Wellmania

Cold-pressed juices, quitting sugar, Paleo, hot yoga, mindfulness ... if you embrace these things you will be happy, you will be well - just ask Instagram. Wellness has become a global mega-industry. But does any of this stuff actually work?

Feeling exhausted, anxious and out of shape, journalist Brigid Delaney decides to find out - using herself as the guinea pig. Starting with a brutal 101-day fast, Brigid tests things that are meant to make us clean, lean and serene. Travelling the world, she tries colonics, meditation, silent retreats, group psychotherapy and oodles of yoga, working out what is helpful and what is just expensive hype.

In monasteries and health farms, on hiking trails and massage tables, she asks, why do so many of us swing from indulgence to detox and back again? Is it possible to integrate good habits into your daily life? What does our obsession with wellness say about us? And why do you smell so bad when you haven't eaten in seven days?

'Brigid Delaney is the queen of calamity and a fearless, sane guide into the bizarre heart of our modern obsessions. This will make you groan in horror as much as it'll make you laugh out loud.' -Benjamin Law

'A bloody entertaining read that leaves you wondering whether you want to do yoga and meditation or get mindlessly drunk and despair at the state of the world. Basically I wish that I'd written it.' -Judith Lucy

'At last! A funny, well-written work of first-person gonzo reportage concerning all the health and serenity treatments you've ever been too feeble personally to undertake. Think of this book as an entertaining semi-colonic.' -Annabel Crabb

'Her search is earnest, and she's game for just about anything, but Delaney is also unflinching in her examination of the darker side of the wellness industry' -Jenni Kauppi, Books+Publishing

'Wellmania is a thoughtful and thoroughly entertaining guide for those who are either curious about or confounded by the wellness industry.' -iBooks, Best of July 2017