A review by jiujensu
Gospel of Wellness by Rina Raphael, Rina Raphael

informative medium-paced

5.0

This one definitely will go with nutrition and wellness books I recommend. Excellent info and wellness debunking. She gave the supplement industry and pseudoscience thre beating they deserve. Also discussed is the meaning we ascribe to fitness and wellness and how it's used to control things when other things in life are so out of control. She didn't leave out the systemic problems and our American obsession with individualism over the more beneficial community. It was a great nuanced treatment of the subject that everyone should read. 

A few quotes from the book - this first one I love:

"It's not that these people aren't smart. It's that they weren't properly trained to understand the scientific process and how to be critical thinkers. "If we give everybody a much more solid understanding of how data gets collected and what's good methodology, what's cherry-picking. . . they would be a little more adept at recognizing when they're being manipulated or when something being reported might not reflect reality, " says Kirshenbaum, "because it's very easy to fall for something, especially if you want to believe it.""

"A quarter of American women use fitness trackers. But for all the buzz, about half the users will tire of their shiny new tech toy and shove it into a drawer within six months. ... "This occurs because measurement can undermine intrinsic motivation," reads the study. "By drawing attention to output, measurement can make enjoyable activities feel more like work, which reduces their enjoyment.""

"People also overestimate just how much they think they know in science. Kirshenbaum points to the drama over genetically modified foods that have parents clutching their pearl onions. She co-directed a national survey that revealed that despitefears over demonized GMOs, 45 percent of American adults did not even know that all food contains DNA. "That's wild to me," says Kirshenbaum."