The Burnt Toast Podcast

Today Virginia is chatting with Elise Hu, the author of the brand new book  Flawless: Lessons in Looks and Culture from the K-Beauty Capital , which explores the intersections of beauty culture and diet culture in South Korea. If you have ever purchased a sheet mask or a babyfoot peel or any other K beauty products or if you’ve just been aware of the absolute phenomenon of Korean beauty culture, y...

Today Virginia is chatting with  Cole Kazdin , author of  What's Eating Us: Women, Food, and the Epidemic of Body Anxiety , which explodes a lot of the problems with our current eating disorder treatment system. Remember, if you order Cole's book (or any books we mention on the pod!) from the Burnt Toast Bookshop , you can get 10 percent off that purchase if you also order (or have already ordered...

Today Virginia is chatting with fat rights advocate Tigress Osborn. Tigress is Chair of the Board of NAAFA, The National Association to Advance Fat Acceptance , and helping to lead the Campaign for Size Freedom, which just scored a huge victory in New York City and there is more to come.  Remember, if you order books we mention in today's pod from the Burnt Toast Bookshop , you can get 10 percent...

It's time for the May Indulgence Gospel!  Instead of answering your questions this month, we're reading Virginia's hate mail. Buckle up!  If you are already a paid subscriber, you’ll have this entire episode in your podcast feed and access to the entire transcript in your inbox and  on the Burnt Toast Patreon . If you are not a paid subscriber, you'll only get the first chunk.  To hear the whole c...

Today Virginia is chatting with her longtime friend and colleague Christy Harrison, MPH, RD!  Christy is a journalist, registered dietitian, and certified Intuitive Eating counselor. She’s the author of Anti-Diet: Reclaim Your Time, Money, Well-Being, and Happiness Through Intuitive Eating . And today we are talking about Christy’s new book, The Wellness Trap: Break Free from Diet Culture, Disinfo...

FAT TALK is now out in the world! To celebrate, Corinne is here to chat with Virginia about the writing and reporting process. If you love what you hear, you can order the  hardcover , ebook , or  audiobook  ( or if you’re in the UK and the Commonwealth, the paperback ) anywhere you buy books. Split Rock has signed copies  (feel free to request a personal inscription!).  If you want more conversat...

Today is a very special episode:  You are all going to be the very, very first people to hear me read Chapter 1 of FAT TALK: Parenting in the Age of Diet Culture, which comes out in just 5 days, on April 25 .  We are excerpting this from the audiobook, which I got to narrate . If you love what you hear, I hope you will order the audiobook or the hardcover ( or if you’re in the UK and the Commonwea...

It's our April Ask Us Anything episode! We're covering Ozempic, clogs, chafing, and what if you just don't want your kid to be fat.  If you are already a paid subscriber, you’ll have this entire episode in your podcast feed and access to the entire transcript in your inbox and  on the Burnt Toast Patreon . If you are not a paid subscriber, you'll only get the first chunk.  To hear the whole conver...

​​ Today's episode is a Comfort Food rerun featuring a conversation between Virginia, Amy Palanjian , and Darcy Lockman . Darcy is a clinical psychologist and author of All the Rage: Mothers, Fathers, and the Myth of Equal Partnership . All the Rage explores how egalitarian relationships become traditional ones when children are introduced to the household and why a disproportionate amount of pare...

Today Virginia is chatting with Jessica Wilson, MS, RD. Jessica is a dietitian and community organizer who co-created the #amplifymelanatedvoices challenge which went viral in 2020. She is also the author of It's Always Been Ours: Rewriting the Story of Black Women’s Bodies which came out in February.  If you are someone who has been in the anti-diet, intuitive eating, Health at Every Size spaces...

It's time for another community episode!  This month, Virginia and Corinne are exploring how we feel about the word fat: Who gets to use it? What if you just don't want to use it? What is the power of reclaiming it? Thank you to everyone who contributed today.  If you want more conversations like this one,  please rate and review us in your podcast player!  And become  a paid Burnt Toast subscribe...

Today Virginia is chatting with  Chrissy King . Chrissy's new book, The Body Liberation Project: How Understanding Racism and Diet Culture Helps Cultivate Joy and Build Collective Freedom is out this week. It’s an incredible mix of memoir and cultural analysis and an exploration of the intersection of racism and diet culture.  And remember, if you order it from the Burnt Toast Bookshop , you can g...

It's our March Ask Us Anything episode! We're covering anti-diet puberty books, clothing size chart confusion, our style icons, and a mom who thinks her 13-year-old needs to chew her food more.  If you are already a paid subscriber, you’ll have this entire episode in your podcast feed and access to the entire transcript in your inbox and  on the Burnt Toast Patreon . If you are not a paid subscrib...

Today Virginia is chatting with  Debra Benfield , RDN. Debra has helped hundreds of women heal their relationship with food eating in their bodies over her 35-year career as a Registered Dietitian Nutritionist specializing in the prevention and treatment of disordered eating, and brings her passion, expertise, and lived experience to the intersection of pro-aging and body liberation work. Deb’s wo...

It's our February Ask Us Anything episode! We're covering body autonomy for kids, 90s makeup icons, body feelings, and the dreaded business casual.  If you are already a paid subscriber, you’ll have this entire episode in your podcast feed and access to the entire transcript in your inbox and  on the Burnt Toast Patreon . If you are not a paid subscriber, you'll only get the first chunk.  To hear...

You’re listening to Burnt Toast! This is the podcast where we talk about diet culture, fatphobia, parenting and health. I’m Virginia Sole-Smith, and I also write the Burnt Toast newsletter. It’s time for another community episode! As I said in our first community episode on anti-diet resolutions last month, this is a new format we’re experimenting with and I’m thinking of these as Friday Threads f...

I'm teaching this class and it's kind of a joke, because you can do whatever you want. Like, you're here. I'm giving you a guideline to what I'm doing. This is how I'm rolling on the floor today, this is how it looks when I do it. It doesn't have to look the same when you do it. You're listening to Burnt Toast! This is the podcast where we talk about diet culture, fatphobia, parenting, and health....

I just want to push people to be more specific about: Which culture? Whose culture? Because that wasn’t my culture.   You’re listening to Burnt Toast. This is the podcast where we talk about diet culture, fatphobia, parenting, and health. I’m Virginia Sole-Smith. I also write the Burnt Toast newsletter. Today I am chatting with Dominic Bradley . Raised in the crunk-era "Dirty South," Dominic Cinna...

You’re listening to Burnt Toast. This is the podcast where we talk about diet culture, fatphobia, parenting and health. I am Virginia Sole-Smith and I also write the Burnt Toast newsletter. And it’s time for your January Ask Us Anything with Corinne. This is a good one! We are getting into language around weight, cozy clothes, how to be a good ally, how to raise your thin kids not to be assholes t...

You're listening to Burnt Toast! This is the podcast where we talk about diet culture, fatphobia, parenting, and health. I'm Virginia Sole-Smith and I also write the Burnt Toast newsletter. One quick thing before we get into it: Today is our Corinne’s birthday! Yay Corinne! You are awesome and we literally couldn’t do Burnt Toast without you, very much including this episode. (Everyone else: Drop...

“The main problem with the BMI is not that it sometimes thinks thin people are fat. The main problem with the BMI is that trans people who exceed a certain BMI can't get life saving, gender affirming care. The main problem with the BMI is that there are surgeons who will not operate on fat people and require them to lose hundreds of pounds before they can access X, Y, or Z surgical procedure that...

You’re listening to Burnt Toast. This is the podcast about diet culture, fatphobia, parenting, and health. I’m Virginia Sole-Smith, I write the Burnt Toast Newsletter . When you hear this, I will—if all goes according to plan—be sitting on a beach in Thailand. Of course, that means I survived the 25 hour flight over and jetlag with my kids. And honestly, those both feel like very open questions as...

Being able to feed yourself without the observation of someone around you just really changes things.   You’re listening to Burnt Toast. This is the podcast where we talk about diet culture, fat phobia, parenting and health. I’m Virginia Sole-Smith, I also write the Burnt Toast newsletter. Today we are revisiting a newsletter essay, one that I actually published just last month. It’s called “ Do I...

We’ve done the same thing with housekeeping that we did with physical health: You are morally obligated to have this very clean, very organized, very aesthetically pleasing home, particularly if you are socialized as a woman. And if you do not do that, you deserve my shame and derision and criticism and all that stuff. So that’s when I started talking about this idea that care tasks are morally ne...

Post-Publication Note: Many of you have emailed to let me know that the J. Crew coat we talk about in this episode is no longer available in plus sizes! The link has changed since we put it in the transcript and we’re so sorry. Anti-fat bias in fashion is REAL, y’all. You're listening to Burnt Toast. I'm Virginia Sole-Smith and I also write the Burnt Toast newsletter. And today Corinne is back! Sh...