Lo Bosworth Is Launching A Wellness Podcast To Start Important Conversations About Health

From periods to sexuality, women’s health has historically been a minefield of taboo topics. However, recent years have prompted people to speak out and shatter the stigma against their own bodies. And entrepreneur Lo Bosworth is ready to do just that with her new podcast, I Love Wellness with Lo Bosworth, launching today.

“I recognize a paradigm shift happening ... when it comes to women's bodies,” Bosworth tells Bustle. “We are experiencing fourth wave feminism right now, and it is a really exciting time to be at the forefront of wellness and being able to redefine what that means for women.” By creating a platform for frank conversations in this podcast, Bosworth hopes to help reduce the stigma around women’s health. She says her show will feature a range of guests — from doctors to comedians to CEOs — to share their expertise on wellness.

“There's so much information that is not shared simply from a biological perspective,” Bosworth says. “And I'm really excited to bring on great guests to help to educate people in their specialty.”

Her debut guest will be actor Jamie-Lynn Sigler, who you may know from playing Meadow Soprano on The Sopranos. Sigler has been open about her own health struggles; she was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis (MS) at age 20 and has since spoken out about living with her condition, her life as a mother, and her fitness journey. The episode is one of many inspiring and informative interviews. “[The goal is] really so that the listeners take something away from every episode, whether it's a story, a life lesson, or a health tip that changes their life,” she says.

Through running her personal care company, Love Wellness, and researching for the podcast, Bosworth tells Bustle she's discovered plenty of misconceptions around women’s health. When asked about what myths she wants to dispel, she doesn’t hesitate to talk about genitalia, and how people often think that “the vagina is a self-cleaning oven” that they are hesitant to wash, after numerous studies found that douching and other products marketed as "feminine hygiene" actually led to damaging health effects. Bosworth says she learned after talking with experts that it can actually be healthy to clean the vulva, which is the external genitalia. It's an important clarification that cleaning the vulva is different from douching; while research has shown that douching is harmful, rinsing the vulva with warm water and unscented soap can help keep your reproductive organs healthy. “That's not saying the information out there is bad,” she says. “It's just not sensitive enough.”

Bosworth wants to add nuance the conversation and help women find a wellness routine that works for them. Bosworth knows that speaking frankly about women’s health can make some people uncomfortable, but she says she doesn’t care. She plans to be open and honest about women’s bodies on her show, and hopefully inspire other women to do the same.

“[I strive] to just to provide women with good information about their bodies and how they can take care of their bodies better,” she says. “We're just talking about human anatomy.”

You can listen to I Love Wellness with Lo Bosworth on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever else you get your podcasts.