{"id":13883,"date":"2025-04-07T17:00:27","date_gmt":"2025-04-07T10:00:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/loudhdtv.com\/?p=13883"},"modified":"2025-04-07T17:00:27","modified_gmt":"2025-04-07T10:00:27","slug":"the-wellness-industry-trap-heres-what-real-wellness-could-look-like","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/loudhdtv.com\/?p=13883","title":{"rendered":"The Wellness Industry Trap\u2014Here\u2019s What Real Wellness Could Look Like"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-3711241968723425\"\r\n     crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p class=\"\" data-start=\"485\" data-end=\"540\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-316620 aligncenter lazyload\" src=\"https:\/\/sp-ao.shortpixel.ai\/client\/to_webp,q_glossy,ret_img,w_692,h_462\/https:\/\/fitbottomedgirls.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/shutterstock_1365217745-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"692\" height=\"462\"\/><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-316620 aligncenter lazyload\" src=\"https:\/\/fitbottomedgirls.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/shutterstock_1365217745-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"692\" height=\"462\" srcset=\"https:\/\/fitbottomedgirls.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/shutterstock_1365217745-scaled.jpg 2560w, https:\/\/fitbottomedgirls.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/shutterstock_1365217745-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/fitbottomedgirls.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/shutterstock_1365217745-1024x684.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/fitbottomedgirls.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/shutterstock_1365217745-768x513.jpg 768w, https:\/\/fitbottomedgirls.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/shutterstock_1365217745-1536x1025.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/fitbottomedgirls.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/shutterstock_1365217745-2048x1367.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/fitbottomedgirls.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/shutterstock_1365217745-150x100.jpg 150w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 692px) 100vw, 692px\"\/>When you hear the word <em data-start=\"508\" data-end=\"518\">wellness<\/em>, what do you picture?<\/p>\n<p class=\"\" data-start=\"542\" data-end=\"709\">Yoga pants and green juice? Organic produce? High-end essential oils and crystals? A trendy retreat in the mountains? A perfectly curated morning routine on Instagram?<\/p>\n<p class=\"\" data-start=\"711\" data-end=\"945\">For many women\u2014especially those of us navigating midlife\u2014this is what wellness has been sold to us as: sleek, expensive, aspirational, and always just out of reach unless we\u2019re willing to buy, hustle, or shrink ourselves to get there.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\" data-start=\"947\" data-end=\"997\">But the truth? This version of wellness is a trap.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\" data-start=\"999\" data-end=\"1318\">In today\u2019s $4.5 <strong data-start=\"1015\" data-end=\"1027\">trillion<\/strong> wellness industry, we\u2019re told that if we just drink the right supplements, follow the right diet, wear the right clothes, and stick to the right routine, we\u2019ll finally arrive at feeling whole, happy, and healthy. But what we\u2019re really being sold is a never-ending loop of <em data-start=\"1300\" data-end=\"1316\">not-enoughness<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\" data-start=\"1320\" data-end=\"1509\">Especially for midlife women, the Industrial Wellness Complex has zeroed in on our insecurities\u2014aging skin, changing bodies, emotional overwhelm\u2014and packaged them into problems to be fixed.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\" data-start=\"1511\" data-end=\"1567\">In this essay, we\u2019re calling bullshit on that narrative.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\" data-start=\"1569\" data-end=\"1841\">We\u2019re exploring how the modern wellness industry has commodified self-care, numbed our emotional health, and trained us to believe we are a constant project. And we\u2019re asking the deeper question: <strong data-start=\"1765\" data-end=\"1841\">What if true wellness isn\u2019t something you buy\u2014but something you reclaim?<\/strong><\/p>\n<h2 data-start=\"1569\" data-end=\"1841\">How We Got Here<\/h2>\n<p>Somewhere along the way, our conception of wellness became more shallow and commodified.<\/p>\n<p>The wellness industrial complex has always been linked with healthy food and beverages, curated attire, and access to exclusive retreats and spas.These are the easy, clean, Instagrammable parts of what wellness can bring to our lives.<\/p>\n<h4>Wellness, as it\u2019s commonly accepted, is an active, ongoing pursuit that holds out the promise of an ideal. And that ideal can be yours\u2014<em data-start=\"2333\" data-end=\"2337\">if<\/em> you spend the right amount of money and use the right products.<\/h4>\n<p>The dark side? This model requires us to stay in a constant state of improvement. Who we are right now is never enough. There\u2019s always something to fix.<\/p>\n<p>Wellness has been reduced to a commodity\u2014something you can buy. A problem that always needs a solution, preferably in the form of a high-end artisanal product. And more often than not, it\u2019s reduced to just physical wellness: the endless chase to rock a bikini, lose the last ten pounds, or believe that juice cleanses will ward off disease.<\/p>\n<h2>Self-Love Is Bad for Business<\/h2>\n<p class=\"\" data-start=\"2939\" data-end=\"3023\">Here\u2019s the thing: the wellness industrial complex doesn\u2019t want you to love yourself.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\" data-start=\"3025\" data-end=\"3077\">If we all suddenly did, the industry would collapse.<\/p>\n<p>It doesn\u2019t want you to accept your body shape, your skin tone, your sexuality, or your age. As Aubrey Gordon, co-host of the podcast <em data-start=\"3212\" data-end=\"3231\">Maintenance Phase<\/em>, puts it: \u201cYou\u2019re supposed to want to be thinner, younger, whiter, and blonder.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>And now? Midlife has become the newest battleground. It\u2019s like the wellness industry suddenly realized women over 50 exist\u2014and they have money to spend. So where do they want us to invest that money?<\/p>\n<p>In procedures, products, and potions that promise to erase our age.<\/p>\n<h2>What We\u2019re Losing in the Process<\/h2>\n<p>When we hyper-focus on the physical, we let our mental and emotional wellness atrophy.<\/p>\n<p>Many of us don\u2019t know what it feels like to be <em data-start=\"3763\" data-end=\"3774\">ourselves<\/em> anymore. We numb with information, with content, with consumption. We don\u2019t know what rest really looks like. And we\u2019re not great at naming our emotions.<\/p>\n<p>A study led by Bren\u00e9 Brown found that most adults can only identify three emotions: happiness, sadness, and anger. (Meanwhile, researcher Marc Brackett, Ph.D., author of <em data-start=\"4101\" data-end=\"4121\">Permission to Feel<\/em>, says there are at least 144.)<\/p>\n<p class=\"\" data-start=\"4154\" data-end=\"4324\">Because we lack emotional support\u2014both personally and systemically\u2014we turn to coping mechanisms: alcohol, drugs, shopping, binge-watching. Not to heal, but to disconnect.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\" data-start=\"4326\" data-end=\"4488\">Ironically, wellness itself can become a form of numbing. We get fixated on perfection. We treat ourselves like a project. We forget how to offer ourselves grace.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\" data-start=\"4490\" data-end=\"4629\">And it sometimes seems that\u2019s exactly where the wellness industry wants us: zoned out on our couches, endlessly buying our way to \u201cbetter.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"\" data-start=\"4631\" data-end=\"4757\">That way, we\u2019re less likely to notice the gutting of women\u2019s healthcare, or the deep inequality in access to wellness support.<\/p>\n<h2>What If We Flipped the Script?<\/h2>\n<p class=\"\" data-start=\"4800\" data-end=\"4847\">What if we turned this whole thing on its head?<\/p>\n<p class=\"\" data-start=\"4849\" data-end=\"4967\">What if wellness wasn\u2019t something handed down to us by brands and influencers\u2014but something created <em data-start=\"4949\" data-end=\"4953\">by<\/em> us, <em data-start=\"4958\" data-end=\"4963\">for<\/em> us?<\/p>\n<p class=\"\" data-start=\"4969\" data-end=\"4982\">Imagine that.<\/p>\n<p>We could start by accepting ourselves. Just as we are. Think of the time, energy, and money we\u2019d save if we stopped chasing impossible standards.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\" data-start=\"5131\" data-end=\"5359\">We could create space to focus on our emotional and mental well-being, not just our physical form. We could shift from individual responsibility to collective care. We could build wellness communities that are accessible to all.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\" data-start=\"5361\" data-end=\"5461\">We\u2019d remember that self-worth has nothing to do with the number on a scale or the size of our pants.<\/p>\n<h2>I\u2019m 55. I\u2019m divorced. I\u2019m sober. I\u2019m not supposed to love myself. But, I do.<\/h2>\n<p>I\u2019m supposed to want to change my appearance. To regain my youth. To get rid of the laugh lines and the furrowed brow. I\u2019m supposed to want surgery to \u201clook better.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>But I don\u2019t. I like who I am.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\" data-start=\"5744\" data-end=\"6017\">I\u2019ve watched brilliant, beautiful women beat themselves up for missing a day on their fitness calendar or failing to hold themselves to a rigid intermittent fasting schedule. I\u2019ve seen us blindly follow gurus and influencers instead of checking in with ourselves and asking what we <em data-start=\"6003\" data-end=\"6011\">really<\/em> need.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\" data-start=\"6019\" data-end=\"6054\">One thing we\u2019re rarely asked to do?<\/p>\n<p class=\"\" data-start=\"6056\" data-end=\"6103\">Slow down. And remember who we already are.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"6056\" data-end=\"6103\"><strong>Let\u2019s do that instead. You with me? <\/strong><em>\u2014Krysty<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-3711241968723425\"\r\n     crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/fitbottomedgirls.com\/2025\/04\/the-wellness-industry-trap\/\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>When you hear the word wellness, what do you picture? Yoga pants and green juice? Organic produce? High-end essential oils and crystals? A trendy retreat in the mountains? A perfectly curated morning routine on Instagram? For many women\u2014especially those of us navigating midlife\u2014this is what wellness has been sold to us as: sleek, expensive, aspirational, &hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13883","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fitness"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/loudhdtv.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13883","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/loudhdtv.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/loudhdtv.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/loudhdtv.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/loudhdtv.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=13883"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/loudhdtv.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13883\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/loudhdtv.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=13883"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/loudhdtv.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=13883"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/loudhdtv.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=13883"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}