Making It Awkward

Selena Selfan, MPH, RD is back for the next installment in the re-grifting series! She is the resident Means Siblings Scholar and talks to host Jessica Wilson, MS RD about her deep dive! Dr. Casey Means is current /episode/index/show/d6c5a53f-1072-4cc1-b4fc-9b90a6de8434/id/39094065

Today Dr. Theresa Lyons, founder and CEO of Navigating AWEtism joins Making it Awkward. She reached out to Jessica sharing that as an Ivy League scientist and mom to a non-speaking autistic daughter, she's used her expertise to guide other parents of autistic children. Dr. Lyons introduces a study that says /episode/index/show/d6c5a53f-1072-4cc1-b4fc-9b90a6de8434/id/39093930

Dr. Bethany Johnson returns to the show to share the deep history of the plague, and how we should be thinking about it today. She talks about how anti-Chinese and anti-Mexican sentiment impacted the mitigation and spread of the plague in the early 1900s. Bethany also talks about how climate change may impact infectious disease, antibiotic resistance, lyme disease, pet safety, mitigatio /episode/index/show/d6c5a53f-1072-4cc1-b4fc-9b90a6de8434/id/39093940

We’ve been a lot of places with RFK Jr, his conspiracy theories, magical thinking, lies, his meltdowns in front of Senate committees, and seen that he doesn’t understand half of the things he talks about.

Exhibit A: He thinks babies are grown in placentas

Let’s make sure we’re clear on RFK’s indisputable, irrefutable cause of autism going forward. Today I share his gold standard sci /episode/index/show/d6c5a53f-1072-4cc1-b4fc-9b90a6de8434/id/39093945

Kyle Davis, MSW, LICSW, joins the show to talk about his experience with Assertive Community Treatment for supporting people with severe and persistent mental illness. He shares details of that model today and what autonomy can actually look like when people are out of institutions and living in society. In Jessica’s/episode/index/show/d6c5a53f-1072-4cc1-b4fc-9b90a6de8434/id/39093950

MAHA and Cuteservatives are okay with spending millions on measles outbreaks yet want to control people’s food choices in the name of “health.” People are able to buy raw milk with SNAP, yet shouldn’t be allowed to buy a candybar? The math is not mathing. Today’s episode is a follow up /episode/index/show/d6c5a53f-1072-4cc1-b4fc-9b90a6de8434/id/39093955

Jessica Wilson, MS. RD. is joined by Blake Flaugher, MPH, to give Jessica a full breakdown of poppers and RFK Jr.’s AIDS denialism. Jessica is very curious about butt stuff and Blake expertly answers her questions. He also answers a listener question about the spectrum of asexuality. The two have this conver /episode/index/show/d6c5a53f-1072-4cc1-b4fc-9b90a6de8434/id/39093960

Psychiatrist Dr. Carole Lieberman, M.D., M.P.H. joins Jessica Wilson, M.S. RD. for a robust conversation about COVID, Dr. Fauci, RFK Jr., the MAHA report and whether supplements can fix our mental health. 

Dr. Carole specializes in the psychology of terrorism, criminal behavior, and political breakdown. She’s a frequent guest on /episode/index/show/d6c5a53f-1072-4cc1-b4fc-9b90a6de8434/id/39093965

Kaila Yu, author of the newly released Fetishized; A Reckoning with Yellow Fever, Feminism, and Beauty, joins Jessica Wilson, MS RD the show to talk about the fetishization of Asian women. 

Kaila reflects on the women in the media who influenced her, and her path into the pinup and import modeling industry. She devotes a chapter to /episode/index/show/d6c5a53f-1072-4cc1-b4fc-9b90a6de8434/id/39093970

MAHA’s Making Our Children Healthy Again Strategy Report is out, and “strategy” is a generous term for this document. Beef farmer Trampus Harmon and public health dietitians Selena Salfen and Meghan Cichy return to the /episode/index/show/d6c5a53f-1072-4cc1-b4fc-9b90a6de8434/id/39093975

Would you ever add chia seeds to your latte? Levels Health, a health-tech startup co-founded by presumptive Surgeon General Casey Means, is a deeply unserious company and provides both hilarious and irresponsible guidance on its app. 

Public health di /episode/index/show/d6c5a53f-1072-4cc1-b4fc-9b90a6de8434/id/39093980

Journalist Jamie Ducharme joins the show for the 100th episode!! She talks with Jessica about her  experiences after the TIME magazine article, “Still Processing; Not all  Ultra-Processed Foods are the same. Or, some argue, even unhealthy.”* was published. RFK Jr entered the chat about the article and things got a bit out of hand. 

The two talk about food as identity and nutri /episode/index/show/d6c5a53f-1072-4cc1-b4fc-9b90a6de8434/id/39093985

Bryan Johnson made a fortune and then decided to spend it on rivaling Jesus Christ and developing his Blueprint supplement line. 

Johnson was born, raised and married Mormon before leaving that religion and family to pursue eternal life on his own. He is the health and tech crossover personified. His quest for longevity h /episode/index/show/d6c5a53f-1072-4cc1-b4fc-9b90a6de8434/id/39093990

Dr. Maisha Davis joins the pod for a hilarious chat about using constant glucose monitoring devices (CGMs), the Levels app and the O /episode/index/show/d6c5a53f-1072-4cc1-b4fc-9b90a6de8434/id/39093995

What can listeners take from Jessica’s conversation with Dr. Robert Lustig? She looks at the interview through a historical lens and addresses eugenics and war. She then shares some possible present day applications. Jessica also shares feedback she’s gotten from listeners and from a few people working for UCSF.

Lustig’s article in Frontiers: /episode/index/show/d6c5a53f-1072-4cc1-b4fc-9b90a6de8434/id/39094000

Dr. Lexi Brown returns to the show to talk to Jessica about her hospitalization last year and the options she was given to treat her epilepsy. Not interested in brain surgery, Jessica was willing to try the next option: a ketogenic diet. Since January Jessica has been trialing a ketogenic diet to mixed results, mostly due to her questionable cho /episode/index/show/d6c5a53f-1072-4cc1-b4fc-9b90a6de8434/id/39094005

RFK Jr wants us all to be using wearable devices! Presumptive Surgeon General, Casey Means, co-founded Levels Health which pledges to unlock our metabolic health through the use of a constant glucose monitor(CGM). What is a CGM, what promises are made by Levels, and should we care? Jessica and /episode/index/show/d6c5a53f-1072-4cc1-b4fc-9b90a6de8434/id/39094010

Re-release! Originally published 9/14/23. After receiving an email from Dr. Robert Lustig about his concerns with Jessica's work she was fortunate enough to catch Dr. Lustig on the phone for this interview. In addition to giving her advice on what to tell a patient who needed to choose between a can of ravioli or nothing he shared his beliefs about calories, metabolic health, starvation, and how he distinguishes between what an eating disorder is and what it's not.

Content Note: Th /episode/index/show/d6c5a53f-1072-4cc1-b4fc-9b90a6de8434/id/39094020