Reviews - The Wellness Trap: Break Free from Diet Culture, Disinformation, and Dubious Diagnoses and Find Your True Well-Being

205 reviews for:

The Wellness Trap: Break Free from Diet Culture, Disinformation, and Dubious Diagnoses and Find Your True Well-Being

Christy Harrison

3.9 AVERAGE

lilymouse's review against another edition

4.0

emotional hopeful informative reflective medium-paced

kindall's review

4.0

informative medium-paced

maddox22's review

4.0

informative reflective fast-paced

creativerunnings's review against another edition

5.0

fast-paced

This book is a critical examination of the wellness world. The author had me from the first few sentences, when Harrison listed a number of ailments that almost exclusively apply to me as well. I think as chronic illness warriors we've all been down the wellness rabbit hole the author reviews. There's a real tradeoff between the usefulness of alternative treatments and their absolute quackery, mostly with the goal of making money off of suffering and desperate patients. I think most of us have been down this path and have, over the years, drawn a line for ourselves somewhere in that vast, almost too large to survey, arena.

I read some of the reviews for this book online and was shocked to see so much criticism. The impression to some readers seems to be that the author throws the entire industry under the bus. I've seen similar reactions to other books, for example Rina Raphael's "The Gospel of Wellness". I don't think the authors of books like these are trying to paint a black-and-white picture, on the contrary, I think these books intend to lead the reader to ask questions when exposed to new wellness treatments, to take their "gospel" with a grain of salt, and to not get lost in something that lends itself all too easily to a cult-like following. The author does mention a big lobbying contingent, and I wonder if it is the source of some of those reviews.

Personally, I'm super grateful to have access to a functional doctor, but I've chosen this person based on the fact that they're operating on a scientific, but more personalized, less invalidating level. I have dug through supplements to get at the few that have a benefit (they exist!). I'm super skeptical about the things that are too miraculous to be true.
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This is a great read for those that have spent years sorting out the wellness world to get at its benefits. Well done, Christy Harrison!!