Rachael Hanel

1 week ago | rachaelhanel.substack.com | Rachael Hanel

For the first time in probably forever, I did not create any New Year’s resolutions around health and wellness. In any case, I prefer the word “intention” that my friend Melanie Williams uses. Last year ended in a rather chaotic way and I’ve put very little thought into what I want to intend for this year. But I do like to think about my health and wellness and what I want that to look like. At the beginning of 2024 my intention was to continue strength training at least twice a week.

1 week ago | rachaelhanel.substack.com | Rachael Hanel

I just read “Present Tense: The Long Shadow of an Eating Disorder” by Maggie Slepian in Longreads. Slepian writes with excruciating detail her experience with anorexia and bulimia. After struggling with the worst of the physical symptoms for a year, she entered a residential treatment program and was proclaimed “cured.” But her essay discusses the lingering psychological effects that likely will never go away, namely body dysmorphia.

1 week ago | rachaelhanel.substack.com | Rachael Hanel

Today marked my 500th day in a row of running. Why am I doing this? I don’t know, ha ha. I started something and now I don’t want to stop. On Nov. 13, 2023, one day after I turned 49, I thought a good way to welcome in my 50th year would be to run every day. I had done various daily running streaks in the past, like running every day between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Day. My only requirement was that it be at least one mile. Pace didn’t matter; a slow shuffle would count.

1 week ago | rachaelhanel.substack.com | Rachael Hanel

I found this delight the other day as I was going through old photos. Now that I’m working on a manuscript about body image, this picture takes on a new resonance. I joke that it should be the cover of the book. It needs to find a home in the book somewhere, right? I’m probably five in this photo, which would make it the summer of 1980. Obviously it was a hot day, as both Mom and I are wearing swimsuits.

1 week ago | rachaelhanel.substack.com | Rachael Hanel

I read an article that had a misunderstanding about “skinny women” and I’d like to set the record straight. I enjoyed reading “A Diet Writer’s Regrets” in The Atlantic recently. Rebecca Johns recounts her years as a writer focusing on diet and nutrition articles for women’s publications. The irony was while she was writing about diet tips and nutrition advice, she herself was overweight. Until she started Mounjaro, one of the many GLP-1 drugs on the market that help people lose weight.