Episode 79: Diets Can Kiss My A** with Jes Baker author of Landwhale and Things No One Will Tell Fat Girls

In her latest book, a memoir aptly titled Landwhale (you’ll find out why in the show), Jes Baker, covers important topics in the body positivity and fat liberation space that need to be discussed in the mainstream culture and she does it all through beautiful writing from her personal experience with a liberal dose of blunt honesty and humor.

Jes and I discuss her evolving relationship with her body and how to deal with HAES “trolls”. Plus we discuss why dieting is the greatest scam of them all from her chapter on “Have you ever thought of dieting?”.

Available wherever books are sold, check landwhalethebook.com for tour dates and more information!

Listen here to Episode 79 here:

Check out these amazing advanced praises for her book! As an author this is like 1000000000!!

“Funny, kind, wise, generous, and incredibly real – Jes Baker’s writing will have you feeling seen, heard, and held. I enjoyed every minute of reading this book, even when it made me cry. Instead of calling to us from a finish line that seems impossibly far away, Jes shares a path to self-love that she’s still on with us. And in her story we can find the joy in the journey itself, even if we can’t yet see the destination.”
—Ijeoma Oluo, New York Times bestselling author of So You Want To Talk About Race

“Whether she is reminding how fatphobia fractures the honest memory of our childhood bodies or she is shadow walking us through the stories of shame our own mothers and father’s projected onto our bodies, Landwhale is ode to the bravery and humor it takes to live in this world in a fat body.

Praise Jes Baker for this generous, tender tale and for reminding us that it is okay to go ahead and live OUTLOUD because whatever we have most feared, we have already survived.”
—Sonya Renee Taylor, activist and author of The Body is Not an Apology: The Power of Radical Self-Love

“Jes Baker’s words are ointment for the soul. I want to give this book to every person who’s ever struggled with their body and its place in this world. Read this book. Thank me later.”
—Julie Murphy, #1 New York Times bestselling author

“Full of humor and grace and honesty. [Baker] treats the reader like a friend, and on every page she sends the message: You’re not alone.”
—Sarai Walker, author of Dietland

“It’s tempting to call Jes Baker ‘fearless,’ but to do so would diminish her profound capacity for vulnerability and, by extension, her strength. The thing that makes Jes such a force is that she is so brave, so funny, so blazing, so herself, even in the face of fear. I do not know what we would do without her.”
—Lindy West, New York Times bestselling author of Shrill

“Baker is back with a captivating look at her life as a fat girl and how our culture still devalues those whose bodies have been deemed unruly. True to form, Landwhale is full of wittiness and a lot of truth.”
—Bitch Magazine

“The end result [of Landwhale] is a funny, frank, and thoughtful exploration of how one woman sets a good example of how to live your best life, one we can all learn from.”
—Booklist

About Jes

Jes Baker is a positive, progressive, and magnificently irreverent force to be reckoned with in the realm of self-love advocacy and mental health. She believes in the importance of body autonomy, hard conversations, strong coffee, and even stronger language.

After creating satirical versions of Abercrombie & Fitch advertisements in 2013, she appeared on the Today Show and quickly became one of the leading voices in the current body image movement.

When not writing, Jes spends her time speaking around the world, working with plus size clothing companies, organizing body liberation events, taking pictures in her underwear and attempting to convince her cats that they like to wear bow ties.