Jessica’s dad is back to read some podcast feedback and some brief thoughts on RFK Jr.

You’ll hear

• ​Jen and Jessica were called mean girls
• ​Jessica can’t disprove the “science” of Mark Hyman
• ​Proof that mercury doesn’t cause autism
• ​How people don’t realize two things can be true at the same time
• ​How her dad feels about getting his vitamins via IV therapy.

Then the rest of this episode is for the new folks, the seasoned listeners who want a refresher or were too afraid to listen to my interview with Jeff Hutt the first time. And it’s for all of us to remember and understand the way that one passionate guy and a few of his friends can influence the course of history.

Original show notes about MAHA:

For the first episode about Make America Healthy Again, Jessica is joined by Mr Jeff Hutt, the spokesperson for the Super PAC. MAHA is “a powerful new political action committee dedicated to advancing the health-focused policies championed by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. through the re-election of President Donald Trump.” Mr. Hutt provides an overview of the PAC and its principles, and the two have a wide ranging conversation about food, sustainable farming, corporate capture, mama bears, medical freedom and the concept of “again.”

Jessica is curious about the connections between MAHA, Wellness culture, and her own work; something that will be further explored in part 2.

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You can watch this episode on Spotify and at ⁠https://www.youtube.com/@MakingItAwkwardPod⁠

Jessica's book: ⁠It's Always Been Ours; Rewriting the Story of Black Women's Bodies⁠

What’s left to say? After episodes about vaccines and just general science. Jessica has been thinking about what she could add to the RFK Jr. conversation and realized there’s something that hasn’t been quite clear. As dangerous as Kennedy’s anti-science stance is, he is also incredibly basic. 

Today Jessica is joined by Dr. Natalie Ingraham to review both the Senate Finance Committee and Senate HELP Committee hearings and recent developments along the path to HHS Secretary. The two talk about how he was caught in his lies, his grilling by Senator Warren, and his quote about Black people needing a different vaccine schedule.

RFK Jr. was recommended Tuesday to the full Senate for a vote to become Secretary of HHS. 

Discussed:

Onesies

Angela Alsobrooks

Denying he said what he said

Elizabeth Warren clip 

Quote on abortion

You can buy awkward merch!

You can contact the show at [email protected]

Follow Jessica Wilson on Instagram @jessicawilson.msrd and TikTok @byjessicawilson

You can watch this episode at https://www.youtube.com/@MakingItAwkwardPod

How to support this podcast? Follow/subscribe, rate and review! Jessica’s dad will read reviews and comments on the air!

Jessica Wilson's book: It's Always Been Ours; Rewriting the Story of Black Women's Bodies

Jessica’s UPF experiment has been in the news again! She invited journalist Lindsay Lee Wallace back to the show to see if the two could answer some questions: How has the ultra-processed food hysteria impacted politics today? And what the heck is happening with the news media? 

The two talk about gender, the recent UPF coverage, who has been interviewing Jessica recently, the feedback she’s gotten, and a surprise email Jessica received. 

Articles discussed in this episode: 

Slate and Daily Mail

NYT UPF week

Washington post had this 

The New Yorker had its own contribution

Cuomo

You can buy awkward merch!

You can contact the show at [email protected]

Follow Dietitian, Jessica Wilson on Instagram @jessicawilson.msrd and TikTok @byjessicawilson

You can watch this episode at https://www.youtube.com/@MakingItAwkwardPod

How to support this podcast? Follow/subscribe, rate and review! Jessica’s dad will read reviews and comments on the air!

Jessica Wilson's book: It's Always Been Ours; Rewriting the Story of Black Women's Bodies

Jessica Wilson, MS RD is joined by pod editor Jen Jacobs to kick off the Re-Grifting series. Dr. Mark Hyman is the first to be featured having introduced himself to Jessica over instagram. He is a co-founder of health-tech start-up Function Health and a huge fan of supplements. Mark was part of the group of food-fluencers who influenced the FDA to ban red dye no. 3. 

The NYT recently had a profile about the development of his wellness empire and his bromance and collaborations with RFK Jr.

A few of the articles mentioned: 

The Daniel Plan

Call to Action from Mark

https://sciencebasedmedicine.org/aafp-functional-medicine-lacks-supporting-evidence-includes-harmful-and-dangerous-treatments/

You can buy awkward merch!

You can contact the show at [email protected]

Follow Jessica Wilson on Instagram @jessicawilson.msrd and TikTok @byjessicawilson

You can watch this episode at https://www.youtube.com/@MakingItAwkwardPod

How to support this podcast? Follow/subscribe, rate and review! Jessica’s dad will read reviews and comments on the air!

Jessica Wilson's book: It's Always Been Ours; Rewriting the Story of Black Women's Bodies

Dr. Sarah Dougherty, DVM joins Jessica Wilson, MS RD to talk about everything from bird flu and raw milk, to bovine colostrum, Ivermectin, how to interpret research, probiotics for pets, influencers, and how to keep our pets safe and healthy when it comes to bird flu and pet food. Jessica asks her what she's most concerned about with the incoming administration. 

Sarah also shares a bit about her upbringing which includes living down the road from last week’s guest farmer Trampus Harmon!

Pet rescue resources

You can buy awkward merch!

You can contact the show at [email protected]

Follow Dietitian, Jessica Wilson on Instagram @jessicawilson.msrd and TikTok @byjessicawilson

You can watch this episode at https://www.youtube.com/@MakingItAwkwardPod

How to support this podcast? Follow/subscribe, rate and review! Jessica’s dad will read reviews and comments on the air!

Jessica Wilson's book: It's Always Been Ours; Rewriting the Story of Black Women's Bodies

Beef farmer (and former dairy farmer) Trampus Harmon joins dietitian Jessica Wilson to talk about raw milk. We’ve seen the rise of raw milk influencer-culture and Jessica wanted to talk with someone who knows the ins and outs of dairy cow farming. The two chat about the safety of raw milk and how influencers are impacting the farming landscape. Trampus introduces Jessica to the dairy buyback program which she will explore in future episodes. Trampus answers some listener questions and helps Jessica interpret a viral video about grass fed beef. 

Bonus voice memo from Dr. Jeff Sherman-Duncan! 

Citations used in this episode:

https://abc7ny.com/post/rfk-jr-asked-raw-farm-owner-mark-mcafee-center-milk-recall-apply-fda-advisor-donald-trump-administration/15625517/

https://edition.cnn.com/2025/01/06/health/bird-flu-death-louisiana/index.html

https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/avian-influenza-bird-flu/cdc-h5n1-mutations-severely-ill-patient-could-boost-spread-risk-remains#:~:text=The%20genetic%20analysis%20of%20the,Control%20and%20Prevention%20(CDC)

https://www.npr.org/2024/12/26/nx-s1-5239841/bird-flu-kills-20-cats-washington-sanctuary

https://www.cdc.gov/bird-flu/php/avian-flu-summary/chart-epi-curve-ah5n1.html

We knew what was coming in 2025. Through the conversations on this podcast about food processing and collective health anxiety we got a front row seat to watch how people have moved to extreme views about food and our health. We’ve seen it mobilize groups of people to defy what should be common sense about food safety, and basic science. 

We’ve also seen how people, particularly white men, respond specifically to Jessica when she asks if something is inherently unhealthy if we can’t define it. From those responses we see how so much of this isn’t about food at all. Food is just the vehicle, the distraction. 

Enjoy this trip down memory lane with former guests including Shana Spence, Cara Harbstreet, Dr Selina Wang, Patrille Hernandez, Dr Natalie Ingraham, Dr. Lexi Brown, Jen Jacobs, and Jaye Rachon. Then come back for conversations in 2025, some history lessons and a new series titled “Re-grifting.” Happy 2025!

You can buy awkward merch!

You can contact the show at [email protected]

Follow Dietitian, Jessica Wilson on Instagram @jessicawilson.msrd and TikTok @byjessicawilson

You can watch this episode at https://www.youtube.com/@MakingItAwkwardPod

How to support this podcast? Follow/subscribe, rate and review! Jessica’s dad will read reviews and comments on the air!

Jessica Wilson's book: It's Always Been Ours; Rewriting the Story of Black Women's Bodies

Re-release: Jessica and Lexi share many of the ways their brains work differently and the tips and tools they’ve adopted to navigate a neurotypical world. Lexi shares her experiences with disordered eating and some things that she’s found to be helpful as she works on having less all-or-nothing eating habits.

They share what it was like to be locked down in a small house with three adults and two dogs the first two years of the pandemic. And lastly, Lexi introduces Jessica to the concept of a girl dinner. 

This is a great episode to watch on Spotify and  https://www.youtube.com/@MakingItAwkwardPod

How to support this podcast? Follow/subscribe, rate and review! Jessica’s dad will read reviews and comments on the air!

Jessica Wilson's book: It's Always Been Ours; Rewriting the Story of Black Women's Bodies

You can buy awkward merch!

You can contact the show at [email protected]

A gluten-flugen-dog? Social media has introduced us to those who want the most flavor, texture, color and creativity in their food and, conversely, those who avoid even salt and might not even cook their food to kill pathogens. Tiktok has given us a window into kitchens around the country. From jello salad to quinoa salad and raw chicken to hot dogs impaled with spaghetti noodles, boiled then painted with sauce and two different kinds of cheese before going in a toasted bun (the gluten-flugen-dog), Jessica has watched with amusement.

In more recent times she’s seen people cut alllll the way back on both flavor and food safety and are eating their animal products raw, and this just happens to coincide with the increasing interest in Wellness and a fear of anything processed in any way. She proposes that, especially among white folks, there are maximalists and minimalists when it comes to food. She decided to talk to her dad about her theories and introduce him to the recipes of maximalists and minimalists for his thoughts. The two start by drinking some farmer's coke.

Snickers salad 

Jon Anderson

Raw milk

This is a great episode to watch on Spotify and  https://www.youtube.com/@MakingItAwkwardPod

How to support this podcast? Follow/subscribe, rate and review! Jessica’s dad will read reviews and comments on the air!

Jessica Wilson's book: It's Always Been Ours; Rewriting the Story of Black Women's Bodies

You can buy awkward merch!

You can contact the show at [email protected]

What is MSG, and what’s with all of the sh*t talking? Jessica gets answers to these questions with the help of dietitian Cara Harbstreet and a few research rabbit holes.  Jessica and Cara talk about how a (maybe fake?) letter to the New England Journal of Medicine kicked off decades of hysteria about “Chinese Restaurant Syndrome.” The true author of that letter has been in question for years and the story takes a couple sharp turns. 

Science has largely debunked the negative impacts of MSG–but, sadly, that doesn’t always impact public perception. 

Jessica also has serious questions about how Americans view flavor and she’ll come back to that in later episodes.

Five-Thirty-Eight on MSG and xenophobia

Science History Institute 

New England Journal of Medicine recognizing historical injustices

Know MSG campaign

You can buy awkward merch!

You can contact the show at [email protected]

Follow Dietitian, Jessica Wilson on Instagram @jessicawilson.msrd and TikTok @byjessicawilson

You can watch this episode at https://www.youtube.com/@MakingItAwkwardPod

How to support this podcast? Follow/subscribe, rate and review! Jessica’s dad will read reviews and comments on the air!

Jessica Wilson's book: It's Always Been Ours; Rewriting the Story of Black Women's Bodies