Why Beauty Culture is a Cousin of Diet Culture with Elise Hu

Journalist, podcaster, and author Elise Hu joins us to discuss her background with modeling and disordered eating, why beauty culture is a cousin of diet culture, Elise’s experience with intense beauty standards in Korea, and the realities of pushing back against performances of femininity.

Behind the paywall, Christy and Elise discuss the rise of K-Beauty globally, problematic K-Pop body ideals, the lack of mental health support in many Asian countries, and how the technological gaze is reshaping beauty standards online and around the world.

This episode is cross-posted from our other podcast, Rethinking Wellness.

Elise Hu is a journalist, podcaster, author and most recently, a filmmaker based in Los Angeles. Currently she’s the host of TED Talks Daily, the flagship podcast from TED conferences. You can also hear her as the co-host of Forever 35 and the host of Raising Us. Her book, FLAWLESS, came out in 2023. It’s a non-fiction exploration of beauty, consumerism, and womanhood.

Check out Christy’s three books, Anti-Diet, The Wellness Trap, and The Emotional Eating, Chronic Dieting, Binge Eating & Body Image Workbook for a deeper dive into the topics covered on the pod. 

If you’re ready to break free from diet culture and make peace with food, come check out Christy's Intuitive Eating Fundamentals online course.

For more critical thinking and compassionate skepticism about wellness and diet culture, check out Christy’s Rethinking Wellness podcast! You can also sign up to get it in your inbox every week at rethinkingwellness.substack.com.

Ask a question about diet and wellness culture, disordered-eating recovery, and the anti-diet approach for a chance to have it answered on Rethinking Wellness. You can also subscribe to the Food Psych Weekly newsletter to check out previous answers!

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