Making It Awkward

Making it Awkward is turning 1 and Jessica celebrates by looking back at the first season's highs, lows, most awkward moments. She returns to a very puzzling conversation with Amy and then reminds listeners of her dad's message for all of you. You can send pitches and awkward moments to makingitawkwardpod@gmail.com You can become a podcast patron ! You can rate and review this show! You can email...

Re-Release! In this episode Jessica shares the results of her month of eating 80% of her diet from ultra processed foods. She was surprised to find that her experience was far different from those of Dr. Chris van Tulleken. She talks to Amy, a chemical engineer working in food processing, about lessons learned and how the narrative about UPFs fit into society. NOVA classifications of food You can...

Jessica wraps up the conversation about food addiction and ultraprocessed foods that began with her interview with Dr. David Wiss. She thinks that Dr. Wiss's message is one that the nutrition field has shared for years.  You can read Dr. Wiss's ⁠4500+ word blog entry⁠ about cancel culture in the eating disorder field.  You can find the first episode here . The second episode is with Molly Robbins....

Molly Robbins joins the show for a follow-up interview to Jessica's conversation with Dr. David Wiss, about his article , Dismantling the Myth of "All Foods Fit" in Eating Disorder Treatment." Molly Robbins is a researcher and clinician with lived experience having gone through treatment for atypical anorexia while in a larger body. Molly has questions about whether Dr. Wiss and his coauthors were...

On today's episode Jessica is joined by Pablo Sarmiento, NP , a family nurse practitioner working in the Department of Medicine subspecialty of Infectious Diseases. Pablo is a PrEP provider and the two discuss PrEP research, HIV incidence, disparities, updated language, and HIV disclosure. Resources: https://www.hiv.gov/ https://www.thebody.com/ https://www.cdc.gov/hiv/risk/prep/index.html Email t...

Dr. David Wiss joins the show to talk about his recent comment in the Journal of Eating Disorders, "Dismantling the myth of "all foods fit" in eating disorder treatment." The two talk about eating disorders, ultra-processed foods, food addiction, and hyperpalatable foods. Dr. Wiss discusses his idea of a harm reduction meal plan, and shares how he applies nutrition to mental health.  Additional ar...

Happy Pride! 🏳️‍🌈 Jessica's spouse, Elisha, joins the show for a relationship quiz. Afterward Elisha shares how she started thinking about her autism and shares a device that she's found helpful in monitoring her overwhelm. Mentioned in the episode: Whoop Jessica's dad trying Liquid IV Email the show: makingitawkwardpod@gmail.com Follow Jessica on Instagram @jessicawilson.msrd and TikTok @byjessi...

Dietitian Dalina Soto of @your.latina.nutritionist joins Jessica to talk about getting spicy on TikTok when a dietitian decided to tell us that salsa isn't a vegetable. The two talk about how so much of her work is correcting misinformation about cultural foods, and helping people to reclaim them. They chat about curves and a time she was told she was "too sultry" for a company's campaign. They al...

NPR launched its NPR's Living Better series a year ago. It spent a year investigating health disparities with a goal of bringing us solutions and hope. The lead story was from  journalist Allison Aubrey, the number 1 nutrition journalist in the country. Jessica shares what  she learned from this series, and what that means for the public.  Dr. Kevin Hall Dr. Robert Lustig episode Email the show: m...

Jessica is joined by Dr. Deb Burgard, a psychologist and one of the co-founders of the Health at Every Size approach. The two of them talk about Jessica's recent keynote presentation in which she discussed an ad for an eating disorder treatment center. She was not expecting the backlash she received. Deb and Jessica are often labeled as people who are divisive, or being mean to people in the eatin...

Jessica is joined by Cara Harbstreet, MS RD and Jaye Rochon to wrap up the series on the anti-diet dietitian article by the WaPo and Examination. Both Cara and Jaye were featured in the article and this episode they share their experiences with the anti-diet community and their thoughts on the article. Jessica wraps up the episode with her thoughts on the series and questions she continues to have...

Clara Nosek was the most creative critic of the article about anti-dietitians who made cereal ads, written by The Examination and the WaPo. She joins Jessica to talk about her concerns and the two try hard to figure out why the article was written in the first place. Join Clara's Substack Clara on tiktok 1st article from The Examination and WaPo This interview was over an hour long, shortened for...

Jessica talks with Naureen Hunani, the dietitian and creator behind RDs for neurodiversity. They get into what Naureen saw was missing in the dietetic and anti-diet spaces and Jessica asks her about ARFID and the social construct of picky eating. The two also share their critiques of intuitive eating from a neurodivergent and disability lens.  You can Follow Naureen Sign up for Naureen's course Na...

Sasha Chavkin, of the Examination, joins Jessica to talk about an article he recently co-authored, As Obesity Rises, Big Food and Dietitians Push 'Anti-diet' Advice , in collaboration with the Washington Post. Shasha shares how the article came together and some additional information that he's gathered for this episode. This will be the first episode on this article. If you have thoughts/feedback...

Jessica welcomes butter mochi queen, Daphne Jenkins, to the podcast to discuss her Hawaiian ancestral foods, how she got into baking butter mochi and the art of food. She talks about the history, beauty, friction and tension that she channels into her work.  Jessica also asks about Hawaiian tourism and about how to visit Hawaii if we were going to do so. onomaugoods.com @onomaugoods @daphne_k_jenk...

Jessica talks ultra processed foods with her dad. The two started ultra processed Fridays in which Jessica makes her dad taste test a new food and the two discuss the idea that all UPFs are unhealthy. Today Jessica presents a "natural" beef jerky to her dad for testing. She talks to him about UPFs, what he ate growing up and it turns out that her dad's feelings about Southern food are complicated....

Jessica talks to UK doctor Dr. Asher Larmie about his perspectives on Ozempic and weight loss, diabetes, whether prediabetes is a thing and how we should (and shouldn't) measure blood sugar. The two discuss the differences in the US and UK guidance for diabetes and prediabetes. Then, at Asher's invitation, Jessica asks him about his white saviorism and privilege, especially how it presents itself...

Dr. Chuks joins Jessica to talk about his new book, Eating Disorders Don't Discriminate . He edited the book with Bailey Spinn a TikTok and YouTube personality. Chuks and Jessica talk about how he got into the field and what made him write the book. Jessica nudges Chuks to talk about how Bailey was chosen to co-edit the book, but the two of them aren't able to get into the underlying dynamics at p...

Chrissy King joins Jessica to talk about authorship and the patriarchal romanticization of relationships. Chrissy is the author of the Body Liberation Project ; How Understanding Racism and Diet Culture Helps Cultivate Joy and Build Collective Freedom. The two get into what they wish they knew when writing their first books and Chrissy is able to convince Jessica to do it all over again. Chrissy t...

Jessica's book is fun, spicy, and a love letter to those around her. She felt really good about it but once it left her hands things started to get awkward. Alison reenacts one of the most awkward moments in publishing history and shares how she made another moment awkward. Jessica working on loving her book again and is glad folks are along for this ride! Photos of Jessica's unicorn cakes https:/...

Dr. Zo  Amaro Jimenez and Isaac join Jessica to discuss her interview with surgeon Dr. Blair Peters about BMI cutoffs in gender affirming surgeries. Zo and Isaac provide their feedback, share their own experiences with gender care and their work in helping others access their own.  Dr. Asher Larmie  contributes a very powerful and personal video for this episode as well. Prior interview with Blair...

They're back! Wendy and Jess, the duo behind Food Heaven fame pivoted to Diabetes Digital, an online platform for diabetes education and support. In this episode the two share how they decided to pivot, and how they chose diabetes. Jessica asks them about the questionable diagnosis of prediabetes, some patient consult questions and of course about the Ozempic of it all.  You can find them now at h...

Jessica is joined by Dr Blair Peters, a gender affirming surgeon to discuss why BMI cutoffs exist in common gender affirming surgeries including chest surgery, phalloplasty and vaginoplasty. Blair breaks down the different ways that body size impacts the surgery and the results. They talk about the structural barriers that exist when doing surgery on larger people and dig into the dehumanization o...

Jessica talks to Tigress Osborn (she/her), a fat rights advocate and the Executive Director of the National Association to Advance Fat Acceptance, about fat liberation and fat joy. NAAFA has worked for over five decades to change perceptions of fat and to end size discrimination.  In 2023, Tigress co-launched the Campaign for Size Freedom alongside colleagues at NAAFA and the Fat Legal Rights Advo...

Give my regards to Broadway. Jessica is joined by Stephanie Lexis, founder of the Broadway Body Positivity Project and Libby Parker, The Broadway Dietitian, to talk about all things food and body in theater. They talk about casting, costuming, eating and get into IBS on stage.  You can watch this episode on YouTube How to support this podcast? Follow, rate and review! New ways to support the show!...