A deeply researched lively and personal exploration of the multi-billion dollar wellness
industry -- about why women are feeling so un-well and how this trend has shaped our thinking
about health and self-care. Peloton. Pilates. Biohacking. Colonics. Ashwagandha. Today the
wellness industry is a $3.7 trillion dollar behemoth that touches us all. In this timely and
clear-eyed book journalist Amy Larocca peels back the layers behind the movement and reckons
with its promises and profits. How did we get here and how did the idea of wellness become
integrated with women's lives? And how did we end up spending so much money on products that
may not work at all? Amy Larocca takes readers into the communities that swear by their
activated charcoal toothpaste and green juice enemas explaining what each of these practices
really are—and what the science says. Larocca holds a magnifying glass to alternative medicine
and nouveau lifestyle prescriptions -- and tries a lot herself along the way -- ultimately
delivering an assessment of how the wellness industry embodies our (gendered class-based
racialized) perceptions of care and self-improvement and how it preys upon our unshakeable
fear of the unknown. She traces the history of how the beauty and fashion industries has
peddled snake oil to women for decades—and why we keep coming back for more. A clear-eyed and
honest portrait of the weird world of wellness How to Be Well lays bare the ways in which the
simple notion of caring for oneself has become a seriously big business.
