Because who doesn’t love podcasts?
Like nearly every other person, I’ve become obsessed with podcasts over the past few years. My all-time favorite is Girls Gotta Eat with hosts Ashley Hesseltine and Rayna Greenberg. Ashley and Rayna are best friends who met a few years ago and decided to talk about their lives in a podcast. If you want to learn more about health, relationships, and sex from women who have been there, done that, I think this is one of the best podcasts to enjoy. In celebration of all this podcast has done for me, here’s a beginner’s guide to Girls Gotta Eat for all the newbies out there.
Episode 101: How GGE Came to Be
In this episode, Ashley and Rayna look back on when they first met and decided to become business partners. This episode is a great one to start with for new listeners because they dive deep into the background of their friendship and how they had to really trust their intuitions when starting a podcast just a few short months after becoming friends.
Episode 11: How to Survive a Breakup (Like, Right Now)
Ashley and Rayna tell all when it comes to getting through a rough breakup. They share their own stories of heartbreak, how they got through it, and came out more confident on the other side. Both Ashley and Rayna stress the importance of being around friends. Neither one of the women knew what they would’ve done without their friends showing up for them in their times of need.
Episode 33: Let’s Talk About Sex ft. Dr. Ian Kerner
This episode is a good one to listen to to get a feel for how they talk about sex during the podcast. They welcome sex therapist and author Dr. Ian Kerner to Girls Gotta Eat to discuss all things sex. Unlike other podcasts that discuss sex, Rayna and Ashley approach the topic with real questions and provide actual researched answers from professionals. Girls Gotta Eat is one of my favorite podcasts because while they give accurate and helpful information on serious topics, they’re still cracking jokes and destigmatizing conversations about sex with how normal they treat it.
Episode 185: Tips and Texts for Creating Chemistry ft. Matthew Hussey
This episode gets into the tips and tricks for dating, an area Rayna and Ashley specialize in. For this episode, they host dating and relationship coach Matthew Hussey to discuss the role of chemistry in dating. A lot of this episode involves the do’s and don’ts of flirting and how different ways of wording texts lead to different types of relationships. Ashley and Rayna also discuss how to act on a first date and how to find out whether or not the person you’re going out with wants to continue the relationship.
Episode 76: You’re Speaking My (Love) Language
This episode is one of my absolute favorites: no guests, just Ashley and Rayna laughing together and telling stories about past dating experiences which, in my opinion, is the best kind of episode. They discuss the importance of knowing your and your partner’s love language. Ashley tells a story about how she played to her partner’s love language and it actually strengthened their relationship. This episode is full of laughs, making it really fun to listen to.
These episodes will help you get to know Ashley and Rayna and fall in love with Girls Gotta Eat. While this list is mostly comprised of silly, comedic episodes, Ashley and Rayna also have great episodes about more serious topics like abortion, choosing to be childfree, and what to do when you find out your partner is cheating on you. This podcast really does have an episode for everything, and I hope this list can guide you through the amazing work Ashley and Rayna have created.