Episode 7 Transcript

You're listening to the Fierce Fatty Podcast. I'm Victoria Welsby, TEDx speaker, best selling author, and fat activist. I have transformed my life from hating my body with desperately low self-esteem to being a courageous and confident Fierce Fatty who loves every inch of this jelly. Society teaches us living in a fat body is bad, but what if we spent less time, money, and energy on the pursuit of thinness and instead focused on the things that matter? Like if pineapple on pizza should be outlawed or if the mullet was the greatest haircut of the 20th century. So how do you stop negative beliefs about your fat body controlling your life? It's the Fierce Fatty Podcast. Let's begin. 

Hello and welcome to episode seven of the Fierce Fatty Podcast. I'm your host Victoria Welsby. And in this episode we're talking about the BBC show that I was in and I'm going to be spilling the beans. Let's do it.


Have you seen the two part documentary series that I was in shown on BBC too is about a month ago now. Don't worry if you're not in the UK you can still see it. Don't tell the BBC, I'm telling you this, but someone told me that if you Google, Who Were you Calling Fat, which is a show name and, also the words Daily Motion, then you'll find, you'll be able to stream both the episodes on Daily Motion for free no matter where you are in the world. But if you are in the UK, you can catch up on the BBC Iplayer for the next 11 months while the show is going to be streaming for free.


Obviously, not for free because you pay a TV license, but yeah. Yeah, so if you haven't watched it, I don't want to say go check it out, but if you do want to go check it out, then it's there for you. And I'm having a lot of feelings about the show. So in this episode I want to clarify some things and tell yah, some of the things you didn't get to see in the episode, but before I do, I don't want it to remind you that if you leave a review for this podcast, one, I'm going to be eternally grateful to you. You can leave a review on Stitcher or on iTunes. I don't know that there's anywhere else you can leave a review, but they're the two places I know. And two, if you do that and you take a screenshot before you submit it, email me victoria@fiercefatty.com. With that screenshot I am going to send you an audio and digital copy of my best selling book, which is also called Fierce Fatty. How to love your body and live like the queen you already are. Amazing. So that's my gift to you. It's really important that I get reviews, lots of reviews, five star reviews for this podcast, especially as it's just starting up because it helps spread the word and it helps the algorithm on Stitcher and on Apple podcasts to know that this is not a big pile of shit. Maybe it is a big violation yet, but some people don't think it is, which is good.

So let's talk about this episode, this TV show, two part TV show. So I was filming in June or July, one of those months. I went to Oxford. I don't actually know where we were because it's all very top secret. And we stayed in this house with nine other fat people, bigger bodied people. And the way that I got into the show is that the production company called Love Productions. They're the same production company that has done the great British bake off. They contacted me after seeing my TEDx talk and it feels like a million years going back and forth and meeting people and talking to people and whatnot. They picked me to be on the show. And the reason why I chose to go on the show because, it was the BBC because of the higher caliber of shows this production company has produced because the the team were telling me very like, this is to elevate fat voices. It's really important for people to understand fat positivity and you know, that reassurance that this is not going to be a sensationalist, you know, piece of garbage sort of thing.

So that's my reasoning behind going on the show and really why I want to go on the show was two reasons. One to to elevate this message that it's okay to be fat. It's my life's calling. It's my life's mission for people to know that they don't have to be living in shame because of the size of their body that you can be fat and healthy. You be fat and happy. You can be fat and loved, you can be fat and have a fulfilling, incredible, wonderful, joyful life and you don't actually have to lose weight to get all of those things that you can get living in the body that you are now. So this was my life's mission to share that message and what a better way to do it where on a program, which is going to be watched by millions of people. And two, I really wanted that extra exposure for my business. The more people, the more eyes on my business, the better for the message, the better for me. And I think that I have an important voice that needs to be heard in regards to fat positivity and confidence and intuitive eating and all that sort of stuff. So we after a lot of back and forth, I eventually arrived in the countryside and Oxford chair and we spent 10 days together and we did a lot of stuff that you don't get to see on the show almost. It feels like every single minute of every single day was accounted for in regards to doing something or talking to a camera person or being filmed. Like literally from the moment your eyes open, there would be a camera person there until the time that you went to bed.


And they were like, can we film you brushing your teeth? You'd be like, no one wants to see footage of me brushing my teeth, really. But they insisted watching the whole thing and getting into bed and turn the light off and they had a crew there 24 hours a day just in case something happened in the night, you know, some someone kicked off or something. It was a really interesting experience. It was very tiring. Not only because we were doing stuff all the time, but talking about heavy stuff, no pun intended, political stuff for that many hours of a day is exhausting, right. And you need a lot of, you need some like comic relief. And the times that we weren't talking about this stuff, we laughed so much like, I haven't laughed as much in a concentrated period of time as I did in that house.


Like all of us, you know, spent evenings together and crying, laughing, especially on the very last night, like literally like telling people to stop, stop, I'm dying. But you don't get to see any of that. At the end of it, at the end of filming we said they're going to be really mad with us because none of us had any type of fight or conflict or, you know, people didn't raise their voices or no one had a fist fight or anything like that. And it's interesting to see how it's edited to make it look like there's a lot of conflict when in reality there actually wasn't. And even at the point where Sarah left the table after the discussion about body size and privilege, but it was just like, Oh, well Sarah's gone because she doesn't like the discussion and you know, there was no hard feelings or anything like that and we all just carried on getting on with each other as normal.


But that doesn't make good telly, right and what else doesn't make good telly is people having very balanced opinions. And so I was the one who was portrayed as the extremist of having these views, which were bananas. And I knew going in that there would be a lot of people who hated me, a lot of fat folks who were just like, how dare she say it's okay to be fat. But what was really difficult for me was having people hate me for opinions that I don't actually hold because of the way that the show was edited for various reasons. Like it's you know, two hour documentary, they can't get in all of the the background to every single statement. And as well, it's more entertaining when I say something like, I don't believe in the science and we don't actually hear what the science is I'm talking about and people will take from it that I don't believe in science in general, which is not true.


And so I want to clarify some of those things where it's like not really what I said or what I meant. So some people will watch a documentary and they are going to take from it that I and anyone who is interested in body positivity doesn't care about health, about public health, about individual health and those who do are bad or stupid or wrong. And perhaps I've never been to a doctor or perhaps I have no clue about what it's like to live in a bigger body because theoretically so far I've never had any negative side effects. Some people are going to take from the show that I think that people who diet or have stomach amputation surgery are bad people or stupid are you know, all of the negative things that you can think some people were going to take from the show that I don't think that there's any chance that fat people can ever get diabetes and these things I'm saying that some people would take from it is reasonably they will take from it.


It's not like they're getting these ideas just out of nowhere. It's because the way the show was edited lead you to believe that I could think these things or believe these things. Another one is I don't believe in any weight related science. Well, I'm going to answer all of these in a second. Other people would take from it that maybe I'm narcissistic or arrogant or egotistical for thinking that my body is okay or good or attractive. Some people are going to take from it that intuitive eating is being greedy and eating quote unquote unhealthy food all the time. And the intuitive eating is all sorts of, you know, assumptions being made about what intuitive eating actually is. And another thing is we shouldn't teach kids about food because if we teach kids about food in any way whatsoever, they will automatically gets an eating disorder.


Now there's a lots of other things that people are going to take away from it that, you know, like, like I'm a bad person. I'm evil. I'm killing people with my opinions. I've had it all really that I am. Yeah. Basically, I should just stop being here on the planet because of my thoughts and beliefs. And you know, some people really do believe that and you know, it's their place to believe what they want. Is that a helpful belief for them? Maybe it is, but it's not really based in reality. And something that is important for me is to embrace the idea that I am a human being and I'm not 100% good and I'm not 100% bad. I'm just a human and I'm deeply flawed. And I don't always do the best that I can do and sometimes I do do the best that I can do.


But I'm infallible. And sometimes I make mistakes and sometimes I don't communicate in the best ways. And sometimes I do, and I'm an excellent communicator and I'm a great person, but I'm a human, right. And a human being means that there's good and bad about me. Obviously I can try and work on being as good as I can most of the time. But you know, we're all human beings.


So the truth about the things that have been portrayed in the show unlike the reality is, so there's obviously the first thing that in this documentary is it's kind of like body positivity versus health. And the thing is I'm rolling my eyes right eye. The thing is body positivity is health. It's choosing mental and physical health. And so it's not either or. That's something that really cheese me off because people rightfully so will be scared away from positive body positivity and fat activism because they think if I want to love my body, I have to give up on my health. And in fact the opposite is true because we know that diets damage our physical and mental health. Choosing to stop dieting is choosing to work on your mental health and choosing to stop damaging your physical health and in turn work on that. But also you don't need to if you don't want to, if health is not a priority for you. That's another thing about body positivity. You're not going to be shamed if health is not a priority for you. But with diet culture, yeah, will be So focusing on health so dramatically. So you know, but fat people like it as soon as you hit fat people. But what about the fat people? What about their health? They're killing everyone by being fat. They're a burden on the health system in the garden around and eating babies because fat people are so bad and all this sort of malarkey, it's increases shame and shame has been shown to have very negative health outcomes.


Shame is just bad all around for your physical and your mental health. And health is not binary. So one line that I had in the show, and I'm like, this doesn't make sense with no, no thing to explain what I'm talking about is I said I don't believe in health. Health is binary. So that was the two lines. I don't believe in how of health is binary. And so a lot of people are like, you're so fucking dumb. How can you not believe that health is a thing? And I'm just like, okay. What I mean is I don't believe in the way that the society views health as a black and white on all of healthy or unhealthy thing because that's not helpful because we can never be 100% healthy. We can never be 100% unhealthy. Maybe if we're dead, you know, but it's not either or.


It's a spectrum. It's a scale. It's shades of gray. And I'm looking at health like it's always a personal responsibility and you're the only reason that you are healthy or unhealthy is not based in science and it's not true, right. And believing that healthy bodies are more important than unhealthy bodies is all kinds of fucked up. And it's based in healthism and healthism is the idea that healthy bodies are better than unhealthy bodies, that the individual in control of their health status. And what we know about health is that it's a very complicated issue that a lot of things contribute towards someone's health outcomes and what you eat and how you move your body is only a small percentage of what makes up someone's health status or, or health outcomes. It's a lot to do with your socioeconomic status, what country you're born what your ethnicity is, how rich you are, your access to health care et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. Right? It's a really complicated issue. And so when I say I don't believe in health, I don't believe in the way that we view health currently in our society, in the mainstream media, and a big way for people to express fatphobia without being overtly fat phobic is to say, but what about the health about fat people? That's fat phobic, but it's kind of like, Oh, well I'm concerned about you and I'm concerned about the society. I always say to people, if you're really concerned about me and my health, you would also be concerned about my mental health, which you are actively damaging right now with your fake, well, what about your house?And I'm not here for that fat phobic fuckery because it's just fat phobia in disguise, right. Okay. So the next point is that I think that people who die or have some stomach amputation surgery are bad people according to some people who watch the show.


So no, if I thought that people who diets are bad people, I would be including myself in that list because I was a lifelong dieter. And I'd be including 90% of women who 90% of women have dieted. So no, you are not a bad person if you diets are actively dieting, if you have a stomach amputation, surgery, and I know on why I use the word stomach amputation surgery now it is so important to describe what is actually happening when people have their stomachs amputated in order to gain the things that they have been told that this surgery will give them. It is a violent act and we need to not normalize it. And also using the words weight loss surgery is a misnomer because often people don't lose weight or they, what happens when there's weight loss? It's a temporary thing.


So for me, stomach amputation surgery or stomach squeezing surgery as Marilyn Wann, author of Fat So Incredible, fat activist. Just recently introduced to my vocabulary depending on what type of surgery it is. That's why I use that. It's really important not to normalize something that has terrible, terrible outcomes really, and ruins people's lives. Honestly. There's so many. So, Oh, I don't even get me started on this. It's just in 20 years time we're going to look back hopefully and be like, Holy shit, I can't believe we used to do that to fat people. Oh my God, we're so sorry. So anyway, do what you want with your body, your body, your choice. If you have decided that stomach amputation surgery is your only hope and is the best choice for you. You do, you, you know your body better than anyone else in the world.


If you have stumbled across a diet and you think, Oh my God, this diet is really gonna be the one, this is going to be the one that makes me lose weight and therefore I'm going to become healthy and worthy and lovable and accepted in society, then you do it. Go ahead. Go and do it. The pressure to be thin is so immense that dieting and surgery make absolute sense as a response. It's kind of weird not to diet really if you think about it, because the that pressure that we feel is astronomical and letting go of that idea that becoming thin, all of your dreams are going to come true is very difficult and sad. Really sad to let go of that. If only I lost X amount of pounds, then my mum would really love me. Then my partner would really think I was sexy, then I'd been loved and cherished and I'd be worthy.


Fuck, that's hard. Right? And so I have deep empathy for people who are in that situation. And I kind of feel like it's a journey that we're all on and people who are dieting, they're just a different stage in their journey. And if someone came to me and was like, Oh, I'm doing a diet, I would never, unless they said to me, what's your opinion on diets? I would never be like a, by the way, motherfucker, you're so dumb for dieting. I just wouldn't engage cause I wouldn't engage in diet talk anyway and I would remove myself from the situation. But this show it was all about what is your opinion? What is your opinion? And so they asked me directly, what's your opinion on this surgery? And I'm sad, I say it's all kind of kind of fucked up. And in that scene where you see Dell comparing being fat and happy to Chernobyl, Oh my God, there was a bit that was a w it was in the original editing, but it was cut out.


And I was asking Courtney like, how did you feel when he was like, cause he held up his trousers and I'm saying, Oh my God, look how far I used to be. And it's just like, Oh, for fox, you know and then he was talking about how, you know, everyone who's fat and happy, they're like comfortably numb. And yeah. And then you've talked about Chernobyl and we were like talking about that earlier, but later being like, Oh my God, I can't believe that he compared Chernobyl and for people who are fat and happy. Like, no, I don't know why I got onto that. But anyway, and so, yeah. And so you see me saying in that scene like, Oh, he could have engaged in healthful behaviors if he was interested in his health. Now I would never go up to someone who's had stomach amputation and been like, why you did that wrong?


You should have done this. But the conversation was around like, what is the alternative? And that's why that line came out. So I'm not in the business of offering people my opinion unless they come to me for my opinion or you come to my podcast or you come to my social media and you're there to see what I think. Right. so I'm not in the business of forcing my views on other people and telling people they're wrong for dieting or what doing whatever they want with their bodies. It's got nothing to do with me. But when people promote the dieting is going to give you all of this, you know, magical stuff and money's going to rain down from the sky and all your dreams are going to come true as if you lose as long as you lose 20 pounds or 50 pounds or 200 pounds or whatever.


That's when I have to stand up and call bullshit and say not so much. Sure. And promote a different way or an alternative. Yeah. So next, so this is one that got really, people ruffled that I don't think there's any chance for fat people to ever get diabetes. Obviously, so on the second day, Jack invited in Colin, who was an ambassador representative from diabetes UK. Now as fat people from the time that we have a bigger body, people are saying to us, no, that you are about to spontaneously combust because you're so fat that see, it's pretty likely you're going to die in about 12 minutes, right? We get it from every fucking corner of the world. Every where fat people know that there are potential health outcomes we're a high risk for certain things. Now this is a, that's a very simple statement that I just made is actually a very complex issue and a lot of the researchers is we don't know why, for example, fat people are more likely to get diabetes versus thin people.


We don't know what's going on there. We can't say, Oh, it's because they have more fat on their body. We cannot say that science doesn't know. There's not an answer. If you're unsure about this, go to any diabetes charity webpage and read a little bit about diabetes. So yes, of course fat people get type two diabetes. Of course fat people are more likely to get type two diabetes than straight sized people. We don't know why. Okay, so there's not in contention that fat people get sick and die, like fat people are not, you know, blessed with eternal life, right? Like what the hell do you read it? Some people really think that, I think that fat people just don't die, probably will never get sick. No yeah, that's not reality. But the thing is is should we, what where I struggle with is should we continually be shaming fat people because they're more likely to get diabetes?


Should we be increasing the stigma around type two diabetes as a personal failing, not a very manageable condition. Because really if you do get type two diabetes, the medicine and the technology we have today means it's very manageable. Now, if you do what Collin did, Colin on the show who had his leg amputated, he actually ignored his condition and his diagnosis for 20 years. And so he was diagnosed with diabetes and straight up ignored. It didn't take any medication. And because of that, he had to have his leg amputated. Now it was presented that, and it's very fair mongari presented the, he got diabetes and all of a sudden, because he was, you know, fat ingredient ate loads of chips. Like he said, he had to get his leg amputated, but that wasn't the reality. And that's not the reality for most people living with type two diabetes.


And to make people so terrified that if they eat a candy bar, a Snickers or whatever, that they're going to get diabetes. It's not, it's not based in reality. And that increased shame makes people sick. Like, should we, you know, should we keep fat shaming people on the off chance that they get diabetes when we know shame directly harms and kills fat people? And shame makes fat people fatter. Not that there's anything wrong with being fatter, but if you want fat people to be thinner than don't shame them because you know it's going to have the opposite effect. Now I'm in the various start of the program, we talk about words and I say that the O words which are overweight and obese are slurs. They shouldn't be used. You don't get to see the reasoning behind it. I wrote a really detailed post on Instagram about this.


And so if you want to know more about why the O words are slurs and shouldn't be used, go onto my Instagram @fierce.fatty and look at the post that says the words overweight and obese are slurs and shouldn't be used. Anyway, and in that thing, in that home for discussion, I say I don't believe in the science. Now, a few minutes later, Sarah said to me what do you mean exactly when you say you don't believe in the science? I say, Oh, I don't believe in like the, the science that weight loss companies when weight loss companies pay for studies to be done to show that their diet means that you're going to lose 75,000 pounds in 12 seconds. So that's the science. I don't believe is bullshit science, which is the science that most people don't believe. Right? So, you know, science that is not based in science. I believed in, I believe in science that is based in science. But they don't show that clarification because it sounds better, but I say I don't believe in science, right. That's more interesting. So there is not one single study ever in the history of science of the world to show that a diet works longterm. So diets they, they help you lose weight. Absolutely. They help you lose weight temporarily, but most diets will after between two to five years, you will have put back on the weight at best you will have put back on the weight and more. And also you would have picked up a ton of disordered eating habits and a lower self esteem and shame and all that juicy stuff that we love. Right. so yeah, also what I don't support is the idea that correlation equals causation. That's the whole thing with diabetes. Type two diabetes and fat bodies, like we don't know. The having a fat body is the reason the fat people are more likely to get type two diabetes is a very complicated issue and this is not radical stuff that I'm saying.


It's pretty well established and it's very well known that correlation doesn't equal causation because it's that's just not the way that the world works, right. So next ,there was a scene, Oh my God, there was a scene, right? So I was explaining about body size, privilege, saying that because I have a small medium fat body. So I'm a UK size 20, 22 and a US size 20-22, 20-20, 22- 24. Anyway I know my British does is better anyway, I'm a small-medium fat. That means that I have more privilege in my body. For example, when I go to a restaurant, I know that most chairs I will fit in. There will be some chairs that I will have to say, let's swap this chair because it's like super uncomfortable, but I can still fit in the chair.


There is one store that I can go to and shop for clothes in the local, in the city center, right? So there's one place I can go. People who have bigger bodies will have zero places to go. People who have smaller bodies to me, we'll have more than one place I can go and shop. When I go to a fair ground, I will fit into 90% of the rides. I am probably paid more than people who have bigger bodies and promoted more than people who have bigger bodies. I experienced less discrimination and marginalization. I get less abuse and hate online, although I do get my fair share. Yeah. So it's important to recognize levels of privilege because we want to get the most marginalized folks raised up and lifted up versus given all of our attention to straight size people who say, Oh my look at my tiny little tummy roll or I'm so fat.


So my life is theoretically easier than someone else's life who has a bigger body. Not saying that their life is shit because they have a bigger body. But my life is not necessarily like rainbows and unicorns because I have a smaller body. It just means that they are systems in place to make it a little bit easier for me to live, right. And there's systems in place that makes it who has someone who has a bigger body and a little bit harder to live. Right? And it's all on a scale and everyone is different. There might be other intersections that play with your identity and it's, it's all very complicated. But it's important to recognize that I have privilege in my body anyway. And so I was talking about privilege in my body and then it cuts to a scene of Sarah being like, how can she be so egotistical to think that her body is better than other people's?


And I was just like, ah, I wrote, that's not what privilege means. So privilege is not like, Oh, I'm so fucking gorgeous and new are really fucking ugly. It's got nothing to do with that. But obviously I am gorgeous, but it's got nothing to do with that. It's about access and it's about marginalization. It's about how the world views different bodies, right? So you know, a lot of people see me as a fat woman strutting around and my bikini being like, yeah, look at my fucking juggling wobbly bits and yeah, I want to look in the mirror. And you know, there's a scene where I'm looking at myself in the mirror and I say, Oh, I'm so good looking, you know, tongue in cheek. And that is very jarring for a lot of people to hear that, to hear a fat person say hi, I'm so good looking because we have been told that fat people should be very down on themselves.


They should hate their bodies, they should be grateful for any attention or any reassurance that they get, especially from straight sized people. And they shouldn't be prancing around in a bikini thinking that they are the Mott's nuts. And when we see someone who does think that they're okay does think that their body is good, that does think that their body is attractive in a body that society tells us is not attractive, that is very difficult for some people to deal with. Kind of like has no one to hope his bitch that she's fucking ugly. Like doesn't she know what she looks like? And yeah, I know what I look like and I look fucking gorgeous. I mean, how low have you seen me? So yeah, some people would take that as narcissism and it's not, it's just called self esteem.


It's called not holding onto the shame that I don't need to hold on to, right. That's not my shame to hold. If people think like that about their bodies and then therefore think like that about my body, that's their problem. It's got nothing to do with me, you know? And it's like, if we see a confident guy, we're just like, Oh, he's just confident. And it's to do with sexism as well. Like when we see a confident woman, she's a bitch, right? No, I'm not a batch. Nice. Sometimes maybe I'm a bitch and I think I am. That's not something that I identify with, but yeah, I'm not a narcissist. I'm not egotistical. I'm just someone who has healthy self esteem and is not afraid to say to people, yeah, I'm good looking and what? Right. And what, you know, Jesus, Jesus low weighs us.


All right. Okay. So intuitive eating. Now you hear a very short soundbite of me saying, Oh, am I an intuitive eater? And then Sarah finishing kind of saying, that means that you eat whatever I want. And I say, yeah, that's what it means. I eat whatever I want. Very layman's terms of basically very roughly. It means I eat what I want. You know, to the untrained, yeah, that sounds like high E or whatever I want, fuck the consequences. I guzzle lard milkshakes 24 hours a day. I have an IV into my arm of melted butter and cream and I never eat vegetables. I detest them and I just eat cake for breakfast, like 10 cakes for breakfast because I eat whatever I want, what I want that's diet culture. That's what the opinions from diet culture, that is not what intuitive eating is.


Intuitive eating. The non layman's version is, I mean, I could have done a lot better in that moment. I could have said, yeah, it is eating what I want when I want, but I also, it's what it really means is listening to my body, honoring what it wants and needs. And if that means that I want something fresh, like for example yesterday I wrote down, I have a diary and every day I write down things. One of the questions also what could have made today better? And I was like, you know, more vegetables. And so I've got a hankering at the moment for vegetables. And so I'm making myself broccoli soup tonight because I have a hankering for some green vegetables. But that doesn't make me a good person because I'm listening to my body and my body says I want some green vegetables girl.

And I'm like, okay, you're going to get some. But then you know, I'm gonna maybe tomorrow have a hankering for, I don't know, 20 cakes for breakfast or whatever. So it's listening to our bodies and it's healing that relationship that we have fucked up through diet culture. Its I think it's so rare that someone is not fucked up through diet culture really, really just to find an intuitive eater in the wild who, who hasn't been taught how to be an intuitive eater who, because we are all born intuitive eater babies are intuitive eaters, right? You know, you don't hear a baby like crying and then being like, do you know what actually it was, it was two hours ago that I ate and really I should be in every three hours and so I'm not going to leave it for an hour and then eat in an hour because that's when I should be hungry, right. The baby is just like, no, I'm fucking hungry. I don't care. It's two in the morning. Don't care that I ate two hours ago or one hour ago, or I just ate and throw up, gave me some more food. Please. Thank you. Going to go to sleep. I feel good, put on my pants. So, you know, we're born intuitive eaters and then it's hammered out of us with all of the, Oh, you must eat greens and don't leave the dinner table until you clean your play. And, you know, forcing children to eat more than what they want and they, you know, getting children to not listen to their bodies because you know, children know when they've had enough and it's all of our bullshit saying Oh yeah, broccoli is good, but it didn't taste very nice. We're just reinforcing that by saying, eat your greens, eat your greens or this chocolate is a treat.


We're really putting chocolate on a pedestal or whatever it is. We're putting on a pedestal and we're teaching them that vegetables are bad and well, you know, that's just one example. We do it through loads of different ways. We you know, fuck up kids and continue to buy into this diet culture bullshit as adults as well. So yeah, it's repeat, it's intuitive eating is healing our relationship with food and getting to a place where we listen to our bodies when it says I'm hungry. We do our best to eat when it says I've had enough, we say, do I want to continue eating because this thing is delicious or do I feel good? Do I feel satiated? And listening to that and not feeling like, Oh my God, I need to eat more of this thing than I actually want because I'm scared.


I'm never going to get it again because it's a quote unquote bad food. So intuitive eating basically is eating like you've never been fucked up by diet culture. Okay. So the last point that I want you to make was, you see in there's a scene where we read this survey that people have about there's a survey that people would have about, you know, people live in fat bodies. Like should we fat people, a burden on the NHS and bullshit like that? And one of the points was like, Oh, we should teach kids more about the fact that they're going to die any second if they're fat. And I was like, nah, maybe not. I don't think continuing to shame kids is a good idea. And then one of the lines I say is, I'm teaching kids about food increases the risk of eating disorders.


Now what I mean is that the vast majority of the ways in which we currently teach kids and adults about food is steeped in diet, culture and fear-mongering. Right? and we teach kids about good food and bad food. And you know, like this whole new fucking weight Watchers bullshit teaching kids about like red foods and don't eat too many of the red foods and the red foods being bad and the green foods being good and you can eat more of the green foods. And Oh my God, it's so fucked up. And you know, as what, as portion control and any other rules it's actively harming them, right. I bet you so many people fat people have this and I know, I know so many fat people have that story of, of learning their stuff from our caregivers saying, Oh, you must, Oh well don't eat too many of those chips. Oh yeah. And it just teaches disordered eating. It teaches us not to trust our bodies, not to trust ourselves because we cut, we cannot control ourselves around certain foods because they are addictive. Food isn't addictive. But that's the, the, the message that we're giving kids versus teaching kids about food in an intuitive eating way. So making it fun and not saying, Oh, you should eat your vegetables because they're better for you when you shouldn't eat this thing cause it's bad for you. But saying things like, vegetables give you energy or vegetables help your, you know, eyes grow and making, making it up.


But educating in a way that is not based in shame and saying you know, letting them eat dessert. Before dinner, you know, like giving the whole meal at once and just letting children eat what they want. Like you, you decide if you want to raise an intuitive eating child look into Ellyn Satter. But it's a whole thing of you, a division of responsibility. You provide the food and then they choose what they eat and you provide the food and it might mean giving them the dessert with dinner and not making the dessert, the treat and seeing what happens. And you know, that's how you raise an intuitive eating child is you know, teaching them without shame and being curious with them and just letting them do their own thing. You provide the food and let them do their own thing.


So so teaching kids in the way that we currently teach them is absolutely encouraging eating disorders and disordered eating patterns and low self esteem and all sorts of negative things. And so we need to reform the way that we talk to children about food. And so what would be really cool is if we had health at every size, haze, haze informed non diet dietitians or nutritionists teach intuitive eating and how to have food piece. And this includes eating foods that we F that make us feel good both physically and emotionally. Maybe that would undo the harm that we have already caused our children in this fat phobic society. So they're the main points. Like, whew, it's been like a month since the show came out and I'm still getting hate mail. It's incredible. Like some people are block them on Instagram because they're like, why are you and I blocked them and then they'll email me or they'll find me somewhere else and they'll be like, you blocked me, listen to my ran.


And they'll send me like paragraphs of bullshit. It's just mind marketing. Like one person was like, I'm thin and you saying that you like your fat fat body is wrong because you're telling thin people that they shouldn't like their thin body. And my bitch, Jesus, a fat person says, I like having a fat body, chill, thin fragility. Oh my God. Yeah. But what really gets on my tits is, is people being like, Oh, you don't think that people ever get sick? And I'm like, no, I don't, but what? No, I don't believe that. Yeah. So it's, it's people hating me for things I don't believe, which is difficult for me because I'm absolutely ready to take a stand for the things I do believe in. But the portrayal of body positivity as this kind of extremist anti health movement is very damaging towards people who are trying to love themselves because they, they're like, I don't want to be an extremist.


I want to look after my health. I don't want to die. And unfortunately, the show for some people portrayed body positivity as a quote unquote Colt. And even one of the people, Sarah said there are Colts when we all know the real cult is diet culture. Yeah. But genuinely, like we in the house, everyone got along apart from, there was one person that shall remain nameless that no one really liked because they were really inappropriate, would say inappropriate things, would stare at the women's tits all the time, shouted at the producers, was like really unreasonable, would go on long monologues and was just basically a massive creep. And I was like, well, I can't wait to see how this person is edited. And then I watch a show and I'm like, huh, they're not in it. Well you didn't get to see any of the creepy stuff and annoying stuff.


And what the hell I'm pretty portrayed as have it in my what. Oh my God. Which was a surprise. Anyway, so I am hopefully next episode going to get on the rest of the body positive crew from the show because obviously we all love each other. Incredible. So that's David the plus size male model. He is a fucking, Oh my God. Dreamboat Miranda, the plus size sex worker. She is also a TEDx speaker, comedian podcast host. Incredible. Courtney known as body palsy bell on Instagram. She is just so, she's so funny. She's like, she was eehhh that's what she says. And kind and smart and just a great human being. And so next episode we are hopefully fingers crossed going to get us four together and we're going to have a little chinwag about the episode and share our views in a way that's not edited to make us look like we are unhinged or unreasonable or whatever.


So fingers crossed we can get all four of us together for a nice little nicer about all of that juiciness. And just this week I, well last week was approached by Huffington post to write an article on intuitive eating. So I'm going to link that in the show notes. So that is fiercefatty.com/007 for episode seven. I'll link the article. It's pretty amazing. So yeah, Huffington post approached me and I wrote this piece for them and Evelyn Tribole, one of the founders of intuitive eating actually shared it on social media. So you know, it was good. Oh yeah, no big of like an amazing, I was like, Oh my God. The founder of intuitive eating things that my writing is good and not a big pile of shit enough to share on their social media.


So yay. Yeah. So to read the article, go to fiercefatty.com/007 or check out the show notes where I'll have the the link in there so you don't need to type it out. And a reminder to leave me a review and before you submit your review, take a screenshot sent, send it to me- victoria@fiercefatty.com. I'm going to send you as a thank you a audio and digital version of my ebook bestselling book Fierce Fatty because you wrote can you deserve some love for spreading the love about this podcast. And bonus bonus points share that you are listening on social media and I'll put you in the draw to win one of five Fierce Fatty cups, mugs, drinking equipment, drinking solution. Anyway, it says Facebook is amazing. I have one. Yeah. So share on social media and tag me that you are listening to this episode and yeah, I'll put you into win one of those mugs. All right. Okay.


So thank you for hanging out with me today as I spilled the beans or beans on. Who are you calling fat? The BBC two documentary that I was in. And a reminder, if you do want to watch it, of course massive trigger warning if you do want to watch it. There is heavy use of the O words. There's obviously fat phobic fuckery. There is shaming that there's also radical bits of fat positivity and it'd be cool if someone just cut out all of the, all of the fat phobic fuckery and just had the fat positivity in so people could watch it and not be exposed to that. But if you're feeling up for it then then check it out. If not, then don't because it could be triggering for you. I know it was triggering for me being in the house with the fat phobes for 10 days. I needed a big old break afterwards and to be surrounded by fat positive people.


Before we go, I want to share a fact about me, Victoria Welsby. That's my name and my fact today is that I have a dog called Dougal and he is so fucking cute. I love him so much. He looks like a miniature border Collie mixed with a puppy arm. He's a mutt. I got him from a rescue in San Bernardino in the US I think he came across from Mexico, then he was flown into Canada where I got him. He's in Ireland with me last cause I mean Arden for the year and he is black and white and yeah, he looks like a border Collie, but with a puppy on tail and puppy on ears. He knows he knows a lot of tricks like speak and ringing a bell, like a bell for food. He's really clever. And he snuggles with me at night time. Oh my God, I love him so much. And I've had him for about five years, so he's, I think he's about six years old and he is almost always at my feet when I'm recording this podcast or recording videos or doing any type of work because he follows me around like a creep and I can lose that he's obsessed with me. But honestly it's me who's obsessed with him because he really, really is fantastic for my mental health. And when I'm without him for any type any time at all, I'm like, Oh, I need to see him and stroke him and stuff. So, yep. Dougal, the little dog, the miniature border Collie looking puppy on the thing. And he's my little buddy. He's my little, my son. Yeah. So that's in fact about me today is I have a dog and I love him. He's called Dougal.


All right. Thank you for hanging out with me today and being a part of the Fierce Fatty Revolution.You rock. Obviously. And I will see you on the next episode my fierce fatty. Okay. Good bye!