Willing To Be Wrong

In this episode, Steph explains why the body positivity movement no longer represents those it was created for, and then we talk about why the medicalisation of body size has such potential for harm.

Show Notes

In this episode, I get to talk with the brilliant Stephanie Yeboah. She is an author, journalist, fat acceptance advocate, and content creator who is passionate about fat liberation and centering plus size people of colour in discussions around body positivity. 

The body positivity movement is one commonly misrepresented online, especially on social media. Steph starts by describing how it was created and then explains why the body positivity movement no longer represents those it was created for (including herself). We then talk about why the medicalisation of body size has such potential for harm, and touch on some of the oft-ignored nuance when it comes to the association seen between BMI and COVID mortality.

Steph can be found on social media @stephanieyeboah and her website. For more, do check out her book 'Fattily Ever After'.

-

My debut book, Food Isn't Medicine: Challenge Nutribollocks & Escape The Diet Trap, is now available for pre-order online (Amazon, Book Depository, and elsewhere). Do come and join me on social media @drjoshuawolrich.

If you enjoyed this episode, please do leave a review!

What is Willing To Be Wrong?

Fancy being wrong about something? That's a rhetorical question, of course, you don't... no one does. The thing is, once the initial discomfort has passed, it's truly the best way way to grow as a human being.

Welcome to Willing To Be Wrong, a podcast with the intention of doing just that. My name is Dr Joshua Wolrich and I'm an NHS surgical doctor, nutrition MSc student, author and accidental influencer. Like all healthcare professionals, I was taught by a system that practises medicine in a weight-normative manner, where a focus on body weight is used to try and define health and wellbeing. After internalising the weight stigma I'd been subject to for years, I left medical school believing that I couldn't be a good doctor if I were fat, prompting further disordered eating and a damaged relationship with food.

After a difficult couple of years of being challenged on my beliefs by people far cleverer than me, I now believe that healthcare has to become weight-inclusive if we're ever going to change the massive problem of weight stigma and the both direct and indirect harm it does to patients. Join me as I talk to guests about a wide range of topics from the complex nature of weight and health (and why neither should be treated as a personal responsibility), to nutribollocks such as 'celery juice detoxifies your liver' and why it's utter bullshit. The guests aren't all experts (as that wouldn't be fun) and the questions are rarely pre-prepared, but true conversations tend not to be.

My debut book, Food Isn't Medicine: Challenge Nutribollocks & Escape The Diet Trap, is now available for pre-order online on Amazon, Book Depository, and elsewhere. For more information, you can find me on social media @drjoshuawolrich.