New Year, Same Me

New year, same me.
Well, technically this is last October me, but other than not always having such a nice blow-out, nothing much has changed for me. The baby, on the other hand, is learning to talk. In case you're new to the newsletter, I thought I'd say a proper hello: I’m Virginia, I write about women and especially, how we relate to food and our bodies in a culture that’s constantly trying to eff that up for us and our kids. I have a book and a podcast about that, and I publish in a bunch of other places about that and sometimes other things too.

And even though I spend a lot of time researching/writing/talking about how diet culture makes us miserable, I want to say that I SO get it if you are feeling the pull to do a cleanse/detox/some kind of plan for bodily improvement this January. I feel it too, because we’re all conditioned to respond to a page on the calendar that way. (In this week's podcast episode, Christy Harrison breaks down why.) And there’s just that itch to do something clean slate and self-improve-y right now. So instead, I’m setting goals for my work this year — about the stories I want to tell next and where I want to tell them. And I’m resolving to do more of things that make me feel most like me when I’m not working (mostly reading more books,* making art with my kids, traveling... I’d also like this to be the year I get back to gardening).

And it is hard, some days, to accept that making space for all of that means I’m unlikely to ever be my pre-kids weight again. Because there are only so many hours in the day and I won’t be devoting any of them to a diet or stringent workout plan. But, you know, I also get all of THIS. That delicious baby and her big sister, this work, their mess, the deadlines—none of which I could do as well if I was still prioritizing my physical size above everything else.

We are all so much more than our bodies. So if you are dieting right now, please remember that no matter what happens, you were already enough. And you deserve to take up all the space you need in this world.

(Pic: Gabrielle Gerard Photography)

Speaking of Kids...
One of the scariest things about modern diet culture is how ruthlessly it has infiltrated how we think about kids and food. We're especially freaked about how much kids love carbs, and I wrote about why we need to let that go in the new issue of Parents Magazine. The January issue is on newsstands now, but you can also read the main piece here, as well as the sidebar, featuring Jennifer Berry's excellent advice on how to change your language on food and kids.

Speaking of Reading More Books...
I put a fun roundup of the best books I read in 2018 on the blog just before the holidays. I read a few more over the holidays, bringing my official 2018 count to 55 (not that we're counting except oh wait, we're totally counting, or at least I am over on GoodReads if you'd like to join me). I'd love to know what you loved reading in 2018, or what you're most excited to read this year. Hit reply to this email and send me your recs!