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Come to think of it, don’t talk about dieting at all. A mere nutritionist will not cut the mustard. If you talk about dieting on NPR you’re going to need a Chinese-American non-binary therapist and psychologist and DEI consultant to do it. Are you following this? You can’t even have a conversation without certain prerequisites. They say decoupling from diet culture is often eye-opening and also uncomfortable.ĭecoupling from diet culture. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.ANDEE TAGLE: Chang specializes in research and treatment of eating disorders within marginalized communities in the Bay Area. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at for further information. (SOUNDBITE OF KENDRICK LAMAR SONG, "MONEY TREES (FEAT. She decided to cut her losses, which Makovski estimates were around $8,000. GURA: By May, she'd cashed out completely. MAKOVSKI: It's like there's definitely peace that comes with just selling off such a volatile asset and that I don't have to worry, am I losing $500, a thousand dollars today? And the value of her crypto kept dropping. She was worried crypto companies would run into trouble or go bankrupt, and several have. GURA: A few months ago, Michelle Makovski got off. So I'm just going to keep on riding this little rollercoaster that we're on. He's 31 years old.įLORES: Right now I'm down some money, but I'm like, hey if I don't sell, I don't lose out. But Flores also hopes it will lead to big changes to the banking system and the global economy. But as Flores has continued buying crypto, he's come to see it as more than a bet.
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GURA: The crypto downturn has been heartbreaking, he says. It's always like, hey you know, like, this is just like a little trip to the casino. RAMIRO FLORES: So to me, like, I like gambling. Flores worked for the local fire department, and now he does home health care for the elderly. And Ramiro Flores, another first-time investor, told me his approach was the same. GURA: Makovski says she was careful not to risk more than she could afford to lose. You know, that is a significant amount of money. MAKOVSKI: And I think when I said that number out loud to my family, I was a little shocked. GURA: Makovski says she watched YouTube videos about crypto while she was working out, and by the end of 2021, she'd spent about $30,000 on digital currencies. Just - I went down, and I'd put, like, $10 in every coin, just kind of feeling like I was spreading my - hedging my bet. MAKOVSKI: I bought a ton of the top 100 coins. Makovski says she got into it to make a buck, and eventually she branched out from Bitcoin to other digital currencies. GURA: Well, today Bitcoin is trading at less than a third of that, dragged down by the same forces that stopped the stock market's record-setting run - the Federal Reserve's decision to hike interest rates to fight high inflation. MAKOVSKI: So I definitely bought at the top. She remembers thinking, better late than never. GURA: Makovski bought thousands of dollars worth of Bitcoin as it approached its all-time high in November. Then I felt safe to try it out, to put my money in there. MICHELLE MAKOVSKI: You know, that gives it some sort of approval that not just scammers are using it. And in 2021 it seemed like everyone, including Academy Award-winning actors, was talking about it. Her son's daycare had closed, so she had some extra cash.
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And like millions of people, Makovski got swept up in the moment. She's a manager at a large insurance company who lives outside Seattle. GURA: Michelle Makovski (ph) downloaded the Robinhood app early in the pandemic, and she bought $500 worth of cryptocurrency a few months before that ad debuted. At the end of it, Damon turns to the camera and says. GURA: That commercial for is all about FOMO. But ultimately, for them it proved to be too much. MATT DAMON: History is filled with almosts, with those who almost ventured, who almost achieved. And then there were the ads fronted by celebrities, including Matt Damon. They bought naming rights to sports arenas. Back then, companies were spending tens of millions of dollars on marketing. And now, as NPR's David Gura reports, they are having to cope with painful losses.ĭAVID GURA, BYLINE: When did crypto go mainstream? You could argue it was in October of last year. In the past couple years, many people bought crypto for the first time. The total value of digital currencies is now less than a third of what it was in November, when Bitcoin hit an all-time high. In less than a year, crypto has collapsed.