Well+Good head of content Faye McCray joins us to discuss 2024 wellness trends, including new options for postpartum care, AI in fitness, medical testing, wellness real estate, and more. We talk about the upsides and downsides of these trends, why Christy is skeptical of most of them, the unmet social needs they’re responding to, and how you can set boundaries around trends to avoid wellness traps.
Faye is Head of Content at Well+Good. She is an author, executive leader, journalist and attorney with a passion for brand building and storytelling. For nearly a decade, she practiced law in competitive, fast-paced environments while building her own platform as a notable freelance writer and author. Faye founded and helmed Weemagine, a website devoted to inspiring creativity in children, before leading acquisitions and engagement for a leading tax publication. During Faye’s tenure, the social media platforms increased by over 200%, video content received over 500% more views, and podcast downloads increased to almost a half a million downloads and secured multiple advertisers.
Most recently, Faye led mental health content and diverse and underrepresented audience strategies for a billion dollar publisher that hosts over 100 million monthly views. Faye led the rebrand, relaunch, and double-digit % YoY growth strategy for their mental health strategy and efforts to increase audience for the entire portfolio of brands. Faye was honored on the Cynopsis Digital <It> List for innovation and leadership in digital media.
Faye is also a notable public speaker appearing on a number of media outlets and podcasts as well as numerous conferences and events including Reuters, ViVE, Ad Week, and many more. Her bylines have been featured in Authority Magazine, Huff Post, Parade, AARP Magazine and many more. She is a graduate of Binghamton University, (B.A.), the Johns Hopkins University, (M.A., magna cum laude), and Howard University School of Law. Most importantly, Faye is a married mom of three beautiful sons, a two-year old calico cat and a six month old Bernedoodle. Find her work at wellandgood.com.
Resources and References
Christy’s latest book, The Wellness Trap: Break Free from Diet Culture, Disinformation, and Dubious Diagnoses and Find Your True Well-Being
SELF magazine’s review of The Wellness Trap
Subscribe on Substack for bonus episodes and more
Christy’s online course, Intuitive Eating Fundamentals
Transcript
Disclaimer: The below transcription is primarily rendered by AI, so errors may have occurred. The original audio file is available above.
Christy Harrison: This podcast is made possible by my paid subscribers at rethinkingwellness.substack.com. Truly paid subscriptions are what helps keep the show going. They keep the lights on, they keep me able to pay my editor, my assistant who helps manage all the moving parts that go into producing the show, and help keep me able to make the best free content I possibly can. Paid subscriptions also get you great perks like early access to every episode, bonus episodes like one I did with Faye, which will come out later this week, bonus Q&As where I answer questions just for paid subscribers, subscriber-only comment threads where you can connect with other listeners, and lots more. Just go to rethinkingwellness.substack.com to sign up. That's rethinkingwellness.substack.com.
This podcast is also brought to you by my second book, The Wellness Trap: Break Free from Diet Culture, Disinformation, and Dubious Diagnoses and Find Your True Well-Being, which is now available wherever books are sold!
I’m psyched that SELF magazine picked it as its #1 wellness book of 2023, and they had this to say about it:
“If the promises and (often unfounded) prescriptions of the wellness industry tend to leave you feeling, well, worse, The Wellness Trap by Christy Harrison belongs on your bookshelf. In her second book, Harrison—a journalist, registered dietitian, and certified intuitive eating counselor—tackles diet culture, influencer trends, and the alternative medicine practices that can end up causing more harm than their more conventional counterparts. Turning a critical eye on a multi-trillion-dollar global industry, The Wellness Trap equips readers to navigate tempting promises and claims in a way that will actually leave you feeling seen, heard, and helped.”
If you want to buy the book or learn more, just go to christyharrison.com/thewellnesstrap. That’s christyharrison.com/thewellnesstrap, or you can just go to your favorite local bookstore and ask for it there.
Now, without any further ado, here’s my conversation with Faye McCray. So Faye, welcome to the show. I'm so excited to talk with you today.
Faye McCray: Thank you. Thank you so much for having me.
Christy Harrison: Yeah, thanks for being here. I'm really excited to dive in and talk about 2024 wellness Trends. But before we get into that, would you just be able to give our listeners a little taste of who you are and what you do and sort of how you ended up working with Well and Good?
Faye McCray: Yeah, so my path to wellness was kind of a little twisty, turny. I practiced healthcare law for quite a bit of time before transitioning into journalism, but I joined Well and Good about six months ago. It was last July, the end of July, and have just been diving right into just working with our teams and really defining what it needs to be. Well,
Christy Harrison: So we talked a little bit beforehand about how I'm coming at things with a skeptical perspective, and I'm generally skeptic of wellness culture, and I tend to view most wellness trends with this sense of like, oh God, what now? Just like, ugh. But it's also kind of like a train wreck that's hard to look away from. It's this interesting feeling when I read a lot of trend roundups, but this one actually feels different in some ways. There are definitely still a few trends in it or a number of trends in it that I'm skeptical of, and we'll get into that, but I was also pleasantly surprised by some of the trends. So can you tell me a bit about how you and your team approached making this list?
Faye McCray: Yeah, I mean, it's a big deal for us at Well and Good. We spend a lot of time social listening, talking to industry sources, talking to experts, and really see what we can confidently predict will be bubbling up in the year to come. So it's not a short process at all. I think there's probably a healthy degree of skepticism even within our own teams kind of looking at these things and challenging them. The tough thing is some things will be trends that we may have feelings about, and we try to be transparent about that in our reporting.
Christy Harrison: Right. Yeah. It might be something that is just happening out in the world and you have no control over it, even if you don't want it to be.
Faye McCray: Yeah.
Christy Harrison: Can you talk a little bit more about the methodology your team used to identify these trends? I recently spoke with Jessica a Lafonte who's a former marketing executive who now critiques the marketing industry, and she has pointed out that many trends are driven by brands trying to make them trends or trend forecasters who are actually also kind of consulting for companies and things like that. I know you had an editorial vetting process for the trends, and it sounds like it was pretty involved, but I'm just curious if there was a sense of pressure ever from marketers trying to make things into trends that came up during that process and sort of how you navigated.
Faye McCray: Yeah, no, and it's so interesting. This is my first trend cycle at Welling Goods, so I definitely came in, how do we typically do this? And editorial integrity is something that's very important to our core editorial team. So it usually starts with a pitch. It starts with something that one of our editors seen out in the world, one of our writers has seen, and they bring it to the team, and we had many that kind of stopped right at the pitch process of, I don't know if this is a thing or this feels a little gimmicky, but it starts internally and that's why we wait so long to start talking about the list. Even teams outside of editorial within Low and Good don't know what's on our trends list for quite some time to their frustration often because they want to prepare, design and all those things, but we work very hard to preserve the editorial integrity of our trends list.
Christy Harrison: That's really interesting. Yeah, I saw in the methodology listed on the site that the editorial team vets at each idea for brand alignment gathers research to support the trend and interview stakeholders, including industry experts and company founders, and then there's several rounds of revisions that prioritize clear evidence, you said. So it sounds like there's a lot that goes into it. It's not just like, oh, this seems interesting, or I've seen this everywhere,
Faye McCray: Right? Yep, absolutely. Several rounds of review, several rounds of editing, and we've even had things that we've drafted in kind of mid draft and we don't think that this is where we want to go or the direction we want to go in.
Christy Harrison: And is that sort based on the editorial mission of Well and good to be more evidence-based or sort of be a home for discourse about wellness that's a little different than dominant wellness culture?
Faye McCray: Yeah, I think it could be all of the above. Sometimes it'll be something that we may even just be a little ahead of. We kind of want this to be a thing, but we don't know that it's necessarily going to be a thing just yet. There were a lot of areas in that space with the environment. I think there's a lot of things popping up in response to climate change, and there's some cool innovations happening that we want to take off or we think could be really cool, but maybe we aren't quite there yet. There's just also been things that we thought maybe this is a little more aspirational than accessible, so this may not really meet the needs of our audience. So it is a variety of things that can kind of stop a trend.
Christy Harrison: That's interesting, and it sounds like you didn't want to put your thumb on the scale too much for any trend either,
Faye McCray: Right? Yeah, for sure.
Christy Harrison: So for listeners who haven't read the piece, and we'll link to it in the show notes, but could you just give a quick overview of the 10 trends?
Faye McCray: Yeah, sure. Absolutely. So our first trend is, and this is in no particular order if you go to the site, but our first trend is around postpartum care and some cool things we're seeing happening in the fourth trimester. We have a trend related to the sauna industry, wellness and real estate, healthy eating in terms of functional foods, home fragrances, home sense. We see some great trends in the AI fitness space, barrier care for skin, hair longevity, and also some really cool smart products to medical testing.
Christy Harrison: There's so much there, and I want to get into, obviously we're not going to have time for a deep dive into all 10 of them in this episode, but I want to start looking at the bigger picture level. I know that's something that you and I both think is important to have a systemic analysis of why wellness trends catch on and what they're symptomatic of in the culture. So what gaps in the healthcare system or the social safety net or just other needs, do you see these trends as responding to
Faye McCray: Yeah, I mean, goodness. I think it's one of those things you don't always want to say the quiet part out loud, but our medical system is just so broken, and I think so many of these trends, there is a thread of people trying to fix it or respond to things because people can't get appointments with their doctors, or we're seeing some health disparities in certain area, or people aren't getting the right diagnostic test. So you see a lot of industries popping in and saying, Hey, we're going to do it on your smartphone. Or in the case of our first trend around postpartum care, we know that this is a very sensitive time for someone who's recently given birth, and we want to find some ways to meet their needs.
Christy Harrison: I feel like that, especially postpartum care is one where I think it's just so obvious. I mean, for myself now as a mom within having gone through that, but I think even before I was dimly aware of it now, I think I'm super aware of it that the healthcare system is just totally inadequate in that regard. So would love to dive a little deeper into that trend. The reporting in that piece talked about how we only get one checkup at the six week mark after giving birth, and that in 2022, the CDC reported that maternal mortality is most common in the year after a baby is born, which was interesting to me, and I didn't actually seen that before with mental illness, including overdose and suicide as leading causes, it's just like, whew. I'm curious how this trend of postpartum care is helping to address those issues, those very deep, important issues that society just has not been able to address.
Faye McCray: Yeah, I mean those statistics are just so dire and triggering. I'm also a mom. My last son, I had postpartum preeclampsia following birth, which I didn't even know was a thing, and I ended up back in the hospital about a week later for so many reasons. That period of time is just so sensitive for birthing people, and what we're seeing in this space is a lot of companies, a lot of nonprofits kind of popping up and saying, Hey, we know you need support. Whereas in the past it was, call us if you need us, and now we know you need us, and here are some ways that you can get access to support. So we're seeing Virtual care, and we're also seeing places that allow for you to go with baby in those weeks following birth to get extra support in some, it's sort of duplicating what maybe our grandparents' generation had, and that's community, people around you to support you following the birth of the baby, and it's just these great things popping up now to provide that support.
Christy Harrison: Yeah, I really feel like that's such a missing piece. I had a traumatic birth experience and a really rough recovery and complications, and I was flagged as being at risk for postpartum depression, anxiety, and given a support group through the hospital, which I was like, okay, this is promising. It's cool that they had a social worker talk to me in the hospital. They set me up with this support group, but it met once a week and everyone was busy, and it was kind of like people were in and out, and I didn't always go. And beyond that, there was really nothing. There was no extra checkups. There was no mental health screenings until my six week appointment, and I was just on my own to figure out resources and cobbled together, A-Team to help with. I mean, I thankfully already had a therapist who I worked with and was knowledgeable about postpartum stuff and found a lactation consultant who worked virtually, but still, it just didn't feel like enough, and I don't have a lot of family living nearby and family helped out for a while and came and went, but that whole first year is just so hard, and I feel like there's just not enough support around that.
And not to mention the lack of paid family leave in this country that's just once you're in it and experience it, I think it becomes clear just how necessary that really is. So I can definitely see why this is such a glaring hole that needs to be filled, and I'm grateful that private companies are stepping into that void, even though I think it really is something that society needs to address at the systemic level.
Faye McCray: Yeah, a thousand percent. I mean, your body just undergoes. It goes through a massive shift physically, emotionally, hormonally, you experienced a complete life change in having a new human under your care. I mean, there's just so much. So it's great to see solutions coming into this space. Of course, there's always more that could be done, but I love this trend so much for that reason.
Christy Harrison: Yeah, I mean, the postpartum retreats were one thing where I was like, oh my God, that sounds so amazing, but also so expensive.
Faye McCray: Oh,
Christy Harrison: And I liked that there were tech companies, like companies doing things on your phone that could be with people wherever they are. But I also think this idea of having a two week stay at a postpartum recovery center, honestly, that should be something that is covered by insurance, and that happens in a hospital or a birthing center or wherever already.
Faye McCray: And a lot of these models were based on South Korea, which has just a customary postnatal care practice where someone comes in your home and helps you out. And you're right, so much of it is very cost prohibitive. I think that's why it's great to see some of these Virtual options popping up. Face it. Sometimes you don't even have the option to take that much time off or you have other children at home. It's not always easy. So it's great to see kind of alternatives there as well.
Christy Harrison: Yeah, totally. And the idea that some people are going back to work two weeks after giving birth or less, sometimes it's just mind boggling, the lack of social support in this country. I mean, sometimes when I see stuff like this, I'm hopeful that while this is industry coming in to fill a void left by what should be a robust social safety net, that it also speaks to the situation is untenable. And even with these solutions that are sort of stop gaps to help us get by, it's becoming very obvious to a lot of people that this is hugely problematic and maybe there's something that can come of that organizing wise, legislative wise, policy wise.
Faye McCray: Yeah, a hundred percent.
Christy Harrison: So speaking of social safety net and the gaps in the healthcare system or the social safety net that these trends are addressing, what are some other ones that you think some of the other trends are responding to?
Faye McCray: Yeah, I mean, I think probably the next one that comes to mind would be the medical testing. Seeing some smart gear rise up in order to give folks these prediagnostic tools to go to their doctor with. I think I know for me personally, I had a physical scheduled and then the doctor left the practice and then I had to get another physical schedule. Then it was like six months later. And if you're experiencing anything that you want to talk to your doctor about your provider, about sometimes just going down the rabbit hole of Googling isn't the best solution, and we're seeing a lot of these smart products come up that's really transforming everyday gear and everyday wearables into these prediagnostic devices. So I think that's another one that I see a strong tie between. There was kind of an unmet need and really with serious consequences, and we see these things popping up to fill it.
Christy Harrison: Yeah, I agree. I think there's a real unmet need for access to and touch points with care providers throughout the year and not just these once yearly physicals that get pushed back or appointments with specialists that also take a year to schedule and then get rescheduled and push back and push back. And I also think that the wearables thing has always been a little bit worrisome to me, I think because I've seen so many people who struggle with disordered eating get really obsessive with their steps or they're tracking their eating or tracking their symptoms, or now it's gut health and obsessively tracking everything around that. And I think that when people get all this biometric data, it can just feel more and more overwhelming. And also there are a lot of false positives perhaps, and unnecessary anxiety that can be created if something detects a minor anomaly that the doctor isn't necessarily monitoring or involved, and something just pops on your smartphone that's like you might have such and such or high levels of whatever. And I think in some cases, doctors sort of know that there's a lot of false positives in over testing and doing a lot of excessive testing, and so they're trying to avoid putting people through that, whereas lay people might not see those downsides, those potential downsides to having all the wearables and the technology at their fingertips.
Faye McCray: Yes, absolutely. And I think that that's one, just to your point about these tools being anxiety inducing during the pandemic, my father had to get a pacemaker, and he ended up getting a smartwatch to kind of monitor his heart rate, and it became apparent to me that it was just causing him a lot of anxiety. He was constantly looking at it. So I think that there is something to be said for really knowing yourself and determining whether or not these are the right fit for you for that reason. And also just being aware too that they can't be a hundred percent diagnostic. Ultimately, you do have to get Diagnoses from your doctor, so it's so important to be able to view it with that lens as well.
Christy Harrison: Yeah, that's a really good point. And I think with marketing the way it is and things feeling like, oh, this is an exciting new development and technology and I want to be on the forefront of this, and how cool that my watch now does this or whatever, I think it's sort of easy sometimes to get swept away and the excitement of it and the newness of it rather than taking a step back and being like, I know myself, I know my tendencies. I'm not going to go down this road, which is something that I have learned to do and practice pretty consistently. And I think that's part of the overall skeptical orientation where I'm just like, okay, what is this? And I'm like, I know myself. I know that this could be just another thing to obsessively check and I don't want to put myself through that.
Faye McCray: Yeah. What's interesting about this trend in particular though, is it's incorporating this technology into things that you're already utilizing, which I'm sure there's a lot to talk about there too, but contact lenses, tampons, I mean, it's super interesting how it's sort of just integrating into things we're already accustomed to using, but now adding this layer of testing to it.
Christy Harrison: Yeah, the contact lenses felt a little more, I don't know, maybe it's because of my bias as someone who works with disordered eating who has had disordered eating and that sort of my world and the related disorder, orthorexia really the disordered obsession with wellness. And I think that that can certainly attach to something like eye health, but I don't see it happening as much. Versus the tampons was a little like, Ooh, to me. I don't know if it's partly just like, what is this thing that's going inside my body? But also, and I think it's something really great about the idea that something could give you an early warning sign of endometriosis or fibroids or check for infections or something like that, but then it could also flag potential fertility issues or whether you're showing signs of entering perimenopause. And that is, to me, a little bit sticky. Those are big things for people, and when they start to feel like they're at risk of something or maybe they have problems in those areas, I think it's so easy to fall down diet and wellness culture, rabbit holes of do this alternative thing or cut out all these foods or all kinds of misinformation out there.
Faye McCray: Yeah. Yeah, totally. And I think, again, it's probably, and I say this to myself as much as to anyone else, knowing yourself and knowing where your tendency lies for me know how. I couldn't do constant monitoring. I could not, but I think it's certainly valuable to know that these tools exist too. I mean, if you have a history of diabetes, for instance, and some of these tools can help looking at symptoms maybe passively, so you're not constantly checking what is it today? What is it the next day? This could be a value add. I would say too, the flag that typically comes up when we discuss these trends is the data, whereas the data going, who's collecting the data? So just reading in and that maybe that's the lawyer and me too, is just reading the fine print always, always knowing where this is all going to taking you.
Christy Harrison: Do you advise reading the terms and conditions for everything?
Faye McCray: I mean, yes. It's tough, right? Because they're usually so long and so small. But absolutely. I mean, all the things that need to be said are usually in those pages,
Christy Harrison: And if there's something that you really feel like you need, but the terms and conditions are basically you sign away all your data if you're using this, which I mean, for me, as someone who's very privacy focused, there still are sometimes apps in the app store where it's like, we're going to collect private data about you. But I'm like, well, I don't want that, but I need this thing for a particular use. I guess I'm going to just hold my nose and do it. But it's not great.
Faye McCray: There are risks and benefits of almost anything, so it's always important to just weigh those.
Christy Harrison: And I like what you said about knowing yourself too and knowing that if you do have tendencies towards becoming obsessive about something or having it trigger disordered eating or disordered relationship with wellness, maybe it's best to stay away from that stuff in the first place. Even if it's tricky, if it is a trend, then people around you're doing it, then it's like it's popular. It's going to be advertised a lot. Cool. People on Instagram are talking about it. There's this whole machinery that makes you feel pulled in.
Faye McCray: Yeah, yeah, for sure. For sure. It is tough, and I mean, there's so many layers there and so many things that factor in, but I think it's always kind of rooted in those honest conversations about where your boundaries are,
Christy Harrison: For sure. I think another one that I felt raised some red flags for me in that area was AI and fitness. It makes total sense that that's a trend because AI is taking over everything. It's revolutionizing a lot of things. It is definitely reducing the amount of labor that goes into a lot of processes and stuff like that. But the idea of a bot giving personalized workout recommendations just feels to me sort of instinctually like a bad idea for anyone with a disordered relationship to food and movement, like people who are prone to over exercise and things like that, because there's certainly problems with live human personal trainers, but at least they might have a chance of spotting signs of overexercise or orthorexia or other forms of disordered eating. Of course, that's hit or miss because many trainers have disordered relationships with food and fitness themselves, so it's sometimes exacerbating things, but at least there's a chance at least you're with someone where there's sort of a more Responsive human element to it.
Whereas with these bots, it's like, are they trained to flag these things or could they just give advice that makes things worse, that actually takes someone's disordered eating or over exercise in a really dangerous direction, and then to learn. Some of them are giving food advice too that just feels like potentially a recipe for disaster for people who are already struggling with disordered eating or have any sort of tendency for it. And then when you layer on to genetic information, which some of these companies are doing, I just feel like that's the genetic information that those companies spit out causes so many people to worry about their risks unnecessarily and things that are probably never going to come to pass in their health profile. So yeah, I'm just curious how you think about navigating that for people who are in that place.
Faye McCray: Yeah, I think, again, I think it's one of those things in some ways I saw a lot of value here, and that fitness ai, for example, is like $90 a year for personalized fitness and trainer, whereas typically for a trainer, a personal trainer in person, you end up paying more than that per month likely. So I saw cost benefits there as well for those of us that maybe have some predispositions in our lineage. For instance, I've a lot of history of heart disease in my family. I know some folks have diabetes in their family. Are there ways that some of these fitness apps or the fitness AI can take into account those things and help make healthy lifestyle choices as a result of those things? There are benefits there. I think it always gets tricky when it's just kind of weight loss for the sake of weight loss. And also if you historically have a tricky relationship with fitness and diet, it's probably one of those things you want to think twice about just because to your point, you lose a little bit of that human element when a lot of these things really do impact all sorts of layers, emotional, mental health and wellness. So similarly to the medical testing, you just want to be respectful of your own boundaries, obviously consult the support of a mental health professional, but some of these trends just aren't for everyone.
Christy Harrison: Yeah, I think that's a really helpful thing. And one of the reasons I wanted to talk about these trends here, I think helping people know what's coming and what they're going to see a lot of and what might feel like suddenly everybody's doing it and they're feeling compelled to do it. It just helps to pre-think through those issues and think about what is actually in line with my values, my wellbeing, how I want to take care of myself, my needs as an individual.
Faye McCray: Yeah, a hundred percent.
Christy Harrison: I think on the subject of the need that a lot of these trends meet is the need for time and convenience in this stage of capitalism where we're being asked to work just ridiculous hours and don't actually have time for things like doctor's appointments or postpartum care or the family leave for that or whatever. There's this sort of late capitalist marketplace approach to things in a way that's like, yeah, having convenience, having things that make it easier for you to do, say physical activity without having to leave your home or something like that. That is beneficial in a sense when we're living in this situation that we're in. But I do think it's really, people are under so much pressure and have so little time. So the convenience aspect of it I think is interesting too, that a lot of these trends are really filling that need of how can things be convenient and quick and easy.
Faye McCray: Yeah, a hundred percent. And I think too, what we saw coming out the pandemic too, as people were making their home ster oasis, and I think a thread that we see a lot of these trends too is just more reasons to stay home and make your home Cozy and comfortable and exactly the way that you want it. And also could too also speak to how much we're all working. And at the end of the day, we just want to be able to decompress and some of these things are popping up also to kind of make your home a place of respite
Christy Harrison: Related to that, I thought it was interesting that the wellness real estate trend was the number one trend for 2024. I don't know if you ranked them in any way where it's like that's kind of the biggest one, or if it was just a random order.
Faye McCray: Yeah, no, it's just a random order on the site. Yeah.
Christy Harrison: Got it. Got it. But it's interesting. I have been seeing that mentioned for a few years now, and it seems like it's a trend that's that's been growing in the hotel space and hospitality space for a while, but now it's starting to come to people's actual homes, and the definition that's given in the piece is homes that are proactively designed and built to support the holistic health of their residents. And I think there's something really nice about that, especially as someone who works from home and spends most of her time at home. I definitely get being concerned about things like air quality and water quality and wanting to have an efficient HVAC system, retrofitting low-income housing and stuff. All of that I think is great. And I wonder about this idea of spa-like amenities. I would love to have a cold plunge pool or a dedicated relaxation room in my house, but it also feels very out of reach for me and for most people, I think. And this sort of aspirational, unattainable aesthetic of wellness, I feel like is starting to creep into home design in that way where it's like it's something that people want but can't attain. And I wonder if longing for that kind of reach life is really good for us.
Faye McCray: What's so funny, I think we talked about this at the top of the hour, is that this is one of those trends that we debated a lot because when it was initially pitched, my first thought is, who could do this? How much does this cost? Where is this happening? And the push was kind of, a lot of times you see these things start as cost prohibitive, and then ultimately we see modifications making their way kind of down the line in a way that feels more accessible for your everyday person. It's happening. So we have to figure out a way to talk about it, but also be honest about how it's manifesting. But yeah, I mean, so much of it you read about and you're like, yes, I would love this. I would love these wellness spaces in my community or health centers walkable from where I live. I mean, there's value in it for so many different reasons. I mean, we're seeing things like water quality being taken into account. I mean, just all sorts of things that everyone should have access to in this trend. And this is one of those things that I'm hoping becomes more accessible because it just feels like such a need that is missing just in being considered in where we live.
Christy Harrison: And I do think it makes sense, this idea of things start out as high-end only accessible to very few, but become popularized and more accessible to greater numbers of people over time. And that could be definitely the direction this goes. And I think the idea that retrofitting low-income housing, there's already government funding for that, and a program to encourage that is promising that it could potentially reach everyone or larger swaths of the population anyway.
Faye McCray: Yeah. Yeah, absolutely.
Christy Harrison: Speaking of this trickle-down effect of the high end stuff becoming more mainstream, the idea of body composition scanning and biometrics and wearables and things that read all this data. At the high end of that trend, there's medical testing powered fitness, nutrition and lifestyle coaching companies that you report on where there's medical spas. And this sort of relates to the wellness real estate trend too, in that there's medical spas sometimes in the lobby of these buildings or IV infusion centers and things like that. And there's personalized fitness and nutrition and lifestyle coaching companies that are not just an app, but a whole experience and a whole holistic program that people will join. And there's something again nice about that, that people could have that maybe this trend at the high end could trickle down to people who need it. And I just don't know how great it is in some ways that IV infusions, for example, are becoming more and more mainstream and accessible because that's something where there's just not a lot of good evidence behind it, and there's certain things that might make some people feel better, but it's really, in my understanding, kind of an unregulated space and people are potentially getting really hurt by it, and there's a lot of risks involved.
So I think some of the ideas of the high-end stuff trickling down is disconcerting to me, I guess.
Faye McCray: Yeah, I think there are things that are relatively air quality, water quality lighting, just things that we know have a tangible impact on health, and we want to, I'd love to see those things have to be available at a wider scale, but then you're right, there are these other things that seem kind of more vanity based and not as well researched. And those are the things I think like anything we view with a healthy degree of skepticism. And also too as journalists at Well and Good always do your research
Christy Harrison: And to someone who is seeing that stuff crop up or maybe has that because seen IV infusion centers now just walking around certain neighborhoods and LA there's a bunch of 'em and New York, they're popping up here and there too. If someone is feeling tempted to do that sort of thing. Do you have any thoughts on how they can maintain that skepticism and approach it in a way that is self-caring?
Faye McCray: Yeah. I mean, again, I think always being mindful of your boundaries, but also just doing your research and doing your homework. And for me, before my provider moved, as I mentioned, had a really fantastic relationship with my doctor and I felt comfortable asking her about anything that I was considering or things that were different even when it came to my children. So have those folks that you trust too, because there is something to be said for experts and people who have worked in these spaces and hold the degrees and have done the studying in these areas. And you want to give credence to that as well, because also, I mean, there's other things to factor in too. If you have any preexisting conditions, how does certain things impact you differently than they may impact someone that doesn't have a condition? So you just want to be mindful of all of those layers before diving into any new health or wellness routine.
Christy Harrison: Yeah, that's so important. One thing I'm asking all my guests, because this podcast is called Rethinking Wellness, is how are you rethinking or have you rethought wellness in light of your work, whether it's your work reporting on these trends, just your work with well and good in general, or as a journalist covering this area in general?
Faye McCray: Yeah. Oh, that's such a great question and I love it. I feel like there's so much to be said about that, particularly even as a woman of color. I think so much of wellness has been inaccessible. You kind of conjure up particular image in your mind. You think of someone maybe drinking a green juice like on a yoga mat with tons of disposable income. There's just kind of these images that you conjure up when you think of wellness. And I think that wellness looks different. Sometimes it's messy, it looks different for different people. It inhabits different cultural customs and competencies. I mean, there's so many things that you can think about, and I think for us at well and good, it's so important to center autonomy and folks own path. There's no one size fits all solution here. You should be able to pursue things that work for you without stigma, without shame. We all approach these things from different vantage points. So for me, it's really centering that personalization and autonomy and how folks approach wellness. And again, just shaking off that urge to judge yourself and others on that path.
Christy Harrison: Yeah, that's helpful advice. Thank you. Well, thank you so much for everything you shared. This was really wonderful, and I'd love to hop over to do a little bonus interview for our paid subscribers. But before we do that, can you just let people know where they can find you and learn more about your work and read this piece about the trends?
Faye McCray: Sure. So you can visit us at wellandgood.com where you can see all of our trends, and you can read all of these fantastic pieces by a journalist at Well + Good. And you can also visit us on our socials at @iamwellandgood.
Christy Harrison: Awesome. We'll put links to that in the show notes as well so people can find it. Thank you so much, Faye. It's a pleasure talking with you, and I'll look forward to continuing the conversation.
Faye McCray: Yeah, thank you, Christy.
Christy Harrison: So that is our show. Thanks so much to our amazing guest for being here and to you for tuning in. If you've enjoyed this conversation, I'd be so grateful If you could take a moment to subscribe, rate, and review the podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you're listening. You can also support the show by becoming a paid subscriber for just a few bucks a month. With a paid subscription, you unlock great perks like bonus episodes, subscriber-only Q&As, early access to regular episodes, and much more. Sign up now at rethinkingwellness.substack.com. That's rethinkingwellness.substack.com. Got burning questions about wellness trends, diet fads, or anything else we cover on this show? Send them my way at christyharrison.com/questions for a chance to have them answered in the Rethinking Wellness Newsletter or on a future podcast episode.
This episode was brought to you by my new book, The Wellness Trap: Break Free from Diet Culture, Disinformation, and Dubious Diagnoses and Find Your True Well-Being, which is now available wherever books are sold. Just go to christyharrison.com/thewellnesstrap to learn more and buy the book or just go into your favorite local bookstore and ask for it there.
If you're looking to heal your relationship with food and break free from diet and wellness culture, I'd love for you to check out my online course, Intuitive Eating Fundamentals. Learn more and enroll now at christyharrison.com/course. That's christyharrison.com/course.
Rethinking Wellness is executive produced and hosted by me, Christy Harrison. Mike Lalonde is our audio editor and sound engineer and administrative support is provided by Julianne Wotasik and her team at A-Team Virtual. Our album art is by Tara Jacoby, and our theme song is written and performed by Carolyn Pennypacker Riggs. Thanks again for listening. Take care.
A Critical Look at 2024 Wellness Trends with Faye McCray