

Making It Awkward
Jessica Wilson, MS RD
What's going on with health and food policy right now? Each week dietitian and author Jessica Wilson shares her conversations with experts in their field or on their farm and figures out how we got here and why. Jessica has followed the ultra-processed food hysteria to trad wife pipeline and the direct path from COVID conspiracies to RFK Jr to the current administration.
From her conversation with the Make America Healthy Again spokesperson to the Oregon beef farmer this podcast connects it all. Listen each week as she brings something new to the conversation and at times makes it awkward.
From her conversation with the Make America Healthy Again spokesperson to the Oregon beef farmer this podcast connects it all. Listen each week as she brings something new to the conversation and at times makes it awkward.
Episodes
Mentioned books

Feb 27, 2025 • 45min
#Farmlife at Harmon and Son Beef! The Trump Administration's Impact on Farmers and the Food Supply
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 room for a wide ranging conversation that includes skittle-fed cows, this administration's impact on farming and the safety of the food supply. You heard from Corban at Nuna Farms in this episode Natalie kicks off the episode with a voice memo. Skittle-fed cows?! Fox News story You can buy awkward merch! You can contact the show at makingitawkwardpod@gmail.com Follow dietitian Jessica Wilson on Instagram @jessicawilson.msrd and TikTok @byjessicawilson You can watch this episode at https://www.youtube.com/@MakingItAwkwardPod How to support this podcast? Follow/subscribe, rate and review! Jessica's dad will read reviews and comments on the air! Jessica Wilson's book: It's Always Been Ours; Rewriting the Story of Black Women's Bodies

Feb 20, 2025 • 55min
An Intro to Farm Subsidies and Cheese Caves! With Mackenzie Behrle
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 and cheese flow. Also, Mackenzie shares her experience checking out farming in caves and her incredibly expensive cheese. Links: Check off programs Dairy Management Inc. (DMI) Government cheese Cheese caves McDonald's, Pizza Hut, and Wendy's to develop cheesier products You can buy awkward merch! You can contact the show at makingitawkwardpod@gmail.com Follow Dietitian, Jessica Wilson on Instagram @jessicawilson.msrd You can watch this episode on Spotify and at https://www.youtube.com/@MakingItAwkwardPod How to support this podcast? Follow/subscribe, rate and review! Jessica's dad will read reviews and comments on the air! Jessica Wilson's book: It's Always Been Ours; Rewriting the Story of Black Women's Bodies

Feb 13, 2025 • 1h 1min
Dad Content then The Guy Who Helped Coin the Phrase That Led Us to Fascism
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 the new folks, the seasoned listeners who want a refresher or were too afraid to listen to my interview with Jeff Hutt the first time. And it's for all of us to remember and understand the way that one passionate guy and a few of his friends can influence the course of history. Original show notes about MAHA: 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 wide ranging conversation about food, sustainable farming, corporate capture, mama bears, medical freedom and the concept of "again." Jessica is curious about the connections between MAHA, Wellness culture, and her own work; something that will be further explored in part 2. Support the podcast over on Patreon and help this be more than a special interest of Jessica's! You can rate and review this show! You can email the show at makingitawkwardpod@gmail.com to share awkward thoughts and topic pitches. Follow Jessica on Instagram @jessicawilson.msrd and TikTok @byjessicawilson You can watch this episode on Spotify and at https://www.youtube.com/@MakingItAwkwardPod Jessica's book: It's Always Been Ours; Rewriting the Story of Black Women's Bodies

Feb 6, 2025 • 45min
Conspiracy Ken Gets Confirmed- RFK Jr. Will Never Be Ken-Enough
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 HELP Committee hearings and recent developments along the path to HHS Secretary. The two talk about how he was caught in his lies, his grilling by Senator Warren, and his quote about Black people needing a different vaccine schedule. RFK Jr. was recommended Tuesday to the full Senate for a vote to become Secretary of HHS. Discussed: Onesies Angela Alsobrooks Denying he said what he said Elizabeth Warren clip Quote on abortion You can buy awkward merch! You can contact the show at makingitawkwardpod@gmail.com Follow Jessica Wilson on Instagram @jessicawilson.msrd and TikTok @byjessicawilson You can watch this episode at https://www.youtube.com/@MakingItAwkwardPod How to support this podcast? Follow/subscribe, rate and review! Jessica's dad will read reviews and comments on the air! Jessica Wilson's book: It's Always Been Ours; Rewriting the Story of Black Women's Bodies

Jan 30, 2025 • 40min
The Ultra-Processed Food Hysteria to Trad Wife Pipeline with Lindsay Lee Wallace
Jessica's UPF experiment has been in the news again! She invited journalist Lindsay Lee Wallace back to the show to see if the two could answer some questions: How has the ultra-processed food hysteria impacted politics today? And what the heck is happening with the news media? The two talk about gender, the recent UPF coverage, who has been interviewing Jessica recently, the feedback she's gotten, and a surprise email Jessica received. Articles discussed in this episode: Slate and Daily Mail NYT UPF week Washington post had this The New Yorker had its own contribution Cuomo You can buy awkward merch! You can contact the show at makingitawkwardpod@gmail.com Follow Dietitian, Jessica Wilson on Instagram @jessicawilson.msrd and TikTok @byjessicawilson You can watch this episode at https://www.youtube.com/@MakingItAwkwardPod How to support this podcast? Follow/subscribe, rate and review! Jessica's dad will read reviews and comments on the air! Jessica Wilson's book: It's Always Been Ours; Rewriting the Story of Black Women's Bodies

Jan 23, 2025 • 59min
Re-Grifting: Dr. Mark Hyman
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 profile about the development of his wellness empire and his bromance and collaborations with RFK Jr. A few of the articles mentioned: The Daniel Plan Call to Action from Mark https://sciencebasedmedicine.org/aafp-functional-medicine-lacks-supporting-evidence-includes-harmful-and-dangerous-treatments/ You can buy awkward merch! You can contact the show at makingitawkwardpod@gmail.com Follow Jessica Wilson on Instagram @jessicawilson.msrd and TikTok @byjessicawilson You can watch this episode at https://www.youtube.com/@MakingItAwkwardPod How to support this podcast? Follow/subscribe, rate and review! Jessica's dad will read reviews and comments on the air! Jessica Wilson's book: It's Always Been Ours; Rewriting the Story of Black Women's Bodies

Jan 16, 2025 • 38min
Bird Flu, Biology, Raw Milk & Pet Safety with Dr. Sarah Dougherty, DVM
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 upbringing which includes living down the road from last week's guest farmer Trampus Harmon! Pet rescue resources You can buy awkward merch! You can contact the show at makingitawkwardpod@gmail.com Follow Dietitian, Jessica Wilson on Instagram @jessicawilson.msrd and TikTok @byjessicawilson You can watch this episode at https://www.youtube.com/@MakingItAwkwardPod How to support this podcast? Follow/subscribe, rate and review! Jessica's dad will read reviews and comments on the air! Jessica Wilson's book: It's Always Been Ours; Rewriting the Story of Black Women's Bodies

Jan 9, 2025 • 49min
The Raw Milk Divide with Farmer Trampus Harmon
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 program which she will explore in future episodes. Trampus answers some listener questions and helps Jessica interpret a viral video about grass fed beef. Bonus voice memo from Dr. Jeff Sherman-Duncan! Citations used in this episode: https://abc7ny.com/post/rfk-jr-asked-raw-farm-owner-mark-mcafee-center-milk-recall-apply-fda-advisor-donald-trump-administration/15625517/ https://edition.cnn.com/2025/01/06/health/bird-flu-death-louisiana/index.html https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/avian-influenza-bird-flu/cdc-h5n1-mutations-severely-ill-patient-could-boost-spread-risk-remains#:~:text=The%20genetic%20analysis%20of%20the,Control%20and%20Prevention%20(CDC) https://www.npr.org/2024/12/26/nx-s1-5239841/bird-flu-kills-20-cats-washington-sanctuary https://www.cdc.gov/bird-flu/php/avian-flu-summary/chart-epi-curve-ah5n1.html

Jan 2, 2025 • 19min
We Saw This Coming; Glancing Back and Gearing Up for 2025
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 specifically to Jessica when she asks if something is inherently unhealthy if we can't define it. From those responses we see how so much of this isn't about food at all. Food is just the vehicle, the distraction. Enjoy this trip down memory lane with former guests including Shana Spence, Cara Harbstreet, Dr Selina Wang, Patrille Hernandez, Dr Natalie Ingraham, Dr. Lexi Brown, Jen Jacobs, and Jaye Rachon. Then come back for conversations in 2025, some history lessons and a new series titled "Re-grifting." Happy 2025! You can buy awkward merch! You can contact the show at makingitawkwardpod@gmail.com Follow Dietitian, Jessica Wilson on Instagram @jessicawilson.msrd and TikTok @byjessicawilson You can watch this episode at https://www.youtube.com/@MakingItAwkwardPod How to support this podcast? Follow/subscribe, rate and review! Jessica's dad will read reviews and comments on the air! Jessica Wilson's book: It's Always Been Ours; Rewriting the Story of Black Women's Bodies

Dec 26, 2024 • 53min
Neurodivergence and Girl Dinner with Dr. Lexi Brown-Re-release
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 dogs the first two years of the pandemic. And lastly, Lexi introduces Jessica to the concept of a girl dinner. This is a great episode to watch on Spotify and https://www.youtube.com/@MakingItAwkwardPod How to support this podcast? Follow/subscribe, rate and review! Jessica's dad will read reviews and comments on the air! Jessica Wilson's book: It's Always Been Ours; Rewriting the Story of Black Women's Bodies You can buy awkward merch! You can contact the show at makingitawkwardpod@gmail.com


