PRX and “Food, We Need To Talk” Announce a New Podcast Partnership
Hosts Juna Gjata and Dr. Eddie Phillips present a science-based, humor-laced approach to health and fitness. A new season launches today with new episodes every other Monday
Public media organization PRX and the podcast “Food, We Need to Talk” — a podcast with a science-based, humor-laced approach to health and fitness — today announced a new partnership. Beginning today, PRX will partner with the show and creators Juna Gjata and Dr. Eddie Phillips to provide support in areas including distribution via the PRX Dovetail publishing platform, sponsorship, and production.
“Food, We Need to Talk” launched in 2019 from WBUR in Boston. The podcast is now independent and is launching new episodes in partnership with PRX. New episodes will be released every other Monday. The podcast is available across all major platforms, including Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Amazon Music, Stitcher, Overcast, and Spotify.
On a quest to end a war with food, Gjata and Phillips wield solid science, medical knowledge, common sense (and dad jokes) while teaching listeners how to eat better and to feel better about it. They speak frankly about topics including exercise, body image, food addiction, genetics, weight loss, and more. Today’s episode explores the little things we all love to hate: calories. Joined by OptimizeMe Nutrition founder EC Synkowski, Gjata and Phillips question what calories are and how closely we should be paying attention.
Future episodes will delve into topics including the science of how metabolism works, understanding diets and why 80% of them fail, aging, microbiome, and more. Guests will include authors, scientists, and professors across fields of nutrition, exercise, and lifestyle medicine, as well as fitness instructors, mindfulness experts, and more.
“This is the podcast I wish I had at 18, before I did all the stupid stuff I saw online to make my body look the way I thought it was supposed to look,” said Juna Gjata, creator and host of “Food, We Need to Talk.” “We use the podcast as our way to talk to top experts about the topics we ourselves want to learn about, and through that, also hope to help our listeners.
“‘Food, We Need to Talk’ shares experience from my 30 year career devoted to helping patients adopt healthier behaviors,” said Dr. Eddie Phillips, co-host. “Our listeners benefit from the blend of cutting-edge science and common sense we deliver on the show. And it helps them make sustainable, important changes in their lives.
“Juna Gjata and Dr. Eddie Phillips bring an empathetic point of view to a topic we can all relate to, our own selves,” said Jason Saldanha, Chief of Business Development and Content at PRX. “‘Food, We Need to Talk’ is as informative as it is entertaining. At PRX, we seek to partner with must-hear independent audio creators. We’re thrilled to help bring this podcast to listeners everywhere.”
Co-host Juna Gjata graduated from Harvard College in 2017. An accomplished concert pianist and composer with a background in cognitive neuroscience and evolutionary psychology, launching this podcast, Gjata imagined the podcast as a space to discuss health and fitness misinformation through the lens of her own journey with body image, weight loss, and eating disorders. Legally blind, Gjata also serves as a public speaker for various organizations that seek to educate. She has been the keynote speaker at the National Braille Press’ “Million Laughs for Literacy” and serves as a speaker in Massachusetts for Newton Public Schools’ “Understanding Our Differences” program.
Co-host Dr. Eddie Phillips also serves as an Associate Professor of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at Harvard Medical School and as Whole Health Medical Director for the VA Boston Healthcare System. In addition, he is the Founder and Director of the Institute of Lifestyle Medicine at Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital. A member of the executive council that developed the Exercise is Medicine global initiative, Phillips co-authored the seminal guidebook for the initiative, which was founded in 2007 and is now active on approximately 270 campuses and in 37 countries. In 2013, Phillips co-founded and co-directed the Lifestyle Medicine Education Collaborative, incorporating Lifestyle Medicine into US medical schools. Phillips has appeared as an expert on Good Morning America and ESPN Radio and in outlets such as Slate and TIME Magazine, and has served as co-host of the award-winning exercise podcast “The Magic Pill” from WBUR.
Gjata and Phillips’ book inspired by the “Food, We Need to Talk” podcast will be published in 2023 by St. Martin’s Press.
About PRX
PRX is a non-profit public media company specializing in audio journalism and storytelling. PRX serves independent producers and organizations by helping them connect to their most engaged, supportive audiences. One of the world’s leading podcast publishers, PRX works in partnership with TED, PBS, the Smithsonian, Futuro Media, GBH, Religion of Sports, and more. PRX is also home to Radiotopia, known as one of the most creative and successful podcast networks. In addition, PRX distributes trusted and treasured public radio programming to hundreds of stations nationwide, including “The World,” “The Moth Radio Hour,” “This American Life,” “Snap Judgment,” “Reveal,” “The Takeaway,” and “Latino USA.” PRX programs have been recognized by the Peabody Awards, the duPont-Columbia Awards, the IDA Documentary Awards, and the Pulitzer Prizes. Visit PRX.org for more.
