The Culture Of It All

In this episode, we’re exploring slow living and its significance in today's fast-paced world. I’ll be sharing my personal journey towards embracing a slower lifestyle, the challenges I’ve faced, and the intersection of slow living with diet culture. We’ll be discussing the importance of self-care, and how rest is an act of rebellion against societal expectations that dictate our worth based...

Welcome to a new season of The Culture Of It All, and our first episode of 2025! No need to sugar coat it, this first month of 2025 has felt like a metric fuck ton of hot garbage. Like so many of you, most days I’ve struggled to find the fuzzy line between staying well informed and falling into a spiral of sadness, empathy and anger at the state of the world. Yes, I do talk about it in this episod...

Welcome pals, to our final episode of 2024!! In this reflective episode, I’m sharing my journey over the past eight months of podcasting, discussing 8 lessons learned, personal growth, positive shifts in my body image, and the importance of having my own back.  What a journey it has been. This year started out feeling very heavy as I overcame the end of a friendship, finished a freelancing contrac...

Welcome to episode 17! I want to address our straight sized friends, folks who want to support the fat community and be better equipped to advocate for us and speak up in spaces where we are ignored. This episode is an important one for all of us, because many of these topics are things I had just accepted as ‘normal’, and believed it was the way I deserved to be treated. Pals, you can ask for, an...

We’re kicking off November talking about food and intuitive eating with our very first guest, Naomi Katz from Happy Shapes Coaching. We’re exploring the complexities of intuitive eating, particularly during the holiday season, but as you’ll learn, these hot takes are not just for the holidays!! We discuss the emotional responses to food, the importance of autonomy in food choices, and the 10th pri...

In this episode, we’ll be exploring the cycle of fear and blame the diet industry has created and how this impacts our body image and relationship to food. We’ll also look at some of the nuances, including the erasure of fat folks from history, and why it appears to be socially acceptable to discriminate against someone based on their body size/weight. We’ll also take a look at how the diet indust...

Our F-word for this episode is ‘food’. In this episode we’ll be discussing food neutrality, in particular how messaging online, and the binary language we often use around food can lead to complicated relationships with food. We’re going to explore: Why we have binary feelings about food Fear-based messaging & our relationship to food Defining food neutrality & exploring our fears Neutral...

This week our ‘F-word’ is fitness; specifically the negative associations many of us have with fitness and dieting. I’ll be sharing some of my experiences growing up, from learning to dislike sports in high school, and always focusing on ‘all or nothing’. You’ll also hear how, despite my lack of athleticism, I decided to pursue a career in fitness and the negative impact this left on my mental and...

Welcome to episode 12, today we are chatting about 3 connected f-words that have negatively impacted my body image, confidence, and love of fashion. Flattering. Femininity. Fitting-in. In particular, we will be focusing on the impact these words have had on folks growing up in larger bodies, and the ways in which I’ve found my way back to myself BEFORE the world told me I was too much. Content war...

Welcome to a brand new season of The Culture Of It All! I’m back this season to explore and discuss the F Words with y’all. You’ll hear from me, and some incredible guests as we chat about topics such as the Fashion Industry, Fat Representation, Fiction, Plus Size Fitness, and Food. In this episode I am easing us into this new season and discussing fat positivity with a twist. When I started this...

We’ve made it to our final episode of the Summer Series, and today I’m reflecting on 10 things I’ve learned about myself this summer. I’ll be discussing lessons in business, and marketing as well as the importance of community and my struggle to trust my body. We’ll of course be talking about how I’ve felt both physically and emotionally this summer and what my plans are for The Culture Of It All!...

In this penultimate episode of our summer series, I’m sharing one of my favourite past times with you; reading. I’ll be sharing not only my passion for reading, but exploring the importance and power of fat representation within the stories I read. I’ll share a few wonderful plus size reads from this summer from cosy romances, to dark paranormal relationships. And because I have so many recommenda...

In this episode, I’m sharing five practical summer self-care tips for folks in larger bodies. We’ll be exploring the definitions of self care, and what self care practices can mean for folks in larger bodies. We’ll also discuss the barriers that marginalised bodies face in accessing self-care and the need for allies to challenge these barriers. Key Takeaways Exploring self care through the lens of...

The body positive rhetoric that shows up at this time of year is failing folks in larger bodies. So in this episode, I’m rewriting the narrative, and sharing 7 ways in which you can prioritise joy and honour your needs, especially during the uncomfortable summer months.  We’ll explore the difference between joy and happiness and some of the ways I struggle with the concept of joy in a larger body....

In this episode, Melanie shares five summer survival tips from the perspective of a fat girl. She emphasises the importance of managing expectations, practising taking up space, embracing joy and comfort, starting with small steps, and checking in with oneself. Melanie also encourages journaling as a way to reflect and navigate the summer season. Chapters 00:00 Empowerment and Self-Discovery: A Pl...

We’re kicking off our summer series with what I believe to be the BIGGEST turning point in my personal anti diet journey: body image. More specifically, how body image affects self-advocacy and what is possible when the perspective we have of our body shifts into a more positive area of the Body Appreciation Spectrum. We explore the body appreciation spectrum, which includes body respect, body acc...

Our Summer Series Starts May 28th! There are many negative anti-fat stereotypes associated with the summer; from sweat, and thigh chafe to wearing weather appropriate clothing or having skin showing… I am a cold weather person to my soul, and whilst I’m dreaming of pumpkins, cosy socks and apple cider in June – I cannot control the weather. The summer isn’t going anywhere, and it’s probably going...

In this episode, we continue our exploration of the intersection of diet culture, hustle culture, and online business. We’l continue to explore the paradoxical nature of these cultures and how they can negatively impact mental health. I’m sharing some stories of my personal experience “growing up” in the online business culture, and feeling like I never fit in and wanting to be successful in my ow...

Melanie explores the intersection of diet culture, hustle culture, and online business culture. She discusses how these cultures profit and uphold systems of oppression, and how they manipulate spending power and fear tactics to control individuals. Melanie also highlights the similarities between these cultures, such as the emphasis on hard work, the blame placed on individuals when programs fail...

In this episode, Melanie explores diet culture and its relationship with body positivity. She defines diet culture as a system of oppression that centres thin, able-bodied people and promotes weight loss and food restrictions. Melanie emphasises that ditching diets is just the starting point of the anti-diet journey and that it requires ongoing self-reflection and compassion. She also discusses th...

In this episode, Melanie discusses five ways to practise anti-diet work with compassion. She emphasises the importance of applying kindness and thoughtfulness as we navigate this challenging work. Melanie shares her personal journey with diet culture and how she came to embrace anti-diet work. She explores the practice of looking for and celebrating diverse bodies, recognizing the difference betwe...

Welcome friends to the Culture of It All podcast. I am absolutely thrilled that you are here and I can't wait to start having conversations with you about what it really means to ditch diet culture whilst living life in a larger body. No matter where you are on your own anti-diet journey, we’re in this together, and will continue unpacking and unlearning diet culture so that we can take up sp...