EP 910 Wellness Industry Sells a Better You: Does It Deliver?

 While the ideal of the American woman was to be skinny, now they need to be skinny and have a glow acquired through some combination of daily yoga, vegan makeup and mushroom coffee or tea.  Gwyneth Paltrow’s company, GOOP, in many ways best exemplifies this growing industry which rakes in about $5.6 trillion a year with products advertised on-line, by influencers and by more conventional media outlets.  Products and services are involved which are said to improve all aspects of your life from colonics to charcoal toothpaste to green juice enemas.  While the FDA may not be referenced as having sanctioned these products (and what does the FDA sanction anymore) what was once considered the domain of the rich has become aspirational for the mainstream and many ‘wellness’ branded products can be found under such a label at Walmart, no less.  It’s a fascinating topic explored critically in Amy Larocca’s new book, “How to be Well: Navigating Our Self-Care Epidemic, One Dubious Cure at a Time.”  Amy joins us today to discuss.

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