NEW YORK TIMESBESTSELLER
ABook Riotbest book of 2023
AScience Fridaybest book of 2023
An Audible best well-being audiobook of 2023
By the time they reach kindergarten, most kids believe that fat is bad. By middle school, more than a quarter of them have gone on a diet. What are parents supposed to do?
Kids learn, as weve all learned, that thinness is a survival strategy in a world that equates body size and value. Parents worry if their kids care too much about being thin, but even more about the consequences if they arent. And multibillion-dollar industries thrive on this fear of fatness. Weve fought the war on obesity for over forty years and Americans arent thinner or happier with their bodies. But its not our kidsor their weightwho need fixing.
In this illuminating narrative, journalist Virginia Sole-Smith exposes the daily onslaught of fatphobia and body shaming that kids face from school, sports, doctors, diet culture, and parents themselvesand offers strategies for how families can change the conversation around weight, health, and self-worth.
Fat Talkis a stirring, deeply researched, and groundbreaking book that will help parents learn to reckon with their own body biases, identify diet culture, and empower their kids to navigate this challenging landscape. Sole-Smith draws on her extensive reporting and interviews with dozens of parents and kids to offer a provocative new approach for thinking about food and bodies, and a way for us all to work toward a more weight-inclusive world.
Virginia Sole-Smithis a freelance journalist whose work has appeared in the
New York Times Magazine,
Harpers Magazine,
Slate,
and
Elle. She is the author of
The Eating Instinct: Food Culture, Body Image, and Guilt in Americaand also writes the
Burnt Toastnewsletter. She lives in New Yorks Hudson Valley with her husband, l³B
![Fat Talk: Parenting in the Age of Diet Culture [Hardcover]](/itemImage/2/6/9/3/2_5414291.jpg "Fat Talk: Parenting in the Age of Diet Culture [Hardcover]")