In today’s episode, I unpack the routine that Gweneth Paltrow described on Dr. Will Cole’s podcast, The Art of Being Well, and highlight how her habits reveal a darker side of the wellness industry.
When I saw Gwyneth Paltrow was featured on Dr. Will Cole’s podcast The Art of Being Well, a show that I enjoy and respect, I was anticipating a lively and educational conversion. Instead, I was alarmed by the comments that the Goop “wellness guru” made about fasting, nutrition, and aging.
In today’s episode, I unpack the routine that Gweneth Paltrow described on The Art of Being Well and highlight how her habits reveal a darker side of the wellness industry. I share my personal approach to chasing better outcomes than my ancestors, including how I work on supporting a healthy immune system, optimal mind, and strong body.
I find most women are chasing the image of their younger selves, and I’ve even found myself doing the same thing. But when I bring my focus back to the present moment and who I am today, this is where the real wellness journey is happening. I want to encourage you to block out the unrealistic standards and airbrushed photos that wellness “experts” sell to us, and instead feel the power that is rooted inside of you and allow yourself to express it out in the world.
Listen in to hear my reflection on the current wellness industry trends and influencers.
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Dana Frost 00:04
Hi everybody, welcome to The Vitally You Podcast. I'm Dana Frost, your host coming to you solo this week to talk about the wellness industry through the lens of the celebrity, who is the wellness influencer guru? Gwyneth Paltrow. But first I want to give a shout out to those of you who have reached out to me to say that you are a regular listener. Thank you for letting me know that you are on the other side of this conversation. And thank you to my most recent review from Reba miles. This is what Reba says, I love Dana, my Chicago traffic filled morning commute is never a burden when listening to vitally you. I look forward to every Tuesday when a new episode is available and go back to the older ones when there is not. The sound of Dana's voice is therapeutic to me and I so enjoy each and every topic. I've gained so much knowledge from my own health journey from her and her guest. I highly recommend listening to this podcast if you're looking to calm your soul and improve your health. Thank you so much, Rebecca. I know Rebecca she was my colorist for a couple of years when I migrated from the suburbs to Chicago and she was a wonderful human and a very skilled colorist. Thank you, Rebecca.
Dana Frost 01:21
Today's episode, everybody is sponsored by Vitally You and the X39. Stem cell activation patch by lifewave. To learn how you can activate your own stem cells with a simple patch, go to lifewave.com forward slash vitally you, and there will be a link in the show notes.
Dana Frost 01:41
Okay. Okay, everybody, let's take a dive into wellness through the lens of Gwyneth, and I'm dedicating this episode this week while I'm not dedicating Yeah, I guess I'm dedicating this episode to this, you know, to show you how I'm involved evaluating health information that we all see on social media, you know, there's just because someone says it or models, it doesn't mean that it's appropriate for you to jump on the trend or for me to jump on the trend. well regarded practitioners can be wrong if applied to your unique health situation. Your own due diligence is imperative. So in March actually wanted to jump on this a few weeks ago, but you may know I was in Missouri to support my mom who was going through radiation and so I'm a little bit behind. It was several weeks ago that she was on Dr. Wilkos podcast, The Art of Being Well. Now I have followed Dr. Cole for years, and I've been a big fan. I've watched him rise in notoriety because he has celebrity clients. And I've always considered him to provide excellent health advice. Also, I follow Gwyneth and her wellness company goop. I loved her wellness series on Netflix, I thought it was awesome. I'm experimenting right now as of the past six weeks with her skincare product called goop glow. It's a dark spot exfoliating sleep mask, all to say I am not a hater. I've actually been a fan.
Dana Frost 03:23
However, as a wellness practitioner, I was alarmed by her comments on this recent podcast episode. And I wanted to highlight the red flags because it truly is indicative of the dark side of the wellness industry from my perspective. So let's go direct to this recent podcast episode where she talked about her wellness routine while being hooked up to an IV drip. And she said in the IV drip was a bag of good old fashioned vitamins. Okay, let's just stop right there before we even are out of the gate. And IV drip IV drip vitamins are unrealistic number one for most people, so people could listen to that. And you know, there is this there was a few years ago the trend to go get IV drip, you know, after you've partied all night. I understand some people and I know it's effective to get an IV drip when you're feeling sick. But the fact that she hadn't eaten breakfast, but she was hooked up to an IV for supplementation is a red flag unless she has an underlying medical condition that prohibits absorption of key nutrients. But we know that's not true. In her case based on the context of other things that she shared.
Dana Frost 04:44
Okay, so I don't know I'm curious if you caught any of the clips. My social media feed was absolutely lit up with sound bites. And I just was so disappointed in this episode. She has tremendous power over people's Two aces as a celebrity who is the founder of a wellness empire? She speaks and people listen. So let me share what she said in response to Dr. Cole asking her about her daily routine. This is what she said, and I quote, I usually eat something about 12 in the morning, I'll have things that won't spike my blood sugar. Well, if she's not eating until 12, she's having nothing that will spike your blood sugar but she does say go on to say so I have coffee. And I really like soup for lunch. I have bone broth for lunch, a lot of the days. She added that she also does one hour of movement every day for have before having a 30 minute infrared sauna and a paleo meal with lots of vegetables for dinner. She says quote, I tried to do one hour of movement. So I'll go for a walk or I'll do Pilates or I'll do my Tracy Anderson workouts. It's really important for me to support my detox.
Dana Frost 06:01
Okay, everybody, she's having coffee for breakfast, soup for lunch, bone broth most of the days and an early paleo dinner with lots of vegetables. Before I comment, I want to share her response since time has passed she's had the opportunity to respond to the social media outrage. When his public response was, it's important for everybody to know that I was doing a podcast with my doctor. This is a person that I've been working with over two years to deal with some chronic stuff. Okay, I get that she has a history of working with Dr. Will Cole, I already knew that. But thank you for giving us that context that you are under his care. I think that is a really important detail. She went on to explain that she eats full mills and Sunday she eats whatever she wants, like french fries. This is the key point understanding that she doesn't have an absorption, you know, a serious absorption issue that requires IVs for nutrition. She does tell us that she's eating paleo in the evening and that sometimes she eats whatever she wants.
Dana Frost 07:08
So I will say this really does lead me to believe that there's a disordered relationship with food. She explained that her comments were not intended for others to model her food choices. Well, I would love to know what was the purpose of having Gwyneth as a guest, if not to influence others. Dr. Will Cole is a respected practitioner in the wellness space. Is he not missing the obvious dysfunctional relationship to food that this episode portends, instead of food she's using IV vitamins, she's suppressing her appetite daily with coffee. She's exercising regardless if she has a proper fuel. Instead of using her teeth, we've all been giving teeth. This is the reason we have teeth. It physically breaks down our food. And as we are actually what happens when we're we get hungry, the brain sends a heart receives the message that we're hungry and it already starts producing digestive enzymes. And when we start masticating, our food, more digestive enzymes are broken down. And if we say a prayer, this is interesting, actually, we get better breakdown of our food if we give grace before we eat. All of these things sends the message to the brain that hey, stomach, it's time food is coming. Instead, she's simply sipping bone broth.
Dana Frost 08:41
And if you know me, you know I love bone broth, I make bone broth, I always have it available. I think it's an excellent source of minerals and collagen and nutrition, but it's not a regular food supplementation, if you will. Now, let me just say that, if you're exercising, you want to assess if you're Properly fueling your body before and after. And depending upon the kind of exercise if it's intense, like hit, running high intensity or weightlifting. Your body needs reads this intensive exercise as stress and it needs proper fuel so that you don't crash and burn after you exercise. And
Dana Frost 09:30
Here's a metric that I suggest my clients use. It's what's your energy like post workout? Do you feel energized for the rest of the day? Is it a sustainable boost of energy that you know burned across the rest of your day? Are you get super tired an hour or so after your workout? Do you crash for a few hours after your workout? Do you have to drag yourself through through the day because you've pushed your adrenals too hard during your workout? Maybe your adrenals were already taxed, and they simply cannot keep up with the demands. Those are some of the things that you want to be thinking about energy wise with your workouts.
Dana Frost 10:10
If you are only having coffee for the entire morning, and maybe vitamins IV dropped, most of you aren't doing that only very few people can do that you have not fueled your body for your workout. If you're doing that on a regular basis, you are going to drain your adrenals and drain your body and leave it wanting for fuel. We actually need carbohydrates. Carbohydrates are the fuel that allow us to expend energy.
Dana Frost 10:50
Okay, so let me also say I am a proponent of fasting, I was introduced to fasting as a spiritual practice as a young adult. My first fasting experiences were connected to my spirituality. And they were very powerful. There was a period that my husband and I fasted weekly, when he lived in Brazil and I was in the US with our kids until Scotland did when so that we could then join him are fasting connected us on a spiritual level. As we prayed for our family, our community and our future, it was very powerful, it was a time of great connection in our marriage. Now I was later introduced to fasting as a physical practice that supports the body's ability to clean up the inner terrain and reset. And then later, I was introduced to the idea that original hunter and gatherer humans did not eat all the time. So they went stretches of time without food, which would be considered fasting in between hunting and gathering. So that kind of blew my mind. And it made a lot of sense to me in terms of fasting being a natural ancestral practice that is recognized by our nature.
Dana Frost 12:03
Fast forward to modern humans and our Franken food and packaged food that is available 24/7 We have access to fresh fruit and vegetables, which is wonderful from all over the world all of the time, depending upon where you live. And I will say we are literally stuffing ourselves to death, all of the time. And that's also not healthy. So I understand where the wellness industry is coming from when we talk about intermittent fasting and the keto diet, we wouldn't we, you know, we would have natural intermittent fasting, if we were living back in hunting and gathering societies, if we didn't have food available all the time, if we didn't have cupboards that were full, so that every time we think that we need food, we can grab food without any effort on our part.
Dana Frost 12:58
So I understand where we've gone, as you know, culturally in the wellness industry, trying to re direct this ship, of over eating, over eating foods that actually deplete us and don't truly give us a tidy and don't fuel ourselves, our muscles, our brain. So I understand that. Now, let me make a comment about fasting. And this isn't a deep dive into fasting, but I just want to say
Dana Frost 13:37
how to fast is bio individual and it needs to be adapted to the individual. If you're fasting for physical motivations, I'm not here to comment when I did the spiritual fasting. You know, I think that that's our intention has so much to do with how the fasting unfold physiologically. But I want to speak into this fasting that's done physiologically. And you might remember if you were following me back in 2021 on Instagram, I did a seven day water fast and I have not done one sense. I have not done an extended fast since then I did this for spiritual reasons. I did it to bring some clarity, mentally. And I did it for physical reasons because of the diabetic influence and my genes. So there were you know, three different reasons I did that seven day water fast. I had to I had to add in electrolytes in the fast and I had to rest a lot during the fact that during the fast
Dana Frost 14:55
I will share that over the past year I've only focused on the regular are daily fast that all of us should be I will say should be practicing. And that is simply 12 hours between dinner and break fast or breakfast. That's what breakfast is. It's when we break our fast
Dana Frost 15:15
Breakfast is a time for breaking fast and fueling yourself for the day, actually, at the beginning of the day, our cortisol is high, we are ready, the body is ready to take on whatever needs to be done for the day. So morning is actually a really good time to fuel your body.
Dana Frost 15:36
And I'm not going to get into I'm not going to get there are there are times when it's you know, it is helpful to have an intermittent intermittent fasting that includes the morning. Okay, so, you know, if the idea of break breakfast is breaking fast and fueling yourself for the day, I'll just move in and say we're not designed to be snacking all day and evening. We don't need to have access to food all the time.
Dana Frost 16:09
So when we're reaching for food, what is it that we really want? Because we don't need to have access to food all the time. And so I want you just to have one takeaway is when you're reaching for food and it's outside mealtime, what do you really want? This is wellness. To me, wellness is a lot about our mental state. And using the mind to actually bring the body back into homeostasis, so that we when we just eat whatever we want, whenever we want all day long, the body is actually in charge. And actually we want our mind and our soul to be in charge.
Dana Frost 16:56
We don't want to be a slave to the body's demand for pleasure. 24/7 So think about that. What do you really want when you reach for food? Give yourself time to respond. Be curious, go deep go in there. What are you really craving?
Dana Frost 17:15
Okay, so I want to back up to a different encounter I had with Glynnis Gwyneth online content. So Gwyneth turned 50 last September and she posted a nude photo of herself gilded in gold. She was looking down, it's a side view. She was holding her head with one arm, and I will say hey, props for the photo. I am loving the ladies who are over 50 Post posting photos of their bodies. I'm trying to remember I went to an exhibit. Oh, it was in Austria in Vienna. I went to an exhibit last May. And it was older people and just their nude bodies everywhere they were and it was absolutely beautiful. So this isn't about her nudity. Rather, it's what she shared about herself in the commentary that she wrote and so I went back before recording the podcast to look at her post. And it seems like that what she the excerpt that she included in the Instagram post has been removed, but I did find it on her blog and I want to read it to you.
Dana Frost 18:23
Okay, quote, my body. A map of the evidence of all the days is less timeless. A collection of marks and irregularities that dog eared the chapters scarred from Heaven burns a finger smashed in a window long ago the birth of a child silver hair and fine lines. The sun has left her celestial fingerprints all over me as if she should soaked a brush and a dark taupe watercolor, flicking it over my skin. And while I do what I can to strive for good health and longevity to stave off weakening muscles and receding bone. I have a mantra I insert into into those reckless thoughts that try to derail me. I accept I accept the marks and the loosening skin the wrinkles, I accept my body and let go of the need to be perfect to the perfect defy gravity defy logic defy humanity. I accept my humanity. Quote.
Dana Frost 19:25
It's beautiful. Absolutely beautiful. However, what I said in a comment on the post back when she posted this the words do not match the image. They simply do not fit. gilded airbrushing lacks the authenticity of dogear chapters irregularity, streaks of silver and the marks that she mentioned. There were no natural lines on our image, image or loosening of the skin. We don't see this in the image. The image appears You know, very, I will say very slim, but the skin looks perfect. Her method of defying gravity is depravity, go back to her Instagram page or blog and look at the photo with the with the image. And let me know what do you see? I don't see someone who is celebrating age, even though she provides a narrative that says she is the energy that I feel from this photo is sadness. And I could be wrong. I'm not her.
Dana Frost 20:33
So let me know what you see. But the energy I see as a spectator, I see depriving herself of proper sustenance and I see sadness. I don't know why I'm just telling you what I see. If we go back in time, there's a lot about Gwyneth on the Internet. In one piece, she mentions being perimenopausal. And this was at a time that she mentioned she was gaining weight, and she was 48. And she talked about her metabolism changing. And yes, that is a real thing. I'm sure all of you know about that. It's very, very real for me. At the same time, she was talking about COVID and postinfection symptoms. This is also very real for many people, and I am truly sorry for this COVID has caused complexities beyond the imagination. And I am really sorry that this was the case for Gwyneth. But do we need this is what I would say linking that weight gain, which is what my impression was, I could be wrong with excuses. I believe she was linking weight gain with the COVID symptomology. But do we need an excuse? For every time our body changes? And we experience weight fluctuations? And do you make an excuse this is real wellness? I I have to ask myself, do I make an excuse when I have weight fluctuations? Do we need to make an excuse? I don't think we do. But I know that we do that. And I know even I do that. Let's let's just for a moment focus on women's bodies, and how miraculous they are. They shift and change to adapt to new phases in life. Look, we can't change who we are. We can't chase let me say this.
Dana Frost 22:22
We can't chase who we were 30 years ago or 20 years ago or 10 years ago. From a physiological perspective. As a as a that's what's the word I want? Well, the word is escaping me.
Dana Frost 22:39
But as women we have major hormonal shifts about every eight years. I want you to consider this from a cellular perspective. You are welcoming new cell you are welcoming a new cell your cellular year about every 80 to 100 days. Do you know what that means?
Dana Frost 22:57
What you do today can positively impact your health tomorrow, in a week, in a month. And by the time 100 days are up, cellularly, you are new. How freakin’ miraculous is that? How miraculous is that? So what are we chasing in our wellness?
Dana Frost 23:16
Well, you've heard me talk about my family history and obesity and diminished use of the body because of diabetes and inflammation as my ancestors age. And I can tell you what I'm chasing better outcomes than my ancestors. I am chasing a healthy immune system. I'm chasing a mind that is working and thinking and strategizing. And I don't It's my mind is not quick. Actually it's not quick, but it never has been. So I'm not chasing a quick mind. But I am chasing a thinking mind. A strong mind.
Dana Frost 23:52
I'm chasing a strong, competent, able and functional body. I'm not chasing the body that I had. While my body actually is stronger, and feels more functional than it did 10 years ago after my health crisis. But I want a body that is functioning for what I'm doing today. I want strong emotional bonds with my family and friends. And I at the heart of it. I want a state of presence in each moment. I want to be here with you now, on this podcast. As I'm recording this I want to be here. I don't want to be thinking about what's going to happen next or what happened before I hit record. But I can tell you what I'm not chasing. It's not directly connected to my weight or my skin. Although I'm taking care of my body and I'm taking care of my skin. I was thinking about women's bodies. While
Dana Frost 24:48
I've been thinking a lot about women's bodies over the past year as I watched my daughter get pregnant. Her body changed. I watched her deliver a baby I watched her hips spread her tummy grew This happens to all of us women who decide to have children, the body creates space to carry a baby, the pelvis morphs itself. For a vaginal birth, I got to see that, as a spectator, it was absolutely amazing. The breast balloon to provide sustenance for new life. I mean, seriously, my daughter, I knew my breast balloon, but it's been many years, it's been 30 years, it was just unbelievable to see her breasts that were always very small, just balloon to provide sustenance for her child. And then what happens? The body, the woman's body relaxes, and more or less, more or less returned to itself, we're all different. So what what ends up happening is different for everybody. But it goes back, it expands. And it contracts.
Dana Frost 25:51
Women, our bodies were created for this, it gives me full body goosebumps just talking about it. Our bodies are designed for built in seasons of giving birth to support humanity's cycle of life. And then guess what happens? Menopause hits when the cycle of life giving has ended. And the body once again, shifts and slows down and it slows way down. Our bodies are that dynamic and are are and organic, they are not static. So what works this season may not work next year.
Dana Frost 26:34
Women are much more sensitive to fasting than men just to bring the fasting conversation back. And I think that it's because our hormones are more complex and sensitive, and we need a different kind of fuel than men need. And you can see with the shifts in hormones every eight years, you know, we're different than men in that way. Today, because women are living way beyond childbearing years, we do want to support ourselves so that menopause slow that menopause slow down doesn't negatively impact our health. And I am sure that's the intention behind going to this passionate lifestyle strategy. I think and I know I could be wrong, it's easy to be on the outside and cast judgment, I think she's caught chasing the body she used to have even though she says she's not. And maybe I'm wrong, as I said, but
Dana Frost 27:30
I do find most women are chasing the body they used to have, I found myself doing the same thing. And I've brought my focus back to the current moment and who I am today, ultimately, and this is where I'll bring in the wealth, the real wellness conversation,
Dana Frost 27:50
know what you're chasing, because that's what you are going to get. If you want to only be slim, you can be slim, but you're going to have small minded goals, you're going to have slim goals, if that's what you're chasing, if you want a small anybody can get their body to be small, again, just don't eat. And you'll be small. Again, you can use all of these different hacks, and become skinny like you were when you were 20, if that's what you want. But
Dana Frost 28:18
in the aging process, we miss an important detail about women's bodies, we actually need fat to support ourselves as we age so that we do not become frail and susceptible as we age to illness and to break down. Too skinny as you age is a greater health risk than having a little more weight than your youthful years. When you get sick or you fall you need fat to carry you through those times. And to soften the falls. And I'm not suggesting obesity, rather a little more fluff than you had in your younger years is actually beneficial. We don't need to be afraid of that little extra weight because our metabolism has slowed. Do we want to let metabolism get way out in front of us and create a lot of fat? Because no, we don't because if that happens, I we're fat cells create the kind of estrogen that we don't want. And we've just spent several episodes talking about that. So I'm not talking about a lot of extra fluff. No, that's not what I'm talking about. We don't want that to get out of control. And we do want to be really mindful about our metabolism because we are aging we're living longer than our ancestors. So
Dana Frost 29:40
you know, as I said,
Dana Frost 29:42
As we age, truly slowing down and moving into the wisdom years is beneficial. We no longer need to work at a frantic pace. So we actually we don't need to eat as much as we did when we were bearing children. So we're not going to be eating as much our appetite is not going to be the same And we have time to create space in between activities we can linger more, we can share more, we can simply be more.
Dana Frost 30:10
Feeling younger while growing older is not about chasing who we used to be, but rather who we are because of everything that we've learned and gleaned from this powerful experience of being alive, here and now on planet Earth. If you can keep yourself in the now moment, well that is true wellness, and feel the power that is rooted inside and allow it to express itself to your sphere of influence. Well, that is vitality and that is feeling younger, while growing older.
Dana Frost 30:53
So today, feeling younger while growing older and my skin feels like being available and present in the moment right now. I'm with you. I am right here with you in this moment. And I want you to think I want to thank you for joining me this week on the vital you podcast. Thank you to my ex 39 stem cell activations patch sponsorship. If you want to know more about the power of the patch, the link is in the show notes. If you liked this podcast, please hit subscribe, download and leave a review. And as always, until next week, I am streaming love from my heart to yours