Rethinking Wellness

Hey there! So you know how I was sick last week at office hours, despite being on an antibiotic for strep throat? Well, it turns out I didn’t just have strep—I also had pneumonia, AND a nasty adenovirus, AND a UTI!! I know all this because urgent care sent me to the ER when my fever kept climbing, and then I went *back* to the ER when the fever topped 10…

Author and pediatric surgeon Dana Suskind joins us to discuss her new book, Human Raised: Nurturing Connection, Curiosity & Lifelong Learning in the Age of AI. We get into why true caring is what makes us unique from machines, how human parenting instills critical thinking and empathy, the role of governments and regulators in dealing with AI harms, her HOPE framework for raising kids in the age of AI, and more.

Rethinking Wellness offers critical thinking and compassionate skepticism about wellness and diet culture, and reflections on how to find true well-being.

Current time: 0:00 / Total time: -6:00 Audio playback is not supported on your browser. Please upgrade. Photo by Kenta Kikuchi on Unsplash My body has changed a lot in the past few years, between going through multiple IVF embryo transfers, getting pregnant, delivering my second baby, and navigating a host of postpartum health challenges.

Hello and happy Thursday! I’m back in your inbox to share a few pieces I read recently that I thought you might enjoy / find relevant to this project of rethinking wellness. There’s an article I was interviewed for about Ariana Grande and some additional thoughts that didn’t make it into the piece (or into my earlier essay); my take on Hank Green’s ChatGPT controversy; and an interesting piece about AI and mental health.

Current time: 0:00 / Total time: -7:39 Audio playback is not supported on your browser. Please upgrade. Photo by Getty Images on Unsplash My first postpartum experience was no walk in the park, but it was nothing compared to the second. The first time around, after a protracted labor and unplanned C-section, I developed ileus, a painful condition where the digestive system basically shuts down.

The public discussion about Ariana Grande’s body has been swirling online ever since she appeared in Wicked looking noticeably thinner, but it really blew up this week after the release of her new music video, in which she appears truly emaciated. People have had all kinds of reactions to that, and now it feels like the discourse *about* the discourse has become the central point of conversation—at least in my world as a disordered-eating dietitian.

Religious-ethics scholar Liz Bucar, author of Beyond Wellness, joins us to discuss the religious roots of wellness practices, why bringing religion back into “spiritual” wellness spaces might be the key to promoting true well-being (even for non-religious people), and how the very human need for control shows up in diet and wellness culture.

Hello and happy Thursday! I’m back in your inbox with another link roundup. Not sure if these will end up being a weekly or biweekly (or just occasional) thing, but I wanted to share some pieces I read recently that I thought you might enjoy. Also, I’m back on Substack Notes. I’ve discovered how difficult it is to grow a publication without any social m…

Current time: 0:00 / Total time: -5:53 Audio playback is not supported on your browser. Please upgrade. Hey there! You may have seen the news that I’m back from maternity leave, and I’m honestly SO excited to be here. My leave with my first daughter felt like it ended way too soon, but this one was just right.