Roxane Gay & Everand Originals: Built for This: The Quiet Strength of Powerlifting

Written by Julia Turshen and Roxane Gay

Narrated by Julia Turshen and Roxane Gay

Introducing Roxane Gay & Everand Originals, a new series from Everand and the beloved bestselling author of Hunger, Bad Feminist, and Opinions. For the series launch, renowned cookbook author Julia Turshen writes with moving honesty about her years of disordered eating and exercising and how she freed herself from the poisonous cultural conversations about weight, discipline, and how women should look.

For most of her life, Julia Turshen has been at war with her body. Raised in a family obsessed with counting calories, she measured self-worth by the numbers on her bathroom scale. As the New York Times bestselling author of beloved cookbooks, including Small Victories and Simply Julia, she loved food and celebrated its social and cultural value, yet like so many women, she was convinced her own value would increase if only she lost ten, twenty, or however many pounds she arbitrarily believed kept her from the best version of herself. She worked out obsessively, using exercise as one more way to maintain control over her body and unruly appetites.

Julia’s attitude began to shift during the pandemic when she took a break from writing and book promotion to work on a small local farm in upstate New York. Months spent outdoors, harvesting vegetables and carrying heavy bushels of produce, transformed her body, making it bigger yet stronger. To her surprise, Turshen reveled in her new physique; she reveled in the emotional freedom physical labor gave her to eat without harsh restrictions or self-recrimination. Finally, she was breaking free of the tyranny of unrealistic body image and disordered eating.

But when the farm job ended, Julia felt herself slipping back into destructive thought patterns. Determined not to resume her relentless internal battles, she looked for activities that might replicate the joy and strength building farm work gave her. And that is how she discovered powerlifting.

Through powerlifting — the precise and careful art of hoisting increasingly heavy weights — Turshen learned to listen to her body and what it needed, be it rest, water, another plate on the barbell, or a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. And she found a community of people, women especially, who embraced the unadultered joy of being physically strong. “I lift for my younger self and wear my singlet now to make up for all the times I wore a T-shirt over a swimsuit,” she writes, “I lift to show people what it looks like to opt out of trying to erase oneself. I lift to show that to myself.”

Both a critique of society’s obsession with weight and a beguiling memoir of self-acceptance, Built for This is a timely reminder that all bodies are powerful and deserve celebration.

 

• Language: English
• Publisher: Everand Originals
• Release date: Jan 24, 2024
• ISBN: 9781094469867

Julia Turshen

Julia Turshen, a New York Times bestselling cookbook author and teaches cooking classes most Sunday afternoons. Her latest cookbook, Simply Julia, a national bestseller, is available wherever books are sold. Julia is also the author of Now & Again (named the Best Cookbook of 2018 by Amazon and an NPR ‘Great Read’), Feed the Resistance (named the Best Cookbook of 2017 by Eater), and Small Victories (named one of the Best Cookbooks of 2016 by the New York Times and NPR). She also hosts and produces the IACP-nominated podcast called ‘Keep Calm & Cook On.’ Julia lives in the Hudson Valley with her spouse Grace and their pets.

Reviews for Roxane Gay & Everand Originals

[admaier · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Julia shared her story with such honesty and deep care, this was a gift to listen to and I'm very moved by this strong woman. THANK YOU

[D Dozier · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I lifted in my 30's but due injury and life changes. This make maybe I can try again in my 60's

[Quinn Lathrop · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Wonderful essay with feelings and descriptions that put you in the moment. Changed my perception of gyms and confidence.

[mayarapereira · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

this is such a beautiful and powerful piece of work. Made me feel seen, inspired and touch into so many important and difficult points.
Thank you once more Julia

[allisonelove999 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Wonderful and empowering, inspiring story! I resonated with the author's journey.

[R S · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I found this memoir to be very empowering. Coming from someone that is also not small and trying to embrace my body, I can relate to how strength training provided me with mental and body growth that I could never imagined in my younger years. I found myself cheering for her. I truly liked her style that this is her story and she empowered me to write my own. Amazing!

[penglow81 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

So inspiring from lots of different angles, from body image to finding things in life that make you feel strong. Highly recommended.

[sara.suseyi · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I have been on the anti-diet journey for a while now. It’s not easy. In fact it’s downright hard. Super hard. I also workout lifting heavy weights and it helps. But it’s not everything. This book moved me and helped me felt seen. I shed tears multiple times. Mostly because I feel less alone for listening to this. Thank you, Julia.

[Julia Snyder · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Just amazing and true about the oppression of diet culture and the freeing power of lifting weights and striving for something other than being thin.

[Liesl Jobson · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

What a heart-warming and inspiring tale of healing and hope for those of us who have been doused in shame and diet culture. The honesty, courage, creativity and vulnerability Julia puts on the page is an immense gift to her readers. Thank you!

[cjgaudenzi · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

The incredibly honest, vulnerable and revealing insight into one woman’s evolution from suffering the BS patriarchal construct that a smaller body is the goal to realizing the true power that comes instead from building and growing a foundation of strength. Well it’s liberating, inspiring, and I am feeling hope as a result of soaking up the content of this deeply personal
Journey.

[Liz Choi · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I’m inspired by listening to this. I’ll likely never power lift in my life, but there’s so much more. I especially cried during the part with Ann Marie, as I imagined a mirror witness for deep emotional support. Thank you for sharing your story!

[Miruna · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

powerful message, concise storytelling, liberating attitude towards body, strength and basic human needs.
"you are a beautiful horse" ♡

[Kristi Bee · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Honestly, I want to cry but also want a movie on this book as well. The empowerment of the author and realness is very heartwarming

[Rocio Santana · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

At first, the book seemed relatable, but it quickly devolved into constant complaints about social norms, which I found tiresome. I stopped midway through because it felt impractical and not aligned with my interests. I prefer books that offer practical insights rather than laden with personal biases and complaints.

[JessHorwitz · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Julia Turshen and Roxane Gay have a literary superpower we need more of in the world. Julia's account of her experience navigating her (ongoing) unwinding from diet culture is a must read for anyone who has a body.