The Wellness Grift✨
don't be so open-minded that your brain falls out
I have been in the food and wellness circles of Southern California for decades. You name the trend, and I promise I’ve seen it here on the frontlines. Sound bath at the Integratron? You know it. Watched people fill their shoes with copper? Obviously. Yoga class taught by the daughter of a “longevity expert” and the physician from Biosphere 2? Naturally. The same goofiness extends to food. I have seen all kinds of trends come and go from goji berries to cricket flour. But do you know what’s always been in fashion in these circles? Being anti-science. People are wringing their hands lately about the food and wellness influencer to the anti-science/alt-right pipeline as if this is a new thing. It’s not. The internet has just made this sort of magical thinking so much worse. What used to be whispered about in drum circles is now monetized all over social media. It’s up to us to make this nonsense less profitable.
When I worked at Whole Foods over a decade ago, a woman came in looking for colloidal silver. As I walked her over to the product, she mentioned that her diabetic mother had just had her foot amputated and wanted to use the colloidal silver to replace the antibiotics the doctor had put her on. I stopped in my tracks and did my best to talk her off the ledge. I really didn’t want her to kill her mom. I had to do this constantly with people looking for apricot seeds to cure their cancer, using topical clove oil to numb what was always a serious infection, and so much more. Every time Dr. Oz mentioned a new supplement on his show like green coffee berry extract, hordes of people would descend on our store and wipe us out. It was impossible to keep whatever product he was hawking on our shelves. Since then, food and wellness influencers have picked up where Dr. Oz left off and spread these wild claims farther than any co-op bulletin board ever could.
We have let influencers make insane claims for a decade but suddenly we’re wondering why everyone sees reality as negotiable. RFK Jr. and Vani Hari are not outliers in this space, the people who work on being factually accurate are. Who you listen to matters. The first time someone you follow says something insane, that’s the time to move along. When my book was published in 2014, raw veganism was also very popular. As my social media accounts were growing, so were the accounts of people like Kristina Carrillo-Bucaram, aka FullyRawKristina. We had some friends in common at the time so I kept an eye on her since she was absolutely dusting me with her follower count. I didn’t understand how such a seemingly lovely lady had no problem spouting anti-science, anti-common-sense rhetoric and why her millions of followers were eating it up. From claiming her raw diet changed her eye color to insisting her body was too clean for anesthesia during her wisdom teeth removal, her brazen statements got her a book deal and more brand deals than most people could dream of. Why wasn’t her precarious relationship with the truth a deal breaker for people? It was for me.
Over the summer, I was driving past the Erewhon in Culver City and saw an insane amount of people lined up to get inside. I thought they had to be giving their famous $25 smoothies out for free or something but alas, it was so much dumber. People were lined up to meet and get their books signed by wellness grifter extraordinaire Anthony William, aka The Medical Medium. This man is the reason people started drinking celery juice every morning about 7 years ago. He claims this juice will seemingly cure whatever ails you. He contends that celery juice contains sodium cluster salts (roll eyes here) that “will begin to kill off pathogens like viruses such as Epstein-Barr and Shingles, as well as bacteria such as Streptococcus inside the body right away” when you drink it according to his protocol. His evidence? Well, a spirit told him. No really, that’s why medium is in his name. Before you think I’m exaggerating, this is directly from his website:
“Anthony was born with the unique ability to converse with the Spirit of Compassion, who provides him with extraordinarily advanced healing medical information that’s far ahead of its time. Since age four, Anthony has been using his gift to see into people’s conditions and tell them and their doctors how to recover their health…Anthony now dedicates much of his time and energy to listening to Spirit of Compassion’s information and placing it into books so everybody can have an opportunity to heal.”
Instead of getting pushback for these wackadoo beliefs and dangerous advice, William has made millions from his bestselling books, supplements, and brand partnerships with everyone from Erewhon to Café Gratitude. He’s been featured in Vogue, Vanity Fair, Good Morning America, InStyle, and everywhere in between. It’s fucking ridiculous. Why are we so afraid of calling these people crazy? They aren’t afraid of embarrassing themselves in public like this so we shouldn’t be afraid of telling them how stupid they sound. It’s not a difference of opinion, they’re in a different reality altogether. Our silence is helping them radicalize people every day. It’s bad for society. We can’t be so open minded that our brains fall out.
It is no surprise that the anti vax movement and science-deniers are comfortable among the crunchy granola types as much as they are among the doomsday preppers. Both groups require you to suspend your critical thinking skills, trust the vibes, and be scared of everything. We have to push back. I love my hippie people but we can do so much better. Every time you follow an account or personality online, you are legitimizing their views. It doesn’t matter if you only agree that Red 40 doesn’t belong in our food chain. Nobody can tell the difference between you and the true believers. Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) is just as dangerous as every other anti-science, anti-intellectual movement out there right now. Who cares if they’re occasionally right? So is a broken clock. Find a less insane person to support because your presence in their follower count is making them money and giving them power. Full stop. Take a critical lens to your own beliefs and make sure they are rooted in good, modern science and aren’t based on hearsay from people screaming about toxins and chemicals. These people will say anything to get views, money, and power. It’s high time we call them out. It’s what the Spirit of Compassion would want.
Tomorrow, paid subscribers are getting a recipe for a base that you can twist and turn into a thousand different dishes. Plus you can store it right in the freezer for months. You deserve some quick and satisfying dinners without much thought. Lucky for you, that’s what’s on the menu here until the new year. Not on the list? Baby, please fix that.
Next week, we’ll dive into big changes happening in the food system right now and what that means for dinner. Have your own hippie nonsense story? Love the Integratron? Want me to drop more LA lore? Let me know in the comments!
xoxo,
Michelle
Preach, Michelle! If you or fellow Pot Heads aren't aware of this SCIENCE-based newsletter from McGill University in Montreal, it's also chock full of reports that rip apart the bizarro food and health crazes. Check out https://www.mcgill.ca/oss/articles-by-author/Joe%20Schwarcz%20PhD?eid=bb2a562160c08c514219cafd1a8a7e2e
What a kind gesture from Patrick! I guess it shows what sort of readers you have.