#66: What to do when diet culture shows up at school?

with Virginia Sole-Smith

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In this episode we discuss…

  • what Virginia learned from reporting on how diet culture shows up in schools

  • diet culture as explicitly part of the curriculum in weight-centric classes on health and nutrition

  • diet culture as currency in non-nutrition lessons, like science experiments and math word problems

  • diet culture in conversations about food and bodies with teachers, peers, and the school community

  • designing non-weight-centric nutrition curriculums — and what this could look like for all ages

  • the origin of nutrition in schools as malnutrition and hunger prevention

  • how the “war on obesity” changed these goals

  • what to do as parent concerned that your child’s school is not in line with your perspective

  • understanding your goal as giving kids tools to navigate diet culture, rather than shielding them from any exposure to it

  • using moments in school as conversation starters

  • fruitful ways to advocate with teachers, administration, and curriculum writers if needed

  • teaching about internal regulation, social determinants of health, and weight stigma as a social justice issue

  • the value of affinity groups

  • Virginia’s recommended resources for listeners

In a year of remote schooling, many parents had a front row seat into their children’s school days — including the ways that diet culture can sneak into the classroom. We brought Virginia Sole-Smith back onto the show to discuss her recent New York Times piece “Are Schools Teaching Kids to Diet?” We also cover how parents can respond if harmful messages about food and bodies are being shared at school.

Virginia Sole-Smith is the author of THE EATING INSTINCT and the newsletter BURNT TOAST.


Virginia began her career giving diet advice in teen and women’s magazines, and reporting on environmental health issues, including the rise of the modern alternative food movement. She spent over a decade watching that movement’s obsession with whole foods and clean eating merge with the war on obesity and the belief that women’s bodies, in particular, should always be smaller. But it wasn’t until her own daughter stopped eating as a newborn, and Virginia was faced with making food seem safe to a traumatized child, that she realized just how many of us don’t feel safe around food, because our fears about body size have spun so out of control. The Eating Instinct tells the stories of women, men, and children, all learning how to eat again, on their own terms.

Virginia’s work has appeared in the New York Times Magazine, Harper’s, Elle and many other publications.

Connect with Virginia on her website, Twitter, Instagram, and newsletter.

Resources mentioned or recommended:

Jordan Best