Latest news with #TheLetThemTheory
The Guardian
01-08-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Let them, creatine and fibermaxxing: the biggest wellness trends of 2025 (so far)
Staying up to date on wellness trends can be tough. What if you get sat next to an energy healer at a dinner party? What are you going to talk about? Raw milk is already sort of passé. Don't worry, we've got you covered. Here are the wellness trends everyone is discussing in 2025, and what you need to know about them. Down in the dumps? Try putting together a 'dopamine menu' – a list of activities designed to boost your mood. The term first popped up in 2020, and has since taken off on social media, with thousands of users sharing what they 'order' when they feel low. It's helpful to think of a dopamine menu like a regular menu, Adrienne Matei explained, with 'starters' that take little time and effort, more substantial 'mains', and 'sides' that zest up the day. Matei spoke to several happiness experts about the items on their dopamine menus. These included giving people compliments, sitting in your favorite green space, cuddling with a loved one, and smashing objects to bits in a rage room. Whatever works for you! More about dopamine menus This year, millions of people realized they can't control the actions of others – no matter how desperately they might want to. At the end of 2024, podcaster and self-help guru Mel Robbins published a book called The Let Them Theory. Its central thesis was simple: if someone is doing something that bothers you, let them. The book made a splash. It jumped to the top of bestseller lists. There were news articles and podcast episodes about the theory, and Oprah called it a 'gamechanger'. People even got 'Let them' tattoos. The theory was not without critics. Some claimed Robbins cribbed the idea from poet Cassie B Phillips, whose poem, Let Them, went viral in 2022. Others said the concept was obvious. But sometimes obvious advice is the most helpful. As one therapist said: 'It's a reminder that it's OK to step back, let people be who they are, and stop carrying things that aren't ours to carry.' More about the 'let them' theory Strength training has been the darling of the fitness world recently (deservedly so), and as more people spend time moving heavy weights, there is an increasing demand for products and supplements that help maximize each lift. Enter creatine. Long a favorite supplement among athletes and fitness professionals, creatine is a naturally occurring compound that helps power short bursts of high-impact activities – think sprints or heavy lifts. Synthetic creatine is often sold as a white, flavorless powder that one can mix with water or juice (some influencers take it dry as a stunt, but experts strongly discourage this as it could lead to choking). Creatine is considered safe for most healthy adults. And while research doesn't fully support popular social media claims that creatine helps build muscle, it might do so indirectly by giving you more energy during intense workouts. More about creatine Sign up to Well Actually Practical advice, expert insights and answers to your questions about how to live a good life after newsletter promotion In May, Kardashian matriarch Kris Jenner set the internet abuzz when she appeared at Lauren Sanchez's Paris bachelorette party with a face that looked remarkably smooth and taut. (Is that the most cursed sentence I've ever typed? Who's to say.) Online, many speculated that her youthful appearance was the result of a deep plane facelift – a technique that works with deeper layers of tissue than a traditional facelift. Searches for the term soared. (Jenner did not discuss or confirm any particular procedures.) Deep plane facelifts are pricey, because it is a more complex procedure, and also tends to last a few more years. They can set patients back anywhere from $30,000 to $100,000. By contrast, the average cost of a regular facelift in the US is about $11,395. More about deep plane facelifts Psyllium husk has been touted by influencers as 'nature's Ozempic' – a cheap, non-prescription alternative to GLP-1 medications. But this comparison is 'oversimplified and misleading', warns Lena Beal, spokesperson for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. Psyllium husk comes from the seed of a desert shrub, and is the leading ingredient in popular laxatives like Metamucil. When consumed with water, it's simply a good source of soluble fiber, and has been found to help lower levels of 'bad' cholesterol, slow down digestion and increase satiety. If psyllium husk isn't your thing (some people don't enjoy the gloopy, gel-like texture it develops in water) don't fear. There are plenty of other good sources of fiber, like fruits, vegetables and legumes. More about psyllium husk As protein mania reaches a fever pitch, consumers are already looking toward the next nutrition trend. According to some on social media, the future is all about 'fibermaxxing' – a trendy term for 'eating a lot of fiber'. As one wellness influencer put it, fiber is 'super cool'. Indeed, one study found a fiber-rich diet can improve heart health and reduce the risk of type 2 diabetes and colorectal cancer. You could give psyllium husk a try – or just eat an apple. More about fibermaxxing
The Guardian
31-07-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Let them, creatine and fibermaxxing: the biggest wellness trends of 2025 (so far)
Staying up to date on wellness trends can be tough. What if you get sat next to an energy healer at a dinner party? What are you going to talk about? Raw milk is already sort of passé. Don't worry, we've got you covered. Here are the wellness trends everyone is discussing in 2025, and what you need to know about them. Down in the dumps? Try putting together a 'dopamine menu' – a list of activities designed to boost your mood. The term first popped up in 2020, and has since taken off on social media, with thousands of users sharing what they 'order' when they feel low. It's helpful to think of a dopamine menu like a regular menu, Adrienne Matei explained, with 'starters' that take little time and effort, more substantial 'mains', and 'sides' that zest up the day. Matei spoke to several happiness experts about the items on their dopamine menus. These included giving people compliments, sitting in your favorite green space, cuddling with a loved one, and smashing objects to bits in a rage room. Whatever works for you! More about dopamine menu This year, millions of people realized they can't control the actions of others – no matter how desperately they might want to. At the end of 2024, podcaster and self-help guru Mel Robbins published a book called The Let Them Theory. Its central thesis was simple: if someone is doing something that bothers you, let them. The book made a splash. It jumped to the top of best-seller lists. There were news articles and podcast episodes about the theory, and Oprah called it a 'game-changer'. People even got 'Let them' tattoos. The theory was not without critics. Some claimed Robbins cribbed the idea from poet Cassie B Phillips, whose poem, Let Them, went viral in 2022. Others said the concept was obvious. But sometimes obvious advice is the most helpful. As one therapist said: 'It's a reminder that it's okay to step back, let people be who they are, and stop carrying things that aren't ours to carry.' More about 'let them' theory Strength training has been the darling of the fitness world recently (deservedly so), and as more people spend time moving heavy weights, there is an increasing demand for products and supplements that help maximize each lift. Enter creatine. Long a favorite supplement among athletes and fitness professionals, creatine is a naturally occurring compound that helps power short bursts of high-impact activities – think sprints or heavy lifts. Synthetic creatine is often sold as a white, flavorless powder that one can mix with water or juice (some influencers take it dry as a stunt, but experts strongly discourage this as it could lead to choking). Creatine is considered safe for most healthy adults. And while research doesn't fully support popular social media claims that creatine helps build muscle, it might do so indirectly by giving you more energy during intense workouts. More about creatine Sign up to Well Actually Practical advice, expert insights and answers to your questions about how to live a good life after newsletter promotion In May, Kardashian matriarch Kris Jenner set the internet abuzz when she appeared at Lauren Sanchez's Paris bachelorette party with a face that looked remarkably smooth and taut. (Is that the most cursed sentence I've ever typed? Who's to say.) Online, many speculated that her youthful appearance was the result of a deep plane facelift – a technique that works with deeper layers of tissue than a traditional facelift. Searches for the term skyrocketed. (Jenner did not discuss or confirm any particular procedures.) Deep plane facelifts are pricey, because it is a more complex procedure, and also tends to last a few more years. They can set patients back anywhere from $30,000 to $100,000. By contrast, the average cost of a regular facelift in the US is around $11,395. More about deep plane facelifts Psyllium husk has been touted by influencers as 'nature's Ozempic' – a cheap, non-prescription alternative to GLP-1 medications. But this comparison is 'oversimplified and misleading', warns Lena Beal, spokesperson for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. Psyllium husk comes from the seed of a desert shrub, and is the leading ingredient in popular laxatives like Metamucil. When consumed with water, it's simply a good source of soluble fiber, and has been found to help lower levels of 'bad' cholesterol, slow down digestion and increase satiety. If psyllium husk isn't your thing (some people don't enjoy the gloopy, gel-like texture it develops in water) don't fear. There are plenty of other good sources of fiber, like fruits, vegetables and legumes. More about psyllium husk As protein mania reaches a fever pitch, consumers are already looking toward the next nutrition trend. According to some on social media, the future is all about 'fibermaxxing' – a trendy term for 'eating a lot of fiber'. As one wellness influencer put it, fiber is 'super cool'. Indeed, one study found a fiber-rich diet can improve heart health and reduce the risk of type 2 diabetes and colorectal cancer. You could give psyllium husk a try – or just eat an apple. More about fibermaxxing
News.com.au
25-07-2025
- Entertainment
- News.com.au
Lincoln Lewis shares Home and Away moment with Ray Meagher
These products are hand-picked by our team to help make shopping easier. We may receive payments from third parties for sharing this content and when you purchase through links in this article. Product prices and offer details are not assured, and should be confirmed independently with the retailer. Learn more From Tomorrow When the War Began to Underbelly, Lincoln Lewis has shared the screen with some of Australia's biggest names. As the son of NRL legend Wally Lewis, fame runs in his family but he's forged his own successful path in the entertainment industry. Most still remember him as soapie heart-throb Geoff Campbell from Home and Away (2007-2010), a role that not only made many teens swoon but launched his career and saw him compete on Dancing With The Stars … twice. These days you'll find Lincoln presenting on Getaway, racking up travel miles and perfecting the art of carry-on packing. Here, Lincoln opens up about his gym essentials, travel must-haves, and his mum's self-help book recommendations (yes, he actually reads them). Plus he shares his wildest fan encounters (one word: bizarre) and reveals the Home and Away co-star he says changed his life. WHAT'S IN YOUR GYM BAG? 'I train in Lululemon a lot, they have great gear.' 'I don't do over-ears at the gym, I tried that once and was just sweating into my earphones. So I do AirPods.' WHAT'S YOUR SIGNATURE SCENT? 'I've got a mix for different occasions, whether it's catching up with mates or going out to dinner but my everyday cologne is Ralph Lauren Polo.' WHAT ARE YOUR CARRY-ON ESSENTIALS? 'Sony headphones for the plane, the big noise cancelling ones.' Sony WH-CH720N Noise Cancelling Wireless Headphones, $220.96 (down from $259.95) at Amazon Australia 'The Burt's Bees lip balm because when you're flying around you're going to dry up.' Burt's Bees 100% Natural Origin Moisturising Lip Balm, $5.99 at Amazon Australia 'I'll always take a book with me. I just bought one that mum told me to get, it's called The Let Them Theory by Mel Robbins. Mum said 'Linc, you've got to read it, it's a phenomenal book.' The Let Them Theory by Mel Robbins, $18 (down from $32.99) at Amazon Australia WHAT ELSE ARE YOU READING AT THE MOMENT? 'The other two books I always keep with me are The Alchemist and Manuscript Found in Accra – it's just a really nice couple of questions that villagers had asked an Elder, it puts things into perspective.' WHAT'S BEEN YOUR WEIRDEST FAN INTERACTION? 'I've been asked to sign the inside of a car, the outside of a car. Some people will even ask me to sign replica weapons from different movies that I've had nothing to do with.' DO YOU HAVE AN ICONIC STORY FROM YOUR TIME ON HOME AND AWAY? 'I remember my first ever call back with Ray Meagher (who played Alf Stewart). He could tell I was really nervous and he turns to the casting director and says 'take five, love'. So here I am, 16 years old, my first ever big callback and Ray gives me a little five minute acting class. I was clearly nervous and he just wanted to help me improve. It's a lesson I'll never forget.' Stay up to date with the latest on fitness products by signing up to our checkout shopping newsletter to see the latest about new products and upcoming sales.
The Spinoff
22-07-2025
- General
- The Spinoff
Do self-help books actually help?
Josh Drummond explores the enduring appeal of self-help books and asks what they're really doing for us. This self-help book isn't like the others you may have read. Those didn't help, did they? Well, you're in luck. This self-help book will actually help. That's how a lot of self-help books begin. I would know; I've read a truly upsetting number of them. 'But why?' is an excellent question. A few years ago I started an experiment: I would read self-help books, analyse them with a sceptical eye, but still try to put their lessons into practice. I'd blog about it, or rather, Substack about it, which was the style at the time. Readers could thrill to my adventures as I became… I'm not sure what. The terms of reference were always a little hazy. I know what I wanted to get out of it, though; the experience of being consistent with something. Which, apart from things like eating food and going to the toilet, is something I have never had. The experiment has, by nearly all possible measures of success, been a colossal failure. The only thing I've managed to be consistent with is inconsistency, and relatively few lessons from self-improvement have been put into place. This is a shame, because self-help remains incorrigibly popular. And despite my failure there is one thing that I do feel wildly overqualified to discuss: the form and content of self-help books; and the itches that readers seek to scratch with them. At the time of writing, Mel Robbins' awkwardly-titled self-help tome, The Let Them Theory, is dominating sales charts. To be clear: I haven't read this book and I'm not planning to. I don't need to, and neither do you. If there's one thing that I've learned about self-help books it's that nearly all of them are one or several core aphorisms stretched across hundreds of needless pages, like butter scraped over a factory's worth of bread. (Others are remixes of stuff like Stoicism that, while genuinely useful, was old when Romans were discussing it.) In the case of The Let Them Theory, everything you need to know and possibly more is contained in the first four sentences of the back cover blurb. What if the key to happiness, success, and love was as simple as two words? If you've ever felt stuck, overwhelmed, or frustrated with where you are, the problem isn't you. The problem is the power you give to other people. Two simple words – Let Them – will set you free. That's it. That's the book. I hope you find something fun to do with the dozen or so hours that I have just saved you. I'm being serious; I have nothing but disdain for the sort of people who try to render down most books into bite-sized but nutrition-free chunks (ChatGPT, give me a hundred-word summary of The Brothers Karamazov including bullet points of the three main themes) but self-help is an exception. Even the good self-help books should be substantially shorter. The mediocre ones would benefit from being bullet points. The bad ones would be better off as actual bullets; I've certainly felt the urge to shoot them out of an old-timey circus cannon when reading. Of course, this raises the question: if self-help is just obvious and often very old aphorisms repeated and remixed into a slurry, then why is it so popular? It turns up some strange answers. The idea of the 'first ever book' is a contested notion, but one of the serious candidates is a Sumerian tome called The Instructions of Shuruppak. This book was already centuries old when the internet's favourite copper merchant Ea-nāṣir wrote his famous complaint letter, and in its opening passage it claims to be even older. In those days, in those far remote days, in those nights, in those faraway nights, in those years, in those far remote years, at that time the wise one who knew how to speak in elaborate words lived in the Land… The instructions of an old man are precious; you should comply with them! You should not buy a donkey which brays; it will split your midriff. Shuruppak is an example of what's called 'wisdom literature,' which can be found in many places, including religious texts like the Bible. My contention is that this stuff is basically self-help, and that humans have been gravitating to that particular form of words since we've been able to write. Look at that introduction again; even the repetition is present! And if you skip to verse 65, there's this: The eyes of the slanderer always move around as shiftily as a spindle. You should never remain in his presence; his intentions should not be allowed to have an effect on you. There you go. That's The Let Them Theory, in the oldest book known to humanity. Saved you a click. If you accept that wisdom literature shares DNA with self-help, we can agree that the genre has essentially always been with us. But that doesn't explain its eternal appeal. To attempt that – and in the navel-gazing spirit of self-help – I'm going to start with me. My first self-help book was something my parents got me when I was about 12. I've forgotten the title, and I'd rather not remember it. It was some kind of Christian approach to improving your self-esteem, and to a kid who was incredibly self-critical, it seemed like a godsend. To me it promised something I'd long dreamed of: the cheat code to how people worked. If I could crack that – and the book hinted tantalisingly that I might – then I might understand how to make it so people were less mean to me, and perhaps even how to be less mean to myself. That, and I read every book I touched. I used to read the phone book. It was better than some of the self-help I've read since. I've since learned something that will probably not surprise anyone who read the previous sentence or so but still came as a shock to me: that I am autistic, and I have ADHD. As a kid, my parents were keen to avoid labels like 'Asperger's Syndrome' (as my flavour of autism was then called) worrying that it would attract bullies. They found me anyway; it turns out children who wear the same flight jacket to school every day in 1994 kind of print their own labels. Without a more accurate understanding of why I was the way I was, books offered an escape and an explanation. I don't know how I'd verify this, but one of my pet theories of self-help's perennial popularity is that the world is stuffed with non-neurotypical people who are desperate for an instruction manual, a way to carve off the square-peg points of their personalities with a prose adze, in order to fit into society's round holes. Even for so-called neurotypical folks, self-help's appeal might be easily understood given the right framework. We all inhabit bodies that evolved to gather food, to hunt, to socialise in close proximity, often outside. Today, many of us spend our waking hours almost entirely indoors, alternating between a big screen where you are entertained, a medium screen where you work, and a small screen where you incur psychic damage. Across all three screens, a lot of time is spent reading. Small wonder that so much self-help concerns itself with fundamental human needs: eat! exercise! socialise! avoid things that harm you! Here is my book-cover-blurb-worthy hot-take: Self-help functions as a virtue simulator, a way to feel good about yourself for a few hundred pages as you embody the hero of a better life. In that respect, self-help is essentially the same as fiction; only (often) less well-written. While reading, you are the person who keeps a tidy house or keeps time or keeps track of personal finances. But upon finishing, the prose fragments into figments of your imagination, and you return to being the person you already are. I am painting a pretty dire picture of self-help, but that's not really my intention. A lot of the actual advice given in self-help isn't bad so much as it is belaboured. Some of it is excellent! The more deliberate, meditative forms of self-help — such as Stoicism — have a lot of value. There is of course some terrible self-help advice out there, such as Jordan Peterson's commandment: 'Put your life in perfect order before you criticise the world.' If followed, this would ensure no-one (including Jordan Peterson) did anything, ever. Objectively bad advice aside, the difficulty lies not just with the fact that the world is complicated, too much so for any one or even several books. It's also because of something true a psychiatrist told me – in the moment before he recommended a self-help book – 'You can't out-think the thinker'. Perhaps, if we're being honest, we might admit self-help comes from that specific hope. That through the mere act of reading, of thinking someone else's thoughts, we might become someone else. Obviously that's an unfair expectation for any book, but I still think that's the subconscious substrate of the genre. The fundamental problem, since the Instructions of Shuruppak, seems the same: prose, on its own, is a poor teacher, and it's a mistake to put the prose cart before the actually-doing-shit horse. Imagine trying to learn to play the violin, or to do woodworking, from a book of inspirational stories about virtuoso violinists or woodworkers. The idea is absurd, and yet that's what a lot of self-help consists of. I'm sure that some folks do triumphantly snap shut their copy of Rich Dad, Poor Dad and immediately set about building an extortionate rent-seeking empire, but most probably don't. For the rest of us, the idea of improving by yourself is inherently flawed; it requires a community. Whether you're learning an instrument or forming atomic habits, you'll do better if you're doing it with others, while taking deliberate, somatic action that's much more than turning pages or imbibing inspirational TikToks. Perhaps this isn't like the other self-help articles you've read. Perhaps it's exactly the same. But when you shut the book, close your browser, or end the scroll, it will still be true that the best help comes from other selves.
South Wales Argus
22-07-2025
- Entertainment
- South Wales Argus
Strictly's Ore Oduba fell victim to Mel Robbins online scam
The BBC presenter took to Instagram last night (July 20) to share his story of how he believed he was contacted by American life coach and podcaster Mel Robbins. Ore has previously said during a Loose Women appearance that the self-help author's 2024 release The Let Them Theory 'changed his life'. Having previously fronted BBC documentary series Claimed And Shamed, Ore revealed that someone claiming to be Mel contacted him through his email. He said: "I could have cried - they knew who I was! I got an email from the Mel Robbins podcast team…I told Mel everything. 'How she had changed my life. And I literally said at the end of the email, even for you to know who I am, is everything. Thank you so much for getting in touch.' Clearly emotional, Ore revealed that the person emailing him invited him to appear on Mel's podcast, which has more than 20 million subscribers. Ore, 39, recalled: 'I'm reading this back and I know exactly how it made me feel at the time. I wrote back and I said, 'Mel, I'm holding back tears. Is this for real? You must have AI helping you correspond with all of these fans'. 'Mel wrote back, 'of course it's me - it's Mel Robbins!' So then I lost my s**t, I absolutely lost my s**t, in tears on an Avanti West Coast train from Birmingham to London, thinking that my whole life was about to change.' He continued: 'By the way, I used to host a show about scammers. I have watched enough Watchdog to last a lifetime - that doesn't stop me being in the middle of it. I never thought I'd be the person that would be scammed.'' Ore realised that Mel contacting him was too good to be true when he realised her name was spelt wrong in the Gmail account and quickly contacted her PR team. Ore's caption for the post read: 'I'm ashamed, I'm embarrassed and I'm human. Did not think I would be the kind of person who could be scammed, but this proves it really can happen to anyone. 'Especially with the help and manipulation of AI. I'm terrified how easily I was 'hooked'. It was SO convincing, it's scary… I've made no secret of how much Mel Robbins, her book and podcast have helped me through a really difficult period. 'Truth is I turned an emotional blind eye to something I so deeply wanted to believe was for me and nearly got myself into a whole heap of trouble (sidenote.. I've realised in making this video how often we do the same thing in relationships too!).' Urging his fans to 'listen to their gut', Ore admitted that being scammed is 'no fun', but he is 'still inspired and loves Mel Robbins'. He concluded the post: 'So grateful to them for their swift response. I got lucky - it could so easily have been too late.' Recommended Reading: When did Ore win Strictly? Ore competed on the 14th season of the dancing competition with professional dancer Joanne Clifton in 2016. An audience of more than 13 million watched him and partner Joanne Clifton crowned champions in 2016, the most watched final in Strictly history at the time. From 2008 until 2013, Ore presented the CBBC news programme Newsround.
