Obsessing Over Our Health Is Not Healthy
But there will always be someone selling you their "perfect" lifestyle that can guarantee health.
We’re told that prioritizing health is always a good thing. That tracking, measuring, optimizing — constantly striving to be better — is the path to a longer, happier life.
And in a culture that not only glorifies wellness, but now praises “clean eating” and “biohacking,” it’s natural to assume that the more we focus on health, the healthier we’ll become.
What we often can’t see is that obsessing over health — whether through rigid food rules, excessive exercise, or constant self-monitoring — can have serious mental, emotional, and even physical consequences.
So how does obsessing over health actually harm our health?
I think we have to roll this back, and first look at the messages that feed our understanding of health. When we’re sold health, we’re sold more than just physical well-being. We’re sold a whole big beautiful life – where we’re loved, accepted, and happy. We’re sold a certain body type. We’re sold longevity, independence, and even an escape from the illnesses that we have perhaps witnessed in those we love most. We’re sold control, certainty, and safety.
As someone with anxiety and OCD, this messaging was incredibly seductive for me — especially when it felt like the cure to all my chronic health conditions. It was a life raft when I felt like I was drowning. It was a beacon of hope when everything else felt like it was crumbling around me.
I often say that the evil genius of both diet and wellness culture is how they have tapped into our deepest fears and anxieties, literally profiting off our fear of our own mortality. So of course many of us find ourselves falling further and further into a vortex of hell(th) as we grasp for reassurance, as we clamor for anything that makes us feel like we will be okay.
What diet culture won’t tell us is that bodies don’t work like machines, and therefore neither do the complex systems, experiences, and identities that contribute to and determine our health. No single approach can guarantee longevity or prevent all illness, yet we are told time and again that there is a solution. So when we’re constantly fed the idea that we can meticulously control our way to perfect health, this is not just misleading, it’s damaging.
Wait, you may be thinking, there is no “right way” to approach health?