Virginia Sole-Smith is a freelance journalist whose work has appeared in the New York Times Magazine, Harper's Magazine, Slate, and Elle. She is the author of The Eating Instinct: Food Culture, Body Image, and Guilt in America and also writes the Burnt Toast newsletter. She lives in New York's Hudson Valley with her husband, two daughters, a cat, a dog, and way too many houseplants.
A Book Riot best book of 2023
A Science Friday best book of 2023
An Audible best well-being audiobook of 2023 "Along with moving
stories of the families she has interviewed, Sole-Smith offers
data...Fat Talk also questions the received narrative of the
'obesity epidemic' and traces a far more complicated relationship
between health, weight, diet, disease and mortality."
--The Washington Post "Through dozens of interviews, Sole-Smith
gathers and shares the experiences and observations of people in
the trenches...She weaves these stories together with findings from
published research, her keen observations of social media and
cultural trends, and her own experience as a mother and as a woman
in a changing body who inhabits the same weight-focused world we
all do. If she's left a stone unturned, I can't find it...The day I
started reading this book was the day I started recommending
it."
--The Seattle Times "I am extremely grateful to Virginia for
writing Fat Talk. It's a fearless and game-changing addition to the
conversation about kids, food and weight, and a book that all
parents need to read."
--Emily Oster, author of Expecting Better and Cribsheet "If you
have ever held a piece of food or briefly glimpsed a part of your
body and felt a complicated thing, you need to read this book. Fat
Talk is about parenting--but also about living--within and outside
of the nefarious stories we've been told about food and bodies and
how and why they relate to health; about the dangers of restriction
and the freedom and the power that can come from loving ourselves
and one another on new and better terms."
--Lynn Steger Strong, author of Flight and Want "Fat Talk is the
book I wish my parents had when I was growing up."
--Julia Turshen, New York Times bestselling author "Making
meaningful social change--especially when it comes to America's
insidious diet culture--can feel like slow, Sisyphean work. It
requires not only questioning the complex systems we live within
but also imagining new, better solutions. Lucky for all of us with
bodies, Virginia Sole-Smith is a visionary. In Fat Talk, she
generously guides grown-ups toward unlearning everything we've been
taught about weight and worth and teaches us to show young people
that they are always enough just as they are. Everyone should read
this book."
--Angela Garbes, author of Essential Labor and Like a Mother "With
Fat Talk, Virginia Sole Smith hasn't just given us a great book for
parents of fat kids. She's given us an indispensable resource for
adults preparing kids of all sizes to navigate a world full of
bodies, biases, and appearance-based judgment. If you've ever
longed for a conversation about fat kids that's rooted in facts,
candor, and empathy, this is it. Fat Talk is a must-read for any
adult who wants to build a kinder, more accepting, and more just
world for the kids in their lives."
--Aubrey Gordon, cohost of Maintenance Phase and author of "You
Just Need to Lose Weight" And 19 Other Myths About Fat People
"If you've ever struggled in your relationship with food and your
body--and especially if you're trying to raise kids to be resilient
in the face of diet culture--this book is essential reading.
Virginia offers a nuanced and deeply reported look at the many
unintended consequences of the rhetoric around 'childhood obesity,
' and presents a powerful case for rethinking the conventional
wisdom about weight and health. At a time when the world feels
increasingly cruel to fat kids, this book will be a beacon of hope
to many."
--Christy Harrison, MPH, RD, CEDS, author of The Wellness Trap and
Anti-Diet "This paradigm-shifting book...flip[s] the script on diet
culture and anti-fat bias...With its message of trusting our kids'
bodies (and everyone else's) as they are as both a social-justice
issue and an act of love, this is a great place to begin."
--Booklist, *starred* "[Sole-Smith] refrains from making readers
feel guilty; rather, she is instructive and encouraging.
...Sole-Smith provides well-rounded discussions of eating
disorders, puberty, calorie counting, fitness influencers, and the
myth that a fat child necessarily means that they have lazy or
disengaged parents...A thoughtful and intuitive book that is not
just for parents."
--Kirkus Reviews "[C]ompassionate...[Sole-Smith's] eye-opening
research upends conventional assumptions about what a healthy body
looks like, and readers will appreciate the affirming tone. The
result is a striking challenge to fatphobia."
--Publishers Weekly
"[T]his well-researched book...shines in its look at policy and
historical views of this topic. Parents concerned about their
child's weight and body image will appreciate it."
--Library Journal
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