Just a reminder that good bodies is a podcast for entertainment purposes only. It is not a medical podcast and does not constitute medical advice. Always seek the advice of a physician or a health professional.
Hello and welcome to Good Bodies. This is Lauren. And this is Emily. Okay, quick housekeeping note for you guys. We are skipping Monday, December 30th. We are so, so sorry, but we want a holiday break too. So we are going to skip that.
day, hold on to these 2024 wellness retrospective trends, hold on to them dear and tightly, and then come back and join us on Thursday, January 2nd, where we are going to talk about our 2025 goals and projected wellness trends for 2025. So stick around. Please don't leave us. We love you. Happy holidays.
Yeah, it's just that one episode that we're skipping, but I'm sure you guys have fabulous plans for New Year's and you won't particularly be missing us that day. Oh, guys, go listen to a previous episode. For sure. Listen to it a second time.
Lauren, I'm in a mood today just so you know because you do. I don't know if this happens to you. Well, actually, no, you suppress your period. So this probably doesn't happen to you. But I have thought that I'm about to get my period for like six days. Do you not have it?
I don't have it yet. I'm in the red zone, though. I could show you on my phone. I'm in the red zone like it says I should be having it now. I think I can alpha you into it because I swapped my novering yesterday, which means that that's like right now is around when I would have my period. So what is that? You're saying it'll rub off on me somehow? Yeah, I'm being silly. Look, look.
I'm at the end of the red zone of predicted period days. And I know what you're thinking. Could you be pregnant? Are you with child? Listen, I always wrap it before I tap it. So I don't think that's the issue. But I don't think that's the issue. This happens a lot where like the period predictor is just a little bit off, but.
I feel it like my stomach, I can feel the lining. It's like when you have a pimple brewing. And you can feel it underneath the skin. But it's not. It won't come. So I'm just in such a bad mood. I'm going to set it all aside today, my emotional baggage, all of it. But I'm ravenous. I've been having these crazy symptoms. I'm emotional. I started breaking down crying yesterday. Oh, actually, I made Rice Krispies.
Like four days ago, I made Rice Krispies because I was invited to a holiday potluck and it's the only thing I know how to cook. So yeah, I was mixing up the marshmallow thing that you pour on the Rice Krispies and it burnt. And because this thing was burnt,
And I had to go back to the store to get more marshmallows. I got so upset. I kicked a chair. I get my own dining room table chair. That by the way is an antique that Emily person who suffers because of this is me. Also, I low key like hurt my foot. Also your co host. I'm just kidding.
I do appreciate the warning, though, that you are heavy PMS today. I just wanted you to know where I am emotionally. Don't kick me, please. I'll try not to. Don't pretend I'm an antique chair. We are a perfect kicking distance from each other right now, but don't worry. I'm not violent towards other people. I'm just violent towards inanimate objects and my own self.
That's that's how I get when I have honestly these episodes. I'm so excited about them, but they are going to be slightly unhinged because Emily is in her stuck PMS era and I'm dealing with something I can't talk about for like a year. But when I talk about it in like a year, you guys are going to be like, Holy shit. That's very intriguing. Yes. So I'm dealing with some stuff too, but let's have a fun time and talk about the I do we call this a scoop.
Um, it's not so much a scoop as a year in review. I mean, introspective. This is coming out on the 26th of December. So we're around the corner from the new year. Yeah. Happy holidays, everybody. Yeah. Happy holidays and happy almost new year. Um, so we thought, what should we do for the new year? We want to bring it in somehow. So Spotify wrapped.
Yeah, this is our Spotify wrapped. Lauren and I decided that we would go over the most popular wellness trends of 2024 and kind of give our two cents on them and talk about, you know, it's somewhat of a year in review, like, how did we perceive these trends? Did we perceive them at all? Did we try some of them? Perhaps we tried some of them. Yeah. So let's just jump right into it. The first trend, and we actually did a whole episode about this. So I'm excited to
review this one. This is kind of like a clip show on when on sitcoms where you talk about things that have happened. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Remember that time? Yeah. Yeah. They're all the friends at Central Perk. Like, remember that time in high school? Dreams, he crumbs music. But Pilates was a very big trend. It was in 2020. Pilates or Pink Pilates Princess?
both actually. I would say that like a lot of people got into Pilates, but not everybody who got into Pilates got into the pink Pilates princess trend of it all. But there was definite crossover there. We did a whole episode on Pilates because I was seeing just some insane social media content.
following that it was during the weeks following Miley at the Grammys. Yeah, because everybody was talking about her arms. Yeah, for arms. And like how she got those arms for doing pilates. For skinny strong arms. Yeah, like.
I, it's, it's funny what people latch on to because she's always been very lean and toned. And, um, and coincidentally, I think she's always kind of been into Pilates, but Pilates saw an 84% increase in bookings this year, according to class pass, paving the way for the popular fitness method to secure the top spot for the second year. 84% is intense.
That's crazy, yeah, because it's not like people weren't doing Pilates at all before, but you definitely saw more people talking about it. And I'm fine with it. I mean, Pilates is not my workout of choice, but I know that a lot of people enjoy it.
And it does seem to be more popular among women than men. I think any form of strength training is fantastic. For me personally, it's just a little bit slow. The whole yoga Pilates thing. I don't know. It's a little bit. My super spiritual friend does Pilates and loves it. She loves how deep the stretches are. And holding poses.
And also, side note, no shade. She also loves to talk about how sore she is from Pilates. And Pilates kicked my ass. Like, I think it's a whole culture of like, I do Pilates and it's hard, but I did it in an hour. It hurts. Yeah, I mean, it is hard. And I actually relate to that a lot. Like, it is kind of fun to be sore. Oh, you feel like you did something? That's why I said no shade, because same. Like, if I'm doing a zoom or something, I'll be like, ah,
I'm so sorry from Zumba. It's fun to talk about. I don't know why. Well, it's fun to talk about, but it's also fun just as a reminder, the next day, which would be your rest day. If you're a little bit sore, you feel justified even more so taking that day of rest. Totally. Even though we should feel fine resting no matter what.
Just so everyone is aware, I think that myth has also been busted. Like, I don't think being sore necessarily indicates a better workout. It just means that you were working out. Oh my God, who is saying that? Are people saying that? Are people saying that? A lot of people, you know, no pain, no gain. Like a lot of... Go to jail. A lot of people. Do not collect $200.
I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Yeah, I think a lot of people think this more sore you are the better the workout was. Like, oh, OK, sorry. I thought you were saying that people say when you are sore, that's a great time to go work out. Oh, no, although like.
It has also been proven that you can work out when you're sore. Being sore basically just means that you were exercising muscle groups that you don't typically exercise. So they're not used to it. So it's kind of like a shock to the system, so to speak. So you could get a really great workout. But if you're doing your workouts consistently, you just won't get as sore. Exactly. But it's also a good reminder that if you're
planning to start a workout routine in the new year. I know that's cliche, but we all do it. Um, start slow, you know, go bit by bit, do 20 minutes, then 30, then 40, you know, 100% and don't do like too many different exercises. Like you get, you'll get less sore and be able to actually do it more often if you just do like two leg exercises, six leg exercises.
Can I share something very funny about Pilates? I shouldn't, that's like a bad rule of comedy. Be like, this is so funny. Are you ready to die from laughing? Are you ready to laugh? I'm ready. So there's a video on everything's fine that I shared of, I don't know if you've seen it, but the title is Jim Bros and bodybuilders take a Pilates class and it's all these buff men taking Pilates and it's like zooming in on their legs like,
shaking. And their faces, they're so upset, and they're complaining. And I guess the point of the video was like, women do this all the time. Yeah. Well, I mean, what is true strength, you know? It's just different muscle groups. Like, I'm sure that the women who are taking Pilates can't lift as much as those men lift. So in that way, they are stronger. But in terms of like core strength,
isometric holds and whatever. Yeah, like the Jim bros aren't doing that. So yeah, it's whatever makes you happy, you know, but that's just a cute video. And I don't I don't like the rhetoric around like Pilates arms like oh, no, me neither. Like I don't like the whole rhetoric of like you will get bulky if you lift weights, but you won't get bulky if you do Pilates. It's like I don't think there's actually any.
Evidence to that? Yeah. It varies person to person. Like it's very hard to get big bulky muscles.
Yeah, I mean, we even said this during the Pilates Arm episode, but it's like you should be so lucky to be able to get swole from weightlifting twice a week. Like I would need to try so hard and increase my protein levels to like insane degrees to actually get any kind of muscle. And I actually build muscle fairly easily for a woman. So don't worry about it too much, you guys. Yeah, try not to worry about that.
Hello, oversharing listeners, it's Dr. Naomi Bernstein with some exciting news. Starting January 13th, our oversharing calm the fuck down subscription is getting even better. Subscribers will get oversharing episodes a day early, plus additional exclusive bonus content on the second and fourth Thursdays of each month.
Here's what's new. One bonus episode with even more emails and advice, and another where we follow up with past email writers who could be you. While we won't be releasing new meditations in the new year, don't worry. All of our past meditations will stay available on the feed for you to enjoy any time. Plus, we'll have a new meditation playlist for our Spotify listeners. To sign up now, head to subscribe.betches.com and select Oversharing.com the fuck down.
We're so excited about creating this new bonus content, talking to more of you, hearing your stories, sharing some of our own, and reminding us all to calm the fuck down.
Let's move on to our next trend, wellness trend of 2024, fighting cortisol phase. I hate this one. I hate this one. Girl, don't get me started or do because this is our podcast and that's what we do. Tell the listeners in case they don't know what is quote cortisol phase. That's what we need to call it. Big quote.
Quo cortisol face, also known as, this is so mean, also known as moon face. Oh my God, wait, I'm gonna let you finish this. Taylor Swift. Okay. But I just want to quickly say that when Andy and I first started dating, he would send the moon emoji, like the smiling moon emoji and say that it looked like me. Like he would call me moon face, but like in an affectionate way. Isn't that cute? Yeah. So when I hear moon face, that's what I think of. I don't think of like something that you don't want. I think of like,
Oh, that's my sweet boyfriend. Yeah, cute little flirty moon face emoji. Anyway, continue. Okay, cortisol face, also known as moon face, is the latest mass diagnosis trend that's taken social media platforms by storm. It's characterized by facial swelling and bloating, resulting in around puffy appearance. TikTok creators are claiming it is caused by high levels of stress, which is a hormone called cortisol. We're very familiar with cortisol.
The phrase cortisol face started popping off on TikTok this year as creators claimed that an oversupply of cortisol, the body's primary stress hormone, results in a puffy and ugly face. Lower your cortisol, they argued, and your face will become more attractive. AKA slimmer.
Thank you, Emily. Let's just call a spade a slice. Thank you. Cortisol can affect one's appearance, but not the way wellness influencers casually suggest it can. According to experts, an excess of cortisol in the body can lead to pushing syndrome. Should we say that? That's not scary.
Um, a relatively rare condition that is most commonly the result of steroid treatments standard day to day. Oh yeah. So that's like a totally different thing. Standard day to day stress is unlikely to raise cortisol levels high enough. If you're worried about your cortisol levels, consult with a doctor, not TikTok. I mean, that could be said for pretty much anything. Consult a doctor before you consult TikTok. Um, I hate, I hate this one. I really hate this one. So, so, so, so much. You've seen these videos, right?
So it's always a woman, and she always has a very slim, angular face, and she's always like, look at this photo of me from two years ago, and it's her with a puffy face for whatever reason. She says, because I had so much cortisol, it's because I drank coffee without eating first. Maybe you were just crying. Or maybe you're weight fluctuated. Maybe you had a little too much sodium that day. I don't listen.
I don't know for a fact that somebody couldn't, I don't know, de-puff their face by doing certain things. Like, I see all the time like, oh, I started using a gua sha, and now my face is snatched. Like, I don't think there's any real evidence that that works. But for me personally, and I try not to say this usually because
I don't want to make people feel bad or compare their face to mine, but I have been told that I have a fuller face. Naturally, I have a wider face, a wide jaw. It's not round round, but it is fuller.
There's nothing that I could do to change the structure of my face. And so it actually actively makes me feel bad when I see people on social media being like, I had moon face. It was so fucking ugly. But then I started using the gouache on. Now my face is hot.
because I literally could never change the shape of my face and there's nothing wrong with it. It's like those videos where the girlies are making stomach rolls and then they unfold their body and there's no stomach rolls. Oh my God, Lauren and I, I always have, I can't unroll my stomach. Lauren and I text about this all the time. Those videos are so annoying. So yeah, it's the same thing. People in a bikini, like thin, it's always a thin woman in a bikini. It's a thin woman.
Look, when I sit down, I have rows, and that's normal. But then when I stand up, I don't have rows, and that's also normal. Huched over, normal. This is standing up, normal. This is normal, and this is normal. It's like, yeah, it's all fucking normal.
Let's stop like pathologizing these things that are normal. It's so exciting. There's so many and they all come from these accounts where they're like, love yourself girl at every size. And it's like, but you're, but you're skinny. I don't know. You're allowed to say that a skinny person. No, you are allowed to say that as a skinny person, but my thing is always like it's maddening.
Who is that helping? Yeah. Except for people who are your size are smaller. I guess that's only helping those people. It's not helping because anybody bigger than that is looking at and saying, wow, this skinny person is so self-conscious. And of her roles, that like, how should I feel? Right. It's the same thing with what you're saying with cortisol phase. It's like, OK, congratulations, you changed the state of your face. I can't.
change the shape of mine. Yeah. And like whether or not they actually change the shape of their face or not, I just look at that and I'm like, did they look at my face and they think you fucking ugly, you know what I mean? Well, fuck what they think. Also, again, I absolutely know this isn't where you were going, but you have a very striking face. And I wonder if that's where it comes from. If somebody says you have like a wider, because it's like, it's just like a very striking, I mean, beautiful face. It's
It's that's why I'm saying it's not round round. Yeah, see what I'm saying. We're like I do have a wider like.
jaw and like more surface area on my cheek. Then like I don't have a slim narrow face. It's like it's a striking shaped face. Thank you so much. It's how I would refer to it. Thank you so much. Yeah. Well, I just mean like when I look at like like for example, my boyfriend Andy has a very narrow long
slim face like nobody would ever look at his face and compare it to a moon okay but I don't have the ability to like have a slim narrow face yeah but I also
I don't think there's anything wrong with that. So that's why I don't like it about your face. No, I'm sorry. I'm like staring at your face really hard now, and I'm like, oh, I see it and I like it. Thank you, Lauren. I always hear hyping me up. Well, I mean, I mean, everywhere I say. But yeah, to me, cortisol face is just another thing we invented to make women feel bad about themselves. So yeah, I saw it. Thumbs down. I feel like personally victimized by this trend, which is why it makes me mad, but
Guys, if you have a face like mine and there's no way you could depuff it or do yoga and make it slim, you're also beautiful. Is it also gaslighting to say it's because you have cortisol? Like, oh, you have so much stress. That's why your face is so fat. There's something wrong with you. Oh, yeah, it's just like another way to feel like there's something wrong with you. You're not treating yourself well, and that's why you're fucking fat. You need to calm down with your fat face.
They're fat cortisol face. Oh my gosh, you know what this just reminded me of? I felt personally victimized by like people going around like saying round faces are ugly since college because when I was a freshman in college, somebody wrote, you know how like everybody had a whiteboard on their door? Oh yeah, in like the dorm rooms. Somebody wrote some bitchy girl wrote on their whiteboard. Megan Fox has a round face.
And I can only assume, I can only assume that the reason why they wrote that on the whiteboard is to be like, actually, like everyone thinks she's hot, but actually she's a rom face. She's a fat bitch. You know what I mean? And I remember seeing that and being like, you're literally calling the hottest woman in the world.
ugly because she has a round. First of all, I don't even think she has a round face. No, I wouldn't call her face. But even so, it's like, whatever you need to say to make yourself feel better. But like, meanwhile, she's still way hotter than you. So like, why are we like tearing women down? You're just telling on yourself that you hate yourself.
Yes. Thank you, Lauren. You're welcome. The next one is personalized nutrition and at home microbiome testing kits. This one is Garos. Oh, yeah. People are increasingly seeking tailored dietary plans based on their DNA, microbiomes, and specific health needs. This trend emphasizes the importance of individualized approaches to diet and wellness.
So this year, Instagram feeds became saturated with ads for at-home microbiome testing kits. Many of the companies selling these kits, which cost anywhere from $120 to $400, claim that by analyzing a customer's stool sample. That means poop. Yep. They can provide personalized diet recommendations, which will help one manage conditions like anxiety, joint pain, and low energy. I'm only sending you poop if I'm mad at you.
I think there used to literally be a service that would do that. Oh, wait, no, that was glitter. Not shit. Yeah. You know what? There probably was one for shit, too. Continued. Experts agree that the gut microbiome is important to human health. But many experts also agree that it's not yet possible to draw meaningful conclusions from microbiome data and that most of these companies can't possibly deliver on the big promises they make.
Oh, you don't say a health company, not being able to draw conclusions from things they're charging you for nuts. As one researcher told the Guardian, these tests are currently a useful diagnostic tool for a limited number of conditions like Crohn's disease and type two diabetes. But using them to make diet recommendations is exceedingly difficult.
Yeah, I mean, I thought this sounded like a scam right from the beginning. It reminds me of horoscopes, which I love horoscopes, but it's the concept of like, oh, this is for me. I'm such a Virgo. I'm such a microbiome ABC plus or whatever, you know? Yeah, I don't know anyone who's done like the at-home kits, but I do know, oh, Jazz, you've done one of these things? Jazz, you shipped your shit? Oh my God. Okay, our producer shipped her shit. Yeah, skirt, skirt, hop on Mike immediately.
I need to know, A, how much, like how big of a sample did you know? I don't need to know that. No, I need to know. Okay. And B, what information did you get? And was it useful? Okay. Here's the deal.
So I'm just someone who has suffered with like digestive issues forever. Yes. Do you have RBS? Yes. Okay. And I also, just the way it like runs in the women in my family, when we have a lot of food triggered histamine responses that can be quite scary, even though they're not something that would show up as something you're allergic to on an allergy test.
So I was just ill for a long time and like was sort of at my wit's end of like, what is what is triggering me? So I did one of those. Send your shit away. Did you get targeted and add or how did you find out about it? Oh, I'm pretty sure. Yeah, I was targeted and I don't know. It's the girls who are like, what's wrong with me all the time on the internet and then normally get targeted.
Lauren, if you want to close your ears for this. I'm ready. Really? They just asked for like really like a dime size. Yeah, I was going to say it's probably like, you know, a dropper and eyedropper. Yeah, it's like not. And you look and you have to just like put it in a solution bottle and then like and send it. They do make it very easy to be honest. I had done a food sensitivity one years ago where they make you prick your own finger and drop drops of blood on the paper. And now I found way harder.
Okay, I could not prick my own finger. It was very difficult, but I will say what I got back was a very extensive list at a very extensive list of foods that like one, I should avoid.
one that I should minimize and one that I, one that I should enjoy and one that are like my super foods based on my gut microbiome. They also- Oh, so you participated in this trend? Yes, you did. Did you find it? Did you find these like food groups helpful? Like did you follow the advice and see any results? Yeah. I mean, they also test your gut health and they were like, girl, your guts are a hot mess.
And so there was part of me that's like, I know that to be true, but there was also a part of me that was like, but how much of it is that you want me to buy your probiotics? Probably a little bit of that. Your body needs this product that only we sell. But it was clear to me that I wasn't getting the right nutrients. And so I did follow the advice to be fair.
The smartest doctor in the world could be like, you need to stop eating chocolate. And I'd be like, I don't know. Right. There's only so much we can do. Let's get a second opinion. But there are a lot of things on that list that I was like, yes, that has triggered me in the past. So I do feel like there is something to it. But I, like you said, Lauren, I'm one of those girlies that are like, I want to know what's my archetype? What's your princess?
Yeah, what's my microbiome? Yeah, but but same like but it yeah reminds me of that a little yeah But you know I found some value in it and honestly I guess a part of even if it's half-effective But it like makes you feel a little bit better like you have some kind of roadmap. Yeah helpful. Yeah
But you know, it's not harmful to swab your shit, you know? And if like the government's trying to steal information about me through my shit, they can have it. The government already has everything. Well, I'm actually like always nervous about that. That's why I haven't done like 23 and me or anything like that. But I'm also a psycho. Thank you for sharing, Jess. Thank you for sharing. That was very interesting.
Yeah, I would not do this, but I also don't have any issues that I need to send my shit away for. Would you consider doing this, Lauren? I would. Do you have sensitivities that it would be like beneficial to you to know? So sometimes my, this is so boring, sorry, but like sometimes my tongue gets really, it swells up really big and it's like a little uncomfortable. And I'm like, I wonder if that's from something
that I ate, but I'm also an allergy queen. So, I mean, I would totally try it. I'm probably not gonna sing with astrology, though. I'm not gonna live or die based on what my horoscope says, the same way I'm not gonna live or die off of what a report comes back saying, like, eat more apples, you know? It's like, yeah, I'll have some more apples, but I might not obsess over that, you know? So, so I actually would try this one.
I'm excited to talk about our next wellness trend, which is... Oh yeah, Lauren invented this trend. I started this in 2019 and it's just now catching on. It is voluntary celibacy or being quote, boy sober. Boy sober. Being boy sober is normal. Okay, go ahead and read it. See me having sex with this man, normal. See me not having sex with this man.
Also normal. See me having sex with myself? Normal. Never having sex again? Normal.
Okay, let's see. Oh, my God. Maybe you haven't encountered the term boy sober, but you've probably come across it in non gendered synonym celibacy. In February, a woman told The New York Times it was this year's hottest mental health craze. It really is. A few months later, actress Julia Fox fan of the show just kidding.
We're a fan of her. I'm a huge fan. No, we love Julia on the show. A few months later, actress Julia Fox revealed she had been celibate for over two years. In the spring, dating at Bumble issued an apology after its anti-cellibacy ad campaign received widespread backlash. Did you see these campaigns? Yes, I saw it on the subway. It was not okay.
This movement of largely but not exclusively heterosexual women comes amid a broader alleged sex recession. Some of this disinterest in sex has been attributed to dating app fatigue. Others see it as a reimagining of sexual politics and dynamics.
I love the term sex recession. We're living through a sex recession. Also, I don't know if you're aware of this, but this was actually, this has been a trend in Japan for a long time. I didn't know that. Young women have like essentially stopped having sex. And I don't know if it's like an actual problem. I mean, it is for the guys, I guess. But they can deal. But like this was, I've read an article about this.
10 years ago that, um, and it was a really big deal. Like the ladies of Tokyo are not fucking, um, so I guess it's made its way to the US now. Japan gets everything first. I know. Truly. They're at the forefront of everything. Technology, a sex recession. I, uh, I wrote an article about this for betches called I'm not having sex and I actually love it.
And I came up with the idea for this article before I found out Boy sober was trending. And when I pitched it to the web team, they were like, oh, great. We'll do a boy sober tie. And I was like, what? You hadn't heard that. I hadn't. I've got a boy sober for a long time. And I identify as a straight woman. I'm sure my sexuality is more fluid than I realize. But I just, for me, going boy sober meant focusing on myself, which I think
connects to so many things. So much of what we do as women is subconsciously, and I talk about it all the time, is to please men. And I think I kind of realized that. And I also realized that, and go back and listen to the sex episode, or we talk about this. But I realized that I was having sex because I wanted to prove something to myself. You know, like, oh, I have sex. I'm not a loser. And it's like, nobody cares.
Yeah, no one even knows. Nobody cares. I'm only going to specify really, really want to. And it's crazy to me that that was good enough for an article. Hot take, nobody should be having sex unless they really, really want to. Yeah, with other people.
Yes, I feel like throughout my 20s and Maybe you experienced this also we were living through this like very narrow idea of Feminism and I call it the call her daddy brand of feminism where it's like I'm gonna give him the best blowjob of his entire life I'm gonna feel powerful doing it, but it's like
For me personally, half the time, if I was sleeping with someone or like doing something sexual, just to kind of prove a point, I ended up feeling so shitty afterwards. Yeah, to prove a point or to like make them like you, or to be polite.
How many of us were having sex to be polite? Yeah, just like we felt like we had to or we felt like, oh, we just spent an evening together and he bought me dinner. So like probably I should. I think this is not, I think boomers are gonna wanna say like, oh, the kids are on their phones too much. I think women have had it. I think me too happens. I think there's like an actual recession happening. Like there's global warming. Like people just aren't,
fucking as much. Yeah, but that's not completely untrue. Like people are on their phones too much. Like I think both things are happening. That's not why I'm not having sex. No, but I have read like that Gen Z is having less sex. Yeah. And they're like a more antisocial generation. You know, like, I think there is a connection there. Also, another thing that I wanted to respond to, because in this blurb, it said something about dating at fatigue.
I did not realize until I recently spoke to some friends, some single friends that are on the apps, things that used to be free. Now you have to pay for. Oh, yeah. It's crazy. I had no idea. You have to pay just to see someone who's not ugly. I know that's me in to say.
But seriously, we can look at my hinge after this. Every guy it shows me is unattractive. And then it'll say, look at the stars. And it's so funny. You'll look at the star section, and it'll be men that look regular. But you have to pay a dollar to send them a like. To send them a rose. Yeah. Yeah, which is fucking cheesy by itself. But it's like, we're spending money. Well, because you can't send them a free life, you can only send the desirable ones.
So they call it at least, I think this is hinge, but they call it rose jail. So you have to pay to talk to them. So I think that's another reason why we can't have free love anymore, because it's simply not free. But I was thinking about this a lot when I read that this was on the list of wellness trends. And I will admit,
I was kind of a big slut when I was dating, but not always for the right reasons and not always because I actually found it empowering because it was like, you know, I'm going to be a slut and I'm going to reclaim it. But like, really, I was feeling like shit at the end of the day. Yeah. I think if I was dating now, I might be one of those people who's like celibate outside of a committed relationship.
Because another thing is once I was in a committed relationship, and again, this is just my experience, I experienced actual intimacy, and I realized that all the sex I was having before was bad sex. And now that I've had good sex, I don't know that I could go back to a one-night stand situation. It wouldn't be worth it to me.
And that's not to say, I'm sure there are people that could have a one night stand or have sex with a stranger and they have amazing sex. I literally don't know how, because I don't know how you would mimic that intimacy that like comes from a committed partnership. But like you said, come.
Oh, CUM. But I do think sometimes you see, you also see people being celibate to kind of like, take themselves out of the game, so to speak. Like, people's mental health really do improve. And this is not for everybody. I'm not here preaching, like, don't have sex. But I've talked to a lot of women who say their mental health did improve once they stopped dating for sex.
Also, I listened to a podcast with Julia Louis-Dreyfus. It's called Wiser Than Me. Wiser Than Me. And a lot of these women, in their 70s and up, when they say, like, is there anything you regret? It's always like, I regret dating so much. Like, I wish I was single longer. Or like, I wish I didn't do so many things for men. And I'm like, I'm on to something.
Interesting, you know. Yeah. Well, what I was going to say is I would just be careful, you know, anybody participating in this trend that I think sometimes people decide to be celibate to like take themselves out of the game, like to kind of like avoid being vulnerable, you know, like I'm like, you know, putting slapping a label on and saying like I'm celibate, like I'm not like trying to find a partner and then like kind of not putting themselves out there.
So I would be careful not to do that, but also like, yeah, you don't have to have sex with anybody if it's not a hell yes. Like, and I don't want to play yourself out there. Don't play yourself out there. Yeah, but I do think like great things can come from being vulnerable with another person. And so I think like, don't avoid. Don't close yourself off to like good experiences. You know what I mean? Are you talking to me?
I'm not talking to you. Like I think sometimes- I know I wanna be more open to it, but it also has been very freeing to just, I'm at over five years, no sex, and I don't regret any of it. Wonderful. Yeah, I'm just saying like I think sometimes people double down on the trend to avoid being vulnerable with other people. So just like be careful not to do that, dear listener. I definitely think there's a healthy balance that's somewhere in the middle.
Okay, only one more. Yeah, so this one is kind of more broad. It's kind of like the idea of following wellness trends period and focusing on longevity. Like everybody wants to kind of level up their wellness now and it's probably because of like the surplus of information that we have.
which sometimes I feel very conflicted about. I'm going to read this blurb actually. Humans are overall living longer than they have historically with the average U.S. man and woman living until ages 73 and 79 respectively. Doesn't even seem that old to me to be perfectly honest. But that's an average though. It makes sense then that thriving later in life is becoming a larger focus. That's why we predict more folks will establish a solid foundation for their health now to set themselves up for success later.
Gen Zers and millennials are now purchasing more wellness products and services than older generations. According to McKinsey's latest future of wellness research, which surveyed more than 5,000 consumers across China, the United Kingdom and the United States.
The research shows that Gen Z is most interested in wellness spending that is focused on appearance and overall health. They also outspend older consumers on mindfulness related wellness products such as meditation classes, mindfulness apps and therapy sessions. No surprise here given Gen Z's mental health challenges.
Other findings from the report, 56% of Gen Z consumers in the United States say fitness is a very high priority compared with 40% of U.S. consumers overall. Plus, a focus on healthy aging is an exclusive to older generations interested in improving their longevity. Younger consumers too are seeking preventative solutions to health issues typically associated with aging. We've talked about this before, the whole like half
your health, half your brain lives to 120. I kind of roll my eyes at it sometimes. I mean, I do think like there's there's some validity in this stuff. But I also think like quality of life is what I try to focus on more than longevity. I agree. I'm not personally that interested in living to 150 if it means like sacrificing a lot of things in my life. Those 150 years are spent like
measuring your P to see what the I don't know. Yeah, exactly. I'm totally with you there about like quality over quantity. Um, I am wondering, my brain just went here. Uh, I am wondering, is this cause of global warming? Because I feel like before we were kind of just like living for the day and now Gen Z
so aware that the earth is dying, that maybe they're like, oh, I have to be strong and healthy so that I can survive the apocalypse. I have to be in tip top shape when the zombies come. My brain went there, I don't know. Maybe there is something to do with that. But even subconsciously, we're all very aware of death and bad things, I feel like. Now, so of course, people are going to want to take care of themselves.
Yeah, like, let's put ourselves in the best possible situation, like, should a disaster arise. Yeah, like, I mean, COVID probably had a lot to do with it, too. I'm very health-conscious after COVID, yes. Yeah, right? Like, let me be, you know, the healthiest version of myself, should a disaster arise, which it very well could. I think that's happening. That must be, I mean,
I very much appreciate this trend in the sense that, like, working out, you know, strength training, like, we're doing this for the older version of ourselves that, like, might not be able to walk upstairs or might not be able to, uh, to, you know, lift our bag of groceries, um, as we run away from the zombies, as we run away from the zombies, of course, but, but, like, even in everyday life, um, prevention is, you know, it's a smart thing to do to incorporate that into your
You knew all of our wellness trends were gonna be ones that we pretty much like. I know, right? The only one that I can't get on board with is Moon Face. And that's because I have it. So yeah. And then there's the obvious wellness trend of like diets, but we didn't even include that because you guys know how we feel about diets. Yeah. I did write a note on here that like one that was not on here, but we're always bringing it up is.
You know, there's a, there's been a big return to an obsession with being super skinny. Um, and maybe this is niche, but you know, I see it a lot on social media in like the 20 to 35 demographics, like that age. I would call this a beauty trend actually. Yeah. I know it's anti wellness to a point. Um, because actually now that I'm saying this, I think,
I mean, we were saying it before Pilates, I think, kind of falls into that. It's like, I don't want to be bulky. I want to be lucky and skinny. Yeah. So I'm going to do Pilates. I'm not going to lift weights. Yeah. It's kind of like it kind of falls under that. Because that is the biggest wellness trend, quote unquote, wellness trend of 2024 is extra skinny. Yeah. Like the Kardashians are taking out their BBLs. Like we're not doing it. It is. It is there. And I reject it, but.
but it is there. I mean, I wrote this quote on here that people might roll their eyes, but it always helps me. Yeah. You've seen this before, I'm sure. It's not your dream body if it's a nightmare to maintain. Oh, I love that. Which like, that, that keeps me grounded, like whenever I find myself being like a little bit sucked into diet culture, I'm just like, yeah, but like,
It's not my dream body if it's a nightmare to maintain. If you can never go out to eat, that's not a life. That's a really good mantra. I'm going to use that. It helps put things in perspective. Any closing thoughts? My closing thought is just how bodies shouldn't be trends. I also question the validity of a wellness trend. That being said, I wish intuitive eating was trending.
Always. You know, it was trending like a few years ago. It was. It was trending when body positivity was trending. Gee, I wonder what the connection is. We can make a trend again. But we're trying. That's the goal. Guys, that's it for today's episode. Be sure to send your questions to goodbodies at badges.com to get them answered. Follow us at everything's fine on Instagram. If you like this episode, please write us a review. Rate, review, subscribe to the show. Follow me at Lauren Hope Crafts. Follow me at Lubination. And remember,
Moon faces are cute faces. Hell yeah. Good Bodies is produced by Shannon Sassone and Lauren Hope Crass, editing by Will Maxwell, social media by Lauren Hope Crass, guest booking by Allie Friedlander. Be sure to follow everything's fine on Instagram and send us your emails to goodbodies at betches.com.
