Completely changed my view on weight and health, helped me feel more comfortable in my body

Good overview of the history and deep roots of falphobia in U.S. society. I could have done with a little less of the constant virtue signaling. Yes, the teader is aware that you are aware of your privileges as a white, middle-class small-fat cis-woman. Moving on. Also, another reminder that as progressives, we need to become much better at holding conflicting thoughts. To just say, "yes, I'm aware of the food industry's engineering and inceasant lobbying to flood the market with products people can't stop consuming, despite their bodies' needs and signals," is not enough. Ignoring this fact is litetally the unaddressed weakness of intuitive eating approaches. How do we address the reality that this is just as true as corporations benefitting — and fueling — fatphobia? In fact, these things go hand in hand incredibly well. This reminds me of the Left in postwar West Germany who thought smoking would be a great way of opposing the Nazis' body cult. There's a real possibility here that there are no non-exploitative, non-damaging approaches to existing under the current system. And acknowledging that, while kind of a bummer, would make the work we do to change things nevertheless a lot more credible.

Every human living in our culture - especially those with direct influences on children - need to read this book. If my doctors and parents had internalized this information when I was growing up, I’d have been a much healthier, more content person, and I wouldn’t need to continually be unlearning how to pass this along to the kids I work with. Very highly recommend for everyone.

Every single person, not just parents should read this.

If I could give this book more than five stars, I would. I think everyone should read it, but especially anyone who spends a lot of time around children, or may have kids one day. This book both explains and debunks a lot of myths around fatness and fatphobia, and also gives practical advice and tools for how to talk about and address these issues. When I was only a quarter of the way through this book, I knew I was going to ask my husband to read it, which I almost never do. It just feels like such a crucial starting place for any conversations around food, weight, and body image, especially with regard to issues we're definitely going to run into when raising kids. I'm so grateful for this book and couldn't recommend it enough. 

 This is such an important book about the impact diet culture and anti-fat bias can have on children and teenagers. It's a book that both educates on the topic and offers some suggestions for how to combat the anti-fat bias kids are being exposed to.

Content warning: eating disorders, fat phobia

Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review. 

I started following Virginia Sole-Smith's work after having my daughter. Pregnancy and childbirth led me to start reexamining my own relationship with my body and I really want to do better for my daughter so that she doesn't have the same baggage that I do. Sole-Smith's newsletter, Burnt Toast, has been instrumental for me because it is exhaustively researched, smart, and empathetic while still challenging you to think through the myriad ways your own fatphobia influences your views on bodies, diet, exercise, and so much more. When I saw that her newest book would be focused on kids and parenting, I immediately pre-ordered it.

This book is fantastic. It is exhaustively researched but approachable, deftly weaving data and analysis with Sole-Smith's own personal reflections and interviews of kids and their families. Even though she's pulling back the veil on a lot of uncomfortable truths about how ingrained fatphobia is in our culture and how it influences the way we interact with the kids in our lives (and the world in general), Sole-Smith's tone is one of empathy and encouragement. This book covers a lot of ground-- diets, eating disorders, sports, puberty, the intersection of racism and sexism with fatphobia, parental pressures, and social media-- while never feeling overwhelming or inaccessible. 

Anyone who interacts with children should read this book, but I also think there is a lot in here for anyone who wants to think through these issues-- everyone, after all, has been a kid. I appreciated this book from the perspective of a parent, but I also found it really helpful in helping me reflect on my own childhood (and adult) experiences. Highly recommend.