Food, We Need To Talk: Recent Episodes
Juna Gjata
One woman's quest to end her war with food. Hosts Juna Gjata and Dr. Eddie Phillips wield solid science, medical knowledge, common sense and an endless supply of dad jokes to teach us how to eat better and feel better about it. Hint: It’s not dieting. They discuss exercise, body image, food addiction, genetics, weight loss and more.
We all know the physical benefits of exercise, but today we talk about the brain benefits. How does exercise impact depression and anxiety? How can exercise help keep our brains young? Should our exercise habits change depending on our mental health? Today, we speak to Dr. Jennifer Heisz, Professor of Kinesiology at McMaster University. Check out her book Move the Body, Heal the Mind.
To get weekly episodes, come join the Foodie Fam: https://www.patreon.com/FWNTT
Check out our book!
https://read.macmillan.com/lp/food-we-need-to-talk/
Chat with us on IG!
https://www.instagram.com/foodweneedtotalk/?hl=en
Be friends with Juna on IG and Tiktok!
https://www.instagram.com/theofficialjuna/
https://www.tiktok.com/@junagjata
In this episode of The Talk, Professor Galpin first helps Eddie with his own personal health goals, and then we take some time going through all the current top fitness fads. We discuss saunas, cold plunges, nasal breathing, fitness trackers, high intensity interval training, electrolyte drink mixes, Ozempic, and more. Find out which "fads" are actually worth hopping on!
To hear the rest of the episode, come join the Foodie Fam: https://www.patreon.com/FWNTT
Check out our book!
https://read.macmillan.com/lp/food-we-need-to-talk/
Chat with us on IG!
https://www.instagram.com/foodweneedtotalk/?hl=en
Be friends with Juna on IG and Tiktok!
https://www.instagram.com/theofficialjuna/
https://www.tiktok.com/@junagjata
This episode is a deep dive into all things exercise with world-renowned expert Professor Andy Galpin. Our discussion includes: how much and what type of cardio should we be doing for optimal health? How should we be varying our training throughout the year? How should our training change depending on our goals? We also cover the dramatic effects exercise has on brian health, the importance of improving proprioception, and the incredible impact of “exercise snacks.”
To hear the rest of the episode, come join the Foodie Fam: https://www.patreon.com/FWNTT
Check out our book!
https://read.macmillan.com/lp/food-we-need-to-talk/
Come be friends with us on IG!
https://www.instagram.com/foodweneedtotalk/?hl=en
Join Juna on IG and Tiktok!
https://www.instagram.com/theofficialjuna/
https://www.tiktok.com/@junagjata
In this episode of The Talk, we both go through our experiences with meditation. Eddie discusses his twenty years practicing martial arts and how he was able to reconcile his spiritual practice in the Dojo with his medical practice at the hospital. Who knew Eddie was a black belt?! Juna tells the incredible tales of what it's like to go on two ten-day silent meditation retreats. Plus, there's a pretty epic Buddhist dad joke in there at the end!
To hear the rest of the episode, come join the Foodie Fam: https://www.patreon.com/FWNTT
Check out our book!
https://read.macmillan.com/lp/food-we-need-to-talk/
Come be friends with us on IG!
https://www.instagram.com/foodweneedtotalk/?hl=en
Join Juna on IG and Tiktok!
https://www.instagram.com/theofficialjuna/
https://www.tiktok.com/@junagjata
Thank you to everyone who came to our live event! It was so incredibly wonderful to meet all of you!
To hear the rest of the episode, come join the Foodie Fam https://www.patreon.com/FWNTT
Check out our book!
https://read.macmillan.com/lp/food-we-need-to-talk/
Follow us on Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/foodweneedtotalk/?hl=en
Follow Juna on Instagram and Tiktok:
https://www.instagram.com/theofficialjuna/
https://www.tiktok.com/@junagjata
On this episode of The Talk, we discuss how we are implementing the things we learned in last week's podcast on mindful eating with the Nutrition Diva. We also discuss mindful cooking, enjoying your food, silent meditation retreats, Eddie's stint at Symphony Hall, and the secret to the Sweetgreen Harvest Bowl... It's a fun time!
Join The Foodie Fam membership: https://www.patreon.com/FWNTT
Check out our book!
Follow us on Instagram @foodweneedtotalk.
Find Juna on Instagram @theofficialjuna, and @JunaGjata on YouTube and TikTok.
You probably hear about mindful eating all the time, but maybe you think to yourself, how am I actually supposed to do this? There are so many things that are making us mind-LESS eaters: our phones, our food environment, our obsessive food tracking. In a world of calorie trackers and endless TikToks to scroll through, how can we learn to be more mindful eaters, enjoy our food more, and maybe even make better food choices in the process? Today, we talk to Monica Reinagel, The Nutrition Diva, all about mindful-ish eating.
Check out Monica’s podcast The Nutrition Diva and her app The Nutrition GPA!
Join The Foodie Fam for bonus episodes and more!
Check out our book!
Follow us on Instagram @foodweneedtotalk.
Find Juna on Instagram @theofficialjuna, and @JunaGjata on YouTube and TikTok.
Join the Foodie Fam Membership!
Welcome to our first episode of The Talk, our member-only bonus episode series! One of our most common requests is to go weekly, and the best way we have found to make that possible is by launching The Foodie Fam Membership. This is our way of staying true our mission by being selective about which sponsors we accept, while still being able to give you guys the content you’ve been asking for!
In this first episode, Eddie and Juna reflect on their own mental health struggles and how exercise and nutrition played a role in their recovery. As we discussed last week, improving diet quality might help your mental health, but if it’s taken too far, it might actually hurt your mental health.
If you want more of The Talk, plus other exclusive member-only benefits, come join us at The Foodie Fam!!!
Read Our Book
Follow us on Instagram @foodweneedtotalk.
Find Juna on Instagram @theofficialjuna, and @JunaGjata on YouTube and TikTok.
CLICK HERE for tickets and all event details!
Most of us know that food affects our weight and energy levels, but what if the food you are eating is actually having a profound impact on your mental health as well? New research suggests that eating unhealthily might actually play a causal role in mental illnesses such as depression and anxiety. In this episode, we speak to Professor Felice Jacka from Deakin University in Australia about her ground-breaking research into improving mental health just by improving lifestyle factors. What if you could feel less depressed by just eating better? This summer, there are more important reasons to eat better than just "looking good on the beach."
Preorder our book!
Remember to head to our website for our show notes!
Follow us on Instagram @foodweneedtotalk.
Find Juna on Instagram @theofficialjuna, and @JunaGjata on YouTube and TikTok.
CLICK HERE for tickets and all event details!
Come join us for our first ever live event! To celebrate the launch of our book, we are hosting a live podcast recording and book signing in Boston, Massachusetts.
For all details, click the link above or go to www.foodweneedtotalk.com/event
We can’t wait to meet you! (And enjoy some yummy treats together!)
Follow us on Instagram @foodweneedtotalk.
Find Juna on Instagram @theofficialjuna, and @JunaGjata on YouTube and TikTok.
This episode is dedicated to the sexiest macronutrient of the time: PROTEIN. We talk to the king of protein research himself, Professor Stu Phillips from McMaster University about all the most common questions we get about protein. How much do you need? Should you spread it out throughout the day? Do you need a protein supplement? Is animal or vegan protein better? What's the deal with collagen, and more. Find out how a higher protein diet impacts your overall health, your weight, and your metabolism. (Plus, how to not waste your money on things that don't work.)
Preorder our book!
Remember to head to our website for our show notes!
Follow us on Instagram @foodweneedtotalk.
Find Juna on Instagram @theofficialjuna, and @JunaGjata on YouTube and TikTok.
"I'll be happy when..." How many times have you found yourself saying that? It could be a goal income, a goal relationship, or a goal body, but the message is the same: I need to wait to get THIS thing before I can be happy. So what happens when you actually do get THAT thing—get that house, see that number on the scale, reach that income level? It turns out, not what you think. In this episode we talk to Professor Laurie Santos from Yale University and host of The Happiness Lab podcast about what really makes us happy and what actually matters. Get ready because whatever we think is the answer is often the furthest thing from it.
Preorder our book!
Remember to head to our website for our show notes!
Follow us on Instagram @foodweneedtotalk.
Find Juna on Instagram @theofficialjuna, and @JunaGjata on YouTube and TikTok.
Weight stigma, or weight-based discrimination, is a form of stigma that is widely accepted and has been rising over the past few decades. People think that being mistreated because of your body shape or weight is deserved because a person's weight is "their fault." Some even think that "fat shaming" is a way to help people "change" and "become healthier." Today, we discuss the detrimental physical and mental health effects of weight stigma, health effects that are often worse than the documented effects of excess weight. Our guest is psychologist Christine Emmer.
Remember to head to our website for our show notes!
Follow us on Instagram @foodweneedtotalk.
Find Juna on Instagram @theofficialjuna.
Weight stigma, or weight-based discrimination, is a form of stigma that is widely accepted and has been rising over the past few decades. People think that being mistreated because of your body shape or weight is deserved because a person's weight is "their fault." Some even think that "fat shaming" is a way to help people "change" and "become healthier." Today, we discuss the detrimental physical and mental health effects of weight stigma, health effects that are often worse than the documented effects of excess weight. Our guest is psychologist Christine Emmer.
You may have heard online that calorie restriction, or intermittent fasting, or both combined can actually make us live longer. But what does science have to say about this?
Today, we talk to Professor John Speakman about the science of calorie restriction, health, and longevity.
Remember to head to our website for our show notes!
Follow us on Instagram @foodweneedtotalk.
Find Juna on Instagram @theofficialjuna.
Today, you've got Q's, we've got A's! What do you do if you don't like resistance training? How do you get back into the gym after a long break? Can you lose weight if you're eating junk food? And how can you get kids to eat healthy without putting certain foods off limits? Join us for this spooky Q&A.
Remember to head to our website for our show notes!
Follow us on Instagram @foodweneedtotalk.
Find Juna on Instagram @theofficialjuna.
If you've ever wondered where fat goes when you lose weight, what exactly a calorie is, and what on earth physics has to do with all of it, this is the episode for you!
Today, we talk to Ruben Meerman, AKA “the surfing scientist”, about the physiology and the physics of our bodies. What do atoms have to do with calories? What does carbon dioxide have to do with your waistline?! Find out today.
Remember to head to our website for our show notes!
Follow us on Instagram @foodweneedtotalk.
Find Juna on Instagram @theofficialjuna.
Chances are you're one of two types of people: you love running, biking, and spin... or you love being at the gym, lifting weights, and HIIT. Whether your goal is weight loss, health, or longevity (or all three), there seems to be a never-ending debate. We know exercise is "good," but should we be doing cardio? Or lifting weights? Or maybe... BOTH? Today's episode is for the cardio bunnies and the gym rats, and everybody in between.
PS: Our friends at Mind Pump are hooking us up: All exercise programs are half off with code "FOOD" at checkout.
Remember to head to our website for our show notes!
Follow us on Instagram @foodweneedtotalk.
Find Juna on Instagram @theofficialjuna.
We spend over a third of our lives asleep, so it must be pretty darn important--but why? What is going on in our brains when we sleep? What makes sleep so crucial for our overall health, and how does it affect our eating, weight, energy, and mood? And perhaps most importantly, how can we improve our sleep?
Today, a conversation with Dr. Param Dedhia on all things sleep: circadian rhythms, blue light, Eddie's trials and tribulations in medical school, and more!
Remember to head to our website for our show notes!
Follow us on Instagram @foodweneedtotalk.
Find Juna on Instagram @theofficialjuna.
Back to school season is here, which means late nights, yummy foods, and a LOT of socializing. The Freshman 15 (the weight gain many experience in their freshman year of college) is something we've all heard about, but is there any science behind it? In this episode, we figure out exactly what happens when we go back to school that makes it so hard to keep up our usual health behaviors, and what we can do about it. Get ready for a deep dive into staying healthy, happy, and sane... even in school!
Remember to head to our website for our show notes!
Follow us on Instagram @foodweneedtotalk.
Find Juna on Instagram @theofficialjuna.
We answer some questions from YOU, our listeners. In this episode, we cover balancing body positivity and overall health, navigating your relationship to food after having dealt with disordered eating, and... it's back to school season! So how do we maintain good healthy habits, even while we're in school?
Remember to head to our website for our show notes: https://www.foodweneedtotalk.com/
And please take our 5-minute survey for a chance to win a $50 Amazon gift card! https://www.foodweneedtotalk.com/survey
Having a good relationship with food is complicated. Sure, we should be eating our fruits and veggies, of course we should exercise, but when does this go too far? Is not being able to eat cake at a birthday party truly "healthy?" Today, we talk to Jordan Syatt, a record-holding powerlifter and formerly Gary Vee's personal trainer, about how to develop a healthy relationship even with "unhealthy" food.
Note: We discuss restriction, binge eating, and eating disorders in this week's episode. All show notes can be found on our website: https://www.foodweneedtotalk.com/
We usually think of stress as a "bad" thing, something to be avoided–but is stress actually bad for our health? How does stress affect our eating and our food choices? Why do some of us gain weight when we get stressed, while others lose weight?
This week, we talk to Professor Daryl O'Connor of University of Leeds all about stress, food, and our waistlines. All shownotes can be found on our website: https://www.foodweneedtotalk.com
You know those people who have it all together—their eating, their exercise, their work life—all seemingly with no effort? Well, it turns out it's not because they have amazing "self-control" or "will power." It's actually because they have really good habits.
In this episode, we speak to Professor Wendy Wood all about how to create new habits, break bad ones, and the power of habit hacking and habit stacking. All the shownotes can be found on our website: https://www.foodweneedtotalk.com
From the time of the Victorians to the time of the Kardashians, there's always been a body type that's been "in." The only problem? It's always changing.
In this episode, we talk to Dr. Katharina Vester of American University about the origins of body ideals and how they have impacted society and culture over time. Having a six pack used to mean you were broke? Only men were allowed to watch their weight? The surprising history of dieting and our bodies.
All shownotes on our website.
We all have that little voice inside our heads—you know the one: calling you names, criticizing everything you do, just in general being a negative Nancy. Although we may think "tough love" will get us to our goals faster, it turns out it may actually backfire and make it harder to be successful. On this episode, we talk to Dr. Kristin Neff all about the science of self-compassion, and how practicing it may actually help us stick to our goals and live happier, healthier lives.
You can find all our shownotes on our website.
When it comes to nutrition, it seems like we disagree about nearly everything: carbs, sugar, fat... even fruit. But, it turns out, there's actually a lot that the entire scientific community agrees on. In this episode, we talk to Dr. Christopher Gardner about nutrition science, what we've gotten wrong, and more importantly, what we've gotten right. It turns out, nutrition may not be as complicated as we make it seem. Find all shownotes on our website.
We've all heard advice like "take the stairs!" or "park in the furthest spot," but can this stuff actually make a difference? What's the point of movement if it's not leaving you out of breath, dripping in sweat, and sore the next day? This week, we talk to Dr. James Levine about the powerful health (and non-health) benefits of non-exercise. Get ready to bust out the bike desk.
You know the feeling: you start eating right, working out, you’re seeing some progress and then…your body just stops responding. Over 80% of diets fail, but WHY?
Juna and Eddie talk to Dr. Paul MacLean, Professor of Medicine and Pathology at University of Colorado School of Medicine, about what happens at the end of a diet and the biological drive to regain weight. Tune in to find out what happens to appetite, movement, fat storage and more AFTER the diet.
The metabolism may seem like a magical concept: some people eat whatever they want and don’t gain weight. Others so much as look at a dessert and feel the pounds creeping on. But what do we know about our metabolism? Can it speed up? Can it slow down? Does yo-yo dieting damage our metabolisms? On this episode, Juna and Eddie talk to Dr. Herman Pontzer, Associate Professor of Evolutionary Anthropology at Duke University all about the ins and outs of human energy expenditure, and what hunter gatherer tribes can teach us about how our metabolism works.
Are all calories created equal? Do calories even matter? Are calories ALL that matter? In this episode, Juna and Eddie talk to EC Synkowski, founder of Optimize Me Nutrition, about those little things we all love to hate: calories. What are they, and should we even be paying attention? Listen up, the answer may surprise you…
You can find EC on Instagram, here: www.instagram.com/optimizemenutrition
And her amazing website, here: https://optimizemenutrition.com
Juna and Eddie are back to tackle all the health and fitness topics you guys requested most! With guidance from some of the world’s top experts, some witty banter, and a good helping of dad jokes, Juna and Eddie dive deep into the science behind intermittent fasting, metabolism, aging, fat loss, microbiome and more. Find out what works, what doesn’t, and why, every two weeks right here on Food We Need to Talk, a science-based, humor-laced approach to health and fitness.
Hosts Juna Gjata and Dr. Eddie Phillips return with a special message, and another great podcast recommendation. Juna and Eddie are hard at work making the second season of Food, We Need To Talk, but in the meantime be sure to check out Anything For Selena.
In Anything for Selena, host Maria Garcia takes listeners on a deeply personal journey into the life and legacy of the Mexican-American popstar Selena Quintanilla. She shares how Selena's music and unapologetic sense of identity helped her find her own place in the world. And it explores how Selena's legacy continues to spark important conversations around race, class, and body politics.
We want to tell you about another great podcast: Inappropriate Questions from the CBC.
Inappropriate Questions is back with Season! Hosts Elena Hudgins Lyle, a queer millennia, and Harvinder Wadhwa, a dad, talk to people who have been asked uncomfortable questions like: “Did you lose weight?” or “How old are you?” or “Can I speak to your manager?” Each episode unpacks where these questions come from and explores more respectful ways to get curious.
If you like what you hear, subscribe: http://hyperurl.co/iqpodcast
As you know our "Food, We Need To Talk" season just ended, but I want to tell you about another great podcast produced by WBUR that is just starting its season, "Kind World":
https://www.wbur.org/kindworld
"Kind World" wants to be your 2020 counter-programming! From pandemics to politics, the news out there definitely isn't great. But "Kind World" promises to restore your faith in humanity. Each week the team brings you one story about how an act of kindness transformed lives.
Listen to the first episode here, and if you like what you hear, go over to the "Kind World" feed and subscribe to that podcast.
From weight stigma to the "Health At Every Size" movement, Eddie and Juna dig into the complex issue of body image with Dr. Mark Berman, Dr. Lesley Williams, Janet Tomiyama, Dr. Fatima Cody Stanford and Sal Distefano.
Juna reveals that she is battling an eating disorder and explores how and why dieting can tip into problem territory, and what to do about it.
Experts in this episode include Jenny Thomas, co-director of the Eating Disorders Clinical and Research Program at Massachusetts General Hospital and Kristin Javaras, clinical psychologist at McLean Hospital.
Want a flat stomach? A faster metabolism? Maybe to get rid of that cellulite? Well, there's a supplement for that.
If only it were so easy... But as with most things in life, if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Guests in this episode include champion lifter Layne Norton and Dr. Pieter Cohen.
Juna and Eddie answer listeners' questions about exercise, from "how much is enough" to "how much is too much?"
"Stress eating" can shift food preferences toward sugar and fat, leading Eddie and Juna to try the famous "raisin exercise." They also check in with Dr. John Denninger at the Benson-Henry Institute for Mind Body Medicine and Dr. Marc Potenza at Yale School of Medicine.
From potatoes to quickie "food challenges," Eddie and Juna answer questions from listeners.
You know better than to expect life to be fair. But still, it's enough to drive anyone crazy: Some people seem to be able to eat anything they want and never gain weight.
About 50% of weight variation stems from genetics, according to Rooth Loos, a professor of public health at the Icahn School of Medicine. We'll also hear from Yale neuroscientist Dana Small.
Asked for just one recommendation for lifelong health, our experts all had the same answer: exercise. And there's one type of exercise that may bring the best benefit in the least amount of time.
Experts include: Wayne Westcott, Sal Di Stefano, and Jackie Shahar.
(Bonus: For more on exercise, listen to "The Magic Pill": https://www.wbur.org/magicpill)
Possibly the best thing you can do to help yourself eat better is not about choosing a particular type of food at all. It's about the quality of what you eat. The hosts distill the state of nutrition science down to a few helpful basics. Experts include: Dr. Walter Willett, Michael Pollan and Dr. Rani Polak.
Among the scary insights that brain science can offer into junk foods: eating them tends to shift food preferences long-term -- at least, in mice. Co-hosts Dr. Eddie Phillips and Juna Gjata discuss what happens in your brain when you eat the most craveable foods.
What if there’s no forbidden fruit? What if you think about eating to take care of yourself? In episode two, Juna describes the judgments she and others impose on themselves and their food choices.
Episode one! 24-year-old co-host Juna Gjata says restrictive eating has made her miserable her entire adult life, but she’s sure if she stops she’ll "literally gain 20 pounds on gingerbread lattes peppermint mochas."
Enter Dr. Eddie Phillips, founder of the Institute of Lifestyle Medicine and a seasoned doctor, who aims to help Juna get to a happier, healthier place with food.
One woman's quest to end her war with food. Hosts Juna Gjata and Dr. Eddie Phillips wield solid science, medical knowledge, common sense and an endless supply of dad jokes to teach us how to eat better and feel better about it. Hint: It’s not dieting. They discuss exercise, body image, food addiction, genetics, weight loss and more. A WBUR production.