Fat Joy with Sophia Apostol

With the creation of Fat Torah, Rabbi Dr. Minna Bromberg (she/her) shows people how their religious & spiritual lives can be a liberatory space. Minna broke up with diet culture at 16, but it was when she became a rabbi that she began to write and speak about fat liberation within the Jewish community. She shares how the stories from the Torah and Bible can be read as liberationist, how belong...

Kids shouldn’t be stopped from playing their favourite sports because they can’t find active wear. Committed to helping kids thrive and not experience the negative impacts of having to leave their teams, their friends, and experience weight-stigmatizing clothing practices at a young age, Pam Luk (she/her) is determined to change the children’s apparel landscape with her company, Ember & Ace. G...

How fatness gets represented in popular culture, specifically in reality tv shows, is most often deeply cringe-worthy, violent, and filled with anti-fatness. Dr. Layla Cameron (they/them) brings an alternative way to view shows like “My 600-lbs Life” and “My Big Fat Fabulous Life” that may just help us better envision fat futures. Dr. Layla Cameron is an academic and filmmaker whose body of work r...

Clarkisha Kent (she/her) is a culture critic and bringer of chaos. Her new book, “Fat Off, Fat On: A Big Bitch Manifesto,” was published this year, and Clarkisha is here to talk about it, along with a foray into the connections between purity culture and fatness and how we can use The Kelli & Kat Test to determine whether a piece of media has provided the audience with thoughtful representatio...

Embodiment is one of those words that’s thrown around, but what is it really? Alexandra Shewan (she/they) takes us through what her working definition of embodiment is, how she supports clients with becoming embodied, and the essential roles that being trauma-informed and anti-oppressive should play in therapeutic practices. Alexandra is a Registered Clinical Counsellor with a virtual/in-person co...

Nia Patterson (they/them) went viral after taking a photo of themselves in a Torrid change room in a bathing suit. Since then, Nia has become an influencer, social media manager, singer, podcaster, and coach. In this conversation, they share their journey and also their top three tips for staying joyful while living in marginalized bodies and with marginalized identities. We also talk about fat se...

Tamra Lamese Garland (she/her) & Jeremy C. Garland (he/him) are a mixed-size, mixed-race couple. Throughout their relationship, they’ve had to deal with racism and sizeism in surprising (not surprising) ways, such as being followed and photographed, a surly bartender who got physically threatening, and comments in airports, etc. Through it all, they continue to advocate for each other and for...

Creating a truly liberatory space for fat/plus-size bodies is revolutionary. Creating that for hiking trails? That’s next level! Avery Swartz (she/her) is here to share how the Greater Toronto Area chapter of the Body Liberation Hiking Club launched on April 2023 and is a space free of diet culture talk, open and accepting of all bodies, and provides community and connection to nature (i.e. no jer...

Dra. Monica Peralta (she/her) is a fierce advocate for weight-inclusive care. In this fiery conversation, she takes us through the myths and misunderstandings of diabetes (spoiler: pre-diabetes is fake!) and how anti-fat bias colours patient care practices. Monica believes in reconnecting patients to their bodies, helping them learn about their disease, and empowering them towards greater health f...

Martinus Evans (he/him) spent his life being too big and then not being big enough when he started playing football. After a car accident changed his life, he realized that he wanted to move his body just for the joy of it and let go of obsessing about his weight. As he started running, slowly, his message resonated with others, and the Slow AF Run Club was born. He shares his ups and downs and th...

Content Warning: There are mentions of violent sexual assault, but no details are shared. There is mention of sexual assault of a child, again, no details. Author and photographer Eden Boudreau (she/her) experienced a violent sexual assault that deeply impacted her relationship with her body. In this episode, she shares her hard-won journey to regaining her body autonomy, how her PTSD symptoms wer...

Both Sophia and her guest, Vinny Welsby (they/them) have experienced feeling like their romantic partner wasn’t attracted to them because of their fat bodies. In this episode, they’re exploring what’s beneath the surface of these feelings and what to do when faced with this type of anti-fatness from our partners…and from ourselves. Vinny is a fat activist and senior diversity, equity, and inclusio...

Andy Neal’s (he/him) grumpy hiker video went viral in January 2022, and he abruptly found himself representing fat & plus-size bodies in the outdoor space. Andy shares his journey from never being an outdoorsy kid to his binge eating diagnosis to going on his first hike at the request of his therapist. And how one person from a plus-size hiking group changed how he felt about his body and kick...

Rev. Dr. E-K Daufin (she/her) is here to share aspects of her new book, “On Fat and Faith: Ending Weight Stigma in Yourself, Your Sanctuary and Society.” Like the book, this conversation spans generations and explores intersectionality through her lived experience. She also shares a tapping technique and accompanying affirmations. Rev. Dr. E-K Daufin is the Visionary Social Change Artist 2023 Awar...

Therapist Kayla Stansberry (she/her) is here sharing how joy and community can be a treatment approach for body trauma. And this isn’t just for fat & plus-size people. Diet culture and capitalism have created body trauma for all of us, no matter what our bodies look like, and Kayla is here to take us through what we can do about that. Kayla is a Licensed Therapist, mother of 3 fun toddlers, an...

You may know Jordan Underwood (they/he) through their social media videos where they respond to questions & trolls and also proudly show their body living in the world. These videos are watched by hundreds of thousands, which of course means that Jordan is constantly attacked for being unapologetically fat. In this episode, Jordan shares their body liberation journey and how writing a blog whe...

The American Academy of Pediatrics recently released new guidelines for weight management interventions in children. These recommendations include weight loss medications and bariatric surgeries, both of which are unethical and not evidence-based. Gathering to discuss the implications, their fears, and what we can do to protect the most marginalized children are Kanoelani Patterson, Dr. Asher Larm...

Virgie Tovar (she/her) is a well-known body positive and fat liberation activist. In this episode, she candidly shares her journey to activism from her traumatic and abusive childhood (that led her to go ‘no contact’ with her family 5 years ago), to a boyfriend in her 20s who loved her exactly as she was, to her rebellious and loud activism, to now. As with all things Virgie, her storytelling, aut...

You may know Cara MacB (they/them) for their videos on social media of a call centre operator fielding complaint calls from fatphobic people. Cara’s content is brilliant, hilarious, and one of the ways that they try to change people’s beliefs that fat is bad. In this episode, Cara shares how they dismantled their own fatphobia, discovered that they could use their inner class clown for good, and h...

Goody Howard (she/her) delightfully takes us through how and why we should separate sex from pleasure, the more than 18(!) types of orgasms, the difference between a kink and a fetish, and why it’s important to practice how we play. Please note that this is a very candid conversation about sex and pleasure. And Goody is offering a 20% discount code to Fat Joy listeners on all pleasure tools, Goody...

Medical interactions are often deeply traumatic for fat and plus-size people. Anne McGladdery (they/she) is a medical student, fat, and became a squeaky wheel during medical school in order to shift the anti-fat bias prevalent throughout the curriculum. Anne shares about their stressful first couple of years (spoiler: their hair started falling out!), their weight stigma research project, and how...

Dr. Vicky Borgia (she/her) is a primary care physician whose clinic offers “compassionate and respectful medical care” focusing on gender affirming care, queer care, and Health at Every Size principles. All aspects of Vicky’s practice have been thought through with a focus on patient safety and comfort for all bodies. Lucky patients! Dr. Vicky Borgia is a board certified family medicine physician...

When Sophia took one of Shannon Kaneshige’s (they/them) Fat Yoga classes, she felt fully visible in a movement space for the first time. In this expansive conversation, Shannon shares how their a-ah moments on a hiking trail and while watching their 6-month old receive cancer treatment changed everything. Shannon believes that when we connect to embodied self agency on the mat, we bring that agenc...

Caring for kids in the age of diet culture is hugely challenging because in all arenas of kids’ lives, they’re exposed to anti-fat bias. Virginia Sole-Smith (she/her) talks us through how to equip our children to recognize anti-fatness when they experience it at school, on their sports teams, and at the doctor’s office. Virginia Sole-Smith is the author of Fat Talk: Parenting in the Age of Diet Cu...

Ragen Chastain (she/her) is back for another conversation, and this time we’re exploring weight loss surgeries and weight loss medications. As always, Ragen brings the research as we track the money to who profits most from putting bodies into a disease state with bariatric surgery and weight-loss medication. Spoiler: it’s not the patient. Ragen Chastain is a speaker, writer, researcher, Board Cer...