Food, Forgiveness and the Cost of Being Thin: A Conversation with Geneen Roth

Thanks For Asking

Feelings & Co.

Mental Health, Society & Culture, Personal Journals, Health & Fitness

4.7 • 13.5K Ratings

🗓️ 21 April 2026

⏱️ 85 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Every woman in the world has shared one feeling: that their body is wrong. We like to say that we've come "so far," but just open any social media app and see the body warping, the products marketed as "a drink to stop your cravings" or "patches that help you drop two sizes," and the endless comments on teenage girls' appearances. In the world we live in, skinny equals good -- and all women are subjected to those standards. Today's guest, Geneen Roth, was crushed under the standards like the rest of us. She dieted, she binged, she purged, but it never fixed the guilt or shame. To Geneen, the cost of being thin was not worth it, and she’s spent the last four decades writing, coaching and teaching about shame, guilt and their connection to how – and why – we eat. Geneen’s Book: Bookshop | Amazon Watch us on YouTube here⁠! Get this episode ad-free here! Listen to Geoffrey’s album on ⁠Spotify⁠ and ⁠Apple⁠! Our Sponsors: ❤️ Refresh your spring wardrobe with Quince. Go to ⁠⁠⁠Quince.com/TFA⁠⁠⁠ for free shipping and 365-day returns. Now available in Canada, too. Go to ⁠⁠Quince.com/TFA⁠⁠ for free shipping and 365-day returns. ⁠⁠⁠Quince.com/TFA⁠⁠⁠ ❤️ ⁠⁠Shop Everyday Cotton, and all of my favorite bras and underwear, at SKIMS.com. After you place your order, be sure to let them know we sent you! Select "podcast" in the survey and be sure to select our show in the dropdown menu that follows.⁠⁠ ❤️ MasterClass keeps adding new classes, so there’s never been a better time to get in. Right now, as a listener of this show, you get at least 15% off any annual membership at ⁠⁠MASTERCLASS.com/TFA.⁠⁠ That’s 15% off at ⁠⁠MASTERCLASS.com/TFA.⁠⁠ ⁠⁠Head to MASTERCLASS.com/TFA⁠⁠ to see the latest offer! ❤️ With evening and weekend course options, Fordham’s online MSW lets you keep working while earning your degree, completing the program in as few as 16 months. Learn more and apply at ⁠⁠fordham.edu/TFA⁠⁠ ❤️ ⁠⁠Experience your juiciest and deepest sensual experience with a bottle of Foria. FORIA is offering a special deal for our listeners. Get 20% off your first order by visiting foriawellness.com/TFA OR use code TFA at checkout. That’s F-O-R-I-A WELLNESS DOT COM FORWARD SLASH TFA for 20% off your first order. I recommend trying Awaken or their Pleasure Set with all three of their best sellers.⁠⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hi. Hi there. Hi. Hi. Hi. Hey, Nora.
0:11.5	I'm Nora McInerney, and this is thanks for asking, a call-in show about what matters to you.
0:29.9	I do not know a single woman who has not been at war with her body,
0:33.9	who has not treated her body like an enemy at some point,
0:39.2	who has not loudly and publicly stated what she hates about her body.
0:47.2	In my lifetime alone, the girls, now women, I knew, ate chips with O'Lean until it was associated with something called anal leakage. We took diet pills that were later pulled from the market.
0:52.9	We smoked cigarettes and skipped meals and spent hours in the gym trying to look like photos we didn't know were airbrushed.
1:01.4	We were trying to disappear while also desperately wanting to be seen.
1:07.9	I knew growing up that my mother hated the color yellow because her own mother had told her
1:12.7	she looked fat in a yellow dress. I knew growing up that being thin was good because my family
1:18.6	commented on how thin I was, how they could wrap their fingers around my arms.
1:26.0	How they could wrap their fingers around my arms. Even when they complained that my
1:31.4	butt was too bony to sit on their laps, I knew it was a good thing that I was skinny. It was
1:37.1	better than the alternative. Janine Roth knew that too. Janine was dieting by age 11, descending into all kinds of disordered eating.
1:47.3	Some of it is familiar to anyone who has ever tried to lose weight.
1:52.1	Margarine.
1:54.0	The Atkins diet.
1:55.5	Any kind of diet, really.
1:56.8	Weight watchers?
1:57.8	The master cleanse.
1:59.3	And some of it is shocking, truly. Fasting on water for 10
2:03.5	days at the start of every season, a fried chicken diet, taking hot baths multiple times a day
	...

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