Making It Awkward

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. Vicki also shared her experiences of losing two pregnancies leading up to her diagnosis and how she decided to be open about her journeys. Vicki also shares how people can be supportive of someone going through cancer treatment. Vicki's Instagram You can become a podcast patron! You can leave an awkward rating and review of this show! You can email the show at makingitawkwardpod@gmail.com 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

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 podcast patron! You can leave an awkward rating and review of this show! You can email the show at makingitawkwardpod@gmail.com 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

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 classification Dr. Robert Lustig episode Dr. David Wiss episode Amy Fletcher episode You can join the podcast Patreon! You can rate and review this show! You can email the show at makingitawkwardpod@gmail.com 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

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. The two have a full debrief on the chicken smoothie of it all, and get into the body and relationship norms of the show. Kent's instagram Kent's Substack Kent's Tiktok You can become a podcast patron and see Jessica and Shana's response to the chicken smoothie appearance! You can rate and review this show! You can email the show at makingitawkwardpod@gmail.com 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

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!! Jessica's videos with her dad: Drip Drop should have been Gatorade Liquid Death Olipop Liquid IV You can become a podcast Patreon patron! You can rate and review this show! You can email the show at makingitawkwardpod@gmail.com 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

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 distracted by the gender hysteria and what that means. She ends by discussing where Paris went wrong in its nutrition decisions. You can look at Naima's medals by becoming a podcast patron! You can rate and review this show! You can email the show at makingitawkwardpod@gmail.com to share awkward moments 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

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 the show at makingitawkwardpod@gmail.com 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

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 become a podcast patron! You can rate and review this show! You can email the show at makingitawkwardpod@gmail.com 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

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. NOVA classifications of food Drs. Katherine Flegal and Walter Willett You can become a podcast patron! You can rate and review this show! You can email the show at makingitawkwardpod@gmail.com 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

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 truly dismantling myths in their article or reinforcing the norm of the eating disorder field. She also poses questions about whether dopamine means addiction, and asks what we mean when we discuss reward pathways and brain activation. To expand our ideas of these words and phrases regularly tossed about, Molly references research done in fMRI machines. Today's episode airs thursday july 25th and I'll take additional comments on both episodes through Friday July 26th. Molly's articles: Source #9- Retracted- https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1155/2024/9792751 ADHD and food additives- Nigg et al, 2012https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4321798/ Those who strongly adhere to FODMAP for IBS are more likely to have EDs https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30543574/ Greater food variety (including UPFs) is associated with recovery- https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36951232/ Ayton and Ibrahim 2020- Paper that perfectly demonstrated providers and patients fears of weight gain... https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7682725/​ An article about dietary restraint and control- "Flexible control demonstrated substantial overlap and entanglement with rigid control, precluding the clarity, validity, and utility of flexible control as a construct"https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26162949/ Fear is a core component of EDs (AN, BN, BED, and OSFED) transdiagnosticaly. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36782316/ Attempting to avoid hyperpalatable food is an eating disorder safety behavior- https://www.mdpi.com/2076-328X/13/7/574 Dietary energy density and diet variety predicts recoveryhttps://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/18400701/ Citation 118 (Hay et al., 2022) found that over 12 months about 80% of participants failed to achieve ≥5% weight loss. Email the show: makingitawkwardpod@gmail.com Follow Jessica on Instagram @jessicawilson.msrd and TikTok @byjessicawilson You can watch this episode on Spotify and at ⁠https://www.youtube.com/@MakingItAwkwardPod⁠ How to support this podcast? Follow, rate and review and subscribe to ⁠Patreon⁠ membership with access to bonus content and announcements! Jessica's book: ⁠It's Always Been Ours; Rewriting the Story of Black Women's Bodies⁠