Review
"Making good food and lifestyle choices is the best medicine for curing what ails us. For those suffering from autoimmune or other chronic health problems, The Wellness Project is an invaluable look at how one woman learned to apply best health practices and still enjoy all that makes life sweet."
—Terry Wahls, MD, author of The Wahls Protocol Cooking for Life
“The Wellness Project is a smart, funny, and incredibly helpful guide to the complexities of not just what makes us sick, but what makes us well.”
—Robynne Chutkan, MD, FASGE, Integrative gastroenterologist & best-selling author of The Microbiome Solution
"I couldn't agree more with Phoebe Lapine when she says 'healthy choices can't happen in a vacuum.' This incredibly informative, delightfully human (and fun!) chronicle of her path to sustainable wellness is an inspiring read that makes living well feel approachable. Whether you're looking for support as you take an honest inventory of your health or are seeking inspiration for long-lasting changes, Phoebe has been there and done that and shares it all."
—Julia Turshen, author of Small Victories
"As a practicing physician focused on how nutrition, prevention and wellness factor into today's cutting edge medicine, I’m constantly urging my patients to consider how the small daily choices we make impact our bodies. Like so many people with chronic conditions, Phoebe discovered that true healing begins with food. But through her year-long odyssey, she illustrates that our wellness is made up of so much more—the products we use, our daily movements, and how we tame stress out in the world. The Wellness Project is a must-read for anyone wondering how all these pieces fit together, and ready to tackle them in their own life."
—Robin Berzin, MD, CEO and founder of Parsley Health
"If you're struggling to figure out why you're not feeling like you should, and are overwhelmed by all the wellness information online, then start your journey with The Wellness Project. Phoebe Lapine's experiments are fun and doable. You'll not only learn so much valuable information in this book, but you'll learn a lot about yourself and your potential for feeling good again!"
—Alisa Vitti, functional nutritionist, hormone expert, author of WomanCode, and founder of FLOliving.com
"In her recipes, Phoebe always finds a refreshing balance between the practical and the indulgent, with foods that are both healthy and comforting. Her engaging debut memoir gives readers a roadmap for finding that same middle ground in all aspects of our lives. The Wellness Project is living proof that approaching every day with your body in mind need not be a compromise."
—Jason Wachob, founder and CEO of mindbodygreen and author of Wellth
“With a witty tone that'll have you laughing out loud, this book is a must for anyone wondering if drinking lemon water or giving up alcohol ACTUALLY makes a difference.”
—Mind Body Green
“Not only do I respect Phoebe endlessly as a chef, I’m also in awe of her unique and refreshing approach to wellness. She manages to impart so much knowledge in an entertaining, non-preachy way, and you’ll come away with many realistic tips for how to live your best life.”
—Serena Wolf, creator of Domesticate Me, and author ofThe Dude Diet
“Phoebe is like The Skimm of the wellness world. She describes wellness as a journey not a destination and makes reading about health fun and accessible, which is so rare.”
—Alexandra Stafford, creator of Alexandra's Kitchen, and author of Bread Toast Crumbs
“A great, funny, and down-to-Earth read. I loved every minute of it. There’s something in there everyone can relate to (adjusting to moving in with a boyfriend, starting an exercise regimen, regulating your ‘cycle’). The recipes are easy and approachable, just like Phoebe’s writing!”
—Ali Mafucci, creator and best selling author of Inspiralized and Inspiralize Everything
“Phoebe’s book, The Wellness Project, has been a faithful companion over the past month, a reminder that no matter how busy I am, it’s ok to take a breath, ask myself what I need, and deliver that nourishment however possible. Without judgment. With love. Phoebe’s words feel less like gospel, and more like conversation exchanged with a wise best friend. That friend who knows you, knows just what you need, and knows exactly how to make advice feel like innate wisdom you’ve known all along.”
—Lily Diamond, creator and author of Kale & Caramel
“I love Phoebe’s 'one change at a time' approach...Her story is so inspiring and her book offers readers loads of practical advice.”
—Pamela Salzman, author of Kitchen Matters
“This inspiring story about one 20-something's journey from illness to wellness is perfect for natural-living newbies, those on the fringe of going all in, and anyone looking for simple ways to improve their health without sacrificing life’s pleasures. Part memoir, part game-plan, all good.”
—The Chalkboard Magazine
“An engaging memoir about creating your own path to wellness.”
—New York Post
About the Author
Phoebe Lapine is a food and health writer, gluten-free chef, wellness personality, culinary instructor, speaker, and author of the award-winning blog, Feed Me Phoebe, where she shares recipes for healthy comfort food and insights about balanced lifestyle choices beyond what’s on your plate. Lapine is a regular contributor to Mind Body Green, The Huffington Post, and Food & Wine, among other publications. Feed Me Phoebe was a finalist in the Saveur Blog Awards 2015. She lives in New York.
Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
If you could tell someone to make just one lifestyle change that would have a profound effect on their general well-being, what would it be?
The answers I got to my One Big Question (henceforth referred to as the OBQ) were surprising. People stopped talking about SoulCycle and superfoods and started talking about the bigger picture.
With these responses, I started designing a set of short-term challenges to help me tackle each of my problem areas, one by one. The idea was to dedicate a year to overhauling my health—like Gretchen Rubin did for her happiness—with experiments for everything from cleaning up my makeup to forming better hydration habits to feeding my microbiome.
And thus The Wellness Project was born.
When I started talking about my project with friends and the readers of my blog, Feed Me Phoebe, it became clear that “wellness” was a rather polarizing term. While many said that they embraced it, others reported that they felt the word was elitist and had come to stand for hundred-dollar‑a‑day juice cleanses and designer yoga mats instead of integrative health.
I needed to settle on a definition outside the modern marketing machine, and the one that spoke to me most was from the National Wellness Institute. It states that wellness is “an active process of becoming aware of and making choices toward a more successful existence.”
I liked this idea of an active process—that wellness itself was a journey, not a destination. Because what I’d found that so many health experts, and even my own physicians, fail to acknowledge is that change is pretty fucking hard.
The struggle is real.
Ninety-two percent of people who set New Year’s resolutions in 2014 failed to keep them. Why? One reason might be because the objectives were too ambitious. With so many new rules added to the mix every year—usually, the villainizing of one ingredient or another—it’s all too easy to throw fifteen balls (or organic apples) in the air and watch them come crashing down.
Working as a culinary instructor had shown me firsthand the failures that can result in the kitchen when you bite off more than you can chew, and tackling these “life recipes” would be no different. I had already struggled to implement the far-reaching advice that my doctor had handed to me without a road map. The grander my intentions, the more I would need a framework for execution.
And without one, the more likely I would be to end up with organic applesauce all over the floor.
The American Psychological Association recommends that you approach lifestyle changes in baby steps, one habit at a time. So for my wellness curriculum, I decided to compartmentalize my endeavors as much as I could. Like the 92 percent of well-meaning Americans, I had already
tried to do too much at one time and felt like a failure when overwhelm set in and, instead, I did nothing at all. Isolating each change would help me measure its true impact and see which ones were worth the time, money, and energy going forward.
I ruled out prohibitions that were too crazy or unrealistic. For example, I wasn’t going to throw out my entire wardrobe because the clothes contained toxic dyes. Everyone has a limit or an exemption clause, and I put my peep toe–heeled foot down at wearing a shapeless hemp tunic down Fifth Avenue.
To get the most difficult stuff out of the way, while my resolve was at its firmest, I would start by confronting my three biggest vices: sugar, caffeine, and alcohol. Since the state of my skin was one of my chief barometers for success, I would explore greener ways to care for it next. And because our food choices loom the largest, I knew I needed to figure out once and for all what rules should prevail in the kitchen.
Water, sleep, and exercise were basic imperatives that came up again and again in the answers to my OBQ, and they too would get a deeper dive. I blamed my failure on the fitness front on back pain and digestion problems, so I knew that I would have to tackle those two issues as well. And part of putting all the pieces of my wellness puzzle together would be to better understand how to support my hormones. Finally, since physical problems are often driven by emotional ones, I would have to get my stress in check. After all, one of my main motivations for taking on this project was that desperately trying to be “healthy” was causing me anxiety.
As for the new rules and routines I would live by, I gave myself the freedom to modify them as I figured out which experiments improved my life and which, despite the best scientific and spiritual intentions, just didn’t. I would certainly measure my progress by internal (blood work) and external (skin) evidence of change. But my intention was not to become the healthiest person on the planet. I wanted to discover a new path forward that I could stay on indefinitely, for the long haul.
Audiobook
