The Dietary Enemy Sitting at Your Table
15 Dec 2025 · 10 min
A single-episode podcast hosted by JJ Virgin combining sponsor ad reads with a personal discussion about dealing with social pressure around dietary restrictions. JJ shares a restaurant anecdote involving her mother, explains why 'a little bit' of trigger foods can cause serious reactions, and gives practical strategies (bring emergency food, check with the host, use an accountability partner, clarify your why) to navigate saboteurs and stay on a therapeutic diet. Several sponsors/products are promoted, including Wayfair, Earth Breeze, Venmo Stash, Wild Things Seafood, and Toyota.
Chapters
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Welcome to the Virgin diet lifestyle show with your host, celebrity nutrition and fitness.
Expert and New York times bestselling author, J.J. virgin.
So I'm thinking about this time I was in a restaurant with my mom, and my mom wanted to split. You know, we share stuff. So she wanted to split a Caesar salad. And I go, you know, mom, I don't eat. I don't eat cheese, and I don't eat croutons, but I especially don't eat dairy. It breaks my face out. And she's like, oh, well, you can have just a little bit. And I'm trying to explain to her that, no, I can't have a little bit. It's going to create this problem. So we decide on the mixed green salad. Settled. All right. Then we go through. And now we're going to go to dessert. Well, I never eat dessert anyway. But my mother is so funny. She'll never order dessert unless everyone agrees to eat it, even though you never get to eat a bite of it when she orders it because she has the fastest fork ever. But she's like, okay, well, we're gonna have a little cheesecake. I go, mom, we already went through this whole thing of how I don't eat dairy. And she's, oh, it's just a little bit. Food is the great pleasure of life. I can't believe it. You know what an example of someone trying to sabotage you. My mom's not doing it because she's mean. She just, in her mind, has connected food with pleasure and love for so long. And to me, she literally says, this is a great pleasure of life. I'm like, wow, that's the great pleasure of life. I don't know. I can think of some other things that I prefer a little better. But understand, people will do this either because they see you changing and doing better, and they're not doing it so they kind of want to do take you down, or just because they can't imagine it. So I'm going to share with you some of the strategies that I do to help me navigate the saboteurs. I will admit now at the point where I am like, it doesn't happen that much anymore, but it still does. So one of the first ones is when you go to a party and where you have no control over the food. Now here's a couple things that you can do. Number one, I always have something in my purse just in case. I always have one of my virgin diet bars stashed in my purse or eat a little bit before, check in with the hostess before. And this is where you want to share it. This way, don't like, act high and mighty or be a pain in the butt, but just say, you know what, I am on a special diet right now because I've been battling with some health issues and so there's certain things that I can't eat. And I just wanted to check in with you to let you know and to see if maybe I can even bring something, you know. So you're now engaging them as a partner here instead of at war with them. And by the way, in most cases, they're going to try to make something just, you know, specifically for you. Now you might get the one that I get. Like my mother said, well, a little bit isn't going to hurt you. And this is where you say, you know what? Actually a little bit is going to hurt me because I have an entire to that. And when I have a little bit of that, it creates a major problem for me. And the best example I could give to you is this is almost think of a food intolerance or food allergy, like being an alcoholic. And think of it, you would never suggest to an alcoholic to have a little tequila, right? So I want you to think the same thing here. Unfortunately, when I do this, it sets off a firestorm of inflammation. The next day, my joints hurt, my gut hurts. So I really can't have just a little bit. Now, how about the person says, you know, I made this just for you. A couple things you can say there. Like that is I am so. That is so sweet of you. That's so kind of you. But here's the. I'm so full right now after that amazing meal. Would you take package some up so I can take it home? Is that cool with you? That would be awesome. So there's another one. And you know, I had my community send out a bunch of strategies. I was like, what do you guys all do when this Happens. And most people would say, oh, you know, I've got this health issue, this is what I'm working on. But one that I really loved was someone who goes, oh my gosh, no thanks, I'm driving. So I thought that's a really cute way to offset it. But I think the less you make a deal out of it, the better off you are there. And then also the more clear you are on your why, the easier it will be for you. And again, what I love about going through either the sugar impact diet or the virgin diet is that it gives you time to read, reset your metabolic. You know, I was like thinking, really, your biochemistry is the best way to say it gives you a chance to do that because you're pulling out the foods that are creating an issue for you, you're establishing a new normal and then you're re challenging back to see how you handle them. And now you really know if something works for you or not. And when you get to that point, you know that just a little bit will hurt you. But if you're in that process still where you're still food addicted, you're still having those cravings and you're going to be in a situation like this. One of the other things that I would really recommend is, number one, having an accountability partner. Think of that person as your lifeline. If you need to text them, like go to the bathroom, text them, help, you know, get a little pep talk from that, that can help tremendously. But also being so clear on why you're doing this, why are you doing this, why is this important? Why now? Because when you have that why that why is like your armor against the food that could be taking you down. That why is going to help you change the game so you don't get tempted by it. And again, the final thing, and I mentioned it before, I always keep emergency food with me. I always, always do. The few times I haven't had it are the times I always get stuck. Because you never know if you're going to get stuck on a plane, you know, stuck in the car or at a party where there's really nothing you can eat. As long as you have emergency food in your purse, briefcase, pocket, you are always good. So that could be a virgin diet bar, that could be just some jerky or some nuts. I mean, it doesn't have to be much, anything to keep you through, take you through it. Because this really is about no excuses. Your body doesn't care if you ran out of food and had to eat the ho ho. All your body cares about is what you're giving it. That's the information. So when you cheat, you cheat yourself and you also start to break that belief that you have that you really can do this. And, and that's devastating over time. So this is really about you taking back the control, you having the power, you having strategies in place when you're going into those situations so that you can win and be successful for the long haul.
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