Wellness is meant to help people feel better. It is why many turn to these practices in the first place: to feel more centered, more whole, and more alive. But for many women, it has started to feel like another source of stress.
At mindbodygreen, the editorial team regularly hears from women who feel overwhelmed by the sheer volume of health advice. One scroll through social media can leave a person questioning everything: Should I cut gluten? Track my glucose? Buy the expensive smoothie? Switch to oat milk? Wait, skip the oat milk? Start cold plunging? But only when I am in the right phase of my cycle?
Somewhere along the way, wellness became less about feeling well and more about keeping up. That is exactly why Jordan Lee Dooley’s book, Be Good to Your Body, feels refreshing right now.
Jordan is a bestselling author, podcast host, and advocate for a more grounded approach to wellness. Her perspective is rooted in the idea that physical, emotional, and spiritual health are deeply interconnected. By focusing on the things that matter, people can start to feel more at home in their bodies. As she writes: “In a world of endless fads and health trends, my best advice to reduce overwhelm is to prioritize the big stuff first.”
Basics will do more than extras
One of the most compelling ideas in Jordan’s book is the distinction between timeless wellness habits and trendy ones. The wellness industry constantly introduces new tools, protocols, and products promising better energy, clearer skin, and a longer life. While many of these things can be helpful, Jordan argues that they often distract from the basics that matter most.
As she writes, “It can be so tempting to jump to something that may absolutely be healthy but not totally necessary and perhaps even kind of faddish.” Foundational practices should always come first.
Prioritize these principles from Jordan: hydrating consistently, eating more whole foods, supporting sleep and circadian rhythms, spending time in nature, moving your body daily, cultivating meaningful community, and creating a life-giving home environment. None of these habits are flashy. Most are free. But collectively, they create the foundation that supports long-term well-being.
You do not need to earn your health
Another powerful thread in the book is the idea that wellness perfectionism can pull people further away from genuine well-being. For many women, health becomes tangled up with productivity, discipline, and self-worth. There is pressure to optimize every aspect of life, to eat perfectly, exercise consistently, buy the right products, and never fall off track.
Jordan challenges the idea that wellness has to be earned through constant self-improvement. Instead of chasing every new protocol, she encourages readers to simplify. Her advice is less about rigid rules and more about reducing mental clutter around health.
A few ways to start: stop trying to overhaul everything at once, choose consistency over intensity, focus on habits that make you feel grounded and energized, unfollow wellness content that makes you feel anxious, and let routines evolve with your season of life. One line from the book feels particularly important: “There will likely be other times where all we can manage to maintain is the basics. And that’s totally okay too.”
Holistic health includes spiritual well-being
While the book explores physical health, it also makes the case that true wellness cannot exist in isolation from mind and soul. Jordan writes, “You cannot be holistically well if your pursuit of physical health is harming your spiritual, mental, or relational health.”
It is an important reminder in a culture where healthy living can sometimes become all-consuming. If wellness routines leave a person feeling more stressed, alone, or disconnected from life, those habits may not actually be supporting well-being. Instead, Jordan encourages a more integrated approach that includes connection and reflection alongside nutrition and movement.
That might look like taking walks without tracking them, sharing meals with people you love, spending more time outside, creating tech-free moments throughout the day, and prioritizing spiritual practices that help you feel grounded. It is about letting wellness support your life instead of becoming your entire identity.
Advanced tools, supplements, or biohacking habits are not inherently bad. Many can be supportive, especially if a person looks forward to the practice itself. But as Jordan reminds readers throughout the book, they work best when built on top of a strong foundation, not instead of one. Only when people focus on the things that matter, such as nourishment, connection, and care, will they feel whole.
