The difference between losing weight & being "healthy"
It's Been a Minute
NPR
4.7 • 9.2K Ratings
🗓️ 16 January 2026
⏱️ 17 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Oprah Winfrey’s new book, Enough, co-authored by endocrinologist Dr. Ania Jastreboff is one of many new narratives attempting to reframe how we think about obesity and diet culture. But host Brittany Luse thinks we’re just scratching the surface.
She’s joined by Dr. Kellie Carter Jackson, Chair of the Africana Studies Department at Wellesley College and co-host of the podcast This Day, and Dr. Mara Gordon, family physician and NPR's Real Talk with a Doc columnist to unpack fatphobia, the GLP-1 craze, and what it really means to be ‘healthy.’
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Everyone and their mother, father, sister, or cousin has talked about it, been on it, or was thinking |
| 0:07.0 | about it, G.L.1s. And now, the OG influencer of our time, maybe of all times, Oprah Winfrey |
| 0:15.2 | has put her official stamp of approval on its benefits. Her new book, Enough, co-authored by endocrinologist Dr. Anya Yastrobov, |
| 0:23.8 | exposes what we've gotten wrong about obesity, that it's not a personal failing, but a disease |
| 0:29.1 | that requires empathy and understanding. And Oprah, whose weight has been the subject of |
| 0:33.6 | public ridicule for the majority of her career. Feels like the perfect spokesperson for this cultural reframe of obesity. |
| 0:41.4 | Oprah herself has had long history of platforming fad diets, trends, and diet companies |
| 0:45.7 | that claim to be the solution for weight loss. |
| 0:48.2 | And now, after leaving the board of Weight Watchers in 2024, Oprah is joining a growing |
| 0:52.7 | group of Americans using GLP-1s. And as obesity rates drop |
| 0:57.1 | and GLP-1 usage goes up, I can't help but wonder, are we having the right conversation, |
| 1:03.2 | or is this just scratching the surface? To help me answer this question, I have Dr. Kelly Carter-Jackson |
| 1:08.2 | chair of the Africana Studies Department at Wellesley College and the co-host of the podcast This Day, which is doing a year-long series on America 250 and 50 weeks that shaped America. |
| 1:18.5 | Hey there. |
| 1:19.4 | And Dr. Marr Gordon, family physician and NPR's Real Talk with a doc columnist. |
| 1:24.2 | Thank you. |
| 1:25.4 | Okay, let's jump in. |
| 1:32.6 | Okay. columnist. Thank you. Okay, let's jump in. Hello, hello. |
| 1:34.1 | I'm Brittany Luce and you're listening to It's Been a Minute from NPR, a show about |
| 1:38.5 | what's going on in culture and why it doesn't happen by accident. |
| 1:49.5 | Okay. and why it doesn't happen by accident. I want to start with you, Kelly. |
| 1:50.9 | If you could, can you give a truncated history of Oprah's public weight loss journey? |
... |
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