"Recently, he decided to do an act of kindness in the stranger's honor." - ELNA BAKER, The Possum Experiment, This American Life #TAL #ThisAmericanLife #WorldKindnessDay #ElnaBaker

"They end up doing mushrooms." - ELNA BAKER, I Was So High, This American Life #TAL #ThisAmericanLife #IWasSoHigh #NationalMushroomDay #ElnaBaker

"He wrote 'For Charity' on the envelope and dropped it in the first mailbox he saw." - ELNA BAKER, Self-Improvement Kick, This American Life #TAL #ThisAmericanLife #SelfImprovementKick #InternationalDayofCharity #ElnaBaker

Maybe a decade ago I first listened to this particular podcast episode. Elna Baker, a producer at This American Life, walks through her journey from fat to skinny.

It's powerful. It's illuminating. It's tragic. It's worth your time.

https://www.thisamericanlife.org/589/tell-me-im-fat/act-two-5

I will never be a skinny person, not unless there's some new miracle medication that comes out. Which will likely be dangerous anyway. My genes have the final say. I am who I am, and I have accepted that a long time ago.

If I could make skinny people understand one thing, it's simply that being fat is not a choice. No more than being bald. Or being short. Or being old. I have former-friends who still believe that myself and my wife are just not trying hard enough. We are fat because of a moral failing.

Thanks to science we know better. Some of us do anyway.

TV shows like "The Biggest Loser" do nothing to promote the science. They promote the idea that weight is a choice. They are designed for drama, not reality. The human body, however, is far more complicated than "eat less, exercise more."

#TheBiggestLoser #ElnaBaker #ThisAmericanLife

"He bought some bread from a woman whose last name was River, like River Phoenix." - ELNA BAKER, Last Man Standing, This American Life #TAL #ThisAmericanLife #LastManStanding #RiverPhoenix #HappyBirthdayRiverPhoenix #ElnaBaker

"Granted, it was Delaware, but still." - ELNA BAKER, Self-Improvement Kick, This American Life #TAL #ThisAmericanLife #SelfImprovementKick #NationalDelawareDay #ElnaBaker

"She was raised in suburban Maryland." - ELNA BAKER, The Weight of Words, This American Life #TAL #ThisAmericanLife #MarylandDay #ElnaBaker

"I talk to bartenders!" - ELNA BAKER, The Thing I'm getting Over, This American Life #TAL #ThisAmericanLife #NationalBartenderDay #ElnaBaker

"He is a terrible pirate." - ELNA BAKER, I Am Not A Pirate, This American Life #TAL #ThisAmericanLife #IAmNotAPirate #InternationalTalkLikeaPirateDay #ElnaBaker

"From the ridge where they say the UFO hovered, you can look out over the whole valley below." - ELNA BAKER, Last Man Standing, This American Life #TAL #ThisAmericanLife #LastManStanding #WorldUFODay #ElnaBaker