Episode 100 Transcript
Virginia
You're listening to Burnt Toast! This is the podcast about diet culture, anti-fat bias, parenting, and health. I'm Virginia Sole-Smith and I also write the Burnt Toast newsletter.
Corinne
And I'm Corinne Fay. I work on Burnt Toast and run @selltradeplus an Instagram account where you can buy and sell plus size clothing.
Virginia
It is time for your June Indulgence Gospel! We are going to answer your questions like we do every month. We are going to read a little hate mail—I have a fun one teed up for you. And we are going to celebrate! Because this is the 100th episode of the Burnt Toast podcast.
Corinne
Wooo!
Virginia
That's wild.
Corinne
This is also a paywalled episode. That means to hear the whole thing you'll need to be a paid Burnt Toast subscriber. And to celebrate our 100th episode, you can join today for 20% off. That gets the price down to just $4 a month and $40 for the year.
Virginia
Corinne, how are you? I'm happy you are here with me on this auspicious occasion.
Corinne
I am so excited that it's the 100th episode! It's fully summer here. It's hot. It's Pride. I am trying to find shorts.
Virginia
Are you finding any? Or are you frustrated in the shorts journey?
Corinne
I'm both finding and frustrated. For some reason I'm feeling like all the shorts I wore last summer I don't like anymore. It's not that they don't fit. I just don't like them anymore.
Virginia
I had a similar reaction. I had the Target linen shorts from last summer.
Corinne
They just haven't held up?
Virginia
No. It's not the highest quality linen, I guess.
Corinne
I do find that sometimes with fast fashion stuff, the next season it's dingy.
Virginia
Yeah. But happy Pride! Are you doing any fun Pride things?
Corinne
I am! I'm going to an ice cream social on Wednesday which I'm very excited about. And I think I might also get a tattoo.
Virginia
Wait. Tell us everything.
Corinne
At Dyke Night.
Virginia
Okay, the mom in me is like, you’re getting a tattoo in a bar? Have you checked it out? Are they reputable?
Corinne
I don't know if you recall, but I got COVID at Dyke Night.
Virginia
I am recalling that, Corinne.
Corinne
So it is like, a disease vector.1
Virginia
Have we just done like a little background search on this tattoo artist? High quality needles?
Corinne
They do seem cool. But yeah, I will wear a mask.
Virginia
I will wear a mask, but I will let you put needles in my body.
Corinne
Yes. So I think it'll be an exciting week!
Virginia
Are you a big tattoo person? Do you have a lot of tattoos?
Corinne
I do. It's funny that you don't know that. I have a fair amount of tattoos. I don't have a ton on my body but I have some on my limbs.
Virginia
Nice. I am the only millennial who doesn't have a tattoo. Because I'm very scared of sharp needles.
Corinne
Well, It's not too late.
Virginia
I know. I've just never had a thought of, that is what I would like. Do you know what the tattoo is going to be?
Corinne
It's a flash event which means that they have pre-drawn stuff. And it's a bunch of weird cute little creatures.
Virginia
This sounds delightful.
Corinne
I’m excited to get a little creature tattoo. How are you doing?
Virginia
I am good. It is it is Pride here as well. It's also high garden season for me. May and June are like the months. So I'm just gardening as much as I can now that the book stuff is calming down. I planted too many dahlia tubers this weekend.
Corinne
Oh my gosh.
Virginia
It's gonna be a whole thing. First of all, I just want to say Corinne is being all cool and getting tattoos and I'm now going to tell you a nerdy gardening story. We are who we are. It's fine.
Corinne
Gardening is very cool.
Virginia
So I failed to successfully overwinter my dahlia tubers is how this story starts. Just so we know how much coolness is involved. I just dumped them in the garage and never packed them up properly. There’s a whole process you have to do. So I killed all my dahlia tubers, and in a panic, because I love dahlias, I ordered a bunch online and ordered way more than I needed. Then that order was delayed infinitely and I thought they weren't coming. So I bought some locally from my amazing local flower store Parcel. I planted all of those and then my online order arrived. So now I have 66 dahlia tubers in my garden. Too many. I was sticking them anywhere.
Corinne
It sounds like it’s going to be awesome though.
Virginia
I don't know. I'm late getting them in the ground. We're having a drought already. We'll see. And it was a ton of work to plant them all. But yes, I'm on a dahlia journey this year.
The most important thing—and everybody who listens to this podcast, please hold me accountable on this. This November when they freeze, please say: Virginia, dig them up and store them properly. Because you have now spent all the money on dahlia tubers and you cannot ever buy them again.
Corinne
It sounds so labor intensive though.
Virginia
It is very labor intensive. But they're not inexpensive. And I have now bought them twice.
Alright, let's do some questions!
We are going to start with a couple of health questions.
Corinne
Yes, here we go.
I have recently been diagnosed with a mild case of fatty liver disease. When talking to my GI, who was more compassionate than I expected, he discussed dietary changes I should make to reverse some of the damage over time and maintain a healthy liver. As the mother of a new baby, I'm strongly incentivized to be as healthy as possible to be around for my kid. As a fat woman with a recently healed relationship with food and a firm anti-diet Intuitive Eating approach to life, I'm struggling to find the balance between “this is a diet” and “this is necessary for my health.” Can you make a recommendation for how sick folks can approach adjusted eating regimens in a way that is both effective and respectful of their journey and their own relationship with food and their bodies?
Virginia
Okay, so I want to say before we get started: We are not doctors. We're not dietitians. You are here for our informed opinions. Standard disclaimer. Also, I am not an expert on fatty liver disease and I did not report that out. So we're not going to talk specifically about what your protocol should be or is this the right thing to be doing.
What I really want to talk about is how this happens with all kinds of health conditions, where you get told you have to cut out a food group or make some diet adjustment in order to deal with a physical health ailment. How do you do that in a way that's supportive and not triggering and not pushing you back into a diet-y place?
Corinne
Yes, that makes sense.
Virginia
So I would first do some research and see how necessary the dietary adjustments are. I think they're often prescribed—and again, I don't know about liver conditions, but they're often prescribed as a knee jerk, one-size-fits-all kind of prescription, without a lot of nuance as to whether it's really necessary for you. The research often isn’t as clear cut as we would like.
So, you might ask your doctor: “Is this dietary change something you would recommend for a thin person with this condition as well? If not, what treatment would you give a thin person?” Just to understand the landscape of are they doing this as a stealth way to prescribe weight loss for you? Or are they doing this because they see a clear-cut relationship between x foods and this condition?
Corinne
I do know that there is a Health at Every Size health sheet for this condition. That might be a good place to start with what does the research say about what helps.
Virginia
and everyone who works on those does such an incredible job pulling them together. They have a bunch of health conditions covered so that's a really good starting point, anytime you're getting a diet or weight loss prescription from a doctor to understand, what is the other take?But okay, let's say that you do have to make the diet adjustment, like it does seem clear that this is the right thing to do. What are your thoughts on how you do that in a non-triggering way?
Corinne
If you decide that you do want to make dietary changes, which I do think is a choice, you could always work with a nutritionist who is aligned with your values around that. If you are someone that struggles with restriction or food stuff, which it sounds like you are, dieting might not be healthy for you. You're kind of balancing—
Virginia
—two health conditions.
Corinne
Yeah.
Virginia
I think it's important to be clear with your doctor if this feels unsafe for you. Let's name that and let's make sure that your doctor is aware they're suggesting something that may be unsafe for you. What supports are they going to put in place? Or what other protocols can they consider that would be safer for you?
I think that can be hard to do for folks who don't have a diagnosed eating disorder. It can be hard to do even for folks with a diagnosed eating disorder because often doctors don't care. And don't ask about it, or they're so focused on this little piece of your health, but they're ignoring the bigger picture. But if you don't have a diagnosed eating disorder, it can be this very vulnerable thing where you feel like you're saying, “But it just makes me sad,” and that that doesn't feel as important. There's this urgency of your liver numbers or your A1C is in jeopardy and we don't have time for your feelings. So I just want to name that your feelings in this really matter. You're not being high maintenance, you're not being fussy. This is actually really hard to do.
Corinne
Yeah, definitely. The other thing that I have found helpful with stuff like this is if your doctor says “don't eat X,” sometimes flipping it to be not, “I can never eat Oreos again,” but to be, “I want to eat more vegetables,” or whatever. So you're thinking of adding rather than restricting.
Virginia
I think that's a super helpful shift to make. I have a child who was on a medically required fat free diet for a period of time. And you lean into making what you can eat as delicious and amazing as possible. And you make sure that you're trying to take an abundance mindset towards it. Not letting it be a stepping stone towards more restriction. Instead it's like, “I'm restricting this one thing, but here's what I can eat. What do I love here that I can eat? How do I get the most delicious and abundant versions of what I can eat in my life?”
Corinne
Yes. Good luck. Let us know how it goes.
Virginia
Alright, you want to read the next one?
Corinne
I've just started using Mounjaro as a way to combat type two diabetes. And I wonder what is a good way to discuss / explain this to my children? Because the reality is I'm using it to lose weight and reducing blood glucose levels is almost more of a side effect. Drugs such as Ozempic and Mounjaro and the like have overwhelmed the media. But how do we discuss a medical intervention like this with children? I don't want it to be a secret, but I also don't want to toxic conversation around size.
Virginia
Okay, free list. That is where we leave you!
If you would like to hear our response to this very complicated question and the whole rest of the episode, you’ll need to go paid. Add remember, it’s our 100th episode, so you can take 20% off that subscription.
