The Gospel of Wellness

Gyms, Gurus, Goop, and the False Promise of Self-Care

“In The Gospel of Wellness, Raphael articulates why women go on yoga retreats, start cleanses, and think we can only feed our kids organic, from scratch meals: because our bodies haven't mattered to male-dominated, mainstream medicine, and we've been told that taking ‘personal responsibility’ is the answer. Raphael debunks the mythology and marketing of wellness culture with humor and skill, but always holds space for the very real questions and struggles that drive us to detox in the first place. A smart, reassuring read that you'll want to keep on hand for the next time Instagram tries to convince you that this supplement or that expensive new workout trend is The One.”
―Virginia Sole-Smith, author of The Eating Instinct: Food Culture, Body Image and Guilt in America

"This groundbreaking book explores something I’ve always suspected: that wellness harbors a dark side impacting women’s self-esteem, body image, and mental health. The Gospel of Wellness takes a much-needed magnifying glass to an industry left unchecked."
―Rachel Bloom, Golden Globe winner for Crazy Ex-Girlfriend and author of I Want to Be Where the Normal People Are

"This book is an utterly juicy deep dive for wellness devotees and skeptics alike. The Gospel of Wellness is the perfect balance of criticism and empathy for a movement that meant well."
―Jane Marie, creator and host of The Dream

“The Gospel of Wellness is a revelation and a revolution. With humor and insight, Rina Raphael excavates the world of wellness and reveals its warty and rotten underbelly. From Yoga to crystals, using journalism and personal revelation, Raphael separates our self care from consumption to show us that our best lives are not commodities.”
―Lyz Lenz, author of God Land

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Journalist Rina Raphael looks at the explosion of the wellness industry: how it stems from legitimate complaints, how seductive marketing targets hopeful consumers–and why women are opening up their wallets like never before.

Rina Raphael has been there. She’s bought cases of kombucha, she’s paid $45 for an exercise class, she’s sprinkled mushroom “superpowder” in her coffee, she’s gone on luxury mindfulness retreats, and she’s hung out with Hollywood’s crystal healers. . . . She’s a respected journalist who has specialized in health and wellness , so she should know better right? Yes. And No.

You see Raphael was once a wellness junkie. Like millions of other women out there, she held out hope that clean eating or the newest strength training class would give her the salvation she sought. Why? Because the modern American woman has been sold a bum deal. In their male dominated workplace, stress levels for women are 1.5 times higher than for men. They then venture home, only to be confronted by “the second shift.”

Just how bad is it? Google searches for “self care” are at an all-time high. Dentists have seen an uptick in angry women grinding their teeth at night. What have women been sold as coping mechanisms? Meditation apps, “detoxes”, manifestation gurus—things that only a few years ago might have been considered fringe that are now mainstream. But deep within the underbelly of self-care—hidden beneath layers of clever marketing—the wellness industry beckons women with a far stronger, more seductive message. It promises women the one thing they desperately desire: control. They are told they can manage the chaos ruling their life by following a laid-out plan: Eat right, exercise, meditate, then buy all this stuff. This mass consumerism is a metaphor for harnessing everything that feels untenable in their life. Wellness isn’t just a lifestyle; it’s become something much more. It’s something to believe in. Which is why wellness is increasingly adopting patterns similar to religion.

The desire to be healthy is anything but new. But what we’re witnessing today is completely unlike its predecessors. Wellness, in its current form, is almost an obsession for the American woman. What’s the reason everyone is guzzling kombucha and taking to aromatherapy now? Why do women feel the weight of the world when they go to the grocery store and choose conventional over the hefty priced organic produce for their families? Why, in this moment, do we find ourselves at what seems to be the peak of alternative health practices? To quote Gwyneth Paltrow at a recent Goop summit, “Why do we all not feel well?”

The Gospel of Wellness will examine how and why American women were led down this costly kale-covered path. Part investigative report, part sociological analysis, part personal account, this book will dive deep into this booming movement, bringing the reader inside the sprawling landscape of wellness and introducing them to its many trends and blind spots.

Blending traditional reporting, first-person narrative, and social critique, Rina Raphael will guide readers through a journey of the modern American woman and why she’s so dissatisfied with the status quo. Wellness did not sprout in a vacuum: it’s a reaction to trends building over decades. Women are searching for meaning, purpose, community, and certainty—and trying to find it in through health practices. But what happens when the cure becomes as bad as the disease?