New Year, Still Anti-Diet
Plus, a look back at my work from 2019
Happy New Year! I hope everyone had a restful holiday break and is ready to save the world now because 2020, we’ve got work to do.
I’m pleased to announce that I’ll be participating in two events this month with registered dietitian, activist, and Food Psych Podcast host Christy Harrison to celebrate the launch of her first book: Anti-Diet: Reclaim Your Time, Money, Well-Being, and Happiness Through Intuitive Eating.
First up, at Bluestockings Bookstore in New York City, on January 16 at 7pm, there will be a reading from Christy’s book, followed by a conversation with Yours Truly, and an audience Q&A. Learn more here.
Next, at Split Rock Books in Cold Spring, New York, on January 31 at 7pm, we’ll celebrating Christy’s book along with the launch The Eating Instinct in paperback! And we’ll be discussing how to opt out of the usual January diet frenzy and fight weight stigma in our daily lives. Learn more here.
If you live in or near New York, I hope to see you there!
And even if you can’t come to an event: Support Christy by buying Anti-Diet here and support me by getting your paperback copy of The Eating Instinct here.
2019 In Review
Here are my favorite things I wrote last year…
To start off the year, I wrote about how to make peace with kid food for Parents magazine.
In February, I dug into the history of wellness, and how thin white men rebranded dieting, for Bitch Media.
Age-old taboos against menstruation have led to a lack of research on how women’s cycles work, with serious consequences for their health. I went deep on the science of periods for Scientific American.
Many fertility clinics will refuse to treat prospective mothers over a certain size. Is it truly out of a concern for their health, or is it just about clinics’ profit margins? I investigated this medicalized weight stigma for The New York Times Magazine.
After writing about women considered too fat for fertility treatment, I wrote about people who are considered too fat to have an eating disorder for Medium’s Elemental.
A new app from Weight Watchers called Kurbo promised to teach kids aged 8 to 17 healthy eating strategies, but in my first for The New York Times Parenting section, I asked whether it ever makes sense to teach kids how to diet.
There’s no shame in kid snacking! Parents often place a moral value on children’s eating habits; for NYT Parenting, I wrote about why they shouldn’t.
Young women are getting plastic surgery and other cosmetic procedures and calling it body positivity. I wrote about YouTube influencers and messy messaging for Medium’s Elemental.
And most recently, I wrote about an approach to mealtimes called ‘Division of responsibility in feeding’ and why experts recommend it for picky eaters and food-fixated kids alike.
You're reading Burnt Toast, Virginia Sole-Smith's monthly newsletter. Virginia is a feminist writer, co-host of the Comfort Food Podcast, and author of The Eating Instinct. Comments? Questions? Email Virginia.
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