Making It Awkward

Skittle-fed beef? Jessica joined recent guests Dr. Sarah Dougherty and Mackenzie Behrle at Harmon and Son Beef in Grants Pass, OR for a farm tour and chat with recent guest Trampus Harmon . Jessica went to the farmers market there and got to talk to folks about raw milk, RFK Jr and vaccines in a red county. She shares those conversations today.  Then the four of them gathered in Trampus's living r...

This week registered dietitian Jessica Wilson chats with agricultural teacher, Mackenzie Berhle, about farm subsidies and cheese caves. Mackenzie talks about agricultural check off programs, and the dairy buyout (or buy back) program. They discuss got milk? and milk in school lunches. The two get into Big Cheese, and cheese caves and Jessica is very confused about where and to whom the money, milk...

Jessica's dad is back to read some podcast feedback and some brief thoughts on RFK Jr. You'll hear ​Jen and Jessica were called mean girls ​Jessica can't disprove the "science" of Mark Hyman ​Proof that mercury doesn't cause autism ​How people don't realize two things can be true at the same time ​How her dad feels about getting his vitamins via IV therapy . Then the rest of this episode is for th...

What's left to say? After episodes about vaccines and just general science. Jessica has been thinking about what she could add to the RFK Jr. conversation and realized there's something that hasn't been quite clear. As dangerous as Kennedy's anti-science stance is, he is also incredibly basic.  Today Jessica is joined by Dr. Natalie Ingraham to review both the Senate Finance Committee and Senate H...

Jessica Wilson, MS RD is joined by pod editor Jen Jacobs to kick off the Re-Grifting series. Dr. Mark Hyman is the first to be featured having introduced himself to Jessica over instagram. He is a co-founder of health-tech start-up Function Health and a huge fan of supplements . Mark was part of the group of food-fluencers who influenced the FDA to ban red dye no. 3.  The NYT recently had a profil...

Dr. Sarah Dougherty, DVM joins Jessica Wilson, MS RD to talk about everything from bird flu and raw milk, to bovine colostrum, Ivermectin, how to interpret research, probiotics for pets, influencers, and how to keep our pets safe and healthy when it comes to bird flu and pet food. Jessica asks her what she's most concerned about with the incoming administration.  Sarah also shares a bit about her...

Beef farmer (and former dairy farmer) Trampus Harmon joins dietitian Jessica Wilson to talk about raw milk. We've seen the rise of raw milk influencer-culture and Jessica wanted to talk with someone who knows the ins and outs of dairy cow farming. The two chat about the safety of raw milk and how influencers are impacting the farming landscape. Trampus introduces Jessica to the dairy buyback progr...

We knew what was coming in 2025. Through the conversations on this podcast about food processing and collective health anxiety we got a front row seat to watch how people have moved to extreme views about food and our health. We've seen it mobilize groups of people to defy what should be common sense about food safety, and basic science.  We've also seen how people, particularly white men, respond...

Re-release: Jessica and Lexi share many of the ways their brains work differently and the tips and tools they've adopted to navigate a neurotypical world. Lexi shares her experiences with disordered eating and some things that she's found to be helpful as she works on having less all-or-nothing eating habits. They share what it was like to be locked down in a small house with three adults and two...

A gluten-flugen-dog? Social media has introduced us to those who want the most flavor, texture, color and creativity in their food and, conversely, those who avoid even salt and might not even cook their food to kill pathogens. Tiktok has given us a window into kitchens around the country. From jello salad to quinoa salad and raw chicken to hot dogs impaled with spaghetti noodles, boiled then pain...

What is MSG, and what's with all of the sh*t talking? Jessica gets answers to these questions with the help of dietitian  Cara Harbstreet  and a few research rabbit holes.  Jessica and Cara talk about how a (maybe fake?) letter to the New England Journal of Medicine kicked off decades of hysteria about  "Chinese Restaurant Syndrome."  The  true author  of that letter has been in question for years...

Jessica sits down with Dr. Selina Wang to chat about seed oil hysteria. Dr. Wang teaches Jessica about the health benefits of different oils and what's supposedly so scary about seed oils. The two try to define what makes a seed oil and Dr. Wang discusses what happens when people collapse complex science into a sound bite.  You can buy awkward merch ! Different kinds of fats Podcast about anti-tra...

Jessica sat down with two romance novel reviewers from Smart Bitches, Trashy Books to hear more about the genre and how they got into professional reviewing. They talk about reading romance novels when they were way too young and why they love a happy ending. Jessica asks about the awkward ways that sex scenes can be written and shares what she found when she stepped into the world of dino-human r...

RFK Jr could be in charge of this country's health and it will be…wild. Jessica and Alison Pill sat down to talk about it and who might lead the FDA under a Make America Healthy Again regime.  The two get into the concern about fertility among MAHA supporters and what this really means: more babies on the pale end of the spectrum please! Jessica recently consulted her own book for answers about ho...

The popular vote got us. Jessica and her dad reflect on the election and share a few things that may have contributed. Wilson takes issue with many things including non-white people voting for Trump, and what he thinks would happen if he went to a Klan meeting. He also shares why he's not concerned with RFK Jr and what he thinks this podcast will be talking about in years to come.  Jessica missed...

Dietitian Jessica Wilson is joined by Elizabeth Ayiku to talk about the award winning film Me Little Me , which Elizabeth wrote and directed. The film is based on her experience with disordered eating and the barriers she faced while seeking treatment. The pair get into the mechanics of indie film production including what it's like to write, direct, cast, and financing a film when the rent is pas...

Jessica's Curlfriends, Whitney Totter and Tigress Osborn , return to the show to talk about their hair. They share their hair journeys and chat about how hair continues to inform their identities. Hair intersections with eating disorders, mixed-race identity, health and fat liberation are spiritedly discussed!  Steven on Love is Blind Hannah Frankson's hair routine  Wonderful videos of women's big...

For the first episode about Make America Healthy Again , Jessica is joined by Mr Jeff Hutt, the spokesperson for the Super PAC. MAHA is "a powerful new political action committee dedicated to advancing the health-focused policies championed by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. through the re-election of President Donald Trump." Mr. Hutt provides an overview of the PAC and its principles, and the two have a wi...

Jessica is back with fellow dietitian Sherene Chou for an episode about food conglomerates and their connection to the primary dietitian interest organization, the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. Jessica starts by recapping the past week's hysteria about the Siete food brand selling to Pepsico for $1.2B, and asks what that means. Jessica then discusses the investments that food conglomerates a...

Jessica talks with journalist Vicki Gonzalez , who was recently diagnosed with breast cancer after turning 40. Vicki didn't have a family history of breast cancer or genetic predisposition which made her diagnosis even more surprising. The two talk about mammograms, ultrasounds, genetics, biopsies, lumpectomies, radiation, and Vicki's decision to get a bilateral mastectomy in this interview.  Vick...

Jessica is back with her thoughts on the TIME Magazine article about her ultra-processed food experiment. She shares her takeaways, her favorite feedback and has some BIG FOOD fun! Patrilie Hernandez then joins Jessica to talk about Dr. Kevin Hall's research on UPFs and the intersections of race and class with food. They then dive into Lunchables-gate , and food hysteria overall.  You can become a...

This week is a primer for next week's discussion of the TIME mag article. Jessica revisits a few previous guests and a new critic to have a conversation about the discourse about ultraprocessed foods. Do we know how to define which foods are ultraprocessed? What does it mean if we don't actually know what we're talking about? Who benefits from that confusion?  TIME article  NOVA food classificatio...

Kent Thomas returns to the show to review Netflix's new Japanese reality series,  The Boyfriend . The delightful show follows nine gay men who share a home together and start a coffee truck. They need to budget their daily expenses, all while navigating waxing and waning romantic feelings for each other. Kent and Jessica are fixated on what gets in the way of the men sticking to their food budget....

Jessica welcomes Shana Spence , MS RDN, of The Nutrition Tea, to the show to talk about food elitism, Wellness culture and her new book Live Nourished ; Make Peace with Food, Banish Body Shame, and Reclaim Joy.  Somehow we always get back to anti-diet dietitians making cereal ads. And this time we mention the connection to Anahad O'Connor and his Lose It app. Also, Jessica is in Time Magazine!! Je...

Jessica welcomes Dr. Naima Reddick who played rugby for the women's national team. She was part of the community that started https://www.rugbyforall.com . The two talk Olympics, women's sports, gender equity and the gender panic that seemed more prominent at these Olympics than in previous years. Naima shares what should really matter in women's sports. Jessica realizes that she got swept up and...