then, requires liberation from fashion.
I grew up on the Mediterranean diet. I travel a lot and I eat whatever is indigenous to the place I am in: spicy in Sichuan; dim sum in Hong Kong; pasta in Italy; fish in Norway. The only thing I won’t eat is what Americans have every day: burgers, pizza, sugary drinks and assorted junk that comes in portions the size of a football field. Once I drove for nine hours without stopping for a meal because the only thing on offer in roadside restaurants was Standard American Diet (SAD). And I wear size 4 in my late forties. Americans are obscenely obese compared to people everywhere else. This is a fact. No amount of magical thinking (“size acceptance”) will wish it away. Wellness industry, in all its aspects from diet to fake “spirituality”, is a scam, no question about it. But obesity is real. Overeating is real. Terrible food is real. Instead of agonizing over your body, do something about it by getting some cookbooks, eating ethnic food, and cutting your portions in half. This advice, which I am giving for free, will do you more good than a visit to a thousand-dollar “wellness guru” or therapist.
4
Women need to come to grips with their vanity, which exists independent of any societal pressures. You can't blame this lust for bodily perfection on fashion magazines.
1
In general, this article makes important points. The macro-, micro-, paleo and vegan diets are silly - all of the esoteric new age wonder meals are most effective at lining someone's pocket.
We all know what healthy eating means. Lots of fruits and vegetables, some grains, chicken or fish and not much caffeine. The occasional splurge is OK too - enlightened ice cream, for example.
But normal, healthy eating doesn't mean eat as much as you like. My personal theory is that when Americans stopped smoking, they satified their oral fixation with food. The result is an epidemic of obesity; about one third of Americans are grossly overweight. And according to my internist, obesity is more dangerous than smoking.
Yes, women should stop torturing themselves into a size 2, but as in all things, maintain balance. It's OK to be a size 8 or 10; it's not OK to be a size 16.
1
If America has come to mean anything, it's about selling anything to the rubes. For instance, our warped fascination with the cost and display of Super Bowl ads is a symptom of that crazed reality.
Some women may be smart and accomplished, but in the age of the Internet where REAL healthy eating information is abundant, they appear to lack what the cognitive psychologists call emotional intelligence.
They choose to listen and act upon false information from the wrong sources. They need to start asking themselves why.
Men too.
Sorry, but the title of this article is really off base. The wellness movement should not to be equated with the perversion and proliferation of "ideas" about diet. In a paradoxical way, the author makes some important points about the idiotic strictures and mind trips of some nutritional (OK wellness) coaches but these folks are NOT representative of true wellness which is about emotional freedom and NOT falling prey to the latest nonsense about food and body image. Why let wholeness, wisdom and well being take the rap for the people who are caught up in distortion? There is nothing pseudo about the science of wellness which is in a renaissance. This piece is actually a manifestation of true wellness at work so why throw the baby out with the bathwater? The grain of truth in the title is the industry part. There will probably always be charlatans and snake-oil sales people making a buck off of human vulnerability but this is not wellness. On a personal note, I remember a session I had with a diet coach 40 years ago. She asked me my favorite breakfast to which I replied "a bagel with cream cheese, lox, red onion and capers". I can still see her visibly recoiling in horror but I did not let her reaction diminish the pleasure taken in a meal which I still enjoy periodically.
5
I am so thankful you wrote this piece. As a psychologist I constantly work with people suffering under the same cultural delusions you describe. I even hear my own female colleagues talk about themselves in awful self punishing ways. I’m going to think carefully about your ideas and how to help others understand.
1
Great column!
Women are willing to collaborate in undercutting themselves. It is as the author says a way of making themselves smaller in every way. This may make them less threatening to society, which really still desires compliant women.
This article talks about "women" but really it's about white women. Let's be real here. As an African American woman who used to live in a food desert (pre-gentrification Harlem) this article is a huge turn off. I'm thankful I can finally live in a place where I can get fresh food and take care of myself. Wellness isn't about being thin. It's about taking care of oneself for longevity and joy. What she's writing about here is narcissism and disordered eating. Those are completely different things.
2
Typical for coastal elites: it is only about me - my wellness. What about your impact on nature, people‘s working conditions and climate. Have that on your mind when you eat intuitively.
Sadly, this problem is not restricted to women, men do this too.
"No one is telling men that they need to love their bodies to live full and meaningful lives." You're completely wrong about this!
The sins of wellness described here are real and should be vanquished. There are a whole lot of additional pseudo-scientific aspects of wellness that also should be abandoned and shot down .... including those many "healthful" skin care techniques or fear of those unnatural additives that shown up in miniscule amounts in consumer products. I've tended to have male friends for years, in large part because I can't stand all this chatter about food and clothes and wellness. Who cares exactly what you look like? Just get over it folks!
This article boils down to an essential premise for women in our society: if you look good (according to society's arbitrary standards of slenderness, smoothness, etc.) then good things will come to you. This is sometimes true. However, to have a healthy and happy outlook on life, women need to look at our lives and decide what is really more important: what we wear to our job, or how we do our job; how we look when we go out to a social event, or how we relate to others at that event; how we appear to our children, or what values we teach them. I know this last idea isn't for everyone, but if you want to have a healthy relationship to food, grow some for yourself or volunteer at a food pantry. And, avoid reading women's magazines entirely!
1
All so true, wonderful article. I believe once women are truly valued for their intellects and abilities, and allowed to compete with each other and men on a level playing field( one in which appearance and age play no part) , women will drop this insane self hate and tendency to compete and control through food. These movements are eating disorders..plain and simple. Much of it has been passed down and fostered through the generations, I still can't eat a dessert without hearing my moms voice admonishing me in my head.
Want to make a difference?, eat what you like, but pay attention to how much energy was used to get it to you!
1
No industry is out to get women
People like money
People like to feel their knowledge is exclusive
People mistake anecdotes for certain, sweeping generalizations
The perspective of paranoia against women IS overly dramatic
We clearly have an obesity epidemic in this country. There are undoubtedly many causes- economic, mood-related, and a compromised food supply. What I find insulting is a self-described skinny women talking as if this problem doesn’t exist and doesn’t have huge health consequences.
I cannot believe the portion sizes in America. Most plates will serve 2 people or more yet I witness many people eating a whole plate of food. No wonder Americans are overweight.
1
I surely agree with the author about the importance of not internalizing the body-hating messages, but frankly I can't get past the privilege embodied in this piece. How many women across the world have the time for leisurely lunches during which they discuss their latest dieting techniques/fads or consultations with dieticians that probably represent an entire month's wage to many women, if not more? How many women in the US are even struggling to put food on the table for their children every night? There was a time when the NYT was not so enscounced in its own impermiable bubble of upper-class privilege.
It seems to me you've gone from one absurdity to another.
Obesity is not natural to our species -- it is almost unheard of among primitives (and no, hunter-gatherers enjoy abundant food supplies and don't all die at 30). It happens only when we eat junk food.
So you went from idiocies like yo-yo and fad dieting to what I take it is being overweight.
It really isn't that hard to lose weight, just avoid junk food, and that means mostly refined carbs. If you've already put on weight, many find a low carb diet a good way to take it off without hunger and the failed strategy of calorie counting.
I had the same revelation on my own after having a baby. My up and down eating was as bad as Jessica's, that is, until one night I looked through the window at the woman who was living next door in the duplex. She was anorexic and her facial skin was literally draping off her bones. I realized instantly how our weight obsession had dominated our psyches, even killing people. From that moment on, I decided to completely trust nature: eat when I was hungry. to stop when I wasn't, and to have a bit of something delicious instead of denying myself. My weight went right back to normal and stayed that way.
1
just got back from my vacation. i ate what could have easily been 500 macadamia nuts. ask me if i care!
As a man I'm loath to advise here, but were I to, I'd say don't put things in your mouth that don't make you feel good. Wellness is relative to knowing yourself.
1
Eat what you want, don’t overdue it.
Eat when you are hungry, not because the clock says it is time to eat.
Sometimes you’ll eat because it just feels good, don’t overdue it.
Depriving yourself can cause craving. Moderation is the key.
Stay active. It’s the one craving your body is telling you that is always true.
Remember- it’s all about what YOU decide to put in your mouth.
1
The diet industry earns tens of billions annually from mostly women, peddling shame to the point where a significant percentage of elementary school girls perceive themselves as overweight. Couple this with the same corporate giants owning both fast food chains AND weight loss businesses and just how insidious a racket this is begins to come into focus. Like every other “self help” program, the diet/wellness industrial complex limits its concern for you to how much is in your wallet. Creating and subsequently profiting from someone’s misery with snake oil claims is repugnant.
People are weird anyway but, when immersed in a sea of screens and a country unhitched from its moorings, what else would one expect? Think about truth. Think about reason.
Think about freedom.
Think!
2
Why are so many smart women falling for its harmful, pseudoscientific claims?
Americans, not only women, have some kind of love affair with snake oil hustlers. For myself i avoid at all costs any processed food.
Thanks so much for revealing that men don't need to manage their weight in order to be attractive to women. It's funny, though, because on more than one first date, I've had women mutter under their breath, as if I couldn't hear, exactly how much I need to lose to meet their standards of male perfection/datability. (Answer: about 20 pounds).
I am healthy and fit, an avid skier, bicyclist, sailor, kayaker and all-around outdoor guy. But even at the age of 66, I'm expected to keep the same figure I had in high school, if I want to be attractive to the opposite sex. So how, again, is that different from how women are treated?
1
@Dexter Ford,
I agree, we older folks need to let go of the ridiculous expectation that our bodies aren’t going to change as we age. I am sorry for the hurtful comments. Hang in there; I hope you find someone who appreciates you.
This is a pretty sexist piece of writing, full of ignorant stereotyping. The author clearly has very little idea what men eat, how men see their bodies, and what pressures men do or don't feel from women and from society about our appearances.
If we're reasonably fit, we don't actually cram "cheeseburgers" in our faces to our hearts' content. And if we do eat with such slovenly indulgence, there are brutal consequences for us, just as there are for women: we get fat, we get sick, women are not attracted to us, we fall short of the societal ideal of masculine appearance that is reflected in the movies and on magazine covers, and we fall short of the societal ideal of masculine athletic and combative physical ability.
It is probably true that, on average, women worry more than men about whether their appearance measures up. But whose fault is that? The high societal standards and pressures are there in both cases -- men are apparently just more chilled out about it, for better or worse.
2
I'm 83 and male and write this only because I need to say it somewhere. A few months ago I had to resume treatment for prostate cancer after a robotic operation some years beck proved unable to remove the problem entirely. I am feeling great and not particularly bothered whatever happens. But I had a funny reaction. My specialist MD said I would no doubt gain some weight with the hormone treatment. I underwent an inner rebellion. Like the author I looked around for a solution. I found one. Shirataki Noodles. That is not a brand. It is a Japanese noodle with virtually no calories. I located the best of several options -- something that tastes good and requires no preparation and will go with you favorite sauce or whatever yoou want to put on them. I had by the time I made the discovery lost weight by intention and now have the noodles as a stable and whatever else I want with a stable weight that is fine. That there is a virtually calorie-less pasta substitute seems to me front page news.
2
Eating the way men do is hardly a standard of healthful eating. Notice that women live longer lives than men. Should that say something to us? The author's take on diet is because of her unhealthy relationship with food, and possibly, rightfully blaming it on the vision men have of women. However, to use a man's diet as any sort of guide seems ill placed.
Men have changed their diets and the results have been
favorable. Those juicy marbelled with fat steaks, are eaten less frequently by men. Women are big into salads, and what could be wrong with that? Let's not speak of bulimia, anorexia or other eating disorders as anything but our own desire to be acceptable. That plays into a whole other dimension of self-concept, and society's view of our bodies, but to consider that we should emulate the male diet is simply, again, taking our cue from men.
1
The author is making sweeping, inaccurate generalizations. Not all "wellness" is terrible, woman-hating nonsense. I've gotten almost all of the very positive, sometimes life changing ideas for my health (green smoothies, certain supplements, workouts that make me feel good) from the industry this author knocks. Some of it is ridiculous and terrible, sure. But that's everything, up to and including "intuitive eating". Oh, and on that, this author must not have kids. Let me tell you what my 7-year-old with ZERO "body-shaming issues" views as "intuituve eating": ice cream all the time, zero vegetables, neon-colored candy, french fries, little high-quality protein. If I let her "initutively eat" (which I do not), I shudder to think of the consequences!
2
The problem is that you're asking women to put aside their relationships. That's not going to happen. Women are their relationships.
Practice loving your body now. It is the vehicle that allows you to be here on Earth, not a thing used to gauge your attractiveness vs. a magazine model. If you don’t find a way to love it now you may find the way it looks, when the aging really begins to work on it, to be quite depressing.
A man, a total stranger, came up to me in a restaurant once and said to me...”you are beautiful today, but not as beautiful as you will be tomorrow”.
Inner beauty outshines outer. If you have ever been awestruck by an 80’s-something covered in wrinkles and shining like the sun, you know what I mean.
Let’s take THAT route through life!
2
The food industry profile is schizophrenic masochist. Half the grocery store content is snacks, prepared meals and desserts and the other half unprocessed do it yourself ingredients. The exercise industry isn't far behind. We drive everywhere including to the hour of vigorous gym exercise. No wonder we hate ourselves when so much of our time is wasted on empty pursuits in our throwaway culture that take us further and further from a healthy, natural environment. Saving the planet is all the health industry humans need.
3
Wellness advocates, like golf instructors can do precious little to improve your health or your game.
I think the phrase "moved to California" explains it all.
In New York you can switch from friends in one borough or neighborhood to another and get an entirely different dietary party line, but in California, especially SoCal what with those clans of housewives on Bravo fugedaboutit.
The boring old "eat a balanced diet" is as good as any paleo macrobiotic vegan fast-every-fourth-day plan. Maybe you can come up with what you like and convince your friends and co-workers it’s a plan you’ve discovered in a magazine. That's where they tend to start anyway.
1
THANK YOU.
YES
I have been waiting for an article to come out like this.
I just had a conversation with 2 girlfriends yesterday about this topic. Lizzo was the instigator of the discussion - I suggested her attitude and persona as a guideline to overcome the body obsession and utter lack of confidence so many straight, white women seem to be mired in. My keto diet, reiki healing, intermittent fasting, gluten and sugar and dairy adverse (thin) friend immediately dismissed Lizzo after seeing a photo on instagram. Lizzo was unworthy of being a role model because she (in her opinion) is obese and therefore disqualified as being any sort of person to look up to. How sad to spend so much of your life on "health" only to forget your mind and outlook and stamina matter as much as your waistline!
Awesome article. Now can we also get rid of essential oils?!
1
Years ago, I stopped talking about my body and anything diet-y. I recommend it. You will quickly notice the spaces in conversations where your vicious takedown of yourself is supposed to go. And when you start to notice that space you’ll start to realize how many words you’ve allowed out of your mouth that were, at their foundation, not only about self-hatred but also about self-erasure. It’s pretty revelatory.
2
Cook “ from scratch” nearly always, and you will be more inclined to savor.
1
The Bechdel test requires that the two women characters have names.
There are some famous actresses who looked great where rail slim and were actually ill. Think, Mary Tyler Moore, or Audrey Hepburn. It’s as complex a thing as anything human. I think its also fat shaming. Anyone can be fat, the poorest person in America can be obese. But to be slim in all this abundance makes you special, and we all want to be special.
1
Michael Pollan gave the simplest and best eating advice ever: “Eat food. Not too much. Mostly vegetables.”
2
This article is EVERYTHING! Thank you, Jessica.
Whenever these types of articles appear, I have to remind myself that they are written by and geared to overprivileged usually white women whose lives and inclinations are foreign to me. Midway through the article, I scrolled and scrolled and scrolled and finally reached the end. So much navel-gazing and self-promotion from this Knoll person. If her female friends and colleagues are talking about cellulite and Whole30 over lunch don’t leave the impression that all women do likewise. Women of color certainly do not. During a recent brunch with friends, we talked about aging parents and the complications of balancing careers and caregiving, the Trump disaster show, and how motherhood evolves as children reach adulthood. Thigh gaps, back fat, and cellulite never entered the conversation.
1
What’s the difference between wellness gurus and dietitians? Why is it that the author (and others) feel the need for an expert to tell her what to eat? It’s baffling that people like the author have lost their connection to food.
2
processed food and pesticides and hormones and GMO foods, all toxic. We are being poisoned by the food industry.
Emigrate to a healthy country.
3
another victim-rant. only this time the perp is a bowl of ice cream. or a cake, a cookie or some other delicious-tasting sugary concoction that long term will wreck your health even if it makes you feel temporarily "good" while you hang out with your girlfriends and all get along, away from bad evil men who never have to worry about THEIR health (according to her). oh spare me.
you could have kept this to a "100 word rant" one of my favorite regular features in the humor magazine I read every month. maybe you should try it. might make you less annoying to be around.
and the rant would be this;
It makes me mad eating sugary, fatty, high calorie food make me fat, so I gave up. eating junk and hanging out is more important than my health, sleep quality or mental clarity. I dont want to care anymore how I look and you shouldnt care either (yes, probably true). I made a choice to eat whatever I want and somebody needs to pass a law to make the world female-centric with entire movies consisting of just women in conversation. and it should win many awards. and everyone should go. and I should get an Emmy for writing it. so there.
1
My frustration with the “wellness industry” is twofold, and it’s the same as for anything aimed toward women (see also hair and makeup, parenting, and OTC medications repackaged in pink boxes):
It’s a steady drumbeat of the perfect being the enemy of the good, and
Every suggestion involves purchasing something, and that something is a fancier, more complicated, more specific, and more expensive version of what came before.
Why make a salad when you could pay $10 for an organic free range artisanal supplement smoothie customized to your zodiac sign and shoe size?
3
American women are totally neurotic about food, the body & appearance.
I love my healthy strong body & treat it well, giving it exercise, fresh air, healthful foods, a calm environment. Anyone with a functioning disease-free body should love and care for that body. If you have seen someone suffering from kidney disease & on dialysis, you might appreciate well-functioning kidneys. If you had a clue of the millions of interactions in every cell every moment, you might appreciate the marvel of a healthy body.
Normal healthy people trust, appreciate & listen to their bodies and its signals. Nature gave the body hunger signals, fatigue signals, danger signals. In more natural countries, people do not suffer food neurosis, they eat & drink, walk & work. None are obsessed diets or fads, from gluten-free to no-carb, to paleo or raw food.
American culture teaches girls that they have no value outside of youth, beauty & sexuality approved by males; so rather than using their time to develop their minds & genius, girls & women spend endless hours fussing with hair, makeup, fashion, diets. Such a waste.
Would that we would teach girls to listen to their bodies and their own hearts & minds instead of to the critical voice of patriarchy.
Read any of Michael Pollan's excellent books on food. His rules: "Eat food, not too much, mostly plants." These practices guided my ancestors to live to 100, no diet gurus or wellness gurus needed, just respect for the body and its messages.
2
“Wellness” is much broader and has many more positive attributes than the fad dieting and dieting obsessions described here. The author is using a broad term to complain about some narrow issues that few would argue are not problematic. “Wellness” is not a conspiracy or some plot to ruin women's lives or any one’s life for that matter as implied here. The overall meaning of wellness has not been been compromised to hide some nefarious plot that leads well intentioned woman toward an unhealthy and self destructive lifestyle as the author suggests but has more to do with balance and holistic approaches to health including the more recent understanding of “mindfulness” and how it contributes to overall “wellness.” This article seems to be trolling the concept of wellness and conflating issues regarding fad dieting, with a poorly described concern about “wellness.”
1
So much angst over food, when eating (for me, at least), is one of the great joys of being alive. I've felt this way since childhood...from lobster at Lundy's to the Jewish deli, from freshly-baked challah to hand-dipped Breyer's at Hymie's candy store, from Sat. night smoked fish dinners with homemade blintz for dessert to Chinese takeout, I love it all and always have. Couldn't find the quote I was looking for (something about "pity for the man who doesn't look forward to his dinner with great anticipation"), so I offer the following correctives to morbid food obsessions:
"A complete lack of caution is perhaps one of the true signs of a real gourmet: he has no need for it, being filled as he is with a God-given and intelligently self-cultivated sense of gastronomical freedom." M.F.K. Fisher"
"All sorrows are less with bread." Miguel de Cervantes
"A good dinner is of great importance to good talk. One cannot think well, love well, sleep well, if one has not dined well." Virginia Woolf
"All I ask of food is that it doesn't harm me." Michael Palin
"A good eater must be a good man; for a good eater must have a good digestion, and a good digestion depends upon a good conscience." Benjamin Disraeli
"After a perfect meal we are more susceptible to the ecstasy of love than at any other time." Dr. Hans Bazli
2
Sigh.
Tilting at windmills eventually comes a vanity project, you realize?
Asking the "wellness" industry, which is mainly targeted at females but at males too, is like asking the make-up industry to call it a day.
These things are so deeply woven into us. Each generation has to navigate, each person has to navigate, the shoals of what one's culture calls beauty, but is so often actually more codes about hygiene.
It is not a scientific behavior. It is more primal than that, and in the end, we are all just tattooed savages.
Wonderful sanity. Thank you.
How do you know if someone is gluten-free?
Don't worry. They'll tell you.
3
Almost every comment in this article about men is like some imaginary cartoon — apparently we don’t care what we eat, how we look, we’re stuffing our faces with cheeseburgers all day and talking about all these imaginary things. Every generalized mention of men here is a deluded fantasy.
This leads me to believe the rest of the article is all in her head too. My overall suspicion is that all the chatter and neurotic victimhood and blame rhetoric would be better aimed at questioning herself. That is, she is the originator of her own choices, take responsibility for yourself, rather than the conspiracy that all these other people are out to get her. Sounds like she’s been out to get herself more than anyone else has.
2
Who on EARTH is the author hanging out with? Admittedly I live in neither New York nor LA, but I don’t spend my lunch dates with my coven talking about weight and diets. Doesn’t she have anything more interesting to discuss? Is this a “coast” thing?
“In 2019, I want to propose a new kind of test. Women, can two or more of us get together without mentioning our bodies and diets? It would be a small act of resistance and a kindness to ourselves.”
Good grief.
1
I had to laugh when the author said "When men sit down to a business lunch, they don’t waste it pointing out every flaw on their bodies. They discuss ideas, strategies, their plans to take up more space than they already do. " Yes, men are neurosis free, never worry about pot-bellies, have no weight related health concerns, don't obsess about fitness and aging etc. We just eat comfort food all day in a blissful state of happiness. Stereotyping at its most pure and ridiculous.
2
I am 58 years old. In the 1970s, when I was 16, I was one of the first anorexics anyone we knew had seen. I gained some weight a couple of years later, but I wasn't over obsessing about my body until I turned 25 and realized what a boring and obnoxious person I had become, counting calories and judging myself and others. Now, like the second dietitian in this wonderfully written piece, I revel in my love of food. I adore food and I comfort myself with food, and I feel no shame whatsoever about it. What I feel shame about is the self hatred that I exhibited as a teenager and the time I wasted counting calories when I could have been thinking about and doing much more important things. Young women are being lured into a trap of superficiality. Do not succumb! We all have much bigger fish to fry.
Strange how the article took that woke feminism turn.
It is neither whites nor men who make you want to be thin. Or diet. Or be obsessed with fat.
It is people who want to get rich off your own insecurities.
And the people who make you fat want to get rich off your health. They stop using sugar and use some strange stuff that always tastes bad. They feed antibiotics because they can't keep healthy animals by the thousands in a single stable. They are the ones inventing the fat fear because they don't want the attention for their soft drinks made mainly out of sugar. Or the ones who say Pizza is a vegetable.
So, stop blaming me. Blame someone who is actually responsible.
Wow! So this is what women talk about when they have business lunches? When I go out to dinner with women, we never discuss diets. It's not to say that people don't have "wellness" on their minds, but I think there's this unspoken understanding that talking about it is...boring.
"Women, can two or more of us get together without mentioning our bodies and diets?"
Well, there's always real estate....
1
It all goes back to Evolutionary Reproduction 101. Women get more preferred men by being better looking. Healthier, looks that say, "I can make babies."
Men get more preferred women by doing, not being. Action, accomplishment, success. Sure, looks help, but not necessary.
There, I just answered your question about why the men are eating cheeseburgers and so many women are fixated on what they are eating.
Great article in all regards except putting blame on the "patriarchal beauty standard". We men don't want you to be ultra-skinny and kale-obsessed either. Far from being attractive, diet/appearance-obsessed women (and men) seem boring and joyless. We want you around the table with us - eating heartily, laughing, happy, and loving (or at least accepting) your beautiful bodies the way they are.
3
@John Yeah, we do it to ourselves. We actually do it to out-do other women and to "win." I'm serious. We're conditioned not to use physical violence, so doing it visually and psychologically is our way. It's basically Mean Girls.
While the author probably has a modest pscyhiatric problem, her ideas are sound.
The idea of wellness is medical and scientific nonsense for the average person.
Sure, not eating a bag of chips and 4 cokes a day is bad for you. Sure, eating a huge greasy hamburger and fries daily is bad for you. Sure eating tons of greasy good stuff all day is bad for you.
But eating nothing but little bits of salad, or pushing food around on a plate when out at dinner, or purging or vomiting or simply not eating, is also exceedingly bad for you.
Unless there is some definable medical reason not to, you can have whatever you want - in moderation.
3
This article seems like proof of the theory that too many choices simply confuse people. And it also indicates that learning good critical thinking skills should be a priority in life. But the thing that impuned the author's credibility completely was when she imagined that the real devil behind the curtain is (yes, once again) the evil patriarchy! The idea is that the wellness industry - run by men - intentionally victimizes women. Real evidence isn't required. It must be true because it feels so true! It's easier to invent enemies than to accept accountability for one's own decisions.
1
Get out of the city. Go to the country where women are normal sized and eat what they want, when they want. I haven't had a relationship with a woman friend in decades that is/was body-centric. I think that all women feel the cultural poison of comparing ourselves to those anorexic models in magazines and in movies. Advertising is as much responsible for women feeling body shame as anything in our world. I must be an odd duck because my friends spend time together talking about their hobbies, their hikes, their kids, politics, poetry, good books etc.
This piece made me laugh. At least it was a bit different. Maybe it’s her time of the month? (kidding!) The author’s claim that “clean eating” is just a modern name for anorexic dieting is false. Eating fruits and vegetables does make you feel better than eating Burger King. Just because the author can only endure eating salads for a week before going on a pizza binge doesn’t make the entire concept of vegetarianism a patriarchal scheme. And if other women are better looking than she is, and there’s nothing she can do about it, does that invalidate the notion of healthy food? This piece was really just an expression of the author’s personal struggles and neuroses.
I feel bad for this author. It's clear she has a complex relationship with food but tying the fat acceptance movement to feminism is a stretch. The solution should be stopping men from eating junk and getting us to eat some veggies, not getting women to eat junk, too.
Speaking of pseudoscience... she states "thin is healthy, healthy is thin" as though it's not accurate. Well, generally speaking, being thin IS healthy. We can all point to one off examples of folks with eating disorders, diseases or those who don't eat food with the right nutritional makeup but it's been proven over and over again that thinner folks fare better as they age compared to their heavier counterparts.
Finally, her mentioning her own experience for her wedding is laughable. You ate 800 calories a day and worked out twice day.... instead of just enacting a cleaner diet, a modest workout routine and having the patience to see it through.... so now we are all part of some "wellness" lie? Don't think so.
1
So many and interesting comments ! It is clear that the author hit a nerve.
Variety & moderation.
1
This is not an article about the “wellness” industry; this is an article about eating disorders and body dysmorphic disorder. I have empathy for the author and I’m glad she is sharing her story, but the title and the premise that “wellness = weight loss” are misleading.
I know plenty of women who are being misinformed via pseudo-science about varying wellness trends— from essential oils to plastic use to gluten— that have nothing to do with weight loss.
1
Went to lunch today with six other smart ladies. This particular restaurant is known for their home-baked rustic bread, served in tear-able loaves with sea-salted butter, that is simply to die for. "Bring us two loaves with extra butter," I said, knowing when they tasted it, one loaf wouldn't be enough. When it came out all but one of the women--who also attested to the bread's awesomeness--declined a piece. "Off-gluten," three said. "Off carbs," said the others, except my compatriot-in-wheat. As I tore off a hunk, slathering it in butter, I tucked the other still-whole loaf in m purse. "I'm taking this sucker home," I said, reveling in visions of dunking its crusty self in the meaty gravy of a future beef stew.
4
So what's the alternative? Eat as much as we can? We're already the most obese nation in the world... A little dieting wouldn't hurt any of us.
2
Love this article, but the title should be “Smash the diet industry.” Wellness is not about dieting and unbalanced eating.
2
Hmmm... what is this piece about exactly? Learning to love one's body or learning to eat without feeling guilty?
1
Ms. Knoll, you are on point on wellness being a disguised way to sell thinness to perfection. The references to feminism, societal or male-dominated oppression, and putting men on a pedestal for being above body dysmorphia, and the gratuitous potshot about manspreading (or whatever) in your closing are all altogether unnecessarily distracting and shrill.
Furthermore, I hear your point about wellness victimizing white women (and touché on the Tuscan kale quip) but it’s plain wrong and comes across as like a poorly traveled or an uninformed-American point of view. If you think brown and yellow women in Asia or for that matter black women in Africa are not besieged by wellness, you should rethink. It’s not very different for women of color even here at home.
“I gazed around the restaurant, longingly, wondering what the men eating cheeseburgers were talking about.” — not really, that is a bit of a stereotype from some years back perhaps. At least in the NYC business, financial / legal circles men also eat kale salads, avoid carbs and worry and talk about their physique.
Recommended reading:
Is Gwyneth Paltrow Wrong About Everything?: When Celebrity Culture and Science Clash, by Timothy Caulfield.
1
What a terrible choice. Shaping your body to meet men's expectations or molding your mind to emulate their values of power and money. Is there no truly 3rd way?
2
Pathological is the only word to describe Americans and food these days. Heading into my later 60's I can't entertain anymore. Everyone has turned into a freak about food. And it is NOT polite.
Sorry you fellow old people ( and NO, you are NOT middle aged in your 60's!). Do you think getting crazy about what you eat at this stage in your life is going to make a big difference?
Let's look at the good years we have left before climate change kills us all. Or we get so old we can't smell, chew, taste or swallow food.
Eat that cake, have a shrimp, have drink. Have a life. Laugh.
As an older adult, I am not attempting to impress anyone, anymore, about anything. And as an older woman, all the joy of sex is GONE, which decades ago, was much better than food.
But eats and drinks is what we have left to enjoy and celebrate with.
So let's gather around that table and have community, where we break bread -- any kind you love -- and spread it with high fat butter. And a big cup of high-test coffee with cream.
Stop obsessing. STOP IT!
3
I read this article and, in half of it, recognized a lot that I and my friends share. I liked the message !
And then I read that this was not for me to read. I, a man, am apparently not supposed to care about my body and how fat I think I am, and my buddies are apparently weird as well for doing so.
Or, the author should refrain from painting what amount to ridiculous caricatures of men’s lives and concerns when she apparently knowns very little of it.
This article makes me hungry, so I will go to El Torazo and order a large carnitas burrito that includes fries instead of beans, sour cream, guacamole, a thick flour tortilla, maybe chase it with a thigh from Pollo Loco.
1
I wonder if the author would still feel good about her Intuitive Eating plan if it did not result in her being "thin."
"The new dietitian had a different take. 'What a gift,' she said, appreciatively, 'to love food. It’s one of the greatest pleasures in life. Can you think of your appetite as a gift?'"
This made me laugh out loud. What a scam.
Much of this obsession (anti-vaccine too) seems to be based in a quasi-purity/primitivist mindset. Anything natural is seen as beneficial or at least benign and it’s always some industry (from “big pharma” to “big ag”) or even progress itself that is the source of all their problems. Privileged whites have long sought out some kind of guru who will introduce them to some earlier stage of human development which is uncorrupted, vigorous, and a genuine expression of life. They go to ashrams, move to Taos and muck about in Native practices, paint Polynesians and follow paleo diets. Driven by an unchecked ego, they strip traditions of their underlying wisdom and use what’s left to satisfy vanity, virility and to feed a sense of superiority. Their dietary choices make them morally superior, refusing to vaccinate their children signals that they are better parents, and all of this is based in the idea that their “authenticity” and “purity” will protect them and their children from the ravages of disease, the inevitability of aging or the corruption of this world. It’s magical thinking at its most potent and the profound fear and emptiness that underlies it cannot be reasoned away.
5
Like many Americans I receive SNAP benefits. I get less than 150$ a month. By the last week of the month I'm down to stems and seeds, or cheap hot dogs and cheaper bread. Wellness? There's a lot of stupidity out there and there are a lot of people with the right genes who think they have all the answers for everyone else. Over processed foods and fast foods are cheap, quick, and filling. I can usually scrape up 2 bucks for a couple of cheeseburgers at the end of the month. When you really have to watch every penny you don't always get to watch your diet as carefully as you might like.
Access to healthier foods is better than it has been. Many grower's markets are know able to accept SNAP cards (formerly known as food stamps) and here in NM when I buy locally grown produce @ the growers market I get double benefits. That helps me and others to eat better with less cost.
I find it laughable reading this article. Especially those who "suffer" from rich people problems. The author having experienced the delirum of the "wellness" industry has, by her statements, not only come to terms with her relationship with food, but has accepted it, with all the lumps and bumps (pun intended) that come with it.
I'm throwing in my 2 cents (while I still have it) because any discussion regarding food needs to include the millions of people in our backyards who don't have the luxury of bad and good foods, or have an entirely different perspective of a horrible stomach.
4
I love this piece: bravo!!
Women are not the only ones who have critical thoughts about their bodies. Men also have these torturous thoughts. I don't think there is any difference between the sexes when it comes to being critical of other people's bodies.
1
Women have a curious relationship to their bodies compared to men. You could blame the culture or “patriarchy” if you want to avoid personal responsibility, but at the end of the day it’s your mouth, and your choices.
1
As a recently diagnosed breast cancer patient, I have spent many hours reading information on what I can do to reduce the risk of recurrence, often as I'm sitting in the chemo chair. Obesity is one of the most commonly-cited risk factors for recurrence. While most factors are beyond my control, maintaining a healthy weight and exercising are within my control. Wellness takes on a whole new meaning when your life is on the line.
1
Her mistake was thinking wellness means being thin.
Wellness means being well, eat healthy natural food, be active (gym not needed.)
Or forget healthy food, rare to see obesity in Manhattan, maybe all you need is walking and pizza.
3
The wellness industry is necessary only because our “normal” eating is so terribly unhealthy. I teach high school across the street from a Dunkin Donuts. Students (and a few teachers) arrive every single day with a 500-calorie muffin and 1000 calories’ worth of cookie-flavored frozen “coffee” with 100+ grams of empty carbs. They’d literally be better off with a snickers and Coke for breakfast.
These kids think “a muffin and coffee” is normal. If my students switched to kale smoothies and protein bars, they’d certainly see dramatic improvements. Of course, they’d see equally dramatic improvement with peanut butter on toast, but that’s not instagrammable.
4
To state the obvious, many women who obsess about their weight are actually not at all concerned about their weight; they are concerned about their lovability. Unfortunately, many suffer from the delusion that their shape is the primary determinant of their lovability. Many blame the wellness industry, Madison Ave., men, the fashion industry, or others for this delusion that has supposedly been foisted upon them by their culture. However, the culture is merely exploiting a latent tendency that exists in many women, and to some extent also in men, to measure their lovability by their appearance. This derives from the biological reality that physical attractiveness does elicit desire from others. However, need I tell the readers of People magazine, the beautiful and famous do not seem to necessarily be more lovable people, or happier in their relationships. These facts make little difference to those who are under the influence of the delusion, such a strong grip does it have on our minds.
Also, don't blame the wellness industry; it's just as rife with charlatans and deceit as the illness industry. But at least it suggests a useful idea, that we should be thinking about staying well, not just how to get better from illnesses, many of which are preventable. It's up to the consumer to sort out the wheat from the chaff. So it is, and so has it always been. Caveat emptor!
3
Body weight and food preference, like so many other bodily functions, are basically regulated through homeostatic and biological mechanisms. Perhaps it is a societal affectation that we can alter our biology via force of will, but trying to diet, cleanse or whatever to achieve long-term weight loss is like trying to live in a cold bathtub to keep your body temperature at 95 degrees.
I have been working for almost fifteen years now with women who are experiencing some of the more serious effects of this "wellness culture" - those who are underfueling and exercising to a point where they have lost their periods. In this case, the pursuit of "health" has led to dis-health: ovulation, our periods, and the hormonal changes involved on a monthly basis support our heart health, our bone health, our brain health. Not to mention, one cannot get pregnant without ovulating, so many women are spending thousands of dollars unnecessarily on fertility treatments.
I published a book on recovering periods back in 2016, called "No Period. Now What?" It's not rocket science - eat more and exercise less. But in our diet and exercise obsessed wellness culture, it is incredibly difficult to push back against these norms. I provide not only the scientific evidence to support my recommendations (I have a PhD from MIT), but also data from over 300 women who have likewise experienced amenorrhea, as well as their stories. All this evidence helps dismantle the diet culture rhetoric, and empowers women to make choices that DO lead to true health: nourishing their bodies and getting off the obsessive exercise hamster wheel.
What I find is that the VAST majority of women who go through this reinventing of themselves and their relationship with food and exercise are happier, freer, enjoy their lives and relationships and work way more.
3
@Nico
I was once at a conference that included very intelligent, educated women and at one point in the evening several of them were quietly discussing whether laser treatments could be used for anorexia/bulimia induced lanugo.
1
People want to be part of that "it" stereotype and many will do whatever it takes to obtain "it" status. They also want the attention that comes with the stereotype.
The USDA put us on this obsessive-compulsive path with a food pyramid that was supposed to bring us good health. All it brought was superb health for Big Pharma and Big Sugar's profit lines. Low fat, low cholesterol diets rob our brains of key components that keep it and us functioning and healthy. Fruits are just candy bars wrapped in an indigestible cellulose wrapper that can cause severe bloating.
While I appreciate the author's point that there are definitive, largely unachievable standards set for womens' appearances, these dieting/wellness obsessions are not the exclusive domain of the female. Plenty of men are affected by disordered eating, and that is what we are talking about here. The term that has been coined for the obsession with the perfect, healthy diet is orthorexia. The memoir "Breaking Vegan" by Jordan Younger discusses the concept at length in a very readable way, if anyone has interest.
1
My lovely wife is a "wellness" expert, RN and all manner of certified expert for healthy lifestyles. I've heard about it all, Atkins, Keto, Whole 30, etc., etc.
After years of listening to her I developed my "Bumper Sticker Diet"
Moderation, Lean Protein, Fresh Vegetables.
If you follow those five words you'll lose weight and be healthy. That's all you need to do.
4
I agree with this author, up to a point. I, too, have always found discussing diets and obsessing over food both boring and particularly prevalent among women of my generation. (I'm in my sixties.) But a few years ago, when I was at my doctor visit, after I kept gaining weight, I became aware of a way of eating that led to 30 plus pound weight loss and good health. It's a plant-based diet. I eat mostly vegetables (meat in small portions only when I can't avoid it, such as at a dinner party or for a special occasion) and I avoid processed foods and almost all added sugar, most of the time. I haven't eaten at a fast-food restaurant in years. When people notice I have lost weight, they invariably ask me how I did it. I rarely go into detail (unless they press me.) Almost always the inquirers don't want to know more because my answer is so boring and unappealing. No trendy diets or secrets. Not eating processed foods and sugar has completely eliminated the cravings that once drove me to eat too much of the wrong foods. I still enjoy eating, just not the processed and sugary foods that provide so little satisfaction.
9
A few years ago, I became very ill due to once-a-year osteoporosis medication. 35 pounds slid off my historically sturdy frame due to constant vomiting, but oh--did the compliments begin! I was constantly green with nausea, weak, and had patches of my hair falling out, but I was "skinny" and people let me know how "great" I looked. When the long, horrid year had passed, my appetite slowly returned, as well as my function and vigor. The compliments disappeared, but a new outlook on food emerged. For the first time, I began to look at my appetite as a gift, just as the article notes, and after decades of over-analyzing food choices-- and feeling the righteousness of a "clean eating day" as well as the shame of a Pepsi and donut for breakfast-- I broke free from a lot of the tethers. Food is good. It's fun and gratifying to eat. It's okay to listen to your "soft animal" (Mary Oliver) of your body and share a cornucopia of food with it gratefully, reasonably, and happily.
7
If you're looking to have a balanced conversation on what constitutes a more productive vision of wellness, a LA / industry lunch is the last place you'll find it.
7
The author's bias here is astounding. She can't seem to separate health from appearance when it comes to how other people eat.
Her gab at the person she had lunch with who had given up dairy was particularly galling. I mean, that woman could have a dairy allergy. She could be lactose intolerant. She could've had a doctor suggest she try giving it up to see if it helped her. (That's what my gastroenterologist did when I was diagnosed with celiac diesease.)
And let's be clear, not everyone wants to disclose, over a business meeting, that they have irritable bowel syndrome, or celiac disease, or lactose intolerance.
The backlash against these different diets is so strong, that now I feel compelled, when eating around people I don't know well, to explain that I have celiac, lest they label me the way this author is labeling the women around her. It's frustrating to feel like you need to disclose your private medical information to people who don't well just to prevent being judged.
The best thing everyone can do is this: Stop. Judging. Women.
17
@Rose
I also have celiac disease and have found myself doing exactly what you say you do; stating right out of the gate that I have celiac so that I won't be thought of as one of THOSE people.
1
Thank you for this honest article! It is disheartening that women's talk is often so body-focused and full of self-loathing and the supposed need to diet as a moral virtue. It does take a lot of mental energy, and even if your weight is perfect, you're still not good enough. I'm waiting to see women of normal weight with grey hair and not much makeup deliver the news. Seeing a variety of people and body types and heights I think can help. But how to eat and live and feel about oneself--that takes awareness and work! And yes, the whole "wellness" thing is largely marketing. Remember gluten? So serious, so last year.
3
.
@ "Dr." Conde,
.
obviously body weight alone isnt a sufficient measure:
whats being weighed? fat, muscle, bone, bod fluid? [ internal organs aside ]
E.g., the scale could show a desirable # but wont reveal possible osteoporosis, dehydration, etc.
Thats why body composition is a crucial measure : the % of bod wt is fat, muscle, etc.
If ppl think maintaining an optimized diet is somehow too burdensome, consider the consequences of not doing it.
.
"This study affirms what many have thought for several years —
"poor diet is responsible for more deaths than any other risk factor in the world,"
.
"said study author Christopher Murray, director of the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington"
.
Ty wellness industry
.
https://www.voanews.com/a/study-poor-diet-linked-to-1-in-5-deaths-globally-/4861285.html
April 2019
@Ken Lewis
Dear Ken,
I am a "Dr." but not of snake oil! Why all the selective quotes of dubious "studies"? I responded to the article, which describes how one woman feels about her body and herself. She questions a lifelong battle with body image and dieting, which is common among women starting at about eight years old.
Written with all the accumulated wisdom of a 35 year old. Go ahead, "intuitively eat" all the "hearty foods men eat." It won't fortify you with male ambition. It won't bring down patriarchy. What it will do is lead you to the place where myself and most all the 60+ men I know are, battling obesity, diabetes and cholesterol. The dark irony of calling the foods we wolfed down when we were younger "hearty" is not lost on us. And what do we talk about when women are not around? Our bodies, our diets, and our exercise -- trying to get out of the early grave we have dug for ourselves. There's no doubt a great deal of hokum and body-shaming that women fall prey to and perpetuate among themselves, especially if they are, like the author, thin, white, and way too privileged to be throwing about the term "privileged," but don't delude yourself that dietary "wellness" is nothing but "a function of the patriarchal beauty standard." The pastures are not greener on the other side of the gender fence.
22
Amen! I was not a dieter when I was younger - frequent games of squat kept my body at a size and tone I liked. I felt and looked good. In my 60's knees and elbow joints prevented squash and menopause shifted some weight around. I told my husband to start loving my new body, as I was doing, because that was the body I was getting in my middle age. I walk, do Pilates etc, but many of my clothes found their way to the donation boxes as I will never wear them again. And that is ok with me. I hope my daughter gets there too one day - social media puts tremendous pressure on young women, no matter how good they actually look and feel.
6
Based on my observations that a) all my angst about weight was about the same 3-5 pounds, and I appear to have a set point weight which is healthy - not overly thin but within normal guidelines b) our dogs, who have always had food available to them, yet manage to maintain healthy weights, c) whenever I even think the work ‘diet’ I immediately feel hungry, d) after a stay in France, I felt the appeal of their focus on foods which taste good, enjoyed at table with each other, and e) I was wasting a lot of valuable real estate in my brain worrying about said 3-5 pounds and knowing that I have lots of other things I want to think about; I gave up all dieting and focused instead on trusting my body to tell me when I am truly hungry, enjoying delicious, even artful food, accepting myself, and just focusing on health, vitality and managing daily stress. I have had more than a few guys tell me over the years what a relief it is to eat around a woman who relishes food. I have weighed the same my entire adult life, plus a couple pounds after becoming a mother which I decided is evolution’s way of making me a less-likely-to-starve-better-able-to-protect-my-children kind of mother.
Thank you for writing this article - we do spend WAY too much time focussed on food/diet/weight, and there are so many BIG problems facing us that we need all hands, fully present, on deck.
3
I am over sixty and have lost over forty pounds in the past two and half years. How did I do it? I see my doctor every six months. He suggested that I loose three pounds before my next visit. I did that and lost twelve pounds the first year. I made little changes. After I got going I no longer needed snacks. I exercised more. I am still working on it, but it is not overtaking my life. Just think: three pound in six months.
4
Wellness nutrition saved my life.
Literally, last November I was on death's door.
The doctors did tests and no-one was able to find out what was wrong.
I went to nutritionists and wellness practitioners because it was better than just doing more tests and waiting to die.
And slowly I started to get better.
It is now more than 8-months later. I am still on complete bedrest, but I go to wellness practitioners regularly, ,and I am alot better.
I have hope that I may fully recover.
So frankly, I don't care about the little girls with weight problems (in their heads) who use wellness regimes. It is not really for them. Wellness IS about inner wellness. And it does work.
8
Thanks for your comment, I agree. I work in the wellness industry, and it’s not about weight unless it IS about weight. Wellness is a very big topic: stress management, nutrition, exercise...finding out what works for you so that you get and stay healthy, body/mind/spirit; not to obsess over weight! I’m glad this author is trying to learn what works for her—but the wellness industry is not to blame; sounds like some other things are, and I hope she figures that out too.
3
Thank you for this important article. And, your writing is just plain gorgeous.
After more than three decades in high end food service, I see that our culture is finally embracing food as mood - food makes us what we are and affects our health. A seemingly simple idea that battled with our obsession with esoteric flavor and exotica.
Now we must battle our pernicious culture of misogyny and embrace our beautiful sisters in all your glory. This is something we can accomplish not by breaking bread together, but by making bread together. Planning, procuring and preparing a meal together makes our food taste better and our empathetic bonds stronger.
Bless you, your talent and your journey for they all make this world a better place.
2
Great article. Not enjoying good fun makes one a total bore, but being overweight makes one look sloppy, and so, the challenge is to eat exercise and not become fat.
1
No surprise here. Humans are pack animals.
Women don't have a monopoly on fears about their health and appearance, or on following trends and fads, no matter how nutty they are. They may obsess over food more openly, but I know guys with basements full of expensive, and now very dusty, exercise equipment, or who receive small, discreet packages in the mail regularly. I suspect women are just faster to "share" their concerns.
3
There is another piece to the author's story that often leads to lifelong body image and eating disorders. Many women with eating disorders have a history of sexual assault at a young age. This is true of the author. A failure to link the two can miss an important piece to overcoming body image and eating disorders. Our new "me too" world empowers women to come forward with these stories as Jessica Knoll did just a few years ago. Maybe in doing so, they can empowered to love life, food and themselves.
It is a shame to confuse wellness with the diet industry. Intuitive healing and eating are about wellness, just as yoga and taiji are about wellness. Fad dieting is not about wellness. Listening to your body, and living a healthy lifestyle including sensible food choice, sleep and exercise are about wellness. I'm happy for the writer that she found a path to better balance in her life.
9
Smash the industry, but not the authentic desire for wellness.
7
Woah. The whole concept of "intuitive eating" is a myth for 99% of us -- our brains are wired to light up like a christmas tree when we see pictures of cakes, cookies, mac & cheese, fried foods, etc. 80% of packaged foods in our stores have been chemically engineered to make us crave more of these fat, sugar and processed carb goodies. These foods have disrupted the normal gut brain connection and no amount of "intuitive eating" will override that signal which is why being overweight is not caused by a lack of self control. Poor food choices destroy our microbiome which sends signals to the brain saying "I Need More" and no amount of willpower, self acceptance or intuitive eating will fix this. Sure, it's nice to accept ourselves regarding eye color, hair, height, etc, but to think that accepting your external body size without considering the damage to our internal health, is misguided and is probably making the food industry that makes and sells these frankenfoods very happy. Seems like instead of spending energy on "accepting" our size, why not realize that it's the internal organs that are getting abused and focus on getting them into healthy shape. Inner health leads to outer health and that should be a focus as opposed to accept your size and carry on eating whatever you want. 70% of Americans are overweight or obese and "intuitive eating" or accepting oneself is not going to get us out of this crisis. But it potentially will lead to more poor health outcomes.
12
I don’t think you understand the full concept of intuitive eating. When you eat intuitively, you listen to your body. It tells you when it’s hungry, and when it’s had enough. It’s easy to lose weight when eating intuitively, although it’s not necessarily easy to overcome a lifetime of overindulgence and not listening to what your body needs.
3
I am grateful to clean eating for making trips to the grocery store much less anxiety-provoking. Given that most of what is on the shelves is either not food or is edible but not nutritional, I now slip by all the packaged "noise".
5
It's not all about weight, especially for older people. What you eat has a huge impact on the realities of diabetes, arthritis, thyroid disease and heart health. So this article must be targeted to young and middle aged people who can't imagine life after 50. I'm a diabetic who has to control what I eat or I'll lose limbs. My wife has a condition that demands a strict diet. The first questions my doctors ask me when I arrive at their office are about how much swimming I've done and what I'm eating. Perhaps if we heeded some "wellness" regimen in the days we felt invincible we could have avoided some of the realities of old age. Wellness is indeed important in your youth. No joke.
12
I've long believed that "wellness", especially when it includes yoga, has replaced religion for many of the women whom Knoll mentions: white, upper class, educated, thin. The clothing, the housewares, the trips to Kripalu-like yoga centers, the constant talk about wellness all convey the same kind of fanaticism found in religion....in this case, a "to the manor born" religion.
3
Dear author, I very much like your concluding proposal. In fact, I will try it next time I'm out with a girlfriend. But, diets and bodies are intrinsically interesting, so I can't promise to honor it always.
AND ... I want to make a counter proposal to you. By now, you should have learned that it's not worth the effort to try to convince others to follow one's own diet advice. People have their gurus, their scientific formulas, their anecdotes, their philosophies. I used to participate in the dialogues, but now it's ... live and let live. They know their bodies better than I do.
So my proposal is that you sign off similar articles in the future by concluding "Nutrition advice is in disarray. I can only speak to my body, and I urge the rest of you to follow your own path -- there are many -- to your eating enjoyment."
8
Just about everything loosely tied to "health care" will be oversold here in the USA. The dietary recommendations are easier this way, since there are no prescription requirements. One of the biggest offenders is the (largely unregulated) nutraceutical industry--but it is not alone. We have to find a way to minimize the influence of marketing; we are too susceptible.
Link this to a modern woman's views of self-worth--dietary concerns and cosmetic issues--and you have a mechanism to sell all sorts of fake promises. As the country figures out the promise of universal health care access, it must also find a way to control costs, which involves much that is mentioned in this column.
1
I can't be the first to note the irony of the Tiffany & Co. ads accompanying this essay. With the nice touch of the "thin metal chains".
5
When I came to the bottom of the essay, I noticed the link to the author’s other Times essay, “I want to be rich, and I’m not sorry.” The link between the two seems to be focus on the self unapologetically. Although I am certainly no self-effacing monk, I think that there are issues and people whose importance is greater than mine. Perhaps a little less focus on herself — whether it be in eating or in net worth — and a little more emphasis on others would make her (and others) better in the long run.
17
This is a cute, topical opinion piece. And it sweeps under the rug the most challenging health issue in the US, obesity.
Some stats: per the CDC, 40% of Americans are clinically obese. That's close to 100 million of us. Obesity costs the economy roughly $150 billion per year in added healthcare costs. An obese person consumes, on average, roughly $1500 per year in additional healthcare services than a non-obese person.
Trying to nudge our ever-fattening America into more "wellness" is a good thing.
And yes, it can make for an uncomfortable lunch. Because at the end of the day, stripped to the essentials, the only non-surgical way for an individual to combat obesity is to take in fewer calories than are burned.
That's wellness. And it starts at lunch.
11
You’d be right, if the data showed that the wellness industry (aka the diet industry) actually addressed and solved the obesity epidemic. In fact, diets DON’T work.
6
@Emily
It all depends. My wife and I maintain calorie/exercise books and meticulously document what calories we take in via eating and what calories we burn via exercise. We had our baseline "resting metabolic rates" measures so we know the calorie draw of just existing. We've measured the calorie expenditure of our various exercise routines.
Bottom line: we love to eat, we love ice cream and sweets, but we have the self-discipline and measurement tools to exercise off the excess calories.
Diets do work if you have the discipline to follow them.
5
@Stuck on a mountain
Actually the eat less than you burn theory has been disproven. Your body goes into starvation mode and it becomes even harder to shed pounds. You need to keep your metabolism up not shut it down.
Also obesity is not the major health crisis claimed by the media. You really can be fit, healthy, and obese. Secondly, the clinical definition of obese was applied to 45% of Olympic athletes in 2000 summer games. How can this be? Other elite athletes are classified as obese and I do not mean NFL linemen, I mean tennis, soccer, hockey, track, and other sports where you must be in superb physical condition. The conclusion - the definition is wrong.
I just got back from a beautiful potluck dinner party where the men were obsessing about their weight and their keto diets. Meanwhile, the women were enjoying the many homemade delicacies, like gelato and Zereshk Polo.
I'm tired of hearing about weight, diets, wellness, and food in general. I stopped obsessing about my weight 4 years ago, and it actually stays quite stable if I don't eat too much junk food. It's been incredibly liberating to stop counting calories and weighing myself.
I feel sorry for all the people who came to the dinner party tonight and were not able to enjoy the delicious homemade food. I also feel bad for the people who spent so much time cooking.
Does anyone remember the days when dinner parties were just plain fun and people ate the food that was there?
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@Sarah
I'm so glad you, presumably a woman, related that dinner party experience. I agree with most of what the author said save for the gender bias. It read like something from the 90s. The men I know are concerned about and discuss weight and diet as much or more than the women.
29
@Sarah
Sounds like maga to me
I would probably not want to eat most things at that pot luck
People’s awareness changes, some of us are more aware and more responsible with what we eat than others. Plain fact, not ego.
Stop eating meat and dairy. Stop participating in industries dependent on the torture of animals.
Times change.
We humans are overly self focused.
20
@Sarah Yeah, back before autoimmune disease wreaked havoc on my life...
15
I understand the author's intention and I'd like to offer a different perspective. After ten years of chronic acne and rosacea, and too many specialist visits to count, I have been able to cure myself through dietary change. It honestly feels amazing to have clear skin, energy and a healthy body. I have the wellness industry to thank for that. The numerous medical professionals I have seen over the years simply offered drugs and symptom supressers that made everything worse and said 'there's just something wrong with you'. It was incredibly disempowering. It was only when I started delving deeper through research that I learnt traditional medical approaches for the most part completely ignore your whole body and self as a system. The many wellness authors I have read take this approach into account, giving back the focus of power, choice and healing to the individual. I think what gets confused is the concept of 'restriction' as being some sort of punishment. Yes, I only buy from a much smaller section of the supermarket than most people, but what I am buying is essentially what my ancestors would've eaten. I see it actually as opening the doorway to a much healthier self, and I am beyond grateful for having discovered this path. My case I just one data point, but I think it's important to acknowledge the empowering role the wellness industry can have.
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@Summer Good for you. Sincerely. The problem I see is it's a huge "industry." Far too many people (women) simply don't have the time to go through all the information. I grew up with a health food culture in Southern California and I do things like wheatgrass and vitamin therapy. So I'm not at all doubtful of your success.
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@Walter Thanks Walter, it's been quite a journey. You're absolutely right, it does take time to understand a health issue and find good information, and certainly marketing can make it more difficult to dicern. What I notice though is that people assume Western medicine must be correct when it's obvious there's a lot that holistic nutrition does better. We're also living in a time where we have a wider selection of food available to us than any other period in history. We lament how terrible and annoying it is to go without sugar, dairy, meat or processed goods etc. when actually we have a skewed view of abundance. These foods were previously very rare parts of the healthy diet, and I think our culture essentially frames gorging as normal. I think the wellness industry you referenced does prey on this dynamic, creating a lot of shaming for women who are just trying to be healthy, but are surrounded by messages that they should be able to eat anything and look stick thin.
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@Summer
Meat has always been a major part of the human diet. Remember people ate what they could find locally. In the north fruits and vegetables are only around for a few weeks each year. Meat is year long.
67
Wonderful article. The author has put on paper what every women in my circle has felt about food and their bodies at some point of their life. I’m curious if this phenomenon is limited to the affluent educated lot in the West or does this affect lower income women too? As an aside, I was visiting India a few years back and was buying some produce at a local market. The vegetable vendor was lean and lithe and I complimented her on being so slender. She looked taken aback, offended and my elderly dad chided me for insulting her. He said that she had barely enough food a day to sustain her calorific intake. My First World
need and obsession with skinny wasn’t necessarily part of her daily routine.
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@Pb
“complimented her on being so slender”
I understand why people compliment others on their looks and i find it to be an ego thing that I wish we would stop doing altogether. This constant need to be praised is immature.
I wish we would all grow up and focus on the needs of the planet and on compassion for others and put our pathetic egos in their place where they belong.
It does not matter if we are thin. It does not matter if we look good to others.
How can we feel good when we are constantly being distracted by the most irrelevant parts of life?
49
@Pb
Why do Americans feel that it's a compliment to comment on someone's body?
78
@Pb Have to add my voice to your two commenters below. Where and when I was brought up (the Midwest in the 1960's) we were taught never to comment on another's physical appearance - good or bad. If you were going to compliment someone, better to focus on an earned and more estimable attribute. I've noticed today that well-meaning women almost reflexively tell each other how beautiful they are by way of a greeting. - Also, the common use of the term "sexy" has become a catch-all compliment for appearance which seems abhorrent. Let's support each other - men and women - for abiding, universal qualities.
75
I think the key is to cut most of the sugar out of your diet: chips, candy, sweet chocolate, soda, fruit juice, packaged cakes. That's what is making you fat. Seems simple to me.
8
I suspect Ms. Knoll is in an LA bubble. Most women are not starving themselves. Go to the mall (outside of LA) and take a look. On the opposite end, yoga, strength training, hiking and outdoor activities are all ascendant. And the gym is ever popular. The real problem is a subset of women are focused on pleasing and attracting men and are competitive with each other regarding their looks. This affects not only their mental and physical health but also our politics as too many of them fall for the fake strong, conservative male and vote accordingly.
7
@Orange Nightmare Maybe most women aren't starving themselves, but the ones who aren't are probably feeling guilty or defensive about it. As for the "real problem" being a subset of women focused on pleasing and attracting men... Must be generational. I see the love/hate relationship with food among women of all ages, even those long past trying to attract men.
I have volunteered at a local food pantry for over 10 years, in a middle class community that gives the pantry a great deal of support. We always have healthy, but decidedly not fancy, foods on our shelves as a result -- canned vegetables, fruits, meat, fish, beans, spaghetti sauce, pasta, cereal, etc.
The pantry also maintains a garden, staffed by volunteers, which provides fresh produce about six months a year.
Many of our clients are women senior citizens, many widowed, who subsist on Social Security. After they pay their rent and buy their medicines, there is little money left for food, so they need the food pantry. Some of these women are thin, some are heavier, some are in between. They are all glad to get nutritious food. The complaints voiced by the author of this article are the complaints of a privileged person.
I suggest the author try working a shift at a food pantry. It will give her a different perspective.
In all the years I have worked at the pantry, I can't remember one conversation with my co-workers -- who include several now-retired nurses -- that centered on dieting. I mean, are you kidding? People need to eat, and anyone who has enough to eat should be thankful for that every day.
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@scrim1, your point is excellent, but it’s absolutely one that the author also makes, repeatedly and with considerable emphasis. I’m puzzled as to how you seem to have missed her saying this.
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@BardGal59 In your rush to shame you missed the point. Just because the author didn't mention the food insecure doesn't mean she doesn't care about them. She's writing about her peers, a completely different topic.
42
I did not see one word in her article about women who don't have enough money to buy food.
22
One of those things I love about my women friends is we all love to eat. I have friends who are thin, stylish, etc. but stressing over food is just not something we do. Maybe it has to do with the fact we all cook, exercise to some degree, and come from cultures other than that based in the US. For instance, when they asked us if we wanted bread recently at an Italian place, my friends immediately said "Yes, and pasta too!"Yesterday, I went to an Indian buffet with another friend and we both went through the line twice.
I think some of this obsession is quite American. I remember being in Paris at a well-known steakhouse where the two young women next to us were digging into their steaks and then their dessert with joy. In the US, at some dinners, even though I am not obese, I have had various people comment about what and how much I eat, as if they expected all women to stick to water and salads. That's probably because that's what some women do.
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@ms Thanks for your response BUT...having recently been to France twice in the past year I think we Americans need to stop looking toward the French for eating tips. They may love food but they obsess about smoking. Everything in moderation works, enjoy the bread and pasta!
17
Thank you for writing this essay! The “food police” are out in force, convincing people that they need to be restrictive to be healthy and fostering a fear of food. As a Registered Dietitian Nutritionist, I spend a good deal of time trying to counter this with my clients, and often they’re too afraid to accept the kinder messages of intuitive eating. I will add, though, that not all “wellness” proponents deliver this restrictive message. Many programs including worksite wellness strive to counter this with a more balanced, science-based approach to food, eating, and body image.
2
"'Wellness' is a largely white, privileged enterprise catering to largely white, privileged, already thin and able-bodied women, promoting exercise only they have the time to do and Tuscan kale only they have the resources to buy."
That sounds pretty true. As a non-white female from a low-income family, the author's story is quite unrelatable. Privilege is paying for a dietician, meanwhile people with non-white backgrounds are more connected to their own culture's food, which may include healthy amounts of protein, veggies, fruit, with no need for following any such diets and fads. (Except low-income people are highly targeted with junk food...)
Though in some, at least, East Asian cultures, it is common for family members to comment on someone's having gotten slimmer or fatter as a greeting.
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"I am probably never going to love my body, and that’s O.K. I think loving our bodies is not only an unrealistic goal in our appearance-obsessed society but also a limiting one." Why is it more difficult for us to love our bodies than it is to love our kids? Our bodies support most of us with 2 billion heartbeats for the better part of a century. Surely you mean "I am probably never going to love the appearance of my body." which is O.K. as you say. Its like not loving that your kids didn't get into Harvard. It's important to keep in mind that the appearance of our bodies is just one very limited aspect, just as the particular college our kid attends is a limited aspect of them.
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@Shaun Cutts
Some aspects are more important than others.
I appreciate some of your thoughts, but as someone with crippling autoimmune disease, I can attest that giving up gluten and dairy and several other food choices was not at all about dieting for me but a way for me to have a tiny chance of regaining some control over my health. I have been naturally thin all my life, and until 3 years ago didn't really think one way or another about what I ate. When I consider food, I don't think about calories but about debilitating pain throughout my body that may be caused if I eat it. Autoimmune diseases are on the rise for your information,and have been for quite some time, and women are much more likely to have one. You say "wellness" contributes to the insulting idea that women cannot be trusted to make decisions regarding nourishing their own bodies, but frankly your article is doing the same! It's insulting that my health needs and those of millions of others is reduced to some banal generalization that being gluten free must be because I am insecure, over-privileged (ha, that's rich on many levels), prone to fad dieting, and obsessed somehow with only talking about my body? I challenge you to expand your own conversational points. Maybe there's some silliness surrounding the wellness industry (like in any "industry"), but perhaps consider that the wellness craze has something to do with so many of us being so unwell.
422
Couldn’t agree more, going gluten and dairy free was the only thing that stopped my very painful pancreatic attacks. Now I’m “that difficult “ person at relative parties who can’t eat most of the offered foods. Sigh
57
@Beth
There is no doubt that some people have health issues that can be addressed with diet. But.....and this is a big but.....MOST people who jump on the bandwagon of restrictive diets and “healthy” eating are following trends. A very small percent of the population has celiac disease, for example, and gluten is like poison. But many other people do feel healthier when they give it up. My guess is that because they were eating too much junk in the first place...cookies, cake, etc. and there are some theories that for some it’s not the flour or gluten per se, it’s additives, the way it’s processed, etc.
What you say about so many people being unwell is indeed true. As a society we are living a very unhealthy lifestyle. I have patients who want referrals for antidepressants and the like and I say, “ok, so let’s say you go on Zoloft. Then what? What about the rest of your life? Are you eating healthfully? No. Do you ever exercise? No. Go out in the sun and get vitamin D (a natural antidepressant)? No. Are you funding connections in your community? No. So the meds may take the edge off, but what else are you going to change, because all those other things have an impact on your well being too.”
What I don’t like is the way that the diet industry preys on our fears and insecurities. They’re in it to make money, they make entire food groups taboo, and a year later they tell you to avoid some other food. It’s crazy making.
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@Beth
This annecdotal article is often overbroad, trying to make a point or two, I suppose, but irritating and patronizing.
Glad you mentioned this. I have seen friends attain vibrant health, recovering from painful intestinal disorders, due to restricted, proper diet. Their recoveries are a testament to fine wellness care.
49
Get exercise and don't eat too much. The joy of the formula is that once you start exercising (I walk a lot) you like it so much you have no trouble keeping it up, and when you don't overeat, the food tastes soooooo much better.
2
Very very unfortunately, a woman's weight probably IS the single most important semi-controllable variable in her life. This has been my experience and the experience of most everyone I know. When we are thinner, we are in fact loved more, respected more, given more money, more opportunities, more of everything good. Those of us who've been both fat and thin at different times in our lives have all experienced this shocking difference in how we are viewed and treated. How I wish this were not the reality of our lives. But it is the reality. Our striving to be thinner is NOT weak or irrational. Sadly, it is an entirely reasonable, even inevitable choice, considering the world we live in.
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@Mehitable Bigsky
Thank you for making this point. Often, I thought that a misogynistic, patriarchal society drove the constant striving to be thin. That conclusion was wrong. Women too reward thin individuals, and as you say, the viewpoint is a "shocking" difference. The non-thin person just might know the answer to a problem of significance to mathematics, science, medicine, or the company where they work!
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@Kathryn
Patriarchy is a system in which both men and women participate. Women praising each other for conforming to beauty standards doesn’t contradict the role of patriarchy and misogyny in our oppressive beauty culture, it supports it.
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@Mehitable Bigsky - You note the unfortunate truth that, indeed, a woman's weight is very important. We are loved and respected more when we are thinner and less when we are fatter.
I am glad you had the courage to say this. It certainly has been true for me in my life. I was thin and beautiful when my husband married me. I gained weight (due to tricyclic antidepressants, back in the 80's), which had a terrible effect on our marriage. My husband still loved me (he was no more--and no less--shallow than the average human being), but he wasn't smitten by me any more, didn't physically admire me, and certainly didn't want sex with me. Things went downhill and eventually we divorced. My weight wasn't the only factor, but it certainly was a pretty large factor. I was heavy for a few years, and no one at all was interested in me. Then I lost weight and became thin again, and everything changed again--for the better. Sad, but true.
I don't spend much time looking back, but on those rare occasions when I do, I am angry at what those psych meds did to me, to my body, and to my marriage. Angry, too, at the doctor who prescribed them and encouraged me to take them. That irresponsible fool of a man never mentioned the potential for huge weight gain beforehand, and by the time I realized what was happening to me, and understood that the meds were responsible, it was too late.
178
I will eat with you--with gusto. Thank you for the piece!
When I was in college I spent a semester in France with a couple dozen other Americans. At least 50% of the time the conversation among the women in the group was about their weight--how buttery everything was in France, how many pastries tempted them daily--how many pounds they'd gained. I didn't like those conversations for many reasons, mostly because I made it my goal to eat as many pastries as possible that semester. But also because it was boring, so so boring.
Let's just enjoy our food, eat the vegetables we crave (they're delicious!), stop when we're full, and take joy in moving. Let's listen to our bodies and not become slaves to an unrealistic standard. And, yes, please, let's talk about something else.
1433
“Intuitive eating” is just another wellness fad, not the antithesis the writer thinks it is. It comes with gurus, books, and all the trappings of the others. And now it has an op-ed.
She’s also a bit delusional about men. We’re not immune to concerns about health and wellness, and we don’t always talk about more important things than women do. Trust me, ladies, we have our own unhealthy obsessions.
I don’t have the answer to maintaining a healthy weight, but I know it isn’t mindlessness. There is no free lunch.
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@Charlie B I agree! And note that she is two years into the sessions with the dietician!! I'd feel that is a burden, and I'd wonder why I had to spend that long with someone for them to tell me how to use intuition. I think intuition comes from within.
40
@Jenna Your problem was sitting down with the other Americans rather than with French women (who you were there to spend time with, supposedly).
The French (women and men) don't talk about food so much (unless you're a starred Michelin chef). They just eat and enjoy it. No binging, no guilt at pastries. It's just part of life -and an integral one at that - in between walking and moving about.
And then there's that glass of red wine, consumed quite naturally with the meal, that somehow balances out the food and aids the body's absorption of it.
The French don't call it "wellness" - though it is indeed very "well". For them (et pour moi aussi), c'est la vie.
48
Yes, but . . .
We are surrounded by unhealthy food and bombarded by ads encouraging us to eat it. Our kids are raised on Cocopuffs and fruit juice in little silver pouches. As teens they scarf down giant bacon cheeseburgers, fries and 32 ounce sodas. It is impossible to "eat intuitively" when your body has been trained to eat a high sugar, high fat diet and your subconscious trained to think bigger is better.
Europeans tend to be thinner (as many comments note) because they walk a lot, but also because their standard diets and portion sizes are much more natural. Grandma's pasta dinner is healthy, Olive Garden's 1,000 calorie entree is not.
For most American's the issue is not avoiding eating disorders, it is avoiding obesity. So yes, let's stop hating our bodies. Lets develop the awareness necessary to resist the food industry, the beauty industry, the diet industry and all the others that promote excess in everything and moderation in nothing.
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@MLhttp://www.euro.who.int/en/health-topics/disease-prevention/tobacco/data-and-statistics
-----"Tobacco use is the single most preventable cause of death and disease. Among the WHO regions, Europe has the highest prevalence of tobacco smoking among adults (28%) and some of the highest prevalence of tobacco use by adolescents."
They also smoke more relative to Americans and that could be one part of maintaining weight.
17
@ML I totally agree with you, except there is ZERO fruit juice in those silver pouches!
16
@Mary The rate of smoking in Spain is still quite high but so is their life expectancy. I hate smoking with a passion, but a good diet and exercise couples with a lower stress rate can help a lot.
9
I agree that (for both men and women) the flavor of the moment around diets and wellness can be confining and potentially unhealthy in the stress that it causes.
However, as I was scrolling through the article and largely agreeing with its contents, a large banner ad promising “sun-soaked days and fun-filled night” intersected the article prominently. In it, an impossibly fit man (who appeared to have a 36 pack) and woman lounged attractively near a pool.
Perhaps the Times should be thoughtful around the role that it plays in contributing to the very phenomenon that this article seeks to criticize. Unrealistic body images in the media and advertising drive people to feel they need to engage in faddish and unhealthy activity.
1
@Tyler Steben the Times need advertising money too. This is an opinion piece and not necessarily the view of the NYTimes.
Having recently lost some weight, due to a pressing health need, I find that was the thing I needed. I want to be around for a long time. I still allow myself the occasional treat but being around for the long haul is more important. But I agree, do men apologize for being fat? Nope
1
I am so grateful that I have a circle of female friends who do not discuss their bodies in this way!
Having said that, as a very mature feminist (a senior), I am appalled at how we women continue to be bombarded with unreasonable and unrealistic images of what we all should look like. I had hoped that by now we would have put a stop to this. But the struggle continues.
5
A vegetable garden was my revelation re: food. Garden-grown vegetables are a whole different world from the ones you buy, tasteless facsimiles of the real things. If you eat garden-grown vegetables, you will find that they are delicious and after a time, the experience of eating real, tasteful whole food changes your taste in food entirely.
3
What I wonder is how much of the wellness business has been capitalised upon by the likes of YouTube and Instagram which, with their quick videos and visual shaming, if you like, have the power to encapsulate these emotional triggers.
I am a fierce opponent of social media and its destructive effects on how we perceive ourselves, especially by comparing our shortcomings to others' (apparently) perfect lives. I agree with the sentiment of the article, but could a steady detachment from these 'filter bubbles' of social media be one of the most straightforward methods to nip this poisonous wellness phenomenon in the bud?
3
I'd be honored and delighted to lunch with you, Jessica.
Brava for your essay!
I'm a 60 year old woman who has been struggling with my weight since my late teens. I have to credit the gift of meditation practice with helping me to accept and appreciate my body, which is nothing short of a miracle in its complexity.
Your message is an inspiration. So is a recent podcast series from NPR on rethinking weight loss.
In so many ways, women already have to work twice as hard to be considered half as capable/competent as men. We must learn to love and trust and accept ourselves for the amazing women that we are.
Thank you, again, for your essay.
9
Great piece, but in my experience, emotional eating is akin to any other addiction. It is most certainly "vodka in your morning coffee." And when, from a very young age, you witness someone you love abusing/using food as a drug, it's more like heroin in your morning coffee. I think it's as dangerous to call emotional eating a "healthy behavior" as it is to believe that wellness is science.
5
Wellness is not following the end latest diet fad. Wellness to me is consistently getting enough quality sleep and rest, consistently eating nutrient dense food, consistently moderately exercising to be reasonably fit and strong, and consistently engaging in enjoyable downtime activities. It’s not about what dress size I wear or how much I weigh. Wellness is a lifestyle, not the latest craze.
20
"The wellness industry is the diet industry, and the diet industry is a function of the patriarchal beauty standard under which women either punish themselves to become smaller or are punished for failing to comply,"
The author has found us out. All the time we men spend not talking about our stomachs over lunch is spent talking about how we can keep the patriarchy rolling along. .
2
I like the modified Bechtel test rule (no discussing our bodies and diets) and have been trying something like it for a year now. I also have a agreement with my mother: no self-deprecating comments, about our bodies or anything else.
1
After a heart attack three years ago, I had long conversations with my primary care doctor, my cardiologist, and a nutritionist. I described my new life style of non smoking, small meals, and exercise. I asked if I should be taking any supplements to augment my diet and prescribed medicines. To a person, they all smiled and shook their heads no. They said it is ok to fall off a diet once in while and have "bad" day as long as I get back to my new habits. Until Congress allows the FDA and CDC to investigate the claims of "health" companies people will fall into the trap of the "next best health" advance.
5
Eat food, not much, mostly plants...a well known guide. Sounds pretty simple to me.
15
@Jeffrey Kudsk You know the classic rejoinder to that, right? Ate food. Mostly plants. Still hunger.
1
No supplements, real food not too much, discipline,and weight for most people works. No one is that special case.
5
Eating is a biological function, it shouldn’t require discipline!
When I stopped labeling foods “good” or “bad” my binging stopped too.
I also recently read an article by Arianna Huffington on how diets have an affect on our mental health. The constant diet then fail cycle is just unhealthy.
5
@Michael
That's... "have an effect..."
HIp Hip Hooray for all who make room in their lives for living well. Thank you for sharing your journey.
4
Although I'm an old man, it took me until a trip to Asia 3 years ago to see and understand portion control in action. Have a small bowl of whatever you want, eat slowly, preferably with chopsticks, and come away full and satisfied.
It's entirely possible that those men sitting around eating cheeseburgers are talking about stents, high cholesterol, and other food borne health issues affecting them.
17
@brooklyn I have been to several Asian countries. What you describe is not what I observed. Perhaps it was once the norm, but we saw that most meals consisted of large bowls of white rice topped with small amounts of protein, side vegetables (usually fried). Augmented by junk food throughout the day.
@brooklyn Asian diets are not monolithic. They vary widely and there is no one set of a way to eat. There is everything from gluttony to the opposite. While Asians are smaller in stature than a lot of Americans that does not mean they are eating healthier. Some are, others are not.
@Mary
And? All I said was that I saw portion control in practice. Not that everyone there is eating healthy, the point being that you never see portion control in the U.S.
Two comments:
1. Intuitive eating is also a part of the wellness thing. Not all women looking into wellness is doing it for weight loss.
2. One reason for the "pseudoscience" thing is that we do not get time to discuss things with our doctors. It has been a struggle even to get my doctors to talk directly to ME about my health instead of just writing some superficial junk in my file.
The 15-minute appointment (usually reduced even further in reality) does not offer enough time to discuss health.
15
@Tokyo Tea Doctors are not trained in nutrition. For good nutrition advice, seek out a registered dietician.
As a 70 year old woman who has to be vigilant about weight, I found a lot of truth in this article. However, I do want to defend one commercial weight loss program. I was a leader with Weight Watchers for several years and believe their approach to be sound and based on the science of eating. Many of us need to get rid of bad habits and learn new healthy ones. Don’t munch while driving or in front of the television. Ask for salad dressing on the side then use a fork to dip into it before stabbing the lettuce. Watch portion sizes: imagine meat as a deck of cards, pasta as a tennis ball. If you stare at the chips thinking you are hungry and an apple is not appealing, then it is actually a craving. And, of course, get moving. This is not body-shaming advice but ways to get and stay healthy. Believe me, your joints will thank you if you keep your weight down, as will your blood pressure and your blood sugar levels. “Nothing tastes as good as healthy feels!”
19
@Pamela Finkelman weight watchers is a diet. And a corporation that aims to make, and does make, a lot of money on people seeking to lose weight. I disagree that its healthy. All the weighing and measuring and points and the tricks and gimmicks to be able to eat more food and all the fake foods they sell are not healthy. While on WW I spent more time thinking about, planning, worrying about, obsessing about, trying recipes, etc. And I did everything exactly the way the program suggested, and I didn't lose weight - and no one there could explain why. I was told to just keep coming. And then there's the weekly weigh-in which sets up that good/bad dynamic. Every few years WW trots out a "new" WW that's going to be even better than what they've been trying to sell - it will be easier and you will lose weight faster than ever before. It's all just a diet in the end and slick marketing to get people in the door to pay that weekly fee.
4
@Jeanne Yes, there are certainly negatives with the program. It is after all a for-profit company. But the group dynamic and basic principles of healthy eating have helped so many learn how to lead more healthy lives. And, I think their push for more physical activity is very positive.
@Pamela Finkelman Amen! I am a lifetime member of WW. I put on weight during pregnancy and with Weightwatchers took off the 90 pounds I gained and kept it off. I watched one member go from being unable to walk from the door at 650 lbs, to becoming a gym rat at 180 lbs. Yes, it took him years. I eat what my grandparents ate on the farm. Healthy portions, fresh ingredients and no fake or diet items. I work out a little and walk a lot. I have some obese friends and they are constantly grabbing a little this and a little that, it adds up. I have watched those same friends have hips, knees, even ankles replaced. They have trouble with their feet as they age. All the notions of traveling after retirement are a painful reminder that you need to start when you are young. I have one kid who never drank soda and neither of them likes junk food because that's not what they ate as kids. I made them cookbooks as gifts and they use them. If time is an issue, cook on your day off and freeze it, that way you only mess up the kitchen once and all you have to do is stick it in a microwave.
1
Exactly right!
Men just sit and eat cheeseburgers and let nothing get to us while we get everything we want from life with no effort, coming out on the other side unharmed, happy and complete as humans. All equals in the flat hierarchy of team Men.
Not really. Though I’m showered in privelage, i fail to see why this issue needs so hard to be placed in the cage of a zero sum game, with cheeseburger big gulp business vultures (hot stuff) on one side, and kale-winged sparrows on the other. The focus of the piece seems to be the wellness industry after all, which affects all of us.
Being portrayed here as a numb-brained lump with no anxieties who ”gets to eat burgers”, while still people cannot stop scoffing at middle aged men going mountainbiking or running marathons (who are they trying to impress), makes for a rather narrow zone of acceptance as well. And being accepted is the core for everyone in any social structure.
The villain here is the Double Cheeseburger culture, the extra large coke, the unnecessary conveniences that saves us from a walk. We are all oompaloompas in that willy wonka world
30
I have spent a lot of time in the Soviet Union and then Russia. I marveled at the differences between the attitude of the women there about food, and that of American women (especially younger ones). The Soviet/Russian women enjoyed food, they relished it, they loved cooking it, and they had no guilt complexes! In a country that has suffered more than its fair share of food shortages and terrible famines, this is understandable.
Yet there has to be more to it than that. After the break-up of the Soviet Union and the opening of the economy to western markets, more junk food started appearing. Worse, though, were some of the ideas that were imported. Suddenly their magazines were repeating some of the same guilt-inducing "health" advice that we in the U.S. have been subjected to since the 1960s (when Twiggy was our role model and not Supreme Court justices). Women of the former Soviet Union have always taken pride in their appearance, western stereotypes to the contrary. They just didn't obsess about diets, and knew how to appreciate food. The worst thing I observed, back in the early 1990s, when there was a food shortage in Russia, was Slimfast being marketed in the big cities! I hope that women there, and in other countries with healthy relationships to food, won't succumb to our American-style obsessions.
12
I don’t think this problem is limited to women; I know plenty of men who are on some sort of fad diet or restrict calories. Keto ( cheese sticks and pepperoni slices are better than an apple?) for my chubbier friends and various and sundry food allergies/restrictions for others. It’s become exhausting having dinner parties because each person requires bespoke food.
16
Our world has changed from being manual and agricultural to being enhanced by progress and convenience to make life easier. We take the car to the gym. Why do we need gyms? Our society has changed to where we don't walk, ride bikes, work hard or other things that allowed consumption of many kinds of food to the degree we feel full. It is hard to walk or bike in warm climates in suits and business attire.
One of the biggest scam artists foisting diet after miracle food after who know what next is Dr. Oz and those willing to trot guest after guest out with the latest craze. It takes a lot of crazes and cheering crazies in the audience to do this day after day.
As long as both men and women spend hundreds of dollars on forehead and cheek preparations to avoid looking our age, we will have a problem. Old Masters painted women as husky or plump or whatever you want to call it, because in their time setting their body habitus was considered the epitome of beauty. Recognize that the inner beauty is what we should seek.
11
@reid
"Recognize that the inner beauty is what we should seek"
The problem is that as hard and long as you may seek, we'll never see "inner beauty". That is another myth you are promoting. And why "should" we seek something that's so invisible? Where does this commandment come from?
This sounds again like another diet imperative, but this time a moral one. Is this not what this writer objects to? All those "shoulds" distort our lives, destroy any kind of spontaneous happiness, and construct ideals we can never incorporate in our real existences.
There are problems, but they are somewhere else. How about the food industry and the artificial foods created by industrialization, the immensity of the geographical market, with very specific problems of storage, preservation, distribution, and cost?
1
It's not just the wellness industry to blame. Wellness industry is just a by-product of a social system corrupted by other money-making industries such as beauty, fashion, advertising, movie, TV and all other media.
Ultimately though, it is the omnipresent and omnipotent evil capitalism to blame that cleverly and constantly exploits the insecurities and the greed of us humans wanting it all.
16
The past two summers I have been living in Italy and has been very interesting to view another culture’s relations to food, particularly one which holds it to such a high standard. Across the city, one can see the same Calzedonia bikini ad everywhere, but still Italians love food and it’s a source of happiness. In fact, despite the ads women of all ages and sizes wear bikinis at the beach. There’s no need to compete America. Let’s just demand better food and enjoy eating again.
30
Searching for images of you online shows you look simply lovely. But other searches reveal troubles in your past.
This is where the wellness industry enters - preying on people's self-esteem issues with promises of unachievable ends..
7
Years ago—maybe even a couple of decades—this paper ran an opinion piece that went something like this: I have struggled with weight my entire life. Recently, when I imagined my death, and similarly imagined going to heaven (if there is such a place) and going before god (if there is such a being) and god asking me what my life had been about, I realized that I would have to answer 10 pounds, because I had spent all of my life worrying about my weight.
After reading that piece, I realized I would have to answer the same way, only maybe for me it would be 20 or more truthfully since my 40s (when I first stopped smoking and went through menopause) 30 pounds. That was the day I decided to appreciate my body. I began to learn that it knows best—I’m the one who is learning. Today, as I approach my 70th birthday, I am thankful that my body has been strong enough to endure all the many challenges I’ve asked myself to take on—the stress, the strain, the heartbreak, and the joy of living.
When I die, if there is a heaven, and if there is a goddess, and if I am asked that same question, I will be able to answer that my life was a wonderful adventure.
38
Many years ago, I went to dinner with five women. I wanted to order dessert, but none of the other women would, so I could not! So aggravating, and it is telling that I still recall that dinner-dessert-denial so clearly.
12
@Miriam just eat what you want, but you should let others do the same without your judgement. Maybe the others simply didn’t want dessert. I, myself, rarely order it because I don’t really enjoy it.
@Miriam. Order dessert next time. It was their choice not to order it. It’s unfortunate you felt pressured to go with the majority..that says more about you then them.
WHAT TO EAT?
One swears by whole meal bread, one by sour
milk; vegetarianism is the only road to salvation
of some, others insist not only on vegetables
alone, but on eating those raw. At one time the
only thing that matters is calories; at another
time they are crazy about vitamins or about
roughage. The scientific truth may be put quite
briefly; eat moderately, having an ordinary
mixed diet, and don’t worry.
Robert Hutchison (1871-1960)
Newcastle Medical Journal Vol. 12, 1932
22
@whiteyk0
Roughage! I remember when people talked about roughage!
2
An interesting phenomenon I noticed one evening while eating at a convenience store. I scanned the magazine racks and noticed that the cover girls on Magazines targeted at men like Maxim and Sports Illustrated were of more diverse body types, the thinnest of which were less thin than the cover girls on Women’s Health, Elle, and Vogue.
13
Flour is not the same as it was 20 years ago. They add potassium bromine to keep the bread fresh and fluffy, for weeks.
Packaged food and processed food is 80% of the food in the grocery store. Organic has been taken over by corporations and what was natural has become fake.
Sites that announce food recalls are flooded.
Is the problem with food us? I do not think so.
17
@s.whether
Seattle 5 News Today 6/9/2019
"Kroger recalls frozen berries over possible hepatitis A contamination"
Enough is enough.
1
@s.whether Good point. Some people are very sensitive to the “ides”...bromide, fluoride and chloride, and the body retains water to try and deal with the toxins.
It sounds like the writer is trashing one form of "wellness," which she traded in for another, "intuitive eating." Wellness is simply eating food grown in the ground or on the ground and maintaining your physical strength by keeping your body active. Everyone has their personal entry and exit point on the wellness path. To delegitimize all the science behind nutrition with one's anecdotal experience doesn't merit a well thought-out or intentioned opinion. Yes, the "wellness industry," like all unregulated industries can become predatory but there are many excellent books on the subject and practitioners who can provide guidance to those seeking a healthier lifestyle. The writer, herself, found such a person and I'm glad she found what works for her. No need to "smash wellness."
30
@D, my thoughts exactly! Many people suffering from autoimmune disorders and other health problems have clearly benefited from elimination diets. But the goal is always to eventually get back to balance and equilibrium in eating. I think the author is naive to say that because her experience led to an eating disorder, that the entire Wellness Industry is a sham. There is actually real science behind some of it. The larger issue, as others have pointed out, is that the food industry has led so many on a path toward obesity and diabetes. We need to reset our taste buds and metabolisms so that we can actually learn to eat more mindfully and intuitively.
3
So right, @Michigander. I have witnessed many people change the course of their lives when they discover the power of "food as information." From folks experiencing remission from AI diseases to people getting off insulin entirely. It's very personal and individual. In a way, that unique discovery is the beauty of it.
I'm with you on the food/wellness Bechdel test. I think it was in her How to Eat book that Nigella said something like don't bore your dining companions (or even worse, your dinner host) with the details of your diet. Nobody wants to hear about your food restrictions. In fact, her chapter in that book on Low Fat is an excellent read.
13
"(Food) has no moral value."
So very true.
What else has no moral value?
1) Money
2) Attractiveness
3) Position in life
4) Accumulation of "things"
5) Willful depravation
6) Body shape
7) Religion/beliefs
8) Political ideology
9) Skills one may posses
10) Education level
11) Lifestyle choices
12) Where one lives
13) Whom one loves
14) One's background
15) Level of "success"
16) And so on...
In America, many attach "moral value" (and, therefore, superiority) to these and others. Especially the first one, money. But none of them can either imbue or reduce the character of any person. Just happening to have one or more of these qualities, one is not a "better/superior person" than someone who may not happen to have it.
The sooner we separate morality and superiority from happenstance situations and meaningless traits, the happier we will all be.
27
After living in San diego for four years, I don't believe food is our problem in america - it is cars..Lets just banish the car, walk everywhere or take public transport, and I feel like I can guarantee we will be a healthier, less polluted society..I don't really want to hear about your diet, although I love to talk recipes...I want to hear how you avoided the car, for a week.
54
@grace thorsen you are so right Grace. We moved from Houston, TX, where it is almost impossible to get anywhere without a car, to the Netherlands and now London - where trying to go anywhere and park in a car is a liability. Consequently walking lots more (it's nothing to make my 10,000 steps a day), and staying a relatively healthy weight is much more doable, despite reaching middle age (or early old age) metabolic decline.
26
@grace thorsen impossible challenge to accept here in CT, unfortunately.
1
I'm not going to humblebrag about my diet, nor share with readers my "secrets" for maintaining a normal weight. Instead, just for laughs (and cringes), I recommend a visit to an upscale supermarket (e.g. Whole Foods) that features "sustainable" and "healthy" foods. There are literally dozens of keto-related products, wacky protein powders, cauliflower everything (including crackers!), "ancient" grains - all trendy buzzwords. And let's not forget the ubiquitous "plant-based."
I even spotted something called Brain Juice. Juice made from pressed brains?
It's enough to bring out the OCD in me!
19
Wellness industry is a million times better than the dieting industry. If you have lived the dieting craze post 1990’s when the top models of the world were beating Hollywood actresses in popularity, you’d have noticed staggering numbers of eating disordered women fighting for their lives on a 600 Kcal / day diets that were actually recommended by the most prominent beauty magazines! Yes, I was one of them!
The wellness industry today is exponentially better than anything related to dieting, not only from regulatory perspective (dietitians, nutritionists and health coaches are huge proponents of healthy living methods including healthy eating regimens); also, from technology perspective, wearables and quantifiable apps are built to reinforce healthy habits.
So, despite sympathizing with the writer, as I have a very similar story, I truly support the wellness industry today. The exponential developments in health and wellness are really a blessing for everyone and all the new supplements and superfoods can only be a blessing to people who wish to try them.
And yes, intuitive eating is mostly possible after long years of dieting ;-) because that’s when your stomach and brain become more in tune and maturity defeats the desire to look perfect for the desire to feel perfect!
6
@July
Except that the wellness industry -- the same could be said of the cosmetics industry and much of alternative medicine -- justifies total bunk with pseudoscientific buzzwords that dupe those looking for magical solutions to perceived problems. What's that line about a fool and his (or her) money?
1