The Wellness Paradox: How the Wellness Industry Lost the Plot
- Dana Llewellyn
- Oct 31
- 14 min read
The wellness industry raked in an estimated 6.3 trillion dollars in 2023, representing about 6% of the global GDP. The Global Wellness Institute expects that number to rise to a whopping 9 trillion dollars by 2028. (1) This same institute estimates that the average American spends an average of $6000 a year on wellness (that’s WELLNESS, not healthcare, which averages $14000 a year per person), that increases exponentially if you’re managing any sort of injury or disease.
According to my own polls, participants had a 40% trust level with the wellness industry. 88% of those who responded had experienced health burnout, and 90% have felt shame for not doing enough self-care.
We’re spending more on wellness and feeling worse about it.
I’ve worked in the wellness industry my entire adult life and have explored many of its dark corners and strange niches. While I believe many within the industry have good intentions and do make a positive difference, engaging with the industry in its various forms can often leave us confused, disappointed, or even worse than when we began. Its contradictory messaging can leave us feeling we can't keep up or are always doing the wrong thing. In this piece, I discuss the wellness industry much like we may talk about “the system”: no single perpetrator or cause, but a general insidious ideology that can keep us unconsciously in its grip. The problem isn’t that we desire to be well, it’s that we desire to be well in a capitalist society that exploits and extracts with no discretion. The end game of the industry isn’t wellness, it’s profit.
The bad taste in my mouth I’ve experienced repeatedly after engaging with parts of the industry led me to this deep dive into the roots of the wellness industry. What I’ve discovered is perhaps less about wellness than it is about the forces at work in our culture that shape how we view wellness. Using research to connect the dots between my lived experience and issues in the culture at large has helped me to engage with the industry more tactfully. I hope my musings allow you to find clarity, resolution or inspiration.
The Weaponization of Fear
Healthcare and wellness are two separate entities. In the US, we find ourselves subject to a very costly sick-care system. The convoluted nature of the healthcare system, combined with increasing mistrust of government and NGOs alike in providing consistent, true, and evidence-based health information, has led many to the wellness industry to find answers for themselves.
We see an interesting shift in modern wellness with the passing of The Carnegie Foundation’s Flexner Report. In 1910, this report critiqued “North America’s medical education system for lack of standards and scientific rigor, questions the validity of all forms of medicine other than biomedicine, resulting in most alternative systems … being dropped from mainstream medical education, and setting the stage for our modern disease-oriented, evidence-based medicine”(2).
After this report, many medical schools that taught any form of natural medicine, like homeopathy, herbalism or osteopathy were closed or severely reduced. It is this report that shifts America toward a “sick care system” and leads to a general distrust of anything other than surgery and pharmaceutical intervention. This report is also accused of promoting racism and sexism, as all but 2 black medical schools were closed and many schools that admitted women were closed or merged, creating a sharp decline in female physicians that didn’t start to bounce back until the 1970s. (3)
The report also recommended stricter entrance requirements, better facilities, higher fees, and tougher standards for medical students. By 1920, the cultural influence of the medical profession was growing as physicians' incomes and prestige increased. This coincided with a substantial increase in knowledge and effective medicines, an increase in the organization of healthcare workers and growing acceptance of medicine as science. These advancements in healthcare led to higher prices and decreased access for common people. Eventually, in the late 1920s, insurance companies were created as a middle man between regular people and healthcare providers, which ultimately became the catastrophe we live with today. (4)
Our mistrust and skepticism lies not only in our healthcare system but in our food, water and products. Concerns over access to real, fresh, nutritious foods without harmful additives and dyes as well as access to clean water create an even more extreme environment of uncertainty. The products we put on our bodies, in our homes, in our kitchens and cars are also called into question. The fear and mistrust run deep.
These are very real, very valid considerations that we must make to live well in today’s society. I wish we didn’t have to be concerned about harmful agents in almost every corner of modern life, but unfortunately, that is our current reality. However, the line between being educated, being cautious, and being paranoid is thin. At some point, the stress over wellness itself becomes toxic. Time and time again, the wellness industry weaponizes fear and mistrust and turns it into big profit. In fact, keeping the people afraid means you can keep selling them their safety.
As you engage with the wellness industry, keep your radar up for fearmongering, coercion and manipulation. Beware of companies, products, influencers or public figures that perpetuate an environment of fear without presenting real facts and without providing any education or sustainable alternatives to move us forward. Fear-based decision-making ultimately doesn’t serve and certainly doesn’t contribute to wellness. The antidote to fear is first education, then action.
SHAME, SHAME, SHAME
Elements of guilt and shame are baked into the industry. No matter how much you’re already doing, you should be doing more. This comes, in part, from the multitude of voices within the industry, all touting that a certain prescribed way of living is the correct way. There is so much noise in the industry, our own inner voice can get lost. And yet it is that very connection with our inner voice that generates a true sense of wellness.
Shame drives behavior in a very real, very profitable way. If we are ashamed that we are not doing enough for our health and the health of our families, we are vulnerable to marketing schemes and cash grabs to fill the void of our perceived failings. The industry keeps our attention with passing trends that we fear will set us behind if we’re not participating. We feel guilty for not doing something we might not have even wanted to do in the first place, we just felt like we should.
Approaching wellness with a sense of shame is antithetical to wellness and is entirely unsustainable. True wellness gives us agency, and in shame, agency is surrendered. To me, wellness means following what feels good and what feels right in my body. When I get that gnawing feeling of guilt or shame around anything I’m doing for “wellness”, I take a step back and examine what it is about that particular practice that is bringing up these feelings. Sometimes this can lead to an interesting exploration of the shadow self, other times, it’s simply a sign to take a break and try something else instead.
PURITANISM, THE MARTYR COMPLEX & CULT FOLLOWINGS
There is a certain tribalism in wellness spaces that can feel exclusionary and elitist. A sense of “we are clean and they are dirty” that can operate silently or very loudly within communities. The puritanical nature of the wellness industry creates a barrier to entry for many, and, taking a closer, may be rooted in something much more dubious.
The Kellogg sanitarium is a great example of this. In the late 1800s-early 1900s, this “wellness center” was a hub where wealthy and influential people would go to immerse themselves in health. On the surface, many tenets of the sanitarium sound great: eat nutritious food, get fresh air, exercise. But taking a deeper look at the Kellogg sanitarium, we see nefarious undercurrents at work.
The sanitarium was formed alongside the 7th Day Adventist church and staunchly opposed any sexuality, including with a spouse (except for procreation) and with oneself. John Harvey Kellogg himself died a virgin at 91 years old. (5)
This kind of dogma is palpable in some wellness spaces: a denial of our animality and demonization of pleasure. You may be familiar with the martyr complex of those deeply entrenched in such communities. This type of lifestyle often leads to a cult-like mentality where abuses of power run rampant. Many who come to the wellness industry are seeking answers. When someone claims to have the answers, they can drum up fanatical, obedient followings that support their continued enrichment and accumulation of power.
John H Kellogg was also the leader of the eugenics movement in his home state of Michigan, and even organized the “race betterment foundation”. This foundation promoted the sterilization of the “least pure”. While Kellogg claimed that “the largest threat was 'feeble-minded' individuals, which included those with low intelligence, immoral behavioral habits, mental health conditions, and more”, the main target was black people and poor people. (6) Simply put, John H Kellogg was a white supremacist eugenicist and was not quiet about it. His foundation performed many sterilizations (yes, STERILZIATIONS) of those deemed “un-pure" and spread dangerous, hateful messages to the public.
While many modern day wellness settings don’t go to such extremes, there still remains this puritanical essence that is, at best, off-putting and, at worst, actively harmful to the community at large. I’ve witnessed many spaces of “wellness” lack inclusion, promote harmful rhetoric, and enact performative tokenization of BIPOC and LGBTQ people. True wellness isn’t about purity, doesn’t discriminate, belongs to everyone, and definitely has nothing to do with any sort of eugenics movement.
Puritanism in wellness spaces perpetuates an environment of guilt and shame and, when more closely observed, may be rooted in a larger, much more dangerous ideology. Feeling judged or even disparaged in spaces of "health and wellness" is a common thread I hear from my clients. Yet, ironically, wellness lies in being met where you're at, listened to and encouraged to be your self, however that looks for you.
VIRTUE SIGNALING & COMMODIFICATION
Virtue signaling refers to the act of expressing beliefs primarily to enhance one's image, rather than from genuine conviction. (7) It's essentially saying that you value something without actually living out those values.
Virtue signaling in wellness spaces means talking the talk without walking the walk, either about one's own message, or on wider social issues. There is so much pressure these days for businesses and creators to take a stand on almost every social issue, and this pressure can lead to empty social media posts with no action to back it. Virtue signaling can also be seen as growth without giving back - a business or creator that says they're community-oriented but never takes any steps to provide community support even after amassing funds or followers. At the end of the day, it's how one lives, not their words or posts, that reveal their values.
True values are often on display when elements of other cultures are integrated into a practice. What may seem enlightened and progressive to one may seem like blatant appropriation to others. The Native Governance Guide defines appropriation as “a particular power dynamic in which members of a dominant culture take elements from a culture of people who have been systematically oppressed by that dominant group.” (8) It's using elements of a practice without credit, consent or understanding the true significance.
Entrepreneurs in the wellness industry are making hand over fist offering services that not that long ago were illegal for the indigenous folks to whom these practices belong. Smudging with sage, sweat lodges, healing ceremonies, ritual dance, and plant medicine were all banned in the US until the 1970s. (9) Now, these types of ceremonies are everywhere, often led by folks with no connection to the lineage or tradition and charging well for them. While those who can afford it reap the benefits of these practices, generations of indigenous folks suffered and risked their safety to practice in private.
If we dive one layer deeper into this idea of appropriation, we often see that it comes from a place of not knowing one’s own roots, being detached from one’s own lineage and tradition. When ancestral connection is lost, we become quick to latch onto someone else’s. Understanding our own roots can help us treat other practices and traditions with more respect.
While I don’t believe it’s inherently wrong to practice within a tradition that isn’t in one’s lineage, I personally have witnessed plenty of distasteful appropriation that felt exploitative and dishonorable. There is a way for us to participate in and honor practices that are not our own with consent and respect. Let us not forget history and lineage while we practice and always give credit where it is due.
THE RISE OF HYPERINDIVIDUALISM
Around the same time that the Flexner Report was published (the one that separated “conventional” from “alternative” medicine and shifted America towards a sick-care system) a change in attitude towards marketing and advertising, especially in the US, occurred.
Sigmund Freud’s nephew, Edward Bernase, moved to the US in the late 1800s and eventually went on to become the father of what we now know as “public relations”. (10) He used what his uncle learned in psychoanalysis and applied it to groups. Freud believed that each person has unexpressed, subconscious desires that drive their behavior. Bernays used this concept and applied it to groups, suggesting that advertisers play to their customers' deepest desires rather than their needs and practicalities. Bernays pioneered the “focus group” and revolutionized the field of marketing. (12)(There's a great documentary called The Century of the Self all about this)
Most people want to not only feel well, but also be perceived as being well. As discussed, many of us carry shame around not being as “well” as we “should”. Tribalism and feeling “othered” can also occur when not following the current wellness trends. Execs in the wellness industry capitalize on both our desire to feel well and the desire to be perceived as being well. Wellness has shifted from a verb to a noun. It’s not the actions we take, it's the things we buy. Products have become a way for us to manage how we feel about ourselves and control how others perceive us. They make us feel like we are prioritizing wellness, or feel as though we may be perceived as prioritizing wellness.
This cultural shift in marketing led to a rise in hyperindividualism. (12) To stand out and make ourselves unique, we are told to buy products to express ourselves. As a culture, we collectively shifted away from community care and towards self-expression and self-reliance. We’ve lost the connection to ourselves, to others, and to the earth. .
Self-care was never meant to be a hamster wheel of buying products in isolation from others. It's meant to draw us inward, so we can get what we need, then bring our best selves out to the community. The concept of self-care as we know it today actually originated in the civil rights movement, with self-care being used as a political act.
In 1972, the Black Panther Party hosted their Black Community Survival Conference in Oakland, California. This gathering was a way to share information throughout the community about access to healthy food, clinics, and other health-related resources. According to the Center for Community Solutions, "The purpose behind their free programs was to use them as a coping mechanism against both the police and government harassment and surveillance Black people endured, and to help fill gaps in the lack of medical resources in their communities." (11)
Self care wasn’t always just face masks and spa days. It was an integral part of revolution - way to make sure each person is getting what they need. Self care and community care went hand in hand.
“Caring for myself is not self-indulgence, it is self-preservation, and that is an act of political warfare.” -Audre Lorde
REAL WELLNESS
Real wellness lies in healthy communities, in reciprocity, a connection to the land and the people around you. Real wellness is accessible to all. It’s education, empowerment, connection to ancient and ancestral wisdom. Real wellness is the nervous system safety we feel when we are taken care of. It’s having energy, access to clean food, water and air. Real wellness is simple and attainable. Real wellness doesn't discriminate and doesn't have a price tag.
The modern wellness industry has lost the plot entirely, as it promotes a hyper-individualistic, consumerist, homogenized and often repressed version of “health”. The problem lies not in the desire to be well, but the undercurrents of our society that create division and separation, exploiting workers, consumers and the earth to make a profit.
To exist in this industry and live a life that feels genuinely well, we need to be clear on what wellness looks like for us, what our own personal strengths and limitations are, and develop the skill of listening to the “yes” and “no” signals that our bodies send us. We all have different needs and resources and the picture of health is not homogeneous. Education and information are great. But, equally important, is the connection you have with your own inherent wisdom.
WHAT TO DO ABOUT IT:
Decide what health means to you:
The picture of health is not homogeneous and will change throughout your life. Adjust your barometer throughout the days, the seasons, the years. Your version of health may look different from someone else’s and that’s okay! We all need different things in this life and ultimately health and wellness are very personal to each one of us.
Invest in education > stuff:
Learning how the lymphatic system works will do you much more good in the long run than just buying another tool that markets itself as helping the lymphatic system. Learning how our bodies digest food and what to eat will help more than some random supplement. Invest in education first, then make informed decisions about what things to buy. Learning HOW to take care of your body is worth more than a thousand objects. The antidote to fear is first education, then action.
Narrow your focus:
Consuming health information about all different topics all the time can be overwhelming and prevent you from taking those small, actionable steps. I suggest choosing one or two topics to focus on over the course of a few months vs trying to do everything all the time. Narrowing your focus can help you establish sustainable changes and routines that work for you. Narrowing your focus can also mean being choosy about the sources of your health information and really hone in on sources you trust.
Appreciate how far you’ve already come:
When I have clients come in feeling anxious about not doing enough for their wellness, I always try to encourage them to look at how much progress they’ve already made. Most likely they’ve already made a ton of positive changes in their life already and that’s worth celebrating and enjoying. There will always be more that we can do, and it’s important to recognize our own blind spots. But the change will be more sustainable and long-lasting if we make our decisions from a place of love rather than fear or shame.
Be patient:
If we orient towards making smarter choices, the ship sails that way over time. There’s no need to change everything all at once. Trust that the choices you are making that feel right for you ARE right for you and move with conviction.
Take breaks (esp if you’re getting wellness advice from social media):
Schedule time offline to tap back into yourself. If we’re always consuming information, we never get the chance to actually process and integrate what we’ve learned.
Look for alternatives:
When you notice wellness trends, ask yourself what the underlying intention of the trend is. Then ask if there’s any way you can accomplish that goal with the things you already have access to. Many wellness and beauty trends are redundant and you can get the same benefits and results via many different routes.
Check your language:
Do you say you’ve been “good” after a day of eating nourishing foods?
Or that you’re “bad” after you’ve skipped a workout or two?
Analyze this, question it
When did you start feeling a sense of your goodness or badness being attached to your body? Who or what taught you to think like that?
Trust yourself:
I encourage everyone to trust their body. Listen to the yes’s and no’s, honor your intuition, and build a relationship with your body’s own inherent wisdom.
I hope this piece has helped you think about the wellness industry in a different way and given you ideas for ways to engage with the industry. Let me know you thoughts!
SOURCES:
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