Amy Larocca, an award winning journalist who worked for 20 years at New York magazine as a fashion editor and editor-at-large, believes that self-care has become an industry full of corruption.
“Wellness is currently a $5.6 trillion industry according to the Global Wellness Institute and it grown faster than the rest of the economy.” (p. 5)
The hundreds of eye creams, mushroom teas, and wearable monitors available to “increase our health” are mostly bogus, according to Larocca.
“Scientology, naturally has its own proprietary detoxing ritual know as Purif or the Hubbard method, and it involves heat therapy, ingestion of niacin, and the drinking of a whole lot of oil and other liquids. The promise of the Hubbard method, which can last up to five weeks, was that it would clear out any illegal drugs taken earlier in life, and also that it had the positive side effect of increasing IQ up to fifteen points.” (p. 195). False claims!
Cap’n Bob can fill us in on the Hubbard method. But the trend in self-care is to take more vitamins, eat more protein, get on GLP-1 drugs, and cover yourself with various creams to take your wrinkles away. Larocca provides evidence that many of these actions do little or nothing to increase wellness.
“GOOGLE invested $1 billion to launch a secretive company called Calico–short for California Life Company–which focuses on longevity research.” (p. 243) The goal of companies like Calico is to extend life…possibly forever. Sure, it sounds wacky, but when anyone shells out a billion dollars, something is happening we should be aware of.
Amy Larocca debunks many of the wellness trends now popular. She concludes that a life full of healthy food, daily exercise, and good sleep will do more for your wellness than fad creams, injections, activated charcoal toothpaste, and green juice enemas. How is your wellness? What are you doing to stay healthy? GRADE: A
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
- Introduction — 3
- Part I: Cure.
- Medicine and its alternatives — 25
- Holistic, functional, profitable — 31
- Kooks — 47
- Chronic illness — 61
- Self-care — 67
- Part II: Glow.
- Body positive? — 82
- Sex positive — 89
- Clean beauty — 93
- Dressing to be well — 97
- Glow lifestyle — 105
- Part III: Spirit and soul.
- Soul — 116
- Exercise — 125
- Self-love — 133
- Cult — 139
- Outside of exercise — 144
- Part IV: Pure.
- Cleanse — 156
- Environment — 169
- All natural — 177
- Politics — 181
- Vaccines and the rabbit hole — 186
- Cleaning as rite — 194
- Part V: Beyond.
- Meditation/mindfulness — 203
- Tripping — 216
- What about men? — 221
- Biohacking — 226
- Immortality — 239
- Conclusion — 249
- ACKNOWLEGEMENTS — 259
- NOTES — 263
- INDEX — 277
My health regime seems to be pepperoni pyzza, donuts, and massive intakes of caffeine. So far it’s working. Don’t know if it will continue to work in the future
Jerry, pizza, donuts, and coffee are three of my favorite food groups! My doctor told me, “You made it to 76. You can eat whatever you want now.”
Eventually, less and less works. But this exercise thing seems to help.
Todd, for the past 25 years I have gone to our local Aquatic Center and worked out in the Pool. That might go some way to explaining why I’m still around…
Low impact good; chlorine less so.
The same old snake oil in a shiny new bottle. I see ads all the time for “liver cleanser” (something called “Dose” that looks like mango juice—and is probably just as effective), topical hair regrowth creams, pills that supposedly “mimic” GLP-1, and an infinite number of products that promise to “burn fat”. And in the tiniest script possible at the bottom of the screen: Has not been tested or evaluated by the FDA. All of these things are effective in only one thing: separating people from their money.
As for wanting to live forever. In this world? Not a chance.
Deb, all of us would want to live forever if it meant we could continue reading your on-target comments to George’s posts.
Jerry, thanks for the double compliment for Deb’s wonderful comments and my blog posts! Your input always makes things better!
Deb, I’m with you on the chicanery with “health” foods. No valid testing, just marketing hype. Fat burning remedies make me laugh! The only thing that has been proven to work are GPL-1 drugs–and they don’t burn fat, they suppress your appetite.
I like the Jerry Diet Plan too!
These products are BS, yes, but they always have been. I remember reading an article decades ago about some collagen product that supposedly got rid of wrinkles, only the collagen molecules were way bigger than the pores on your skin and couldn’t possibly get in.
As for the “ask your doctor” crap, you need to pay attention to the side effects, which are often worse than the original problem.
We do eat better these days, for the most part at least, trying to keep mostly to a Mediterranean type diet. We get some exercise without overdoing it, mostly walking and the stationary bike, and we try and get enough sleep, though I do better there than Jackie.
As for green juice enemas and the like, hard pass. We see the doctor once a year, and try to avoid them otherwise.
Jeff, people are always in the market for the Quick Fix for weight loss. Pills, supplements, “health” foods, etc. It’s a billion dollar business!
Green juice enemas make for easy, if messy, passing…
I love it, The Hubbard Method! I mean, who doesn’t want to cleanse the drugs from their body and increase their IQ at the same time?
All hail, the great Elron!
Once again Mencken has been proven right about the stupidity and gullibilty of the human race. What’s astonishing is that in an era when anyone has the technology to research the veracity of any claim in the palm of their hands they instead use it to let charlatans dupe them more readily than ever.
The saddest thing is that the basics of good health, genes and environmental factors aside, have been well-known for ages: a healthy diet, exercise and a solid night’s sleep. I gave up meat and the majority of processed food five years ago, have prioritized sleep for the past few years, quit drinking alcohol a few months ago and walk 3 miles a day 5-6 days a week. I also quit taking Zyrtec because it always made me feel a tad jittery and my allergies have largely vanished over the past few years. All I take is a multi-vitamin and no supplements ever. Oh, and I avoid social media and strictly limit the amount of time I’m online and watch television. I’m also very careful to limit my news intake to the basics as anything more will just make you despair these days.
As a result I’m the slimmest I’ve been since high school and my mild anxiety and depression have largely disappeared. Everyone makes their own choices and for some a little indulgence is worth the potential tradeoffs. So be it. The key is to moderate and be realistic about the pros and cons. Most importantly, always be leary of anyone trying to sell you anything.
Byron, you are evidence of fact-based moderation working to sustain Good Health. But, too many people want the Quick Fix, take the Short Cut, opt for the Easy Way Out. And, as Mencken said, “For every complex problem there is an answer that is clear, simple and wrong.”
Who’da thought the hippie/”all natural” faddists of the 70s would merge with the Libertarian “don’t tell me what to do” fringe of the 80s to make life miserable for the rest of us in 2025?
Fred, Americans are terminally addicted to conspiracy theories and “holistic” medicine that have no basis in fact. Look for the U.S. life expectancy numbers to go down with RFJ, Jr. in charge of our health.
They didn’t do as much to mess us over as profit-driven “medical” corporations and all the culty charlatans with their miraculous snake oil (faux hipster/Libertarians) to make sure Things Get Worse.
Be sure to (not) get your ears candled! (for a vintage scam).
Croaking Brainworm is certainly in the unsavory crew in at least two ways.
Scientology, like essentially all cults, is full of means to distract and encourage obedience in members. Drumpf’s cult is working on their rituals now.
Todd, Hannah Arendt said it best: “The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is…people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction (i.e., the reality of experience) and the distinction between true and false (i.e., the standards of thought) no longer exist.”
I’m reminded of a quote attributed to Nikita Kruschev: “When the people have been convinced that they are being threatened by an imaginary river, you do not win them to your side by trying to convince them that the river is imaginary; you win them to your side by convincing them that you are the only one who can build the imaginary bridge.” I’ve always thought BUILDING THE IMAGINARY BRIDGE would be a great title for a history of Republican politics since the election of Nixon.
Deb, you are so right! Just look what’s happening to the MAGA faithful who think Pam Bondi is withholding the Jeffery Epstein “Client List”!
Or, to paraphrase Voltaire, “Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities.”
Deb, that’s a good description of what’s happening with ICE.
Since the election of Nixon as VP/the rise of Joe McCarthy.
Though ICE is a clown-car (this being the Drumpf Admin, how else?) Gestapo, and trying to run wild.
Let’s see if the Dem US senators can foil the clawback from public broadcasting (PBS, NPR, their smaller networks like Create, probably only a scrap of money to Pacifica Radio and Indy public radio stations…there might even be a few indy public tv stations still…for now).
George, I am really enjoying seeing the odious Pam Bondi squirm under relentless attacks from Loony Laura Loomer, Alex (Why Is This Man Walking Around Loose) Jones and Tucker (Yes, I’ll Say Anything for Attention) Carlson. When you announce that you have the Epstein List ON YOUR DESK, then three months later claim it doesn’t exist, there will be no appeasing the MAGA masses, unless (of course) your name is Donald Trump.