This is the book I was looking for when my daughter was in kindergarten and started talking about and asking about the size and shapes of bodies. As a parent who wants to challenge the typical ways of thinking about food and bodies—her own, and others—I have longed for advice beyond “don’t talk about or comment on her body or say anything negative about your own.” That’s not enough! But what more should I do to support and encourage acceptance and love for all bodies? Here are some answers. And here are studies reported in accessible language. And here are interviews with parents and doctors and psychologists and dietitians and generally smart people who are leading the way to acknowledging that bodies do indeed come in all shapes and sizes, that smaller does not mean better, and that a lower number on the scale is not morally superior.

I wish my grandmother had read this book and allowed herself to believe it. And my mother. And my teachers, and my daughter’s teachers. And really everyone. We can stop perpetuating harm while thinking we are being helpful to our children (and ourselves!). There is another way.

I read this for my therapist book club at work and it was our best pick yet! Accessibly presented research fleshed out with the stories of lots of different families and how they’ve navigated weight, food, exercise, eating disorders, and more. Sole-Smith brings so much empathy to all angles of these conversations. I learned more from some chapters than others - I particularly appreciated the ones on sports and puberty. Obviously this is specifically intended for parents but it would benefit anyone who spends any time around children!

This is such an important book.

A healthy relationship with food is something Dustin & I talk about all the time, especially raising a daughter with type one diabetes. Girls with t1d are twice as likely to develop an eating disorder, with 30% omitting insulin to lose weight. It's an epidemic.

Review of FAT TALK for parents of children without a chronic illness:

Read this. It's powerful & well-researched, with many perspectives I'd never thought of before. I gulped it up in a couple days. Recommend.

For parents of children with t1d:

I learned a lot, thought a lot, with FAT TALK interweaving with many of my ongoing questions and debates about health.

FAT TALK didn't address many of my questions about how to navigate food with our daughter but added perspective. The arguments and evidence in FAT TALK support not restricting food, not really strategizing healthy food combinations, but with Hava, we have too. It takes such control and planning to keep her feeling okay. (She feels awful much of the time.) Counting carbs and continually strategizing just seems like a recipe for disordered eating. Which FAT TALK confirms. Though not answering my questions, FAT TALK added to my awareness of this enormous, society-wide battle.

I highly recommend this book to parents of t1ds to be aware of any ways you approach food that would be especially harmful. I'd also really love to read an article from Sole Smith on how to approach food when food choices do affect high blood sugar and therefore long-term health.

Overall, FAT TALK is invaluable if you're raising children right now & recommended for parents of diabetics--when you're in a good space. We're always stretched to our breaking point, trying to keep our kids safe and healthy, so I think this is a great book to add to your reading list when you're in a good space to learn and be stretched.

A wonderfully empathetic book with the medical research citations to back up its claims about diet culture. It is aimed at parents, but anyone who ever felt self-conscious about their weight as a kid can relate.

A “parenting book” I will actually recommend to others. So much to unpack and re-learn here. And to do better to my kids than generations before.

Likely, this will be my book of the year. I learned so much about fatphobia and how our culture has a permanent anti fat filter. I see this EVERYWHERE now.