Making It Awkward

Jessica Wilson, MS RD
  • 5.0 (2)
  • Society & Culture
  • Weekly

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. 22 Oct

    "Dopamine Kids": Pood?! and Dopamine Fundamentalism with Selena Salfen MPH, RD

    POOD?!?! Danger abound in the food-specific portion of Michaeleen Doucleff's book Dopamine Kids; A Science-Based Plan to Rewire Your Child's Brain and Take Back Your Family in the Age of Screens and Ultraprocessed Foods. Today Selena Salfen, MPH, RD and Jessica discus Doucleff's daughter's naming some foods "pood" and about how Doucleff affirms this and promotes it. Doucleff doesn't see that she, herself, is making food a problem in her house and by extension of this book a problem for everyone who reads it. She is making the feeding conversation weird with her overwhelming anxiety, morality and her own fear.  We also get to hear from Dr. Bethany Johnson. She connected Doucleff's approach to life to 17 Kids and Counting and introduced the idea of dopamine fundamentalism.  Alex Clark's podcast  NYT review Michaeleen's website  17 Kids and Counting Obesity action coalition   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

    "Dopamine Kids": Pood?! and Dopamine Fundamentalism with Selena Salfen MPH, RD

  2. 8 Oct

    "Dopamine Kids": Privilege, Pixels and the Endless Bottom with Selena Salfen, MPH, RD

    Selena Salfen, MPH, RD returns to the show to talk about Michaeleen Doucleff's book Dopamine Kids; A Science-Based Plan to Rewire Your Child's Brain and Take Back Your Family in the Age of Screens and Ultraprocessed Foods.  Selena shares her experience parenting a child who has ADHD, autism and different feeding needs than Doucleff's. Selena tried out one of Doucleff's parenting exercises with her kiddo and we all get to hear it! She also shares the two things she found helpful about the book. Doucleff has written two books to tell people how to parent, based on the research she has chosen and interventions she's used with her only child in a homeschooled environment which includes 15 chickens, a vegetable garden and greenhouse, homemade sourdough and a family phone that sits in a drawer and only calls or texts. Dopamine Kids is, ultimately, a book about how Doucleff has been lucky enough to put together the life that she wants for herself and her daughter, not a book with universal guidance on parenting.  Hunt, Gather, Parent Anti-Dopamine Parenting 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

    "Dopamine Kids": Privilege, Pixels and the Endless Bottom with Selena Salfen, MPH, RD

  3. 24 Sept

    Democratic Dark Money, the Influencer Economy and Sam Rosenholtz with Lindsay Lee Wallace

    As news outlets are being banned from the White House let's talk about the Democratic dark money funding influencers  positioning themselves as journalists. Actual Journalist Lindsay Lee Wallace returns to the show to unpack dark money in social media influencing, and the social media economy. Lindsay talks about the there isn't a code of ethics for influencers, people aren't required to be experts in their field and what this means for journalism. We talk about how Jessica became the subject of a social media video from Sam Rosenholtz, an influencer who is funded by the Democratic dark money non profit Chorus and has been paid for engaging in Denver politics. Rosenholtz is a white guy with 1.4M Instagram followers, and used a video of Jessica dressed as her conservative alter-ego as his hook to get people to pay attention to him talking about cyclospora. Today Lindsay and Jessica connect Rosenholtz and his video to the state of our news and journalism landscape and we also discuss that being the subject of Rosenholtz's video made Jessica care more about Democratic political spending, something that was way overdue.    Sam Rosenholtz is part of the Chorus Creator Collection and you can buy his favorite saying Sam involved in Denver bond measure Comer Launches Investigation into Sixteen Thirty Fund's Reported Secretive Chorus Program, Effort to Evade Campaign Finance Laws We're living through an explainer epidemic | Dazed  'The Least Transparent Midterm': How Dark Money Is Washing Over the 2026 Election - The New York Times  Influencers Have a Lot to Say About Politics. Many Are Quietly Paid for It. - The New York Times  Influencers trying to self-regulate their political involvement 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

    Democratic Dark Money, the Influencer Economy and Sam Rosenholtz with Lindsay Lee Wallace

  4. 10 Sept

    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

  5. 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

  6. 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

  7. 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

  8. 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
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5
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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
    144
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © Jessica Wilson, MS RD
  • Show Website
    Making It Awkward

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