Wellness is meant to make people feel better. But for many women, the pursuit of health has become another source of stress.
At mindbodygreen, editors report hearing from women who feel overwhelmed by the volume of health advice available online. A single scroll through social media can raise questions about whether to cut gluten, track glucose, buy expensive smoothies, switch to oat milk, or start cold plunging at specific times of the month.
Author Jordan Lee Dooley addresses this confusion in her book Be Good to Your Body. Dooley is a bestselling author, podcast host, and advocate for a grounded approach to wellness. She argues that physical, emotional, and spiritual health are connected. Her advice focuses on what she calls “the big stuff first.”
Basics matter more than extras
Dooley makes a distinction between “timeless” wellness habits and “trendy” ones. The wellness industry regularly introduces new tools and products that promise better energy, clearer skin, and longer life. While these can be helpful, Dooley says they often distract from the basics that matter most.
She writes that it is tempting to jump to something that may be healthy but not necessary and possibly faddish. Foundational practices should always come first. These include hydrating consistently, eating more whole foods, supporting sleep and circadian rhythms, spending time in nature, moving the body daily, cultivating meaningful community, and creating a life-giving home environment.
None of these habits are flashy. Most are free. Together, they create a foundation for long-term well-being.
Health does not need to be earned
Dooley also challenges the idea that wellness perfectionism pulls people away from genuine well-being. For many women, health becomes tangled with productivity, discipline, and self-worth. There is pressure to eat perfectly, exercise consistently, buy the right products, and never fall off track.
Instead of chasing every new protocol, Dooley encourages readers to simplify. She advises against trying to overhaul everything at once. She recommends choosing consistency over intensity and focusing on habits that make a person feel grounded, energized, and supported.
She also suggests unfollowing wellness content that causes anxiety or feelings of inadequacy. Routines should evolve with a person’s season of life. One line from the book states that there will likely be times when all a person can manage is the basics, and that is okay.
Spiritual well-being is part of health
The book also makes the case that true wellness cannot exist in isolation from the mind and soul. Dooley writes that a person cannot be holistically well if the pursuit of physical health harms spiritual, mental, or relational health.
This serves as a reminder in a culture where healthy living can become all-consuming and isolating. If wellness routines leave a person feeling more stressed, alone, or disconnected, those habits may not be supporting well-being.
Dooley encourages an integrated approach that includes connection and reflection alongside nutrition and movement. This might look like taking walks without tracking them, sharing meals with loved ones, spending more time outside, creating tech-free moments, and prioritizing spiritual practices that help a person feel grounded.
The goal is to let wellness support life instead of becoming a person’s entire identity.
Advanced tools, supplements, and biohacking habits are not inherently bad. Many can be supportive, especially if a person looks forward to the practice. But as Dooley reminds readers, these work best when built on top of a strong foundation, not instead of one.
Only when people focus on nourishment, connection, and care will they feel whole. Dooley’s book explores how caring for the body can be a form of stewardship and how simplicity itself can be healing.
