BIPOC voices on the Body Kindness podcast
This is a collection of Body Kindness podcast interviews centering BIPOC perspectives on body image, diet culture, eating disorders, and more. Click through to the guest’s show notes page to get links to their books, offerings, and websites.
I’m committed to holding space on this podcast for BIPOC guests who are passionate about helping people create a better life, be kind to their bodies, and change our culture for good.
Pitch a BIPOC guest for the show.
Learn and Grow Episodes with Bernie Salazar
Bernie Salazar is a Latino father of two, former chronic dieter, trauma survivor, and co-host of many Body Kindness episodes as well as this series “Learn and Grow,” which is like Body Kindness for beginners. Bernie and I became friends in 2007 after being paired together in advocacy work on Capitol Hill. We were asking for legislation to better access to fitness and health resources for all people in the U.S. especially underserved communities struggling with disposable income for “self-care” expenses and increased chronic disease risk.
Bernie, like almost all Biggest Loser contestants lost and regained a significant amount of weight. He joined me in learning about Body Kindness when I was writing the book and starting the podcast back in 2015-2016. Through these Learn & Grow episodes, you will hear Bernie discuss his life changes over 3-4 years of practicing Body Kindness.
Air Dates: January 2016-present
Listen to the entire Learn and Grow series.
Podcast 163: Rebecca and Bernie with Aubrey Gordon, on What We Don’t Talk About When We Talk About Fat
In this emotional episode, Bernie Salazar, former “winner” of NBC’s The Biggest Loser share his regrets and what he has learned from reading Aubrey Gordon’s new book, What We Don’t Talk About When We Talk About Fat.
We discuss how anti-fat bias shows up everywhere from air travel to our children’s schools and we envision a new world where higher weight people are treated with respect, kindness, and full humanity.
Air Date: December 2020
Read the full show notes and get links for this guest.
Podcast 160: Rage Becomes Her: Why Self-Care Won’t Save Us with Soraya Chemaly
In the countdown to the 2020 election I interviewed Soraya Chemaly, author of Rage Becomes Her: The Power of Women’s Anger – an amazing book she wrote after 2016 election delving into the reasons why women can’t be angry without being called “unhinged” or a “b*”.
Air Date: October 2020
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Podcast 158: Creating Communities Where You Belong with Dr. Joy Cox, author of Fat Women in Black Bodies and Co-founder of Jabbie app
If you can’t find a community where you belong, make one. That’s what my guest Dr Joy Cox is doing with her latest book Fat Girls in Black Bodies: Creating Communities of Our Own, her podcast, and new app Jabbie.
Everything Joy does centers inclusivity and fat Black excellence. Joy is a funny person and her work is dead serious backed up with facts and stats that will make you recoil. If you believe everyone deserves to belong, this episode is for you.
Air Date: September 2020
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Podcast 157: Becoming an Embodied Anti-Racist for Collective Trauma Healing with Francesca Marguerite Maximé
Let’s talk trauma and racism. I found today’s guest, Francesca Marguerite Maximé, from her podcast called Re-Rooted on the Ram Das Be Here Now network. She interviewed Dick Schwartz, the creator of Internal Family Systems (IFS) about his “racist parts” and I was all in on their discussion.
Francesca came on the podcast to talk further about trauma and take me through a guided somatic experiencing exercise, which I fell in LOVE with after reading Resmaa Menekem’s My Grandmother’s Hands, which is truly an excellent book. I recommend audiobook! He reads it and guides you in several meditations.
Air Date: September 2020
Read the full show notes and get links for this guest.
Podcast 152: Changing the Value Systems in Yoga with Janessa Mondestin, Yoga Therapist and Director of Culture, Yoga International
Janessa Mondestin wants to see radical change in the way yoga and wellness spaces operate. She wants people to talk about White Supremacy within the systems and she wants people at all levels to do the work.
In Part 2 of White Supremacy in Yoga series, we discuss the harms and the fixes, including what you can do as a yoga teacher, teacher trainer, student, or person who cares about anti-racism work. This includes reading books, having conversations, and taking meaningful actions.
Air Date: July 2020
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Podcast 151: White Supremacy of Yoga with Sabrina Strings PhD, Author of Fearing the Black Body
Join me in conversation with Dr. Sabrina Strings, author of Fearing the Black Body: The Racial Origins of Fat Phobia. She also is a certified yoga teacher and advocate for inclusivity in yoga. We discuss our experiences with yoga and hope for systemic change.
Air Date: June 2020
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Podcast 150: Racism Explains the Origins of Fat Phobia and Diet Culture, with Sabrina Strings PhD, Author of Fearing the Black Body
Sabrina Strings, PhD is the author of the book Fearing the Black Body: The Racial Origins of Fat Phobia. We discuss how she was able to connect racism with fat phobia, control of women’s bodies historically and through today’s diet culture, and how medicine’s use of the BMI metric is problematic and harmful. We discuss why only white women’s bodies were subjects of control in historical fat phobia. Dr. Strings shares the history of the BMI development and its flaws. We share personal stories for how BMI and weight bias in medicine harms people today. Dr. Strings also shares how she was discouraged from even writing this book.
Air Date: June 2020
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Podcast 143: “I Developed a Restrictive Eating Disorder in Elementary School. Here’s Why It Wasn’t Diagnosed for Over a Decade” with Gloria Oladipo
Let’s talk about eating disorders that are born from culture and hidden in plain sight. My guest to share her personal story is Gloria Oladipo, a 20-year-old Black woman who developed an eating disorder in elementary school that went undiagnosed for over a decade. A student at Cornell University, Gloria also works as a freelance writer and has been published in Teen Vogue, Healthline, Wear Your Voice, Bitch Media, Bustle, and other publications.
Air Date: March 2020
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Episode 111: Negative body image, depression, and mindful self-care in pregnancy and postpartum with Dr. Jennifer Webb
Dr. Jennifer Webb is back on the podcast to share outcomes of our Body Kindness research study examining mindful self-care and depressive symptoms in pregnancy and 5 years postpartum. Tune in to learn about the novel outcomes and get some advice you can use — really, it’s good advice for anyone — pregnant or not. We all have a body and we can all heal our relationship to it.
Air Date: March 2019
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Episode 90: You Have the Right to Remain Fat (and be a fat ally) with Virgie Tovar
I talk to author and fat activist Virgie Tovar about her new book You Have the Right to Remain Fat.
Tune in as Virgie shares her manifesto for standing up to diet culture.
Air Date: August 2019
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Episode 84: Body Image Flexibility: Insights from Self-compassion and Positive Body Image Research with Jennifer Webb, PhD
Dr. Jennifer Webb studies body image in women as part of her research at UNC Charlotte. Webb’s lab is currently investigating body image in pregnant and postpartum women with my book Body Kindness. Get insights from Dr. Webb’s current and recent work on Self-compassion and Body Image Healing in this episode.
Air Date: June 2018
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Episode 86: Racial Disparities in Pregnancy Outcomes with “The Radical Doula” Miriam Zoila Pérez
Racism harms pregnant women— toxic stress harms pregnant women. What can we do about it in the short term and the long run? Continuing my women’s health series, I’m excited that my guest today is writer and activist Miriam Zoila Pérez. We talk about the impact of racism on health. We also talk about toxic stress – what that is, how it builds up, and the impact it can make as early as childhood. Miriam then shares the three core areas where her current research is focusing that she sees as possible solutions for safer pregnancy outcomes for women of color.
Air Date: June 2018
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Episode 77: Diversity in Dietetics – Why cultural competency isn’t enough to improve health care with Tamara Melton, RDN, Co-Founder of Diversify Dietetics
Today on Body Kindness we’re talking about the need to increase diversity in the field of dietetics and you’ll learn why it matters (including for anyone who is working on Body Kindness and stepping away from diets and weight-focused counseling). Tamara Melton is a dietitian on a mission. She wants to bring diversity to the field of dietetics so that we can all do a better job at helping the people we serve.
Tamara’s announcing a new non-profit, Diversify Dietetics, and sharing how you can get involved. The bottom line is we will all do a better job at enhancing the health and well-being of others when everyone is represented — size, race, ethnicity, gender, ability, sexual identity.
Air Date: April 2018
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Episode 75: Your Body Is Not an Apology, with Author, Poet, and Activist Sonya Renee Taylor
Are you in need of some radical self-love? This is your Body Kindness episode.
Sonya Renee Taylor is the Founder and Radical Executive Officer of The Body is Not An Apology, a digital media and education company promoting radical self-love and body empowerment as the foundational tool for social justice and global transformation.
Air Date: April 2018
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Episode 68: The RBG Workout with Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s Trainer Bryant Johnson
Don’t miss our fun interview with Bryant Johnson, a trainer I wholeheartedly recommend because he works with the Justice of my dreams, Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Bryant’s new book RBG Workout is a handy tool for people who want practical, easy-to-follow movements and no-nonsense advice for strength, flexibility, and mindset for consistent movement.
Read the full show notes and get links for this guest.
Air Date: February 2018
Episode 66: How to Do “Body Positivity” with Megan Crabbe (aka BodyPosiPanda), author of Body Positive Power
Megan Crabbe, author of Body Positive Power joins me. In our conversation, we address how difficult real body positivity work can be — issues of privilege, intersectionality, diversity, and the idea that barely sitting outside “the norm” of weight and beauty is not enough to create necessary change in our culture.
Megan says we must watch out for the “trolls,” give compassion to people still entrenched in diet culture, and keep doing this work because it’s helping people.
Air Date: January 2018
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Episode 65: So You Want to Talk About Race with Ijeoma Oluo
Ijeoma Oluo wants us to talk about race. In her book, So You Want to Talk About Race (Seal Press) she breaks down the barriers and explains, in simple terms and with lively examples, key concepts of privilege, intersectionality, microagressions, cultural appropriation, and more.
Read the full show notes and get links for this guest.
Air Date: January 2018
Episode 52: Radical Self-Acceptance with Body Image Activist and Author Rosie Molinary
When Rosie Molinary was looking in the mirror at her frizzy, unruly hair in the dead of summer and freaking out over what product would “tame the mane,” she had an epiphany: “I have bought into the beauty myth of what society says I should look like.” She told herself, “I’m going to work with boys in an alternative school. Not one of them will care about the texture of my hair, but they will care about how I will make them feel. Who am I trying to get approval from?” And she set down her straightener and walked out the door as her natural, beautiful self…already good enough.
Rosie is the champion of “radical self-acceptance” — the belief that you are worthy enough just for being born and the idea that you don’t have to do ANYTHING to prove your worth. Radical self-acceptance is the choice to not have an adversarial relationship with yourself. Instead, you choose to accept your own humanity in the same way you accept the humanity of others.
Tune in as we discuss how to practice radical self-acceptance using examples from Rosie’s life, including her experience growing up with brown skin in a predominantly white neighborhood, what really surprised her when she wrote her first book Hijas Americanas: Beauty, Body Image, and Growing Up Latina (Seal Press), and how she handles difficult questions from people, like her adoption of a boy from Ethiopia.
Air Date: October 2017
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Podcast 28: Yoga is for Every Body, with Jessamyn Stanley, author of Every Body Yoga
Jessamyn Stanley tried to avoid falling in love with yoga several times in her life, but the universe had another plan for her. Now Jessamyn travels the world helping to shatter stereotypes of modern yoga (a physical exercise for thin, white women with money) by making yoga accessible for all bodies, all skill levels, and elevating yoga to a practice you do even when you’re not practicing.
Beyond the conversation that yoga is indeed for every body, we also discussed how yoga helped her grow after being bullied in high school, helped her deal with depression, and heal her relationship with food and her body.
Air Date: April 2017
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If you would like to suggest a BIPOC guest for the podcast or pitch yourself, please get in touch. (e-mail podcast@bodykindnessbook.com ) I’m looking for people who have a meaningful story to tell and a way to help any listener fully commit to their well-being, and the well-being of people they care about. Experts with books, trainings, and other helpful offerings, as well as Body Kindness readers and listeners are encouraged to e-mail me. I’m here for difficult conversations and struggles people have now, in today’s culture, and how the care of our bodies and our lives are impacted by the world we live in.
You can also ask a question for the show and suggest a guest you would like to hear from.
