Health & Wellness

Gracie Norton Weighs In on the Internet’s Biggest Wellness Claims

July 23, 2025

In the social media age, there’s so much wellness advice inundating us at all times. That can be a good thing—tips for a whiter smiler, a healthier gut, and building muscle are literally at your fingertips. But too much information can also be a bad thing. How do you know the difference between good health advice and the bad? Which health trends are worth breaking the bank for? How do you know which wellness claims have been accurately tested?

Wellness influencer Gracie Norton shares her take on popular wellness claims on a recent episode of Wellness Her Way. From birth control to juice cleanses to bathroom schedules, she’s diving into wellness claims she’s heard from doctors, podcasts, and the Internet and sharing her unfiltered, no BS opinions on them. Of course, these are just her opinions, and you should do whatever works best for you and your health. But if you want to know which wellness trends are a green light and which are just a lot of hype, according to Norton, keep reading.

“Your period pain is normal.”

Isn’t it normal to cramp and be in pain before and during your period? Norton strongly disagrees with this common wellness claim. Through her journey with healing her PCOS, she learned a lot about her menstrual cycle and how to have a healthy cycle.

Period pain might be common, but Norton says that it doesn’t mean it’s normal. “Common does not equal normal,” Norton says. “Extreme period pain that is stopping you in your tracks and keeping you from functioning normally is an indicator that something is off.”

A scientific study from Northwell Health backs up Norton, proving that period pains might be an indicator that you are struggling with a hormone imbalance (like estrogen dominance or low progesterone), high stress, or nutrition deficiencies (like low Vitamin B, zinc or magnesium).

According to Norton, a woman’s cycle is her fifth vital sign that communicates the state of her health. “Our bodies are always trying to communicate with us,” Norton adds. “If we are having intense pain and severe cramps before our periods, it’s a sign that something in fact is not normal.”

“You should poop once a day.”

Norton agrees that one bowel movement a day is healthy. She learned that for women with hormone imbalances a bowel movement is critical as it releases estrogen through the stool.

Research from the National Library of Medicine shows that not pooping regularly can actually affect a woman’s hormone balance. “If you are not having that daily bowel movement, it’s possible for estrogen to get reabsorbed, which can lead to estrogen dominance,” Norton adds.

Also, a daily bowel movement is critical for releasing toxins from the body. “You just don’t want all those toxins that your body is trying to excrete,” Norton says. “To make sure I’m having a daily bowel movement, I increase my fiber intake, take magnesium, do stomach lymphatic drainage massages, walk after I eat, and increase my water intake.”

“Intermittent fasting is great for women.”

Norton thinks that intermittent fasting can be beneficial, but only at specific times. “Intermittent fasting is great for women at certain points during their cycle,” she says.

Fasting can have a negative impact on women’s hormones and cortisol, especially during the luteal phase of your menstrual cycle, which is the second half of the menstrual cycle that occurs after ovulation and before the menstruation phase.

“I don’t think intermittent fasting every single day throughout the month is great for women,” Norton explains. “I actually love fasting during my follicular phase and my ovulatory phase, but I do not fast toward the end of my luteal phase or at the beginning of my menstrual phase. During that time, fasting can cause lower energy, affect my mood, and worsen my PMS symptoms.”

“Cortisol is bad and should be lowered at all costs.”

The internet seems to believe that cortisol is the enemy of the body. It’s all over TikTok, and content creators are reducing their cortisol levels. Norton completely disagrees with this claim. “Cortisol actually plays such an important role in our bodies,” she explains. “We need it to be high at certain points of the day.”

According to Cedars-Sinai, Norton is correct—cortisol is a vital hormone and not inherently bad. So if someone is trying to tell you that you need to lower your cortisol every day, be cautious of this advice. “You want your cortisol to follow a natural rhythm,” Norton explains. “We want it to naturally rise in the morning and naturally decrease in the evening.

You don’t need to suppress your cortisol, but the key is to balance it. “When cortisol becomes an issue is when we have an over-production of it and it’s high when it needs to be low,” Norton adds.

“Sugar cravings are a lack of willpower.”

Norton disagrees with wellness claims that sugar cravings indicate a lack of willpower. There’s a fine line between having discipline and balance versus experiencing health issues that cause you to crave sugar like high blood sugar, struggling with stress, or undereating.

Norton once struggled with intense cravings due to unstable blood sugar. She was also having trouble sleeping, had candida overgrowth, and was not eating enough protein. “I remember the first time I did my sugar detox, I felt like I was going insane on day three,” Norton recalls. “It’s not because I didn’t have willpower, but I think there’s a difference between desiring a sweet treat and needing refined sugar to survive.”

So if you are dealing with intense cravings, Norton encourages it might be a health issue. “There is a chance that it could be more than you wanting a little sweet treat,” she says.