Fresh Take: Amy Larocca, HOW TO BE WELL

What Fresh Hell: Laughing in the Face of Motherhood | Parenting Tips From Funny Moms

What Fresh Hell: Laughing in the Face of Motherhood

Kids & Family, Comedy, Parenting

4.8 • 1K Ratings

🗓️ 8 August 2025

⏱️ 37 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Margaret and Amy talk with award-winning journalist and author Amy Larocca, whose new book HOW TO BE WELL takes a deeply researched look at the trillion-dollar wellness industry. From supplements to concierge doctors to SoulCycle-as-religion, Larocca exposes how much of modern “self-care” is really about chasing youth, thinness, and unattainable perfection under a new label: wellness. We cover: The real reason “wellness” exploded—and how it's really just rebranded beauty, fitness, and weight loss Why GLP-1 drugs (like Ozempic and Wegovy) are shifting the cultural conversation on body image How women seeking medical care are often underserved, misdiagnosed, or dismissed—and driven toward alternative wellness spaces as a result Why so much wellness messaging is about “getting back to yourself” The role of class, whiteness, and marketing in wellness culture How to protect the next generation—especially our daughters—from internalizing toxic messages about beauty and body image Here's where you can find Amy Larocca: www.amylarocca.com @amylaroccaauthor on IG Buy HOW TO BE WELL: https://bookshop.org/a/12099/9780525655534 We love the sponsors that make this show possible! You can always find all the special deals and codes for all our current sponsors on our website: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.whatfreshhellpodcast.com/p/promo-codes/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ mom friends, funny moms, parenting advice, parenting experts, parenting tips, mothers, families, parenting skills, parenting strategies, parenting styles, busy moms, self-help for moms, manage kid’s behavior, teenager, tween, child development, family activities, family fun, parent child relationship, decluttering, kid-friendly, midlife women, healthcare, healthcare system, women's health, wellness, wellness industry, healthcare industry, alternative medicine Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello, everyone, and welcome to Fresh Take from What Fresh Hell Laughing in the Face of Motherhood.
0:06.7	This is Margaret. And this is Amy. Today we're talking to another Amy, Amy LaRaca. She is an award-winning
0:13.0	journalist who spent 20 years working at New York Magazine as both fashion director and editor at
0:18.8	large. Amy's writing has appeared in the New York Times,
0:21.9	Vogue, Town and Country, and the London Review of Books, among others. She lives with her family
0:27.3	in New York and North London. Today we'll be talking about her fascinating new book,
0:33.5	How to Be Well, navigating our self-care epidemic one dubious cure at a time. Welcome, Amy.
0:40.9	Thank you so much for having me. I'm really happy to be here. So let's set the table of what we're
0:44.7	talking about. The wellness industry is worth $6.8 trillion. Yeah, the last time I checked. But I do these interviews and I'm always like,
0:55.8	God, should I check this morning because it gets bigger every single day? What does that include?
1:00.7	That includes spas, the beauty industry that has largely rebranded itself as wellness,
1:08.3	travel destination wellness, like, you know, going on a wellness vacation,
1:12.9	gyms, boutique fitness classes.
1:16.0	So it really, it's a huge thing.
1:17.8	And then I think probably as you've noticed, there's nothing that won't slap wellness on
1:22.8	its marketing.
1:24.7	Right.
1:25.1	Like checking account, like wellness checking out.
1:44.3	You know, like there's, it's just on it's on everything. Like I've seen, I've seen the word on everything. I feel like wellness. Tell me if this is right. Used to be called the beauty industry. Yeah. I remember my sister wrote a piece when she was interning in college a long time ago. I won't say how long ago to not get in trouble with my sister.
1:51.2	And it was all about kind of investigating, like, magazines and how the beauty industry was paying for the ads. And then they were featured.
1:52.8	And is that right?
1:54.2	The beauty industry has become kind of the wellness industry.
	...

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