I think it's important for people to recognize that no matter how fascinated you might be by a Black person’s hair, we are not an exhibit or curiosity. You're listening to Burnt Toast. This is the podcast about diet culture, fatphobia, parenting, and health. I’m Virginia Sole-Smith, and I also write the Burnt Toast newsletter . Today I am speaking with anti-racism activist, writer, and educator Sharon Hurley Hall . Sharon is firmly committed to doing her part to eliminate racism as the founder a...
Jul 28, 2022•27 min
People don’t have a choice about whether or not to fight these things. You have to keep learning all you can, you have to keep finding the allies you can. And to despair is to abandon all the people who need us most. You’re listening to Burnt Toast. This is the podcast about diet culture, fatphobia, parenting, and health. I’m Virginia Sole-Smith, and I also write the Burnt Toast newsletter . Today is a very special episode because I am interviewing one of my very favorite people in the world: My...
Jul 21, 2022•41 min
Yoga Journal, which is the long standing print magazine for yoga professionals, and the yoga community, is owned by the same parent company that publishes Clean Eating magazine. So there’s a lot of intersection in the writing and the journalists between them. And I find it very problematic. Extremely problematic. But that’s capitalism, right? You’re listening to Burnt Toast . This is the podcast where we talk about diet culture, fatphobia, parenting, and health. Today I’m chatting with Jessica G...
Jul 14, 2022•40 min
You’re listening to Burnt Toast! We have another Comfort Food rerun for you this week. Hopefully, by the time you’re listening to this, I have turned in my book manuscript, and I am taking this week to chill out. It’s the first week of July and we’ve got family visiting. My whole goal for this first week is to just spend a ton of time in my pool and my garden, and let my post book brain melt. There’s a stage in book writing where you just feel like you have used all the words. There is nothing l...
Jul 07, 2022•45 min
Kids turn one and our expectations change. Suddenly, we want them to eat for nutrition and “food is fuel.” You're listening to Burnt Toast! This is the podcast (and newsletter) about diet culture, fatphobia, parenting, and health. As you are listening to this podcast today, I am also writing the last pages of my next book. It is called Fat Talk: Parenting in the Age of Diet Culture . It will be out next April. I'm recording this with still about 6,000 words ahead of me. I'm hoping by the time yo...
Jun 30, 2022•28 min
The reason people are angry at thin women is because they hate fat. Yes, of course, we should not be yelling at skinny people. But it’s important to hold that together with, when those jokes get made, they’re actually anti-fat jokes. They’re not anti-thin jokes. You’re listening to Burnt Toast! This is the podcast where we talk about diet culture, fatphobia, parenting, and health. Today we are doing another Ask Me Anything episode! Corinne Fay is back by popular demand, and we’re both answering ...
Jun 23, 2022
Like yesterday, I included goldfish crackers in a lunch picture. And I’m like, how long is it going to take before someone yells at me about the goldfish? You’re listening to Burnt Toast! This is the podcast where we talk about diet culture, fatphobia, parenting, and health. Today I am chatting with fan favorite, and my best friend, Amy Palanjian . Amy is the creator of the blog Yummy Toddler Food , and she’s on Instagram and Tiktok , as we’ll talk about. She’s also my former podcast co-host of ...
Jun 16, 2022
Because this is what we do to ourselves every day. We put in so much effort to just exist as basic people in the world. Like, we’re not like knockout celebrities. We’re not like stunning anybody. Like, we put in all of this work for a reward that doesn’t actually ever come. You’re listening to Burnt Toast! This is the podcast where we talk about diet culture, fatphobia, parenting, and health. Today I’m chatting with Jessica Defino . Jessica is a pro-skin, anti-product beauty reporter who is dism...
Jun 09, 2022•29 min
We have to disconnect the idea of good parenting from health and fitness. Because people don’t have a moral imperative to health. You’re listening to Burnt Toast! This is the podcast where we talk about diet culture, fatphobia, parenting and health. Today I am chatting with Amanda Martinez Beck . Amanda is a fat activist, author and host of the Fat and Faithful podcast. She focuses on the ways that fatphobia and ableism have intertwined with American Christian culture. We are discussing Amanda’s...
May 26, 2022•31 min
You’re listening to Burnt Toast! This is the podcast where we talk about diet culture, fatphobia, parenting and health. Today we’re doing a very fun Ask Me Anything episode. A lot of great questions came in, so I’ve asked Corinne to help out with this one. For folks who don’t know, Corinne works on Burnt Toast with me and she is also the founder of @selltradeplus , an Instagram account where you can buy and sell plus size clothing. She very graciously agreed to come ask me your questions and eve...
May 19, 2022
We hear so much about Betty Friedan, and the Feminine Mystique. And the whole thing was women find power and fulfillment and identity outside of the home by working professionally. Right? The thing that that leaves out is when you go outside of the home, who’s in the home? Like that work never went away. Hello and welcome to Burnt Toast! This is the podcast where we talk about diet culture, fatphobia, parenting and health. Today I am chatting with Angela Garbes , author of Like a Mother and the ...
May 12, 2022
If you asked any of these gentle parenting experts, they would say parenting is the most important work in the world. But they are also perpetually downplaying the hardest parts of it—which means not ever making visible the parts of parenting that we most need to change. Welcome to Burnt Toast! This is the podcast where we talk about diet culture, fatphobia, parenting, and health. Today I am chatting again with Sara Louise Petersen . She’s the Burnt Toast resident momfluencer expert, and you can...
Apr 28, 2022
“Sometimes I’ve just shoved some granola in my face, because I knew that I needed to have some fuel in my body. I didn’t really enjoy it. And that’s okay. That’s absolutely appropriate for that moment.” Welcome to Burnt Toast! This is the podcast where we talk about diet culture, fatphobia, parenting, and health. Today I am chatting with Leanne Brown who is the author of the cookbooks Good and Cheap and Good Enough . Leanne focuses on making cooking more accessible and affordable. She also does ...
Apr 21, 2022•33 min
NOTE: We're planning a special AMA episode of the podcast and we want your burning questions! Please submit your questions via this Google Form to help us stay organized. Welcome to Burnt Toast! This is the podcast and newsletter where we talk about diet culture, fatphobia, parenting, and health. We don’t have a brand new episode for you today because I’m on spring break this week. As many of you know, I used to co-host another podcast with my best friend Amy Palanjian, the creator of Yummy Todd...
Apr 14, 2022•42 min
Hey there! Just wanted to make sure you know that the April subscriber-only bonus episode came out this morning! I’ve got another diet trend deconstruction for you, and this time we’re getting into Whole30, Bright Line Eating, and Raw Till Four. I also explore what happens when diets become homeschool curriculums and why Jennifer Aniston allegedly lives on baby food but this one reader’s ex eats only potatoes. To listen to the whole thing , you’ll need to be a Burnt Toast subscriber . It’s just ...
Apr 07, 2022•1 min
It was just this overnight conversion. Like, oh, okay, yep, the way I've been doing things my entire career is super wrong, and super harmful, and has hurt a lot of people. And that's terrible. And I'm very done with that. Welcome to Burnt Toast! This is the podcast where we talk about diet, culture, fatphobia, parenting, and health. Today I'm chatting with Anna Maltby . Anna is a longtime magazine and digital editor and someone I've worked with many times over the years, including at Medium’s E...
Mar 31, 2022•48 min
How you feel about your body does not exist in a vacuum. It’s not just about your body, it’s about all the things in your life. So I ask people to really reflect on how size-friendly is their life? Welcome to Burnt Toast! This is the podcast where we talk about diet culture, fatphobia, parenting, and health. Today I am chatting with Mia O’Malley , a content creator on Instagram and the creator of @plussizebabywearing . Mia’s work sits at the intersection of fat advocacy and momfluencing. She’s d...
Mar 24, 2022
I remember the my daughter’s gastroenterologist saying, “Wow, you’ve really found a lot of great foods.” And, “We have so many patients who are less compliant than you.” I said, “Well, you know, it was really hard. It was, at minimum, a halftime job. Do all of your patients, families have the time and energy for this?” And he said, “Well probably not.” Welcome to Burnt Toast! This is the podcast where we talk about diet culture, fatphobia, parenting, and health. Today I’m chatting with Debi Lewi...
Mar 17, 2022•34 min
These are the folks who are going to a state capitol and deciding whether to expand Medicaid or deciding whether there’s one abortion clinic left in the state or deciding whether there’s LGBTQ protections for folks on the job. It’s wild that there aren’t more eyes on it, but it’s not the way we’re trained. Welcome to Burnt Toast! This is the podcast where we talk about diet culture, fat phobia, parenting and health. Today I am chatting with Melissa Walker, who is the head of Giving Circles at Th...
Mar 10, 2022•29 min
I think any time you’re wondering, “is it a diet?” And they have a bridal program? The answer is obviously yes. We’re doing something a little different with this month’s bonus episode! I polled folks on Twitter and Insta about the diet trends that are bugging you most right now, so I could spend this episode deconstructing their marketing. And also just, um, reacting to the nonsense? My algorithm is a mess now, but that’s how committed I am to helping you sort the b******t from the… other kinds...
Mar 03, 2022
Teens have the ability to know how much they need to eat. And when we interfere with that, as parents, we start to break down their natural ability. When we model that we trust our children to listen to their bodies, that they are in charge of their bodies, it also models consent. Welcome to Burnt Toast! This is the podcast where we talk about diet culture, fatphobia, parenting, and health. Today I’m chatting with Signe Darpinian who is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, certified eating ...
Feb 24, 2022•39 min
I have only recently put my foot down and said, “No, I deserve to be here and I will be here and I’m staying here,” and I’ve been in the industry almost 10 years. It’s taken a really long time to not only convince people that I have the talent and the staying power, but also convince myself. Welcome to Burnt Toast! This is the podcast where we talk about diet culture, fatphobia, parenting, and health. Today I am chatting with Kyeshia Jaume , a senior apparel designer for Forever21. She’s also on...
Feb 17, 2022•41 min
In a perfect world, the specter of that perfect, white, thin, cishet mom wouldn’t be there at all. We wouldn’t be tasked with defining ourselves against that ideal because she wouldn’t be the biggest thing in the room. You’re listening to Burnt Toast. This is the podcast where we talk about diet culture, fatphobia, parenting, and health. Today I’m bringing back Sara Louise Petersen for another installment of momfluencer talk. Sara is a writer based in New Hampshire, and currently working on a bo...
Feb 10, 2022•39 min
Welcome to Burnt Toast! This is the podcast about about diet culture, fatphobia, parenting, and health. I’m Virginia Sole-Smith . Today’s conversation is with Gregory Dodell, MD , a weight-inclusive endocrinologist in New York City, better known as @everything_endocrine or “that one good diabetes doctor!” on Instagram. I know so many of you have questions about weight and diabetes, and a newsletter essay on these issues is forthcoming! But in the meantime, I’m delighted to bring you this convers...
Jan 20, 2022•24 min
There’s a slew of “Look at this mama, she’s so beautiful inside and out.” And it’s always on the photos of women who are thin. We see this equating of “you are slaying motherhood,” with “you don’t have any physical reminders that you’ve created a human and birthed a human.” Welcome to Burnt Toast! This is the podcast about about diet culture, fatphobia, parenting, and health. I’m Virginia Sole-Smith . Today’s conversation is with Sara Petersen , a writer based in New Hampshire. Her first book Mo...
Jan 13, 2022•41 min
“I think in general, we all know too much about nutrition. I say that as a dietitian. Even the most intuitive eating of kids will be a picky eater. And that’s fine. We don’t need to nutrition them out of that. There isn’t of a nutrient in broccoli or kale that they can’t get from something else, I promise.” Welcome to Burnt Toast! This is the podcast about about diet culture, fatphobia, parenting, and health. I’m Virginia Sole-Smith . I’m the author of The Eating Instinct and the forthcoming Fat...
Jan 06, 2022•37 min
“This is exactly what diet culture, and everyone who gives advice on Instagram doesn’t want you to know, because it’s not straightforward. And there’s no clear solution.” Welcome to Burnt Toast! This is the podcast about why your kids should be eating more waffles and frozen burritos for dinner. We also talk about diet culture, fatphobia, parenting, and a bunch of other stuff. I’m Virginia Sole-Smith . I’m the author of The Eating Instinct and the forthcoming Fat Kid Phobia . Today’s guest is Bu...
Dec 16, 2021•36 min
We need our own place to critique diet culture and combat fatphobia, without the continual compromise required by corporate media. And, we need this podcast. Because you will never need to worry that the host is going to pause mid-episode and tell you how much I love Noom. Welcome to Burnt Toast! This is the podcast where we explore questions (and some answers) about fatphobia, diet culture, parenting, and health. I’m Virginia Sole-Smith. I’m a journalist who covers weight stigma and diet cultur...
Dec 09, 2021•28 min
Hello, and welcome to another audio version of Burnt Toast! Today, I am so so thrilled to be chatting with Ragen Chastain, who is a professional speaker and writer, trained researcher, and co-author of The HAES Health Sheets . Ragen is also a multi-certified health and fitness professional, and a queer fat woman. Ragen, thank you so much for being here! Ragen Thanks for having me. I love your work so much. I’m giddy as a school girl! Virginia Ragen and I have been in each other’s orbits for a ve...
Dec 02, 2021•39 min
Hello, and welcome to another audio version of Burnt Toast! Today, I'm delighted to be chatting with Corinne Fay, who is my awesome newsletter assistant and the founder of @SellTradePlus , an amazing Instagram account where you can buy and sell plus size clothing. Virginia Welcome! Thanks for being here. Corinne Thanks so much for having me. I'm really excited to be a tiny crumb of Burnt Toast. Virginia If we're going to use this metaphor, you would be the butter or some other very important com...
Nov 18, 2021•29 min
