The $1,000 Wellness Trap

What if your stress about “being healthy” isn’t your fault?

In this episode, I uncover the business behind wellness burnout—and how the industry profits from making you feel like you’re always one step behind.

From $500 morning routines to influencer-driven health trends, I break down what’s real, what’s hype, and what actually works.

Because the truth is: health was never supposed to feel this complicated.

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Find me on Instagram for daily life, tips and fun content: @wellness.with.virginia

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:38

Hello and happy almost middle of April, almost the end of the school year. If you have school age children, I hope you all enjoyed some time off. If you took time off for spring break, we just honestly stayed around and relaxed and just overall had such a great time off. But now I feel like we're off to the races again, trying to get kids ready to finish off the school year and then make our summer plans. Today I am talking about something that is very ever-present for me, and that is the business of wellness burnout. Who is profiting off your health? Um, so if you're like me, a lot of your Instagram algorithm, unless you've customized it, tends to be what you are generally searching for or clicking on. I mean, that's just kind of the way it works. And I'm curious if you ever feel like you're just being pummeled with trips or tips on how to organize your house or wellness tips, because that's what you're clicking on, right? So in the space of wellness, have you ever felt like being healthy is kind of exhausting? Like you start off just wanting to drink more water, get better sleep, maybe move your body a little more, and suddenly you're compulsively tracking your steps, your sleep, your stress, your hormones. You have supplements lined up on your counter that you've spent hundreds of dollars on, a morning routine that takes an hour, and somehow you still feel like you're not doing enough. If this sounds familiar, trust me, you are not alone. And I'm talking about this as a person, as a consumer, as a wife, a mom, a woman in her late 40s, and as a certified health and fitness coach. So today we're talking about something that might completely change how you see the entire wellness industry. I am lifting the covers and showing you what's inside. Because what if that feeling, that constant sense that you could be doing more, optimizing more, and buying more isn't actually an accident? What if it is a business model? So let's start with the big picture. The wellness industry is massive today. We're talking, and I'm not exaggerating, trillions of dollars globally, and it's growing fast. Everywhere you look, there's something new, a new supplement, a new wearable, a new routine, a new must-have for your health. And then there's someone who's sharing a condition they have that makes you feel like, I wonder if I have that too. Um, recently I've been like literally assaulted with ads about a condition. And I, of course, am like, oh my God, do I have that too? I don't. But it made me pause, and now I can't get those ads out of my Instagram algorithm without like manually adjusting it. On the surface, I think this all sounds good, right? People are caring more about their health. There's more awareness, there's more tools, there's more information. But here's the catch: the more products there are, the more problems that need to exist. Because if everything is working perfectly, if you're sleeping great, if you're feeling energized and balanced and healthy, you're actually not a really good consumer anymore. So the industry, whether intentionally or not, thrives on one thing: the idea that you are just ever so slightly not quite there yet. So let's talk about how these problems, air quote problems, get created. This is how this actually shows up in your life without you even thinking about it. So think about something as normal as being tired. At one point, being tired maybe just meant you didn't sleep enough. Maybe you're stressed, maybe you need rest, maybe you have small children who don't sleep through the night yet. But now, think about it this way: being tired can mean you have a hormone imbalance, you have adrenal fatigue, your deficit in magnesium, vitamin D, B12, maybe all three. And suddenly, what is a completely normal human experience because something that needs to be fixed, preferably with a product. And this isn't to say that none of these things aren't real or important, but the line between education and marketing gets blurry super fast. Because once you start identifying with a problem, you enter a funnel, also known as a sales funnel. There's a starter solution, then a better solution, then a premium version, then a subscription. And before you know it, you're not just trying to feel better, you're maintaining a system. Now, in all transparency, I take supplements. I take magnesium, I take B12 because my doctor has determined that I am deficient. And I'm deficient in those because I have low thyroid function, or maybe I have an issue with processing minerals and vitamins from the food I eat. But that doesn't mean that I need to rush out and search out on Instagram what my problem is. It just means that my body doesn't have enough of those minerals or doesn't process things, or maybe I have an absorption issue identified by my doctor, not by an Instagram influencer whose sole goal is to sell me something at least once, right? To help me think, oh, I have this problem and there's a solution without even considering what my body is made up of or what conditions I have. All they're doing is providing a clickable link. So let's talk about the influencer machine. And I know, I know this will make me unpopular with some. And if it makes me unpopular with you, I'm sorry, but this is how it works. So let's layer in social media because this is where things get really quickly out of control. Influencers have become the new face of wellness. And again, this isn't inherently bad. There's a lot of really good information out there, but there's also a system behind it. Most wellness content creators make money through affiliate links and brand deals and sponsored content, which means the more products they can introduce, the more money they earn. And here's where it gets super interesting. Simple doesn't go viral. Nobody's like blowing up online saying, hey guys, I slept eight hours, I went for a walk, and I ate balanced meals today. Which, by the way, this sounds like my life, right? I slept eight hours, I walked at work, I packed my lunch, I packed my breakfast, I followed a meal guide, I did a 30-minute strength training workout because that's what works best for my body, right? Reels, honestly, that I produce that say all those very boring life things generally don't take off. But here's what will go viral: extreme routines, 5 a.m. wakeups, ice baths, 10-step morning protocols,$500 supplement stacks. Because it's aspirational, it's intense, and it feels transformational. But it also, in my opinion, quietly sets a new standard. And now doing the basics can almost feel like inadequate. I have built my entire personal routine to lose and keep off 40 pounds by literally doing the basics, whole food nutrition 80 to 90% of the time, drinking water and moving my body in ways that serves my body best. But I didn't do that with red light therapy, I didn't do it with a sauna in my backyard or in my beautiful home fitness studio, and I didn't do it with thousands of dollars worth of, you know, things that I put in my water every morning. There are things that I use, and I'm being transparent, that serve my body best, right? So my thyroid medication, I talked about magnesium, I talked about B12, um, I take creatine and I use protein powder. That's it. I don't own a red light therapy machine, even though every single person with a thyroid issue online will tell me that I need one. I don't use a sauna because that's not where my family's going to spend our budget. I do what I need to do to serve my body and feel good. And it's honestly just the basics. Now, let's talk about the psychology of never enough, because this is where things shift from just marketing into psychology. Because wellness today isn't just about being healthy, it's about optimizing. And optimization has a totally different energy. With health, there's a point where you feel good. And with optimization, there's a next level. You can always sleep better, eat cleaner, train harder, track more, improve something. And that creates this like moving goalpost when you're never done. And then when you add in tracking apps, wearables, metrics, it can start to feel like your body is a constant project. You wake up and you check your sleep score. You go through your day and you check your steps, you analyze your recovery, your stress, your performance. And instead of feeling more in tune with your body, you can actually feel more disconnected and more anxious. Because now there's data telling you whether you're not doing well enough. Here's what I say to clients some of this is important for you to be accountable. And what do I mean by that? So tracking your macros. So remember, calories will determine your weight, but your macros really determine your physique, um, how lean you are, you know, how much muscle you have, because you're focusing on the nutrients that are fueling your body versus just a number. Um, tracking your macros or your calories, if you do that, keeps you accountable. It helps you in the beginning, and I think ultimately, if you're working towards a specific goal, it helps you be accountable for what you're putting in your mouth. So there is value in tracking your food. If you have not reached maintenance, if you have a problem with like grazing and snacking, if you're like the garbage disposal off your kid's plate. And I'm saying all these things because I have done and do these things from time to time. I do not wear any sort of wearable device. Um, I will look at my steps like on the health app on my phone just to kind of gauge. But honestly, here's what I know I need to do to track my steps. Take a 20-minute walk in the morning after I finish my finish my workout. I either need to take a longer walk at lunch or two smaller walks during the workday and then walk in the evening. Most of those walks are helping me digest food, right? They call them like a post you know eating walk or whatever. Those are specific and purposeful. And walking helps me feel better because I have a job where I kind of sit most of the day. And I am one of those people that used to just work through lunch. Um, I don't track my sleep. But if you're someone who's struggling from sleep, perhaps that could help you as long as it doesn't stress you out. When I have clients tell me that all this tracking and monitoring is stressing them out, my first response is then don't do it. Take a break. You know, eat off the meal guide. Just eat what we tell you to eat, and you will naturally hit your macros. I think it has to be individualized, and that's why the mass marketing on Instagram doesn't necessarily work for you because it's not dealing with you as an individual. That's what a coach does. It's just appealing to the masses. So let's talk about the cost of wellness. So here's the financial side: a typical optimized wellness routine today could look like a gym membership, multiple supplements, a wearable device, a subscription, specialty foods or delivery services. Yes, you have all seen those fresh meals that all the Instagram influencers are telling you have 49 grams of protein and they don't know how they make them taste so delicious because they're delivered fresh and they're super expensive. Things like saunas, cold plunges, red light therapy, and then you add all of that up, and you're easily looking at hundreds or thousands of dollars a month, which raises a really important question. Is health becoming something that you have to buy? Because the basics of health, sleep, movement, real food, sunlight, and connection are truly free or very low cost. And those don't drive recurring revenue. So the spotlight sort of shifts to things that do. Here's kind of what I would view like what is so ironic about wellness burnout is wellness is supposed to make you feel better, less stressed, more energized, more balanced. But for a lot of people, it's doing the complete opposite. It creates pressure to keep up, pressure to do more, pressure to get it right, pressure to look like the person on the screen who may or may not even be doing all the things that they're telling you they do. And if you feel like you're constantly falling short, even as something as fundamental as your own health for your body, that's where the burnout starts. Not from doing nothing, but trying to do everything. So where does that leave us? Because the answer isn't to ignore your health or swing in the opposite direction, it's to simplify, to come back to what actually works and what's actually sustainable, what I do and what I advise my clients to do. Get enough sleep. That means go to bed on time, wake up and evaluate what you did. You know, for me, there's a term like sleep hygiene. Here's what works best for me. I put my phone away two and a half-ish hours before bed. I can still watch TV at night because it's not that stimulating. My best sleep actually comes when I read before bed. Um, because then I'm just kind of escaping into my book and I'm not like constantly being like re-awakened by all these images that I'm seeing on my phone. Um, I drink tea at night. It's part of that habit. I even drink tea, like the same tea when I travel, especially when I travel for work. Moving my body regularly is something that helps me in multiple ways. It creates routine, it creates a habit, it allows me to have 30 minutes for myself, which as a working professional in a high-pressure job with a family, that's very important to me mentally and physically. Eating mostly whole, nourishing foods. My body feels best when I limit the amount of highly processed foods. My body feels best when I eat fruits and vegetables and an animal protein. Spending time outside, sitting in my backyard, reading a book, sitting in my backyard doing nothing, sitting in my backyard, spending time with my family. Going for a walk outside during the workday has done so much for me with a stress relief and connecting with other people. And that's where I think if anything can vary, this will vary depending on if your energy comes from other people or if it doesn't. I share these with you not because they're trendy, but because they're foundational and maybe mostly importantly, to help you learn to trust your body again without needing a score, a metric, a product, a person online that you don't even know to validate how you feel. I can sincerely say if there's one thing I want you to take away from this episode, it's this. If wellness, your routine, what you see online is making you feel anxious, overwhelmed, or like you're never doing enough, that is not a personal failure. It's a signal. And sometimes the healthiest thing, the best thing you can do for your body is less.