Religious-ethics scholar Liz Bucar, author of Beyond Wellness, joins us to discuss her history with diet and wellness culture, 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 rigid diet and wellness behaviors. This episode is cross-posted from our other podcast, Rethinking Wellness.

For paid subscribers, we do a deeper dive into how religion has contributed to Americans’ troubled relationship with food and how religious foodways can also help us heal from diet culture, with some detours into the longevity movement, GLP-1s and the thin ideal, and more.

Liz Bucar is a religious ethicist and professor of religion at Northeastern University, as well as a certified intenSati and Kripalu yoga instructor and the author of the new book Beyond Wellness. Her popular writing has appeared in The Atlantic, the Los Angeles Times, Teen Vogue, and The Wall Street Journal, and she is the author of four books, including the award-winning Stealing My Religion and Pious Fashion. She lives in Brookline, Massachusetts. For more about how religion shapes us all, even if we don't believe, subscribe to Liz’s newsletter at LizBucar.com.

To hear the full episode including the deep dive, upgrade to paid at rethinkingwellness.substack.com.

More from Christy:

Books:

• Anti-Diet
• The Wellness Trap
• The Emotional Eating, Chronic Dieting, Binge Eating & Body Image Workbook

Courses:

• Intuitive Eating Fundamentals
• Intro to Intuitive Eating

Newsletters:

• Rethinking Wellness
• Food Psych Weekly

Christy answers an audience question about the “adrenal body type” and unpacks the weight stigma, ageism, and pseudoscience embedded in this twist on the dubious diagnosis of “adrenal fatigue.” This episode is cross-posted from our other podcast, Rethinking Wellness.

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Get full show notes and references here.

Ask a question of your own for a chance to have it answered in a future episode!

Christy's second book, The Wellness Trap, is available wherever books are sold. Order it here, or ask for it in your favorite local bookstore.

If you're looking to make peace with food and break free from diet and wellness culture, check out Christy's Intuitive Eating Fundamentals online course.

In this episode, Christy shares some personal thoughts on how anxiety impacts the gut, and offers a perspective on how to handle digestive distress that’s triggered by stress without getting pulled down wellness-culture rabbit holes—especially if you have a history of disordered eating.

This episode is cross-posted from our other podcast, Rethinking Wellness.

More from Christy:

Check out Christy’s three books, Anti-Diet, The Wellness Trap, and The Emotional Eating, Chronic Dieting, Binge Eating & Body Image Workbook for a deeper dive into the topics covered on the pod.

If you’re ready to break free from diet culture and make peace with food, come check out Christy's Intuitive Eating Fundamentals online course.

For more critical thinking and compassionate skepticism about wellness and diet culture, check out Christy’s Rethinking Wellness podcast! You can also sign up to get it in your inbox every week at rethinkingwellness.substack.com.

Ask a question about diet and wellness culture, disordered-eating recovery, and the anti-diet approach for a chance to have it answered on Rethinking Wellness. You can also subscribe to the Food Psych Weekly newsletter to check out previous answers!