Tough Cookie Talks

An Unhinged Pep Talk About Skinny Influencers, "Toned" Arms, and Why I'm Not Buying Into Any It

Today I'm back with an unhinged pep talk/rant about the onslaught of skinny everywhere. Listen up if you're feeling this too. On this episode we talk about: * How we are being gaslit into believing that Demi Moore's arms are "toned" and Hillary Duff is the new face of "body positivity". * How "strong not skinny" still isn't it--and why our "body positivity should have been intersectional all along. * Skinny influencers & how mean they are. * Why I don't blame anyone trying to lose weight or taking GLP-1's right now, but I DO blame the system. * The connections between the body trend du jour and the way women's rights are under attack. * How body types as trends is ridiculous, and also how body acceptance was easier when then trend was curvier. * Coming back to your "why" when it comes to the desire for weight loss. * Why I'm still not making assumptions about anyone's health based on their weight and size, even if they're freakishly skinny. * How we did this shit already (especially as elder millennials) and how we can feel the pressure to conform and still choose not to go back. * How chasing thinness at all costs robs us of our strength and power. * The difference between taking care of ourselves and forcing our bodies into submission. * Other podcast episodes and books you might wanna listen to as a reminder. * So many other good things! ⁠⁠⁠⁠Work with me⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ [https://itsjennaj.com/index.php/work-with-me-main/] ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Download Resistance Training⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ [https://itsjennaj.com/index.php/resistancetraining/] ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Follow & tag me on Instagram⁠ [https://www.instagram.com/itsjennaj/]

Loving Your Kids Through the Patriarchal Bullsh!t of Motherhood with Christina Montalvo

My good friend Christina Montalvo is back and today we're talking all about the absolute fuckery of motherhood. On this episode we talk about: * My floral wallpaper (again) and our obsession with color. * How we love our children but often hate the role of "mom". * How you can be with a "good man" and they can still be woefully inadequate in terms of parenting support because the bar is so low. * The ridiculous exceptions put on women vs. men when it comes to parenting. * How we feel about mom guilt and the possibility of fucking up our kids. * The ways we wish the world (especially America) was more supportive of moms. * The brutal reality of being the default parent. * Parenting without losing your whole personality. * The ways we're bringing our whole selves to motherhood and repairing our mistakes along the way. * So many other good things! Work with Christina⁠⁠ [https://christinamontalvo.com/] ⁠⁠Follow Christina on Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/christina_montalvo/] ⁠⁠⁠⁠Work with me⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ [https://itsjennaj.com/index.php/work-with-me-main/] ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Download Resistance Training⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ [https://itsjennaj.com/index.php/resistancetraining/] ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Follow & tag me on Instagram⁠⁠ [https://www.instagram.com/itsjennaj/]

Did She "Let Herself Go?" Or Did She Let Herself HEAL?? Coming Back To Dance As A Grown Woman Who Eats Carbs and Lifts Weights

Today I'm back and I'm talking about something that doesn't usually get a lot of air time on my podcast: dance! I hope you'll stick around even if you think it doesn't apply to you (it's all just different flavors of the same shit sandwich, really). On this episode we talk about: * Why I'm excited to talk about dance right now and how it might apply to you even if you're not a dancer. * Why I think I (and many other dancers I know) retired from performing too early. * What I wish I had known about strength and mobility training and sports nutrition when I was dancing professionally. * Ageism and sizeism in the dance world and how the body standards are different when you're an athlete/performer. * Why we're not going back to the destructive shit we used to do to our bodies in the 90's and 2000's. * How we, as the adults in the room can change the narrative around bodies for the future generation (in spite of skinnytok bullshit). * How much joy dance is bringing me as I come back to it at this stage of life and how I want that for you too (in whatever you do). * So many other good things! ⁠⁠⁠Work with me⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ [https://itsjennaj.com/index.php/work-with-me-main/] Register for my Adult Tap & Jazz classes in Arlington Heights [https://register.arlingtondanceacademy.com/classes/dayofweek] Register for my Adult Tap class in Lake Forest [https://vsi.lfrec.com/wbwsc/webtrac.wsc/search.html?module=ar&category=dance&SessionID=e64d67cdf60d7ecd1f8b3b5d74fded08602fa4e0471449cceaf5bf63ebb44a112db4f9c01235cb5c54e2c6b1c0f3b5e46f259092403143b5b6d5b40394a6817d&_csrf_token=d5dd2c5d602d7b71e2ff53fd750b1bc3e530c7d1aa08365eca8052b81e982f7b] ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Download Resistance Training⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ [https://itsjennaj.com/index.php/resistancetraining/] ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Follow & tag me on Instagram⁠ [https://www.instagram.com/itsjennaj/]

Our Rights Are Shrinking and So Are Our Bodies--The Rhyming Scripts of Diet Culture and Purity Culture with Anna Rollins

My favorite podcast episodes are the ones where I read a really great book and then get to pick the brain of the person who wrote it. Today I am talking to Anna Rollins--the author of Famished: On Food, Sex, and Growing Up as a Good Girl (out December 9, 2025 from Eerdmans). Her groundbreaking debut memoir examines therhyming scripts of diet culture and evangelical purity culture, both of which direct women to fear their own bodies and appetites. Her writing has appeared in outlets like The NewYork Times, Slate, Electric Literature, Salon, Joyland, and more. She’s also written scholarly articles about composition and writing center studies. She’s an award-winning instructor who taught English in higher education for nearly 15 years. She is a 2025 Tamarack Foundation for the Arts Literary Arts Fellow. A lifelong Appalachian, she lives with her husband inWest Virginia where they’re raising their three small children. On this episode we talk about: * The protestant work ethic and how it plays into exercise. * The problem with fundamentalist thinking and we often unknowingly apply it to food and bodies. * The different ways we both bought into different aspects of diet culture and purity culture as kids and teenagers. * How purity culture and hookup culture are two sides of the same coin. * How we see fundamentalism playing out in America today and how we can try to stop it. * How to navigate being a part of a religion without getting sucked into the worst parts of it. * What Anna wishes someone would have told her when you were younger and struggling with an eating disorder. * The ways her religious upbringing contributed to her eating disorder. * So many other good things! ⁠Follow Anna On Substack [http://substack.com/annajrollins ] Get Anna's Book [https://www.annajrollins.com] ⁠⁠⁠Work with me⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ [https://itsjennaj.com/index.php/work-with-me-main/] ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Download Resistance Training⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ [https://itsjennaj.com/index.php/resistancetraining/] ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Follow & tag me on Instagram⁠⁠ [https://www.instagram.com/itsjennaj/]

Touching Grass, Borrowing Lemons, Theatre Jazz, Floral Wallpaper, & Witchy Things (Because I Have Nothing To Say About Fitness or the News)

It's been a few weeks and now I'm back. I've truly felt like I have nothing to say about fitness or the other usual topics due to the continued ridiculous news. I've also felt like I have nothing to add to the conversation about said ridiculous news because every time I form a coherent thought about something, there is a new flavor of fuckery needing commentary. On this episode we talk about: * How impossible it feels to talk about fitness OR the news at this time. * What I've been up to in real life. * Understanding what we can control and what we can't--in fitness, in our lives, and in the world. * How to take meaningful action with that knowledge in mind, especially in the aftermath of No Kings a few weeks ago. * Why we all need to start asking our neighbors to borrow lemons and other such things. * My new podcasting space (including floral wallpaper)! * The joys of theatre jazz. * My newfound love of astrology and witchy shit. * So many other good things! ⁠⁠Work with me⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ [https://itsjennaj.com/index.php/work-with-me-main/] ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Download Resistance Training⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ [https://itsjennaj.com/index.php/resistancetraining/] ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Follow & tag me on Instagram⁠ [https://www.instagram.com/itsjennaj/]