You’re listening to Burnt Toast! Today, my guest is Cole Kazdin. Cole is an Emmy Award-winning television journalist and author of What's Eating Us: Women, Food, and the Epidemic of Body Anxiety . Cole came on Burnt Toast about two years ago to talk about What's Eating Us when it first came out—and the way the eating disorder industrial complex leaves so many folks struggling to find durable recovery. Today, Cole is joining us again as an eating disorder expert, but also as a fellow woman in per...
Jun 26, 2025•38 min•Ep. 196
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit virginiasolesmith.substack.com You’re listening to Burnt Toast! We are Virginia Sole-Smith and Corinne Fay , and it’s time for your June Indulgence Gospel! It’s time for a mailbag episode, so we’ll be diving into your questions about: ⭐️ Virginia’s online dating adventures 👀 ⭐️ What we’re cooking right now 🧑🏻🍳👩🍳 ⭐️ How we’re doing with the Target boycott! ⭐️ Plus Corinne’s best Maine recs 🦞 And so much more! To hear the full ...
Jun 19, 2025•2 min•Ep. 198
You’re listening to Burnt Toast! Today, my conversation is with Lauren Leavell . Lauren is a weight neutral fitness professional and content creator. She focuses on creating inclusive environments for movement and exercise to help clients feel strong and confident, and previously joined us on the podcast back in 2023 . Lauren is an oasis in a sea of toxic online fitness and wellness culture. And it has been super toxic lately! So I asked Lauren to come on and chat with us about the recent dramas...
Jun 12, 2025•44 min•Ep. 197
This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit virginiasolesmith.substack.com/subscribe Thank you so much to everyone who donated to the Me Little Me Virtual Food Pantry ! We raised $13,991 with your help — more than double our original goal of $6,000!! These funds, plus the Burnt Toast match, will cover over 3,600 home-cooked meals for multiply marginalized folks in need. Learn more about this project here . You can continue...
Jun 05, 2025•2 min•Ep. 195
Before we start the show today… Have you donated to the Me Little Me Virtual Food Pantry ? This amazing organization works to get low-income folks (many of whom are in eating disorder recovery) fed — and with the food of their choosing. Meaning yes, ultra processed foods that bring comfort and convenience, and yes to beloved cultural foods…and yes to trusting folks in need to know what they need. We’re trying to raise $12,000 and add 50 recurring donors to their rosters by June 1 AND WE ARE SO C...
May 29, 2025•33 min•Ep. 195
Before we start the show today… Have you donated to the Me Little Me Virtual Food Pantry ? No, it won’t prevent any of the MAHA shenanigans we’re about to discuss. But it will get low-income folks (many of whom are in eating disorder recovery) fed — and with the food of their choosing. Meaning yes, ultra processed foods that bring comfort and convenience, and yes to beloved cultural foods…and yes to trusting folks in need to know what they need. We’re trying to raise $12,000 and add 50 recurring...
May 22, 2025•28 min•Ep. 194
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit virginiasolesmith.substack.com My dear friend (and our nation’s leading momfluencer scholar) Sara Petersen joined me for a very fun Substack Live yesterday to discuss: Momfluencer Brooke Raybould’s protein-packed postpartum journey! Why $700 calendars are not the systemic support moms need! Would we eat seven hardboiled eggs in one meal! And so much more. Longtime Burnt Toasties will recall that …...
May 20, 2025•5 min
This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit virginiasolesmith.substack.com/subscribe Welcome to Indulgence Gospel After Dark. This month we are talking about… seasonal color analysis! We’ll be getting into: ⭐️ The complicated legacy of Color Me Beautiful ⭐️ Is color analysis a little bit racist? ⭐️ Is color analysis…a diet? ⭐️ What colors can Virginia wear, and why are there so many shades of taupe? To hear the whole thing...
May 15, 2025•2 min•Ep. 193
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit virginiasolesmith.substack.com ICYMI yesterday… Corinne Fay and I did our first-ever Substack Live! If you’re a casual Substack user, you may or may not have noticed these popping up more frequently. Yes, they work just like Instagram Lives. Yes, they are another way Substack is becoming social media and we can all have complicated feelings about that. Yes, it’s weird that writers now have to b…...
May 09, 2025•2 min
You are listening to Burnt Toast! Today, my guest is Elizabeth Ayiku. Elizabeth is a food justice organizer and founder of the Me Little Me Foundation , a nonprofit committed to advancing food equity and providing free, culturally competent support services for marginalized communities. Based in Los Angeles, Elizabeth works to dismantle the systemic barriers that affect mental health and wellbeing, emphasizing the importance of meeting basic needs first. Elizabeth’s foundation draws its name fro...
May 08, 2025•28 min•Ep. 192
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit virginiasolesmith.substack.com You’re listening to Burnt Toast! We are Virginia Sole-Smith and Corinne Fay , and it’s time for your May Indulgence Gospel! Today, fan favorite Brianna Campos joins us again to talk more about… fat dating and sex! We’re answering your questions, like: ⭐️ How do you navigate certain positions in bigger bodies? ⭐️ How do you talk to new partners about what your body needs? ⭐️ Are “oral sex skills” a myth? ...
May 01, 2025•2 min•Ep. 191
You are listening to Burnt Toast! Today, my guest is Jessica Slice , a disabled mom and author of the brilliant new book, Unfit Parent: A Disabled Mother Challenges an Inaccessible World . Jessica is also the co-author of Dateable: Swiping Right, Hooking Up, and Settling Down While Chronically Ill and Disabled , and This Is How We Play: A Celebration of Disability and Adaptation , as well as the forthcoming This Is How We Talk and We Belong . She has been published in The New York Times , The Wa...
Apr 24, 2025•37 min•Ep. 190
This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit virginiasolesmith.substack.com/subscribe You’re listening to Burnt Toast! We are Virginia Sole-Smith and Corinne Fay , and it’s time for your April Extra Butter. Today we’re talking about plus size influencers getting weight loss surgery. We’ll get into: ⭐️ Is this the start of the Ozempic backlash? ⭐️ How much do public figures owe their audiences? ⭐️ How to hold space for body ...
Apr 17, 2025•1 min•Ep. 148
You are listening to Burnt Toast! Today, my guest is the brilliant Jasmine Guillory . Jasmine is a New York Times -bestselling author of nine novels, including The Wedding Date , The Proposal , and her brand new book Flirting Lessons . This is an absolutely delightful conversation. Jasmine and I get into why she is publishing her first queer romance. We talk a lot about fat rep in romance novels, and we also talk about gardening. It’s so much fun! You can order Flirting Lessons t hrough the Burn...
Apr 10, 2025•26 min•Ep. 188
You’re listening to Burnt Toast! We are Virginia Sole-Smith and Corinne Fay , and it’s time for your April Indulgence Gospel! Subscribe now These episodes are usually only for paid subscribers but we’re releasing this one for free! If you like it, you can get even more Virginia by becoming a paid Burnt Toast subscriber — and then you’ll get even more Corinne, because paid Burnt Toasties can take 20% off their Big Undies subscription! Bundle with Big Undies! There has been so much conversation in...
Apr 03, 2025•30 min•Ep. 187
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit virginiasolesmith.substack.com You’re listening to Burnt Toast! We are Virginia Sole-Smith and Corinne Fay , and it’s time for a bonus March Indulgence Gospel! Today we’re chatting about: ⭐️ How to talk to your kids about (your) weight loss and/or GLP-1 use. ⭐️ How to handle medically-advised diets without getting…diet-y. ⭐️Our favorite leggings (we stand by all these recs!) ⭐️Dealing with haters… and more! To hear the full story, you...
Mar 27, 2025•1 min•Ep. 186
This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit virginiasolesmith.substack.com/subscribe You’re listening to Burnt Toast! We are Virginia Sole-Smith and Corinne Fay , and it’s time for your March Extra Butter. Today we’re talking about Dr. Becky Kennedy, the beloved parenting influencer. We’ll get into: ⭐️ The Dr. Becky mantra that Virginia uses…often. ⭐️Why you don’t need to cook dinner for your kids at 3pm. ⭐️ The infamous “...
Mar 20, 2025•2 min•Ep. 185
You’re listening to Burnt Toast! We are Virginia Sole-Smith and Corinne Fay , and it’s time for your March Indulgence Gospel! Indulgence Gospel episodes are usually only for paid subscribers but we’re releasing this one for free! If you like it, you can get even more Virginia by becoming a paid Burnt Toast subscriber — and then you’ll get even more Corinne, because paid Burnt Toasties can take 20% off their Big Undies subscription! Today we’re chatting about: ⭐️ Navigating fitness spaces designe...
Mar 13, 2025•36 min•Ep. 184
You’re listening to Burnt Toast! I’m Virginia Sole-Smith, and today my guest is Amy Palanjian . Amy is my work wife and best friend of over 20 years. She’s also the creator of Yummy Toddler Food and author of the nationally bestselling cookbook Dinnertime SOS: 100 Sanity-Saving Meals Parents and Kids of All Ages Will Actually Want to Eat . Amy joined me last month at Split Rock Books to celebrate the launch of FAT TALK in paperback. They also host the Burnt Toast Bookshop for us, and are forever...
Mar 06, 2025•38 min•Ep. 183
Today Virginia is chatting with Brianna Campos. Bri is a licensed professional counselor and body image coach who works with folks recovering from eating disorders, and finding body acceptance through grief. You may know Bri from Instagram , or from her newsletter, Body Image with Bri . Bri and I talk about why this concept of body grief is so important—and yet so often overlooked in this work. And she shares how doing her own body grief work has led her to have a happier relationship with her b...
Feb 27, 2025•45 min•Ep. 182
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit virginiasolesmith.substack.com Hi Burnt Toasties! We’re resending Thursday’s podcast episode because we had a little mix up: Our deep dive into Mel Robbins’ Cult of High Fives was supposed to be February’s Extra Butter episode —but it ran with an invitation to subscribe at the regular paid level to access it. Which a bunch of you did, and then were understandably confused when you still couldn’t listen!! This was totally our goof. So ...
Feb 23, 2025•2 min
This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit virginiasolesmith.substack.com/subscribe You’re listening to Burnt Toast! We are Virginia Sole-Smith and Corinne Fay , and it’s time for your February Indulgence Gospel. Today we’re talking about Mel Robbins! We’re going to get into: ⭐️ Is Mel Robbins diet culture or anti-diet? Is she just Andrew Huberman for the We Can Do Hard Things crowd? ⭐️ Corinne & Virginia’s difference...
Feb 20, 2025•2 min
Today Virginia is chatting with Helen Rosner. Helen is a staff writer at The New Yorker . She has been covering food for more than a decade as a writer and editor, and won a 2024 James Beard Award for her weekly restaurant-review column, The Food Scene . She is an expert on sandwiches and many other important subjects. And I had the absolute pleasure of chatting with Helen last month at Books Are Magic in Brooklyn (hi Emma Straub thank you so much for having us!!), at a live event to celebrate t...
Feb 13, 2025•51 min•Ep. 180
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit virginiasolesmith.substack.com You’re listening to Burnt Toast! We are Virginia Sole-Smith and Corinne Fay , and it’s time for your February Indulgence Gospel. Today we’re updating you on our great experiment: How did we do with 30 days of NO AMAZON? We’re going to get into: ⭐️ Why did we quit Amazon in the first place? ⭐️ Is quitting Amazon a diet—or at least, diet culture-adjacent? ⭐️ What was our biggest fail? ⭐️ Will we keep going...
Feb 06, 2025•2 min•Ep. 179
Today Virginia is chatting with Frankie De La Cretaz. Frankie is an award-winning journalist whose work sits at the intersection of sports, gender and culture. They are the co-author of Hail Mary, the rise and fall of the National Women’s Football League , and their writing has been featured in The New York Times , Sports Illustrated , The Atlantic and more. Frankie also writes Out of Your League , a newsletter about queer sports and pop culture, which I consider a must-subscribe. If you have be...
Jan 30, 2025•41 min•Ep. 178
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit virginiasolesmith.substack.com You’re listening to Burnt Toast! We are Virginia Sole-Smith and Corinne Fay , and it’s time for your January Indulgence Gospel. It’s time for another mailbag episode, so we’ll be answering questions like: ⭐️ Is it anti-fatness to care that your partner eats faster than you? ⭐️ What ultra processed foods can we not live without? ⭐️ What should you do when your friend starts weight loss drugs for “wardrobe...
Jan 23, 2025•2 min•Ep. 179
You’re listening to Burnt Toast! We are Virginia Sole-Smith and Corinne Fay , and today we’re getting into our Ins and Outs for 2025. Most Indulgence Gospel episodes are paywalled, but we’re releasing today’s conversation for free as a January-has-been-a-lot-aleady treat! If you enjoy this conversation, please consider supporting our work with a paid subscription . You can also subscribe to Corinne's newsletter, Big Undies, for 20% off using this special link. To get all of the links and resourc...
Jan 16, 2025•33 min•Ep. 176
This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit virginiasolesmith.substack.com/subscribe Welcome to Indulgence Gospel After Dark! It's time for your January Extra Butter! Today, we’re tackling two big topics: 1. Can you do a diet-y thing and still be an anti-diet advocate? 2. And can Corinne and Virginia divest from Amazon for one month? (Or is that…also kind of diet-y???) If you are already an Extra Butter subscriber , you’ll...
Jan 09, 2025•2 min•Ep. 175
You’re listening to Burnt Toast! We are Virginia Sole-Smith and Corinne Fay , and we’re dropping in today with your Burnt Toast Podcast Year In Review. Don’t forget! Burnt Toast subscriptions are 20% off right now — but that deal ends tomorrow night. Don’t miss it! And if you haven’t donated to our NAAFA fundraiser yet, we could really use your help funding fat. You can always listen to our episodes right here in your email, where you’ll also receive full transcripts (edited and condensed for cl...
Dec 26, 2024•35 min•Ep. 174
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit virginiasolesmith.substack.com It’s time for your December Indulgence Gospel. Today’s episode is both holiday and sex-themed, which seems right! We’re getting into: ️ How diet culture and anti-fatness show up during the holiday season. Comments from relatives! Fitness equipment as gifts! Matching family PJs! Etc. ️ Our NEW Ask Corinne segment, where Corinne answers your fat sex and dating questions, like: What do you do when certain p...
Dec 19, 2024•2 min•Ep. 173
