Maintenance Phase

Last updated

Maintenance Phase
Presentation
Hosted by
  • Aubrey Gordon
  • Michael Hobbes
Genre
  • Feminist
  • history
  • health science
  • culture
LanguageEnglish
UpdatesFortnightly
Length60–90 minutes (approximate)
Production
Production
  • Aubrey Gordon
  • Michael Hobbes
Publication
Original releaseOctober 11, 2020 (2020-10-11)
Related
Website www.maintenancephase.com

Maintenance Phase is a health science and pop culture podcast that aims to debunk health and wellness-industry myths and discusses anti-fatness in mainstream American culture. It is hosted by Aubrey Gordon and Michael Hobbes. Launched in 2020, the podcast has addressed topics such as the Keto diet, the Presidential Fitness Test, Weight Watchers, and various fad diets and diet self-help books. [1]

Contents

About

Aubrey Gordon is an American author and activist who writes about fat liberation. [2] Michael Hobbes is an American journalist and former reporter for the HuffPost. Both of them have written numerous times [3] about the misinformation that originates from the health and wellness industry, as well as anti-fatness in American popular culture. [4]

In each episode, one of the hosts talks to the other about a particular topic and they both discuss and give insight on the subject. The majority of their episodes focus on a particular health product or widely accepted fact that Gordon and Hobbes then discuss.

Many of their episodes focus on debunking scientific misinformation in an easily understandable manner.

The podcast is independently funded, relying on crowd-funding. [5]

Reception

In 2022, Outside [1] regarded it as "the best podcast we've heard about health". Emma Dibdin of the New York Times wrote, "This is essential listening for anyone who's ever been in the grips of the diet industrial complex, and wants to get deprogrammed." [6]

The same year it also won a Webby Award for best podcast series. [7]

Episodes

2020

No.Episode titleGuestRelease Date
1"What's Our Deal?"NoneOctober 11, 2020 (2020-10-11)
2"The President's Physical Fitness Test"NoneOctober 20, 2020 (2020-10-20)
3"Fen Phen & Redux"NoneOctober 27, 2020 (2020-10-27)
4"Snackwell's Cookies"NoneNovember 3, 2020 (2020-11-03)
5"Moon Juice"NoneNovember 10, 2020 (2020-11-10)
6"The Twinkie Defense"NoneNovember 17, 2020 (2020-11-17)
7"Anti-Fat Bias"NoneNovember 24, 2020 (2020-11-24)

2021

No.Episode titleGuestRelease Date
8"Halo Top Ice Cream"NoneJanuary 5, 2021 (2021-01-05)
9" The Biggest Loser "NoneJanuary 19, 2021 (2021-01-19)
10"Snake Oil"NoneFebruary 2, 2021 (2021-02-02)
11"Dr. Oz"NoneFebruary 16, 2021 (2021-02-16)
12"The Master Cleanse"NoneMarch 2, 2021 (2021-03-02)
13"Weight Watchers"NoneMarch 16, 2021 (2021-03-16)
14"Eating Disorders"Dr. Erin HarropMarch 30, 2021 (2021-03-30)
15"Olestra"NoneApril 13, 2021 (2021-04-13)
16"Diet Book Deep Dive: Ed McMahon's Slimming Down"NoneApril 27, 2021 (2021-04-27)
17"The Wellness to QAnon Pipeline"Mike RothschildMay 11, 2021 (2021-05-11)
18"Celery Juice"NoneMay 25, 2021 (2021-05-25)
19"Oprah Winfrey & The 'Wagon of Fat'"Kimberly SpringerJune 8, 2021 (2021-06-08)
20"Oprah Winfrey & 'John of God'"Kimberly SpringerJune 22, 2021 (2021-06-22)
21"The Keto Diet"NoneJuly 6, 2021 (2021-07-06)
22"School Lunches, P-Hacking and the Original 'Pizzagate'"NoneJuly 20, 2021 (2021-07-20)
23"The Body Mass Index"NoneAugust 3, 2021 (2021-08-03)
24"The Obesity Epidemic"NoneAugust 17, 2021 (2021-08-17)
25"The Great Protein Fiasco"NoneAugust 31, 2021 (2021-08-31)
26"Marianne Williamson"NoneSeptember 14, 2021 (2021-09-14)
27"Rachel Hollis Part 1: Hashtag Relatable"NoneSeptember 28, 2021 (2021-09-28)
28"Rachel Hollis Part 2: Girl, Start Apologizing"NoneOctober 12, 2021 (2021-10-12)
29"Diet Book Deep Dive: Angela Lansbury's Positive Moves"NoneOctober 26, 2021 (2021-10-26)
30"Is Being Fat Bad For You?"NoneNovember 16, 2021 (2021-11-16)
31"Vibrators"NoneNovember 30, 2021 (2021-11-30)
32"The 'Sleep Loss Epidemic'"NoneDecember 14, 2021 (2021-12-14)

2022

No.Episode titleGuestRelease date
33"Fat Camps"NoneJanuary 4, 2022 (2022-01-04)
34"Diet Book Deep Dive: The Karl Lagerfeld Diet"NoneJanuary 18, 2022 (2022-01-18)
35"'Illness Influencer' Belle Gibson"NoneFebruary 1, 2022 (2022-02-01)
36" Super Size Me "NoneFebruary 15, 2022 (2022-02-15)
37"Jordan Peterson Part 1: The Carnivore Diet"NoneMarch 1, 2022 (2022-03-01)
38"Jordan Peterson Part 2: The Moscow Diaries"NoneMarch 15, 2022 (2022-03-15)
39"Bonus: Fad Diets"NoneMarch 29, 2022 (2022-03-29)
40"Michael Pollan's The Omnivore's Dilemma "NoneApril 5, 2022 (2022-04-05)
41"Zombie Statistics Spectacular!"NoneApril 19, 2022 (2022-04-19)
42"Diet Book Deep Dive: How To Take 20 Pounds Off Your Man"NoneMay 10, 2022 (2022-05-10)
43"The Trouble With Calories"NoneMay 24, 2022 (2022-05-24)
44"Calorie Menu Labeling"NoneJune 7, 2022 (2022-06-07)
45"The Worm Wars"NoneJune 28, 2022 (2022-06-28)
46"Pete Evans Part 1: The Paleo Way"NoneJuly 12, 2022 (2022-07-12)
47"Pete Evans Part 2: COVID & Consequences"NoneJuly 26, 2022 (2022-07-26)
48"French Women Don't Get Fat"NoneAugust 9, 2022 (2022-08-09)
49"The Scarsdale Diet Murder" Sarah Marshall August 23, 2022 (2022-08-23)
50"BONUS: Moon Juice Taste Test"NoneSeptember 6, 2022 (2022-09-06)
51"Goop"NoneSeptember 13, 2022 (2022-09-13)
52"The French Paradox"NoneSeptember 27, 2022 (2022-09-27)
53"Paul Bragg & The Rise of Apple Cider Vinegar"NoneOctober 11, 2022 (2022-10-11)
54"Mini-Sode: The Dr. Oz Campaign"NoneOctober 18, 2022 (2022-10-18)
55"The Daily Harvest Food Poisoning Scandal"NoneNovember 1, 2022 (2022-11-01)
56"Bonus: Mike's New Podcast!"NoneNovember 8, 2022 (2022-11-08)
57"The Food Pyramid"NoneNovember 15, 2022 (2022-11-15)
58"Workplace Wellness"NoneDecember 20, 2022 (2022-12-20)

2023

No.Episode titleGuestRelease date
59"'Glorifying Obesity' And Other Myths About Fat People"NoneJanuary 3, 2023 (2023-01-03)
60"Diet Book Deep Dive: Elizabeth Taylor's Elizabeth Takes Off"NoneFebruary 13, 2023 (2023-02-13)
61"Doctors Have a New Plan for Fat Kids"NoneFebruary 28, 2023 (2023-02-28)
62"The Instagram Fiber Feud"NoneMarch 14, 2023 (2023-03-14)
63" Forks Over Knives : Is a Vegetarian Diet Better For You?"NoneMarch 28, 2023 (2023-03-28)
64"The Trouble With Sugar"NoneApril 11, 2023 (2023-04-11)
65"The 10,000 Steps Myth"NoneApril 25, 2023 (2023-04-25)
66"Oprah v. Beef, Part 1: The Rise of 'Veggie Libel'"NoneMay 9, 2023 (2023-05-09)
67"Oprah v. Beef, Part 2: Apocalypse Cow"NoneMay 23, 2023 (2023-05-23)
68"BONUS: The Conservative Diet Books of Yore"NoneJune 6, 2023 (2023-06-06)
69"Brittany Dawn"NoneJune 20, 2023 (2023-06-20)
70"Pilates"NoneJuly 4, 2023 (2023-07-04)
71"RFK Jr. and The Rise of the Anti-Vaxx Movement"NoneJuly 18, 2023 (2023-07-18)
72"RFK Jr. and The Mainstreaming of the Anti-Vaxx Movement"NoneAugust 1, 2023 (2023-08-01)
73"BONUS: Soy Boys"NoneSeptember 12, 2023 (2023-09-12)
74"Ozempic"NoneOctober 10, 2023 (2023-10-10)

2024

No.Episode titleGuestRelease date
75"COVID Conspiracies"NoneMarch 7, 2024 (2024-03-07)
76"Jamie Oliver"NoneApril 4, 2024 (2024-04-04)
77"'Rapid Onset Gender Dysphoria' Part 1: The Cooties Theory of Transgender Identity"NoneMay 9, 2024 (2024-05-09)
78"'Rapid Onset Gender Dysphoria' Part 2: Panic! At The Endocrinologist"NoneJune 18, 2024 (2024-06-18)

Related Research Articles

<i>Stuff You Should Know</i> American podcast and video series

Stuff You Should Know, often abbreviated as SYSK, is a podcast and video series published by iHeartRadio and hosted by Josh Clark and Charles W. "Chuck" Bryant. The podcast, which launched in 2008, educates listeners on a wide variety of topics, often using popular culture as a reference.

<i>The Joe Rogan Experience</i> American podcast

The Joe Rogan Experience is a podcast hosted by American comedian, presenter, and UFC color commentator Joe Rogan. It launched on December 24, 2009, on YouTube by Rogan and comedian Brian Redban, who was its sole co-host and producer until 2012 when Jamie Vernon, who would eventually take over production, was hired to co-produce. By 2015, it was one of the world's most popular podcasts, regularly receiving millions of views per episode, also including a wide array of guests, including business magnate Elon Musk, whistleblower Edward Snowden, Senator Bernie Sanders, and astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson. From December 2020 to February 2024, the podcast was exclusively available on Spotify, with highlights uploaded onto the main Joe Rogan Experience YouTube channel. The podcast was originally recorded at Rogan's home in California, before moving to a private studio in Woodland Hills, Los Angeles. Production was relocated to Austin, Texas after the podcast was exclusively licensed on Spotify in 2020.

Suzy Gershman was an American writer who authored sixteen "Born to Shop" guidebooks over the course of twenty-six years, beginning in 1986. Her travel guides, which cover the shopping scenes in counties and cities, including Paris and New York, have sold more than four million copies as of 2012. Six guidebooks are now revised and republished every two years - France, Hong Kong, Italy, London, Paris, and New York City.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Timothy Caulfield</span> Canadian law professor and host of the television series A Users Guide to Cheating Death (b. 1963)

Timothy Allen Caulfield is a Canadian professor of law at the University of Alberta, the research director of its Health Law Institute, and current Canada Research Chair in Health Law and Policy. He specializes in legal, policy and ethical issues in medical research and its commercialization. In addition to professional publications, he is the author of several books aimed at the general reader and host of a television documentary series debunking pseudoscientific myths. He is a fellow of the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry and the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation.

<i>My Dad Wrote a Porno</i> British comedy podcast

My Dad Wrote a Porno was a British comedy podcast hosted by Jamie Morton, James Cooper, and Alice Levine. Published from 4 October 2015 to 12 December 2022, each episode of the podcast featured Morton reading a new chapter of Belinda Blinked, an amateur erotic novel series written by his father under the pen name Rocky Flintstone. Morton, Cooper, and Levine react to the material and provide running commentary. Each episode featured Cooper and Levine hearing the chapter for the first time, whereas Morton had read the chapter beforehand to prepare.

<i>Talkhouse</i> US digital media outlet and online magazine

Talkhouse is a digital media outlet and online magazine created in 2013 by Ian Wheeler and Tim Putnam. Musicians, actors, and filmmakers share their experiences in their respective fields in personal essays, discuss their peers’ work in editorials and reviews, and converse with one another via the Talkhouse Podcast and Talkhouse Live events.

UNHhhh is an American comedy web series starring drag queens Trixie Mattel and Katya Zamolodchikova. In the series, Trixie and Katya discuss a topic humorously in front of a green screen. UNHhhh premiered on March 25, 2016, one year after Mattel and Zamolodchikova appeared in the seventh season of RuPaul's Drag Race. The show is aired through World Of Wonder's YouTube channel, as well as through its video-on-demand service WOW Presents Plus. UNHhhh has been nominated for ten Streamy Awards throughout its run, winning Unscripted Series at the 2020 ceremony, which the duo also hosted.

<i>RuPaul: Whats the Tee?</i> Comedy podcast

RuPaul: What's the Tee? is a comedy podcast first released on April 9, 2014 hosted by American entertainers RuPaul and Michelle Visage. The hosts discuss a wide range of subjects and usually have at least one celebrity guest appear per episode. They often discuss behind-the-scenes topics from RuPaul's Drag Race, where RuPaul and Visage are also hosts. The podcast won a Webby Award in 2018.

<i>This Podcast Will Kill You</i> Podcast about disease biology, history, and epidemiology

This Podcast Will Kill You is an American podcast hosted by disease ecologists and epidemiologists Erin Welsh and Erin Allmann Updyke. Its first full-length episode was released on October 31, 2017. New episodes were released weekly until the second season, when they were released every two weeks. Each week a different disease is covered, the majority of which are infectious diseases with some exceptions, such as scurvy in episode 19.

<i>Meditative Story</i> Mindfulness podcast

Meditative Story is a podcast that combines first-person storytelling, mindfulness prompts and original cinematic music, to create a unique listening experience. It is owned and produced by WaitWhat, the media company founded and led by former TED executives, Deron Triff and June Cohen. The first three seasons were created in partnership with Thrive Global, a behavior change technology company led by Arianna Huffington and Dan Katz. Variety describes Meditative Story as “part first-person narrative podcast and part guided meditation.” The podcast is hosted by Rohan Gunatillake and has featured guests such as On Being’s Krista Tippett, A Slight Change of Plans’ Maya Shankar, travel writer Pico Iyer, Grammy award-winning singer-songwriter Jason Mraz, LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman, journalist and amateur boxer Thomas Page McBee, award-winning writer Isabel Allende, comedian Tig Notaro, Grammy award-winning composer and musician Terence Blanchard, actor Randall Park, musician and Leinster Rugby player Niall Breslin, NASA astronomer Michelle Thaller, Peloton exercise instructor Robin Arzón, and MOMA curator Paola Antonelli, among others.

<i>Twenty Thousand Hertz</i> Podcast about sound design

Twenty Thousand Hertz is a podcast about "the world’s most recognizable and interesting sounds". Episodes are published every other Wednesday.

<i>Youre Wrong About</i> American pop culture podcast

You're Wrong About is an American history and pop culture podcast created by journalist Michael Hobbes and writer Sarah Marshall. It has been hosted by Marshall since its inception; Hobbes also hosted until 2021. Launched in May 2018, the show explores misunderstood media events by interrogating why and how the public got things wrong. Show topics have included events like the Challenger Disaster, the O. J. Simpson Trial, and the Murder of Kitty Genovese and covered people such as Anna Nicole Smith, Yoko Ono, Tonya Harding, and Lorena Bobbitt. It was named one of the ten best podcasts by Time in 2019.

Karen Hao is an American journalist and data scientist. Currently a contributing writer for The Atlantic and previously a foreign correspondent based in Hong Kong for The Wall Street Journal and senior artificial intelligence editor at the MIT Technology Review, she is best known for her coverage on AI research, technology ethics and the social impact of AI. Hao also co-produces the podcast In Machines We Trust and writes the newsletter The Algorithm.

<i>The Totally Rad Show</i> Pop culture video podcast (2007–2012)

The Totally Rad Show was a video podcast produced by Team Awesome, LLC and distributed by Revision3. The podcast consisted primarily of reviews and commentary on pop-culture phenomena such as movies, video games, television programs, and comic books. Debuting on March 27, 2007, The Totally Rad Show was hosted by Alex Albrecht, Jeff Cannata, and Dan Trachtenberg, with episodes releasing once a week. In September 2010, the show switched to a daily release schedule. On November 19, 2012, The Totally Rad Show released an episode titled "A Look Back – Episode 1 " where they announced that the podcast would be coming to an end as of November 26, 2012.

<i>Were You Raised By Wolves?</i> Etiquette podcast

Were You Raised By Wolves? is an independent podcast about etiquette and manners hosted by Nick Leighton and Leah Bonnema, which debuted on September 9, 2019. The podcast features Leighton and Bonnema exploring various historical and contemporary etiquette topics and answering questions sent in by listeners.

Aubrey Gordon, also known as Your Fat Friend, is an author, podcaster, and activist. She writes about fatness, fat acceptance, and anti-fat bias, and her podcast, Maintenance Phase, focuses on the poor science behind health and wellness fads.

<i>Blind Landing</i> Documentary podcast about Olympic sports

Blind Landing is a documentary podcast about professional sports hosted by Ari Saperstein. Season one focused on safety in gymnastics, while season two looks at identity in figure skating. The show was an honoree at the 2022 and 2023 Webby Awards and was named the Best Independent Podcast at the 2023 Awards for Excellence in Audio.

Knowledge Fight is a podcast dedicated to analyzing and critiquing episodes of Alex Jones' InfoWars shows. The podcast was created in January 2017. It is hosted by the former stand-up comedians Dan Friesen and Jordan Holmes, both of whom live in Chicago, Illinois. As of May 25th, 2024, a total of 935 episodes of the podcast have been released. In each episode, Friesen plays clips of noteworthy moments from one of Jones' shows, which are followed by Holmes' reactions. The majority of episodes relate to modern day Alex Jones, but the podcast has gone as far back as the late 1990s in its coverage.

Michael Hobbes is a journalist and podcast host. He was formerly a Senior Enterprise Reporter for HuffPost. His writing has also appeared in Pacific Standard, The New Republic, and Slate.

<i>If Books Could Kill</i> Book criticism podcast

If Books Could Kill is a podcast hosted by Michael Hobbes and Peter Shamshiri, in which they criticize bestselling nonfiction books of the late 20th and early 21st centuries. Books featured on the podcast include Freakonomics by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner, Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell, and The End of History and the Last Man by Francis Fukuyama. First airing on November 2, 2022, the podcast has received largely positive reviews from critics.

References

  1. 1 2 "This Is the Best Podcast We've Heard About Health". Outside Online. January 13, 2022. Archived from the original on February 8, 2022. Retrieved May 24, 2022.
  2. "After Years of Writing Anonymously About Fatness, I'm Telling the World Who I Am". SELF. December 11, 2020. Retrieved June 1, 2022.
  3. Hobbes, Michael. "Everything You Know About Obesity Is Wrong". The Huffington Post. Retrieved June 1, 2022.
  4. Gordon, Aubrey (February 17, 2021). "Such a pretty face". Vox. Retrieved June 1, 2022.
  5. "Maintenance Phase Twitter Status". Twitter. Retrieved June 1, 2022.
  6. Dibdin, Emma (January 27, 2022). "For an Antidote to Diet Culture, Try These 6 Podcasts". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331. Archived from the original on February 8, 2022. Retrieved May 24, 2022.
  7. "NEW Webby Gallery + Index". NEW Webby Gallery + Index. Retrieved July 6, 2022.