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.

  1. 2 days ago

    The SPAMisode! with Daphne K. Jenkins

    SPAM! Cultural traditions, recipes, the Hormel Girls and the history of SPAM.  Daphne K. Jenkins returns to the show to talk about the history, cultural relevance and celebration of SPAM. Daphne shares the different ways in which she ate SPAM growing up n Hawaii and her recent elevation of the iconic food to butter mochi magic.  The two discuss the need for shelf stable foods, especially when Hawaii has been under multiple hurricane warnings this year.  And where does the term spam email come from?   Bougie SPAM 'ONO MAU GOODS Daphne in Serious Eats Daphne in Willamette Week FOOD ASSISTANCE AVAILABLE ACROSS KAUA'I  A quick history of SPAM   Like this episode? You can rate, review, subscribe, follow, share and comment! Questions about the show? Guest pitches? Email makingitawkwardpod@gmail.com You can buy awkward merch! You can become a Patreon member! You can watch this episode at https://www.youtube.com/@MakingItAwkwardPod Follow Jessica Wilson on Instagram @jessicawilson.msrd  Jessica Wilson's book: It's Always Been Ours; Rewriting the Story of Black Women's Bodies

    The SPAMisode! with Daphne K. Jenkins

  2. 27 Aug

    Chemophobia and Science Literacy with Jillian Wilson

    HuffPost journalist Jillian Wilson joins the pod to talk about her article: More And More People Suffer From 'Chemophobia' — And MAHA Is Partly To Blame. She breaks down the history of the fear tactic and how it strikes  a nerve with both conservatives and liberals alike. She tells us how she approaches her science reporting which is as impressive as it is encouraging.  This episode topic was inspired by the recent episode with The Conscious Lee which highlighted his lack of science literacy and also his comfort speaking so loudly about chemicals without context or understanding. Among many concerns, his argument relied on chemophobia and furthered the narrative that any kind of chemical is scary.  Jillian happened to join the show following her recent presentation at the National Association of Black Journalists convention. She spoke on a panel about how to report on MAHA and shares that experience on the pod.    Jessica also shares a pod update and how she's planning to evolve.    Like this episode? You can rate, review, subscribe, follow, share and comment! Questions about the show? Guest pitches? Email makingitawkwardpod@gmail.com You can buy awkward merch! You can become a Patreon member! You can watch this episode at https://www.youtube.com/@MakingItAwkwardPod Follow Jessica Wilson on Instagram @jessicawilson.msrd  Jessica Wilson's book: It's Always Been Ours; Rewriting the Story of Black Women's Bodies

    Chemophobia and Science Literacy with Jillian Wilson

  3. 13 Aug

    "Poor People Food", Sponsorship, and Semantics; Is Health Science Up for Debate? Part 2 With Dr. Bethany Johnson

    Cigarettes, bacon, raw milk, raccoon, pork, chicken and The Conscious Lee! Today's guest, medical historian Dr. Bethany Johnson, returns to the show for the first follow up episode following the episode with The Conscious Lee's. In addition to her analysis of what went down in that episode, Bethany covers a lot of ground! Our conversation includes raw milk with formaldehyde, the idea of "poor people food" shifting over time and always connected to race, the history of eating other game meats like raccoon, and the history and stereotypes about the consumption of both pork and chicken among Black communities.   If you have feedback on the episode or ideas for Bethany's handle you can email them to makingitawkwardpod@gmail.com Show notes from the original episode with The Conscious Lee: The Conscious Lee joins the show to debate the merits of his recent video about cured meats causing cancer and Jessica's video reply questioning the honesty of his presentation of the evidence.  Both of them reference the World Health Organization's 2015 report about carcinogens, and Jessica attempts to provide nuance to the carcinogen designation by discussing how substances are labeled as carcinogens and how it's the strength of the research, not the level of risk that makes something a carcinogen.    The Conscious Lee's video is part of a partnership with Farm Forward and references the Save Our Bacon Act.    Like this episode? You can rate, review, subscribe, follow, share and comment! Questions about the show? Guest pitches? Email makingitawkwardpod@gmail.com You can buy awkward merch! You can become a Patreon member! You can watch this episode at https://www.youtube.com/@MakingItAwkwardPod Follow Jessica Wilson on Instagram @jessicawilson.msrd  Jessica Wilson's book: It's Always Been Ours; Rewriting the Story of Black Women's Bodies

    "Poor People Food", Sponsorship, and Semantics; Is Health Science Up for Debate? Part 2 With Dr. Bethany Johnson

  4. 6 Aug

    Re-release! Eating Disorders, Dopamine, Salience, & The Status Quo 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." Dr. Wiss made some questionable claims during his interview and Molly joins the show to fact check them and provide context, new information and lived experience.  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. This episode was part 2 of a 3 part series. The third is Hedonism, Palatability, and the Science-ification of "Junk Food;" Same advice, different packaging Dr. Wiss's reply to Molly's episode.  Molly on LinkedIn 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

    Re-release! Eating Disorders, Dopamine, Salience, & The Status Quo with Molly Robbins

  5. 30 Jul

    Is Health Science Up for Debate? Part 1 with The Conscious Lee

    The Conscious Lee joins the show to debate the merits of his recent video about cured meats causing cancer and Jessica's video reply questioning the honesty of his presentation of the evidence.  Both of them reference the World Health Organization's 2015 report about carcinogens, and Jessica attempts to provide nuance to the carcinogen designation by discussing how substances are labeled as carcinogens and how it's the strength of the research, not the level of risk that makes something a carcinogen.  The Conscious Lee's video is part of a partnership with Farm Forward and references the Save Our Bacon Act.    This is a multi-part episode and Jessica will be back with guests in a couple weeks to follow up on this conversation. If you have thoughts or feedback that you want to share you can email the pod and send voice memos to makingitawkwardpod@gmail.com.    The Conscious Lee's services The Conscious Lee on Instagram  The Conscious Lee on YouTube The Conscious Lee on Tiktok Like this episode? You can rate, review, subscribe, follow, share and comment! Questions about the show? Guest pitches? Email makingitawkwardpod@gmail.com You can buy awkward merch! You can become a Patreon member! You can watch this episode at https://www.youtube.com/@MakingItAwkwardPod Follow Jessica Wilson on Instagram @jessicawilson.msrd  Jessica Wilson's book: It's Always Been Ours; Rewriting the Story of Black Women's Bodies

    Is Health Science Up for Debate? Part 1 with The Conscious Lee

  6. 23 Jul

    Gay the Pray Away; Film Review: "Leviticus" with Blake Flaugher, MPH and Caleb Haven Draper

    Blake Flaugher, MPH and Caleb Haven Draper return to the show to review the horror film Leviticus from first time writer and director Adrian Chiarella. The film follows two queer teenage boys who live in an Australian town and are part of a small conservative church. In this review the three discuss the role that both fear and shame play in our lives and in society.  The three of them break down the plot of the movie in detail so there are spoilers. There isn't a big reveal at the end of the film, though, so they won't give away a plot twist. During this episode we learn that Caleb's family is a founding family of a Christian mega church and more about Blake's Christian Evangelical fundamentalist upbringing. The two discuss the impacts of religion on their identity development.    Caleb and Blake's episode on queer men, body image, peptides and peacocking Like this episode? You can rate, review, subscribe, follow, share and comment! Questions about the show? Guest pitches? Email makingitawkwardpod@gmail.com You can buy awkward merch! You can become a Patreon member! You can watch this episode at https://www.youtube.com/@MakingItAwkwardPod Follow Jessica Wilson on Instagram @jessicawilson.msrd  Jessica Wilson's book: It's Always Been Ours; Rewriting the Story of Black Women's Bodies

    Gay the Pray Away; Film Review: "Leviticus" with Blake Flaugher, MPH and Caleb Haven Draper

  7. 16 Jul

    Self-Medicating ADHD with Exercise, Disordered Eating, Gender Identity and More! with Calvin Gilbert

    Calvin Gilbert returns to the show to talk about self-medicating ADHD with exercise and the intersections with gender and disordered eating. Calvin talks about their all-or-nothing thinking, their history with alcohol abuse, and their experiences competing in two Iron Man races. We get into the multiple times they've come out to friends and family over the last 20+ years and their path to knowing they are non-binary.  The two start with new reflections of Jessica's recent trip to the ADA conference and how it brought Jessica to tears. Calvin reminds Jessica that her concerns about not being recorded were incredibly valid and offers support as the two recall their conference presentation that was disrupted by an unhinged attendee.  At the end of this episode Calvin pledges to work on a couple of adulting tasks and will follow up with this audience! Like this episode? You can rate, review, subscribe, follow, share and comment! Questions about the show? Guest pitches? Email makingitawkwardpod@gmail.com You can buy awkward merch! You can become a Patreon member! You can watch this episode at https://www.youtube.com/@MakingItAwkwardPod Follow Jessica Wilson on Instagram @jessicawilson.msrd  Jessica Wilson's book: It's Always Been Ours; Rewriting the Story of Black Women's Bodies

    Self-Medicating ADHD with Exercise, Disordered Eating, Gender Identity and More! with Calvin Gilbert

  8. 9 Jul

    Unfiltered and Uncensored: Reflections on Speaking at the ADA Conference with Sherene Chou, MS RDN

    Dietitian Sherene Chou and Jessica had a drastically different experience at the ADA Scientific Sessions than the researchers who were removed! Sherene may have been the first person to include a Subway Take at a medical conference. Today's episode continues the conversation about the ADA conference, one that started a few weeks back with journalist Lindsay Lee Wallace. Just last week, the medical journal Lancet published a recap of what happened to the researchers.  Jessica got to sit down with a representative at ADA and record her experiences as a clinician. You can catch her answers over on the Patreon! This episode mentions the work of children's educator Ms. Rachel, who also came up in the first ADA conference recap with Lindsay.   Ms. Rachel on Dilley Detention Center Ms. Rachel on Instagram   Like this episode? You can rate, review, subscribe, follow, share and comment! Questions about the show? Guest pitches? Email makingitawkwardpod@gmail.com You can buy awkward merch! You can become a Patreon member! You can watch this episode at https://www.youtube.com/@MakingItAwkwardPod Follow Jessica Wilson on Instagram @jessicawilson.msrd  Jessica Wilson's book: It's Always Been Ours; Rewriting the Story of Black Women's Bodies

    Unfiltered and Uncensored: Reflections on Speaking at the ADA Conference with Sherene Chou, MS RDN
See All (141)

Trailer

Ratings & Reviews

5
out of 5
2 Ratings

About

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.

Information

  • Creator
    Jessica Wilson, MS RD
  • Years Active
    2023 - 2026
  • Episodes
    141
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © Jessica Wilson, MS RD
  • Show Website
    Making It Awkward

You Might Also Like