October 27, 2022 • 44 mins
Have you ever thought that being raised in religion taught you to be disconnected from your body? My next guest shares how disconnected she was to her body when she started learning about nutrition and recognized how out of touch she was. This was part of why she had disordered eating. She noticed that she felt she couldn't trust her body and what it was telling her. It didn't feel safe to her in her body was a huge realization.
Join me today as I sit down with Rebecca Hambright as she shares her journey of going through her religious upbringing in the Southern Baptist Church. Her father had left their religion when she was in her youth and she watched the division in created within her home. In their faith, divorce was never an option. Later she goes to a Christian university which she struggled with especially the shame that came there.
Rebecca shares that confusion was her overall feeling as she started to really explore who she was.
Stepping out of the environment of the Christian school assisted her in really beginning her deconstruction out of her religion, especially as she started to have more of a relationship with herself.
Join us in the conversation as Rebecca shares more about her journey with health, nutrition and connecting more with her body and what it wanted.
Rebecca Hambright MS, RDN is a registered dietitian nutritionist at Wise Heart Nutrition.
Connect with Rebecca by visiting her website at: http://www.wiseheartnutrition.com/ or follow them on IG @WiseHeart_Nutrition
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October 30th at 10am MST
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Unknown (00:01):
Have you ever considered that by being raised
in Christianity, the you wereconditioned and taught how to be
so disconnected from your bodythat you actually didn't even
know what your body wanted,especially when it came to
nutrition and how you ate. Mynext guest dives into this, and
it's quite beautiful. And someof the questions that she sat
in, that showed and revealed toher how disconnected she was,
(00:24):
before we dive into thisinterview, however, I wanted to
make sure that you are aware ofa call that I have a webinar
actually that's coming upOctober 30, at 10am, Mountain
Standard Time, this is somethingthat is for those of you who are
really ready to uplevel. Forthose that are wanting to be
(00:45):
further connected and deeperconnected to that place in
sight, that inner guru thatresides within every single one
of us. Often, when we step outof religion, we're kind of in
that floundering place of like,what, what do I feel like is
true? Where's my intuition? Howdo I tap into that inner wisdom
that I know that I think Ipossess, but I'm not quite sure.
(01:07):
One morning as I was sitting ina meditation, I received this
really fascinating and beautifuldownload from spirit from God
that showed how to activate theinner guru. So in this call,
we're actually going to movethrough a few pieces with how to
deconstruct even further some ofthose barriers that you may be
(01:27):
currently holding, that arepreventing you from allowing for
that intuition that that energyof God source to come in. And
then we're going to move througha process of activating the
inner guru that is extremelypowerful. So this is really for
those of you that are ready tomove to the next level in your
life, then we'll walk through afew other pieces with how to
(01:49):
actually work with this on a dayto day basis. And you are going
to get access to one of my oneof my content that I've created
for free. So and then I have areally exciting announcement and
exclusive announcement to giveto those that are part of this
call. So if you're feeling thecall, head to my website, Amanda
joy loveland.com, forward slashactivation. And this really is
(02:13):
for all of you that arelistening to this podcast now.
And for those that are reallyready to take full
accountability and radicalaccountability of your life and
really up level and have thelife that you're really desiring
had to my website, Amandaloveland.com. Forward slash
activation and secure your spottoday for October 30. It's a
(02:33):
Sunday at 10am. And withoutfurther ado, let's dive into the
interview with Rebecca. Well,welcome, Rebecca. I'm really
excited to be sitting down withyou today. Thank you for joining
me and saying yes to thispodcast.
Thanks so much for having me.
I'm really excited to be heretoo.
Well, I love zoom, because wecan connect, you know, you're in
(02:53):
North Carolina, I'm in Utah,it's kind of kind of awesome.
Yeah. Yeah, that's beautiful. Sowhat made you want to reach out
and share your story.
Um, I grew up in the southern Igrew up in the Southern Baptist
Church. I have since left. Anddefinitely went through a
(03:19):
process of deconstructing and Ijust really love connecting to
others who went through quite aprocess to constructing and
living here in the south, we geta lot of people who are still
in, and it's not as commonplaceto have these types of
conversations like in person inmy everyday life. Yeah. I found
(03:43):
your podcast is that it waswonderful, just an opportunity
for people to share theirstories and connect with others.
And it really spoke to me.
That's beautiful. And here weare. So did you grow up in North
Carolina then? Yep.
So that's awesome. I know when Ilived in, I lived in Alabama for
a time and being born and raisedin Utah that was you know, high
(04:05):
Christianity, high Mormonreligion. And then moving out to
Alabama. I was like, holy cow.
This is a whole differentballgame out here with the Bible
Belt. Yeah, like wow. So tell usa little bit for those that
don't know much about what wasnow what was the religion you
were in? Southern Baptistscoming back to Southern Baptist,
what Christianity andChristianity will you tell us a
(04:25):
little bit about, like what thebase core beliefs are with that,
that religion.
I would say the core belief isthat we are all born sinners,
and that we need Jesus and Godto save us so that we can go to
heaven. And basically, withinthat you have to accept that you
(04:47):
are pure evil and that you haveto outsource to some other
person for all of your needs.
Heavy emphasis on evangelicalismand converting others missionary
work,okay. How long are the missions?
It's really personal. It's notrequired or anything. It's just
(05:10):
like heavily applauded forpeople who do go on any mission
trips. My grandparents wereactually missionaries for their
entire lives and that, like myfamily was just very much
involved.
Yeah. Oh, interesting. So youwere born and raised within this
religion. So tell us a littlebit about that. How was that
(05:30):
growing up for you?
As probably other people withreligious trauma can relate, I
don't have a lot of memories ofmy childhood. It's hard to reach
back there and put myself backin like, what my headspace was
(05:50):
as a child. I do remember, likesome feelings of just noticing
the performance aspect of itall. Being in church, it was
like, who raises their hands thehighest who has the best. Like,
Amen. You know, when thepreacher is talking and who
(06:11):
shows up to church, theearliest, who stays the latest,
I remember noticing thoseaspects and feeling like this
doesn't quite sit right with me.
But every time that I would havethoughts that maybe something's
wrong here, I would quicklyfollow it up with like, that's
very sinful. I'm so sorry, God,you know, the works. My other
experiences whether inchildhood? I really, overall,
(06:35):
you had a hard time with it as achild, is that what I'm hearing?
Yeah, I would say like lookingback, it never felt completely
right or comfortable to me, butI just had no way to voice that.
(06:56):
Or even accept it. And myself.
Yeah. So are your is your familystill in the religion.
Um, my father left when I was inhigh school, which was a very
confusing experience, because hejust like, all of a sudden just
stopped and never told anyoneand I was expected to continue
on going to church and all theother church activities with my
(07:18):
mom and my sister. Like nothinghad happened. My mom is still
very much believes.
Grandparents, obviously stillbelieve my older sisters, not so
much my younger sister. I thinkshe's in the process of
deconstructing. Yeah, I don'tbring it up very often.
(07:43):
I know that's always such a hardtopic, right? Because when
you're talking about your faith,that's such a personal piece. So
in in your religion, why we'reWhy would people like what was
the eternal promise for them tolike, for people to come in with
your grandparents beingmissionaries? I'm kind of
curious because I don't knowmuch about it. So what was like
the what would they gain? Whatwas the purpose? Why would they
(08:03):
want to be a part of thatreligion,
so that you can go to heaven,okay. If you're not saved,
through Jesus, and if you're notbaptized in the church, you
can't go to heaven. You can'thave your eternal glory,
otherwise, you would besentenced to eternal hell, and
they very much preach the fireand brimstone suffering story.
(08:28):
Interesting. So tell us aboutyour deconstruction, like, how
when did you start? I knowyou've kind of mentioned that
you started. As a young kid,you're starting to ask those
questions and kind of like, Oh,crap, I'm sorry, God, that I had
those questions. Yeah. When wasthe start of like your
unraveling.
I think in high school, Istarted to notice how religion
(08:53):
could have a harmful effect. Myparents had a quite tumultuous
relationship, I would call itemotionally mentally abusive. It
was a weird time growing up inmy household. And then as I
said, my father just abruptlyleft and then the entire family
dynamic changed, and no one knewwhat was going on. And I just
(09:13):
witnessed my mother being just,like emotionally tortured on an
everyday basis, but absolutelycould not leave. Because divorce
was a major sin. And it wasconfusing to me why she wasn't
able to choose herself, or evenlike choose myself and my
(09:35):
younger sister who were stillliving at home at the time
because we were, you know, kindof unwilling participants,
right.
You're kind of like thebystanders that are going along
for the ride.
Yeah. And then I was talked intogoing to a small, private
Christian University by my momand my grandma Parents, and I
(10:00):
just absolutely it was not theplace that I was supposed to be.
I felt like I had to try so hardto fit in with the like, good,
quote unquote, good people. AndI just did it. And then I
(10:22):
started hanging out with some ofthe quote unquote, bad people
who drank and it was like a drytown or dry county or something.
I don't even remember how wewould even get alcohol, but we
would drink and people wouldsmoke and you know, all the
terrible, horrible bad things.
And I thought those people weremy friends, but I actually ended
(10:43):
up experiencing a lot of directharm from them. very traumatic
things, and a lot of like sexualshame. Even for people who I
consider to be like, my bestfriends there would participate
in shaming me for things that Iknew they were also actively
(11:05):
doing. And it was confusing, andit was traumatic. And I was just
like, I would go to still go tochurch every Sunday, and just be
so confused. I bag confusion waslike the overall feeling like I
can't like I'm trying so hard toget right. But I keep messing up
(11:30):
every time. And I keep showingup. But I don't feel welcome
here. And even in my everydaylife, it's made clear to me that
I'm not fitting in. Justconfusion. Yeah. So I decided to
I had to get out of that school,it just wasn't the right
environment. For me. I went to adifferent university. And that
(11:54):
was probably the more like realstart of deconstructing just
being out of that environment. Ichose to go into nutrition as a
major. And I think at the time,I didn't put much stock in that
choice. But I thinkunfortunately, my lifetime of
(12:18):
being stripped really of like mypersonal identity and being told
to not have a connection to selfthat your body is sinful and
dangerous, only lead you to apath of destruction. Like really
set me up for disordered eating.
And then in the nutrition major,I was surrounded in classes
(12:42):
every day with like, here's aframework of all the rules to
follow, so that you can eathealthy. And I was like
transitioning out of oneframework and ideology. And I
sort of just kind of fit rightinto a new framework and
ideology without ever evenstopping to consider my own
identity. Or even like how I wasexperiencing it in my body.
(13:05):
I feel like that happens often,people will leave one religion
and then they'll move intosomething else that has a
similar construct. Here's whatyou do to get where we you know,
where we want you to go.
Yeah, exactly. I think a lot ofpeople and religion as well just
have that specific experience oflike, disordered eating, being
(13:29):
just so disconnected from yourbody. It's like the foundation
is laid? Yeah, Ithink it depends a lot on
because I feel like allreligions have a little bit of a
different twist on that, wherethe Christiania like you're
saying, at the fundamental baseof it is that you're that you
know, man is a natural sinner,or natural enemy to God. And so
in that sense, we ought weinstantly come in thinking,
(13:52):
Okay, well, we're sinners. Butthat body piece I know, in
Mormonism, we have what's calledthe word of wisdom with how
we're supposed to follow inorder to have the healthiest
kind of body thing but it issomething that, you know, the
religion tells you to follow acertain, a certain piece, that's
why Mormons don't have coffee,drink, they don't do certain
things like that. But notbecause it's what feels good to
(14:16):
their body, it's because they'rebeing told what they should put
in their body. So it'sdefinitely an interesting piece
of that disconnection thatyou're speaking to. Because
you're so conditioned to lookoutside of yourself for answers
that we don't know how to lookinside. Meanwhile, in most
Christianity, you have the HolySpirit right the teacher that is
there that's always been withyou that continues to be with
(14:39):
you and they religions justlabeled as the Holy Ghost or
Holy Spirit when all realityit's just your inner your inner
guide your intuition. Yeah, thatnever leaves you but it's so
conditioned that only throughthis you know, religion, do you
do you get this? Yeah, I lovewhat you're what you're speaking
on. So you're doing rich Ifnutrition and then notice that
(15:00):
you're starting to go into kindof another paradigm.
Well, it's funny because Ididn't notice. Oh, yeah, looking
back, I mean, hindsight is 2020.
But and at the time, I had noidea that they could be
connected, or I mean, I justreally wasn't present. I had no
tools had no awareness of how tobe present. In my body and my
(15:22):
experience. Throughout my life,I have this pattern of not being
able to name what I'm goingthrough until like, a year
later, when I can like, lookback and be like, Oh, I was
miserable. But at the time, Ithink, if you had asked me like,
Do you have a disorderedrelationship with food? I'd be
(15:42):
like, No, I have the bestrelationship with food. I do all
the right things. I know aboutall the nutrients, I drink three
and a half liters of water perday, which is an extra liter,
just in case, I get my fiveservings of vegetables in and I
eat 50 grams of fiber. And so Iwas not aware. Yeah. So what
(16:03):
shifted? I think I first heardthe phrase, listen to your body.
I can't remember where, in whatcontext, I heard that phrase.
It's become more popular. Ithink over the years, I'm glad
it has. But I heard that phrase,listen to your body. And even
(16:25):
though I was very much like, inmy deconstruction phase, my
initial reaction was like, shutdown. That's wrong. That can't
be right. Your body is like yourbody's trying to trick you. So I
couldn't even ask like, howcould you connect to your body
(16:49):
listen to your body because Iwas so shut down at the initial
like acceptance of it. I think Ican't really pinpoint like
certain events or times, butprobably over the process of a
year, I was maybe re introducedto that topic saw more on social
(17:12):
media started to feel moreaccepting towards it feel a
little bit more like open tocuriosity about it. I think also
when I was in undergrad, thebody positivity movement was
taking more space on socialmedia. And I'm so I think there
was just more of that coming upin my everyday life. Yeah, just
(17:38):
being on my phone.
And after I love that it reallythat first thought of listening
to your body created thatquestion within you. And I feel
like when we have theopportunity to ask or see
something that just makes usquestion like, Wait, is this
this feels? Maybe this is true?
And then that question gets tounravel. And then oftentimes, it
(18:00):
will unravel some deeper pieceswithin us that we didn't realize
started from this, this firsttiny little thing.
Yeah, I think if the initialshutdown, or the initial
reaction is just like, shut downto the question, no, no,
Curiosity is allowed. Therecan't be any other good
(18:20):
questions. But once we allow thefirst answer to be like, maybe,
then it's so great, becauseother questions are allowed to
come in? Yeah. How would thathappen? Do I care about that
happening? Like, what are thesteps? You know, what does that
feel like?
Yeah, I love I love questionsthat make you think because then
(18:41):
it just, it does exactly whatyou're talking about. It's like,
oh, maybe I do like this thing.
And maybe I don't. So as you'rekind of moving through, you're
going and getting your degree.
At what point do you decide,hey, I'm just done.
Ah, I found out that the antidiet world exists. Health at
Every Size, weight inclusivityi. And once I found that I was
(19:06):
like, I just felt such a hugesense of relief. It felt like
the biggest sigh ever. And Iknew that I could never go back
to just following thetraditional paradigm of like,
eat this not that this food wasgood as soon as bad. It felt
like finally, I didn't have tohave all the answers. Like maybe
(19:29):
there was a way that like Icould just exist and other
people could just exist, likehow we are in our bodies, and
not always have to be fightingagainst our own bodies and our
own intuition.
And that created that like thatconnection within within your
religion.
(19:51):
Could you rephrase the question?
Well, you're talking about thenutrition piece and the anti
like maybe there isn't a dietfor that people should be the
anti diet movement and thenright recognizing you can ask
yourself and create your ownparadigms. So I'm so I'm
assuming that associated withyour religious beliefs too, that
you've been asking that questionover here about the body
associated with religion. Andthat's kind of what you were
(20:12):
like you kind of because I wasasking what, what was the piece
for you to be like, I'm done.
I'm not, I'm no longer part ofthis religion, I'm out. Was that
it?
Um, it's it's hard to pinpointan exact moment event. I think
(20:34):
it happened slowly. I was, whenI first left the Christian
University, I just knew that Ineeded like, time and space, I
still continued to go to churchoff and on for a while, because
I would not go for a while, andthen I'd feel guilty. And then
(20:55):
I'd go back and still feel like,I just don't know. Like, I just
don't know if I feel like I fitin here. If I feel welcomed. And
I think the more I exploredconnection with my own mind and
body, the more I was open toexploring that, like, I didn't
(21:18):
need to outsource. Forfulfilling my needs for
connecting to others, or justmyself. I was also really lucky
that the university Itransferred to was really,
really big on outdoors. It wasin the mountains, it was lovely.
(21:40):
I just started spending so muchmore time outdoors and felt more
sanctity, being in nature than Iever had felt in a church. Oh,
yeah.
I think a lot of us joke aroundabout you know, you'll see
(22:02):
pictures. Least I know I do it.
I have friends that do it. It'slike, oh, here, I'm in my church
today. And it's up in themountains. Because you do you
feel so connected to God, orwhatever your higher source is,
when you're in nature, andsometimes a lot deeper than
within the construct of a churchbuilding.
Yes, it just felt more it feltmore natural, more organic for
(22:24):
like me to connect to nature isnature's ever present. It's
powerful. And it's going tosurvive much longer than me. And
it's been here a lot longerbefore me. It wasn't someone
standing over me telling methese are the things that you
(22:45):
need to do. This is okay, thisis not okay. It was just me just
beingand experiencing life and what
felt true to you. And I thinkthat's absolutely beautiful. How
did your family react when youdecided that you were done? How
would you loveit was not happy. I kind of like
trickled that informationtowards her. At first I was
(23:06):
like, I don't know. And then itwas I just don't want to talk
about it. And finally, ourrelationship got to such a place
that I just felt there was notruth in it. There was no room
for me to be authentically who Iwas if I wasn't fitting like her
(23:27):
mold or idea of what I shouldbe. So I just finally had to cut
it off. And one thing that wasimportant, I wrote her a letter,
one thing that was important tome to include in that letter, I
was like, I am not Christian. Idon't want to talk about it.
That's not my spirituality, likeI'm pursuing something else. And
(23:49):
like, that helps you feel goodto you. You do that, but like, I
don't want that to ever be apart of our relationship
anymore. Because she wouldcontinually like, try to get me
to go back to church or like,listen to this song. so
inspirational. Luckily, we'vebeen able to reform a healthier
(24:11):
relationship with moreboundaries, and that boundary is
intact. Oh, that'sbeautiful. That's good. That's
awesome that you're able tostate the boundary and that
she's respecting it. Yeah, I'msure you have to remind. You
probably had to remind you of ita few times.
You know, so far I haven't sawthat. So good. Yeah, we it took
(24:34):
it was almost like two years ofseparation. And so I think we're
both just kind of happy to beback in each other's lives in a
more peaceful way. So it hasn'tcome back up yet.
Well, that's beautiful. Andunfortunately, I feel like that
happens. As we're unwinding andkind of uncoupling out of
religion. Oftentimes, it's alsouncoupling out of familiar
(24:57):
relationships too, that arechoosing to stay in because
they're so deep into the dogmaand to the practice of whatever
their beliefs are, that it ispart of the salvation of their
children, and it's challenging.
And so it is it can take awhile.
Yeah, I understand that. A lotof the ways that I felt pushed
(25:17):
by her was it was more out ofher feeling like it was her duty
or Yeah, herfrom a place of love. Really?
Yeah. I mean, she knows tryingto make
sure I get to heaven. But yeah,I don't know. Maybe I don't want
to go to have that happen.
Maybe there is no such thing asheaven or hell, what if what had
(25:42):
happened in hell or both isamazing.
knows, knows. Yeah, I think I'mactually opening myself up to
deconstructing and feeling moreconnection with my own mind and
body. And that coupling thatwith like, entering the anti
(26:04):
diet world, I was a little bitmore primed, ready to be able to
receive it, because I hadalready confronted the
everything that I was raisedwith was kind of a lie. And
doesn't fit for me. And thenconfronting eight IDI, it was
like, a lot of what traditionalnutrition schooling is based on
(26:27):
doesn't apply to me. And it'sprobably not true. So in that
way, it was a little bit easierto digest that I was a little
bit more open to everything notbeing what it seems.
Right? Everything being what itseems. So question, Is this for
(26:48):
me or not? So tell us a littlebit more about your passion with
nutrition? Because clearly youhave a passion with it? Yes. So
tell us a little bit more. Yeah.
And that connection a littledeeper, because I know, when you
reached out, we had talked aboutthat a little bit with that
connection within religion. AndI know you spoke to it. But is
there another piece here of whyyou're so passionate about it?
And that connection withinwithin your foundation? And I do
(27:10):
love I love that you brought upthat actually me asking those
questions probably helped me togo into this space in my life.
And now you're here, and it'ssomething new. Sounds like you
deeply love. Yeah. So there's alot of beauty in that.
I do. I think there's a lot ofbeauty in questioning
everything. Yeah. I think that'sjust a big value of mine. And
(27:33):
something I really bring into mywork. A lot of people come to me
just like, years upon years ofjust like I dieted, and then I
fell off the diet and then die.
And then I had to go back todieting, and it's like, well,
what if like, you've never hadthe diet in the first place?
Like, what if your body is justokay as it is? And that's a
really hard question. In thissociety that we live. Yeah. But
(27:57):
yeah, I just child gentlychallenge and encourage others
to invite just like questioningand curiosity to everything
about the relationship with foodand body. The way that our
society is set up towards themdoesn't allow for much
(28:23):
questioning because someone elseis making money off of you
buying into all the diets,right? All of the uni, this
superfood, and you need both atthe latest and greatest thing.
Well, and it's reallyfascinating. When you look back
at our history, you know, wewent from being farmers and
(28:43):
eating off the earth to thengoing into like, more of that in
the 50s. Right? 50s 60s When didTV dinners start coming out and
all like the processed foods,and then it went into the fad
diets of, you know, Slim Fastand that day, and a lot more. So
it's like, we went for morewhole foods and like nutrition
that came from the earth toprocess process, process
process, diet, diet, diet diet,because your body's reacting to
(29:05):
this crap you're putting in andnot really liking it. And then
you know, I find myself oftengetting sometimes, you know, you
get into the oh, I want to, I'mfeeling like crap. So I want to
do something and it's like, oh,what what things should I tap
into now? Because there's somany different fads out there.
There's the Keto. And thenthere's the plant based diets
(29:26):
and then there's, you know, thei There's so many different
pieces. So I love that you'respeaking to the what if there
wasn't a diet? You know, so,let's say that I'm coming to you
as a client. How would whatwould How does that work? Like,
hey, I'm really kind of feelingmy body just feels shitty. But I
(29:47):
don't really want to do a dietbut I know I need to eat
cleaner. I'd like to lose someweight because it feels heavy.
feels heavier right now. Well,what would that how would that
what would that look like?
I I would first ask you whatyour values are. My love that,
and how that can be integral toyour relationship with food and
(30:12):
body. And then I would ask you,why do you need to lose weight?
And just that usually takes awhile to explore. Yeah? And what
if you didn't? And what if youjust allow your body to be the
way it is? And if your bodychanges in response to
(30:37):
nourishment, does that mean thatneeded to change to be happy and
function? Well?
I love those questions.
And in question like, What Doeseating clean mean? What does?
(30:58):
What does keto mean data,there's so much noise, there's
so much information, quote,unquote, information out there
so much. But no information willever be as important as what is
coming from within you what yourbody is telling you. If you're
hungry, if you're full, ifyou're seeking a sweet snack, if
(31:22):
you're seeking like a nutrientdense food, like your body is
trying its best to take care ofyou. And if you could be its
teammate, it will give you allthe information that you need,
you don't necessarily need tooutsource all of your needs to
someone else. Because someoneelse is probably just trying to
(31:44):
sell you unfortunately, that'susually the case. And again, you
know, it's similar to anybody onthis planet that is creating a
livelihood off of what we'redoing. It does come from a place
even within religion, even withyour mom, right? It comes from
this place of, of desire to wantto better the world desire to
(32:07):
want to create something thatwould benefit people. And you
know, it does come from thatplace. And so I, I, I firmly
believe I mean, the thing thatyou do in your life as far as
your career, what I do, like weall have our motivations as far
as what we do feel like we bringto the world. And in that it's
beautiful. And then I love thatyou're bringing in that you
(32:29):
know, but there is a lot ofnoise. So how can you get quiet
enough to go you know what, thisis an alignment for me. And
that's where I want to go? Thatfeels really good in my body, my
mind my spirit to go that to gothat path? Yeah, yeah, that
isn't that lot of noise.
Yeah, that's really the majorityof work with clients is like
(32:51):
turning down a noise on diet,culture and everything out
there. And reconnecting to yourbody's inherent wisdom. We're
all born as babies with theability to regulate and
interpret hunger, fullness,everything, and we need to
(33:14):
reclaim and rebuild a trustingrelationship with our body. And
it will provide you with thatwisdom that already has it
within within you. I mean, it'sbeen formed over 1000s of years
through ancestors and your bodyhas a lot. Yeah, a lot of
wisdom.
(33:35):
Yeah, it really does. Well, andwe unfortunately we do live in a
society to for whatever reason,whatever the motivations, are,
we when we're born, like yousaid, we do have all this
innateness with knowing what ourphysical body needs, but even
with our connection to spiritsource, or our abilities to see
and hear. I mean, you'll oftenhave babies and kids that can
(33:58):
see spirits and can seedifferent themes. But then
there's the conditioning thatstarts happening with the
familiar system of the family,with the tribal system of the
culture and the environment. Andthen the world stage as far as
what we're all choosing intothat does start to increase the
noise of this is what I'msupposed to do that's outside of
me versus what do I feel so Iyeah, getting back to those
(34:21):
basics is is is is essential.
And I think it's reallybeautiful that you're connecting
those dots with religion andwith Christianity in in your,
you know, your upbringing ofseeing how disassociated you
were, that led you to thenasking these questions and then
finding this really beautifulAvenue within within nutrition.
And for you when you wereleaving, and let's What was the
(34:44):
thing that you felt like was themost beneficial for you at the
time what was really helpful foryou as you were stepping out as
you were leaving as you werestarting to deprogram
Hmm, what was the most importantor helpful?
Yeah, what was? Yeah, what washelpful at the time? Therapy?
(35:09):
Yeah,why didn't we really do it's
pretty integral to being able tofeel safe in my body? Yeah. That
was that was another big pieceof it is that I'd experienced a
lot of direct harm to my bodyfrom my religious peers, it
didn't feel safe to be in mybody. Being able to reconnect to
safety, here in my physicalhome, was the first step.
(35:37):
Therapy, a lot of just like,intentional, like mindfulness
stillness in my life.
I think one of the benefits thatreligion gave me was kind of
(36:01):
like an emotional catharsis andredefining what that would look
like in my life. So I was ableto create more like, intentional
genuine relationships withpeople by having like, genuine
emotional conversations. Thatwas a form of emotional
(36:23):
processing and catharsis for me.
And then being out in nature,was another form of emotional
processing therapy. Finding waysto access my emotions, in my
thoughts in my own body. Outsideof church,
(36:50):
yeah, all of those we think arebeautiful. What would be
something that for those thatare listening, that are
struggling, that are moving outof religion, but they have a lot
of fear they have, they're just,they're just feeling really
alone? What is something thatyou you would love to offer as
advice ofjust a thought? It's scary to
open yourself up to questioningthat everything is not as it
(37:18):
seems. And that can be confusingin and of itself. discovering
what else is out there. Yeah. Ithink what I can offer is
empathy. It is scary, toquestion everything. But in the
(37:54):
process of questioningeverything around you, the
systems that we live in, it'sreally just leading you back
home to questioning like, who amI? What are my values? What what
do I really care about? Whatmakes me enjoy my experience in
(38:19):
life and be able to do that?
Questioning is, it's hard atfirst, and then as you're able
to bring it back around tocoming home to yourself, it
starts to feel more comfortable.
Anything?
(38:39):
Oh, yeah, for sure. Oh, that'sbeautiful. So you have your
degree in nutrition?
Is that correct? Yeah, I haveundergrad and master's degree.
Yeah.
Good for you. So what what doyou what do you do with your
degree, I assume that's what youdo for a living?
Yeah. One on one, nutritioncounseling, kind of like this
via zoom. And I help peoplebreak out of diet culture,
(39:07):
connect to intuitive eating,which is really to say connect
to yourself, and your own body'scues, and what feels good in
your body. And really, what Itell my clients is, I believe
that you already have theanswers and solutions within you
and I'm, I'm a reflection toolfor you. So I might ask some
(39:29):
helpful questions. But really,it's more of like, what
questions do you have?
Oh, that's awesome. Tell us alittle bit about some successes
that you've had when you workwith clients. What do you find
seems to be the thing that like,you know, you've gotten to that
place with them when whathappens?
I think when they're able tocompletely redefine what health
(39:54):
means to them. I connect valuesto On several dimensions of
health outside of just physicalhealth, spiritual, emotional
mental community, how do yourvalues line up with that? And
what does that look like topractice all those dimensions of
(40:14):
health on a daily basis? And ofcourse, maybe starting with all
of those at once. It'soverwhelming. What's it look
like to practice like onedimension of health and your
life each day? It's completelybased on you, your values, what
feels good to you, and not anyof the outside noise?
I love that. That's beautiful.
So if someone wanted to get intouch with you, how would they
(40:36):
do that?
You can find me on the websiteat wise heart nutrition.
wise, wise heart.
Yes. For face heart nutrition.
I'll make sure and put that inthe show notes.
We have an Instagram also whystart nutrition? Awesome. And a
Facebook? Cool, all the samething?
(40:56):
So do you worry is that yourcompany you work with another
company?
Why start nutrition is a privatepractice group of three
dieticians it's me and two otherpractitioners. So
make sure then that the requestswork with Rebecca.
Yeah, especially if you're haveexperienced deconstructing
religion, and how that hasforced you to be disconnected
(41:18):
from your body.
Yeah, I love that. That'sbeautiful. Is there anything
else you'd like to share beforewe wrap up?
Let's see. I don't think so.
I've I've really enjoyed thisjust being able to have like
genuine conversations withpeople with similar experiences.
It's nice. Yeah,I know. It is nice. It's nice to
(41:40):
know that there's a growingpopulation of us. Yeah, they're
all deconstructing and sippingout. Yeah, I think it's
beautiful that you found this,this connection with your body
that you didn't have before. AndI think that's quite quite
profound. So thank you forsharing that with us and, and
sharing some time with us todayand, and sharing some of your
(42:01):
story. It's beautiful.
Thank you. Appreciate that.
Wasn't that a beautifulinterview. And it's really
interesting just to listen toother people's stories and other
people's stories with differentreligions, and how she's
navigated this space within herand now created that to be able
to have empathy and create aspace for other people to step
(42:24):
into, especially with thatnutrition piece, which is huge.
So head over to her website,I'll put it down below in the
show notes, if you're interestedin working with Rebecca. And
again, go secure your spottoday, Amanda loveland.com, Ford
slash activation, the pricingwill be going up here soon. So
you'll want to secure it now.
And again, we'll be activatingthat inner guru, we'll be
(42:46):
walking through how to unwindpieces that may be preventing
you from stepping more into yourgifts and your knowing, and it's
going to be a powerful call. SoI'm excited to step in the space
for those that fill, fill thecall and are ready to uplevel.
Sunday, October 30 at 10amMountain Standard Time, Amanda
joy loveland.com forward slashactivation. And again, I say
(43:08):
this every time because I thinkthat's one of the messages that
is just always so profound to methat while we feel that we are
alone, and there's truth inthat, because only you know what
your experience is that you'regoing through. There is a lot of
people that can understand andhave empathy because we're going
through similar places, similarthings that was unwinding and
(43:31):
deconstructing out of religion.
So please know that you're notalone. If you're in a place in
your life, that you're reallystruggling. Please reach out to
someone reach out and just talknine times out of 10 just
speaking and talking and Rebeccatouched on that that therapy was
really helpful for so if you'refeeling like you need something,
(43:52):
maybe it's just a friend to talkto a therapist. Go up in the
mountains, have a conversationwith God in the mountains and
know that you're not alone. Withthat sending you so much love.
Have a beautiful day.
Have you ever considered that by being raised
in Christianity, the you wereconditioned and taught how to be
so disconnected from your bodythat you actually didn't even
know what your body wanted,especially when it came to
nutrition and how you ate. Mynext guest dives into this, and
it's quite beautiful. And someof the questions that she sat
in, that showed and revealed toher how disconnected she was,
(00:24):
before we dive into thisinterview, however, I wanted to
make sure that you are aware ofa call that I have a webinar
actually that's coming upOctober 30, at 10am, Mountain
Standard Time, this is somethingthat is for those of you who are
really ready to uplevel. Forthose that are wanting to be
(00:45):
further connected and deeperconnected to that place in
sight, that inner guru thatresides within every single one
of us. Often, when we step outof religion, we're kind of in
that floundering place of like,what, what do I feel like is
true? Where's my intuition? Howdo I tap into that inner wisdom
that I know that I think Ipossess, but I'm not quite sure.
(01:07):
One morning as I was sitting ina meditation, I received this
really fascinating and beautifuldownload from spirit from God
that showed how to activate theinner guru. So in this call,
we're actually going to movethrough a few pieces with how to
deconstruct even further some ofthose barriers that you may be
(01:27):
currently holding, that arepreventing you from allowing for
that intuition that that energyof God source to come in. And
then we're going to move througha process of activating the
inner guru that is extremelypowerful. So this is really for
those of you that are ready tomove to the next level in your
life, then we'll walk through afew other pieces with how to
(01:49):
actually work with this on a dayto day basis. And you are going
to get access to one of my oneof my content that I've created
for free. So and then I have areally exciting announcement and
exclusive announcement to giveto those that are part of this
call. So if you're feeling thecall, head to my website, Amanda
joy loveland.com, forward slashactivation. And this really is
(02:13):
for all of you that arelistening to this podcast now.
And for those that are reallyready to take full
accountability and radicalaccountability of your life and
really up level and have thelife that you're really desiring
had to my website, Amandaloveland.com. Forward slash
activation and secure your spottoday for October 30. It's a
(02:33):
Sunday at 10am. And withoutfurther ado, let's dive into the
interview with Rebecca. Well,welcome, Rebecca. I'm really
excited to be sitting down withyou today. Thank you for joining
me and saying yes to thispodcast.
Thanks so much for having me.
I'm really excited to be heretoo.
Well, I love zoom, because wecan connect, you know, you're in
(02:53):
North Carolina, I'm in Utah,it's kind of kind of awesome.
Yeah. Yeah, that's beautiful. Sowhat made you want to reach out
and share your story.
Um, I grew up in the southern Igrew up in the Southern Baptist
Church. I have since left. Anddefinitely went through a
(03:19):
process of deconstructing and Ijust really love connecting to
others who went through quite aprocess to constructing and
living here in the south, we geta lot of people who are still
in, and it's not as commonplaceto have these types of
conversations like in person inmy everyday life. Yeah. I found
(03:43):
your podcast is that it waswonderful, just an opportunity
for people to share theirstories and connect with others.
And it really spoke to me.
That's beautiful. And here weare. So did you grow up in North
Carolina then? Yep.
So that's awesome. I know when Ilived in, I lived in Alabama for
a time and being born and raisedin Utah that was you know, high
(04:05):
Christianity, high Mormonreligion. And then moving out to
Alabama. I was like, holy cow.
This is a whole differentballgame out here with the Bible
Belt. Yeah, like wow. So tell usa little bit for those that
don't know much about what wasnow what was the religion you
were in? Southern Baptistscoming back to Southern Baptist,
what Christianity andChristianity will you tell us a
(04:25):
little bit about, like what thebase core beliefs are with that,
that religion.
I would say the core belief isthat we are all born sinners,
and that we need Jesus and Godto save us so that we can go to
heaven. And basically, withinthat you have to accept that you
(04:47):
are pure evil and that you haveto outsource to some other
person for all of your needs.
Heavy emphasis on evangelicalismand converting others missionary
work,okay. How long are the missions?
It's really personal. It's notrequired or anything. It's just
(05:10):
like heavily applauded forpeople who do go on any mission
trips. My grandparents wereactually missionaries for their
entire lives and that, like myfamily was just very much
involved.
Yeah. Oh, interesting. So youwere born and raised within this
religion. So tell us a littlebit about that. How was that
(05:30):
growing up for you?
As probably other people withreligious trauma can relate, I
don't have a lot of memories ofmy childhood. It's hard to reach
back there and put myself backin like, what my headspace was
(05:50):
as a child. I do remember, likesome feelings of just noticing
the performance aspect of itall. Being in church, it was
like, who raises their hands thehighest who has the best. Like,
Amen. You know, when thepreacher is talking and who
(06:11):
shows up to church, theearliest, who stays the latest,
I remember noticing thoseaspects and feeling like this
doesn't quite sit right with me.
But every time that I would havethoughts that maybe something's
wrong here, I would quicklyfollow it up with like, that's
very sinful. I'm so sorry, God,you know, the works. My other
experiences whether inchildhood? I really, overall,
(06:35):
you had a hard time with it as achild, is that what I'm hearing?
Yeah, I would say like lookingback, it never felt completely
right or comfortable to me, butI just had no way to voice that.
(06:56):
Or even accept it. And myself.
Yeah. So are your is your familystill in the religion.
Um, my father left when I was inhigh school, which was a very
confusing experience, because hejust like, all of a sudden just
stopped and never told anyoneand I was expected to continue
on going to church and all theother church activities with my
(07:18):
mom and my sister. Like nothinghad happened. My mom is still
very much believes.
Grandparents, obviously stillbelieve my older sisters, not so
much my younger sister. I thinkshe's in the process of
deconstructing. Yeah, I don'tbring it up very often.
(07:43):
I know that's always such a hardtopic, right? Because when
you're talking about your faith,that's such a personal piece. So
in in your religion, why we'reWhy would people like what was
the eternal promise for them tolike, for people to come in with
your grandparents beingmissionaries? I'm kind of
curious because I don't knowmuch about it. So what was like
the what would they gain? Whatwas the purpose? Why would they
(08:03):
want to be a part of thatreligion,
so that you can go to heaven,okay. If you're not saved,
through Jesus, and if you're notbaptized in the church, you
can't go to heaven. You can'thave your eternal glory,
otherwise, you would besentenced to eternal hell, and
they very much preach the fireand brimstone suffering story.
(08:28):
Interesting. So tell us aboutyour deconstruction, like, how
when did you start? I knowyou've kind of mentioned that
you started. As a young kid,you're starting to ask those
questions and kind of like, Oh,crap, I'm sorry, God, that I had
those questions. Yeah. When wasthe start of like your
unraveling.
I think in high school, Istarted to notice how religion
(08:53):
could have a harmful effect. Myparents had a quite tumultuous
relationship, I would call itemotionally mentally abusive. It
was a weird time growing up inmy household. And then as I
said, my father just abruptlyleft and then the entire family
dynamic changed, and no one knewwhat was going on. And I just
(09:13):
witnessed my mother being just,like emotionally tortured on an
everyday basis, but absolutelycould not leave. Because divorce
was a major sin. And it wasconfusing to me why she wasn't
able to choose herself, or evenlike choose myself and my
(09:35):
younger sister who were stillliving at home at the time
because we were, you know, kindof unwilling participants,
right.
You're kind of like thebystanders that are going along
for the ride.
Yeah. And then I was talked intogoing to a small, private
Christian University by my momand my grandma Parents, and I
(10:00):
just absolutely it was not theplace that I was supposed to be.
I felt like I had to try so hardto fit in with the like, good,
quote unquote, good people. AndI just did it. And then I
(10:22):
started hanging out with some ofthe quote unquote, bad people
who drank and it was like a drytown or dry county or something.
I don't even remember how wewould even get alcohol, but we
would drink and people wouldsmoke and you know, all the
terrible, horrible bad things.
And I thought those people weremy friends, but I actually ended
(10:43):
up experiencing a lot of directharm from them. very traumatic
things, and a lot of like sexualshame. Even for people who I
consider to be like, my bestfriends there would participate
in shaming me for things that Iknew they were also actively
(11:05):
doing. And it was confusing, andit was traumatic. And I was just
like, I would go to still go tochurch every Sunday, and just be
so confused. I bag confusion waslike the overall feeling like I
can't like I'm trying so hard toget right. But I keep messing up
(11:30):
every time. And I keep showingup. But I don't feel welcome
here. And even in my everydaylife, it's made clear to me that
I'm not fitting in. Justconfusion. Yeah. So I decided to
I had to get out of that school,it just wasn't the right
environment. For me. I went to adifferent university. And that
(11:54):
was probably the more like realstart of deconstructing just
being out of that environment. Ichose to go into nutrition as a
major. And I think at the time,I didn't put much stock in that
choice. But I thinkunfortunately, my lifetime of
(12:18):
being stripped really of like mypersonal identity and being told
to not have a connection to selfthat your body is sinful and
dangerous, only lead you to apath of destruction. Like really
set me up for disordered eating.
And then in the nutrition major,I was surrounded in classes
(12:42):
every day with like, here's aframework of all the rules to
follow, so that you can eathealthy. And I was like
transitioning out of oneframework and ideology. And I
sort of just kind of fit rightinto a new framework and
ideology without ever evenstopping to consider my own
identity. Or even like how I wasexperiencing it in my body.
(13:05):
I feel like that happens often,people will leave one religion
and then they'll move intosomething else that has a
similar construct. Here's whatyou do to get where we you know,
where we want you to go.
Yeah, exactly. I think a lot ofpeople and religion as well just
have that specific experience oflike, disordered eating, being
(13:29):
just so disconnected from yourbody. It's like the foundation
is laid? Yeah, Ithink it depends a lot on
because I feel like allreligions have a little bit of a
different twist on that, wherethe Christiania like you're
saying, at the fundamental baseof it is that you're that you
know, man is a natural sinner,or natural enemy to God. And so
in that sense, we ought weinstantly come in thinking,
(13:52):
Okay, well, we're sinners. Butthat body piece I know, in
Mormonism, we have what's calledthe word of wisdom with how
we're supposed to follow inorder to have the healthiest
kind of body thing but it issomething that, you know, the
religion tells you to follow acertain, a certain piece, that's
why Mormons don't have coffee,drink, they don't do certain
things like that. But notbecause it's what feels good to
(14:16):
their body, it's because they'rebeing told what they should put
in their body. So it'sdefinitely an interesting piece
of that disconnection thatyou're speaking to. Because
you're so conditioned to lookoutside of yourself for answers
that we don't know how to lookinside. Meanwhile, in most
Christianity, you have the HolySpirit right the teacher that is
there that's always been withyou that continues to be with
(14:39):
you and they religions justlabeled as the Holy Ghost or
Holy Spirit when all realityit's just your inner your inner
guide your intuition. Yeah, thatnever leaves you but it's so
conditioned that only throughthis you know, religion, do you
do you get this? Yeah, I lovewhat you're what you're speaking
on. So you're doing rich Ifnutrition and then notice that
(15:00):
you're starting to go into kindof another paradigm.
Well, it's funny because Ididn't notice. Oh, yeah, looking
back, I mean, hindsight is 2020.
But and at the time, I had noidea that they could be
connected, or I mean, I justreally wasn't present. I had no
tools had no awareness of how tobe present. In my body and my
(15:22):
experience. Throughout my life,I have this pattern of not being
able to name what I'm goingthrough until like, a year
later, when I can like, lookback and be like, Oh, I was
miserable. But at the time, Ithink, if you had asked me like,
Do you have a disorderedrelationship with food? I'd be
(15:42):
like, No, I have the bestrelationship with food. I do all
the right things. I know aboutall the nutrients, I drink three
and a half liters of water perday, which is an extra liter,
just in case, I get my fiveservings of vegetables in and I
eat 50 grams of fiber. And so Iwas not aware. Yeah. So what
(16:03):
shifted? I think I first heardthe phrase, listen to your body.
I can't remember where, in whatcontext, I heard that phrase.
It's become more popular. Ithink over the years, I'm glad
it has. But I heard that phrase,listen to your body. And even
(16:25):
though I was very much like, inmy deconstruction phase, my
initial reaction was like, shutdown. That's wrong. That can't
be right. Your body is like yourbody's trying to trick you. So I
couldn't even ask like, howcould you connect to your body
(16:49):
listen to your body because Iwas so shut down at the initial
like acceptance of it. I think Ican't really pinpoint like
certain events or times, butprobably over the process of a
year, I was maybe re introducedto that topic saw more on social
(17:12):
media started to feel moreaccepting towards it feel a
little bit more like open tocuriosity about it. I think also
when I was in undergrad, thebody positivity movement was
taking more space on socialmedia. And I'm so I think there
was just more of that coming upin my everyday life. Yeah, just
(17:38):
being on my phone.
And after I love that it reallythat first thought of listening
to your body created thatquestion within you. And I feel
like when we have theopportunity to ask or see
something that just makes usquestion like, Wait, is this
this feels? Maybe this is true?
And then that question gets tounravel. And then oftentimes, it
(18:00):
will unravel some deeper pieceswithin us that we didn't realize
started from this, this firsttiny little thing.
Yeah, I think if the initialshutdown, or the initial
reaction is just like, shut downto the question, no, no,
Curiosity is allowed. Therecan't be any other good
(18:20):
questions. But once we allow thefirst answer to be like, maybe,
then it's so great, becauseother questions are allowed to
come in? Yeah. How would thathappen? Do I care about that
happening? Like, what are thesteps? You know, what does that
feel like?
Yeah, I love I love questionsthat make you think because then
(18:41):
it just, it does exactly whatyou're talking about. It's like,
oh, maybe I do like this thing.
And maybe I don't. So as you'rekind of moving through, you're
going and getting your degree.
At what point do you decide,hey, I'm just done.
Ah, I found out that the antidiet world exists. Health at
Every Size, weight inclusivityi. And once I found that I was
(19:06):
like, I just felt such a hugesense of relief. It felt like
the biggest sigh ever. And Iknew that I could never go back
to just following thetraditional paradigm of like,
eat this not that this food wasgood as soon as bad. It felt
like finally, I didn't have tohave all the answers. Like maybe
(19:29):
there was a way that like Icould just exist and other
people could just exist, likehow we are in our bodies, and
not always have to be fightingagainst our own bodies and our
own intuition.
And that created that like thatconnection within within your
religion.
(19:51):
Could you rephrase the question?
Well, you're talking about thenutrition piece and the anti
like maybe there isn't a dietfor that people should be the
anti diet movement and thenright recognizing you can ask
yourself and create your ownparadigms. So I'm so I'm
assuming that associated withyour religious beliefs too, that
you've been asking that questionover here about the body
associated with religion. Andthat's kind of what you were
(20:12):
like you kind of because I wasasking what, what was the piece
for you to be like, I'm done.
I'm not, I'm no longer part ofthis religion, I'm out. Was that
it?
Um, it's it's hard to pinpointan exact moment event. I think
(20:34):
it happened slowly. I was, whenI first left the Christian
University, I just knew that Ineeded like, time and space, I
still continued to go to churchoff and on for a while, because
I would not go for a while, andthen I'd feel guilty. And then
(20:55):
I'd go back and still feel like,I just don't know. Like, I just
don't know if I feel like I fitin here. If I feel welcomed. And
I think the more I exploredconnection with my own mind and
body, the more I was open toexploring that, like, I didn't
(21:18):
need to outsource. Forfulfilling my needs for
connecting to others, or justmyself. I was also really lucky
that the university Itransferred to was really,
really big on outdoors. It wasin the mountains, it was lovely.
(21:40):
I just started spending so muchmore time outdoors and felt more
sanctity, being in nature than Iever had felt in a church. Oh,
yeah.
I think a lot of us joke aroundabout you know, you'll see
(22:02):
pictures. Least I know I do it.
I have friends that do it. It'slike, oh, here, I'm in my church
today. And it's up in themountains. Because you do you
feel so connected to God, orwhatever your higher source is,
when you're in nature, andsometimes a lot deeper than
within the construct of a churchbuilding.
Yes, it just felt more it feltmore natural, more organic for
(22:24):
like me to connect to nature isnature's ever present. It's
powerful. And it's going tosurvive much longer than me. And
it's been here a lot longerbefore me. It wasn't someone
standing over me telling methese are the things that you
(22:45):
need to do. This is okay, thisis not okay. It was just me just
beingand experiencing life and what
felt true to you. And I thinkthat's absolutely beautiful. How
did your family react when youdecided that you were done? How
would you loveit was not happy. I kind of like
trickled that informationtowards her. At first I was
(23:06):
like, I don't know. And then itwas I just don't want to talk
about it. And finally, ourrelationship got to such a place
that I just felt there was notruth in it. There was no room
for me to be authentically who Iwas if I wasn't fitting like her
(23:27):
mold or idea of what I shouldbe. So I just finally had to cut
it off. And one thing that wasimportant, I wrote her a letter,
one thing that was important tome to include in that letter, I
was like, I am not Christian. Idon't want to talk about it.
That's not my spirituality, likeI'm pursuing something else. And
(23:49):
like, that helps you feel goodto you. You do that, but like, I
don't want that to ever be apart of our relationship
anymore. Because she wouldcontinually like, try to get me
to go back to church or like,listen to this song. so
inspirational. Luckily, we'vebeen able to reform a healthier
(24:11):
relationship with moreboundaries, and that boundary is
intact. Oh, that'sbeautiful. That's good. That's
awesome that you're able tostate the boundary and that
she's respecting it. Yeah, I'msure you have to remind. You
probably had to remind you of ita few times.
You know, so far I haven't sawthat. So good. Yeah, we it took
(24:34):
it was almost like two years ofseparation. And so I think we're
both just kind of happy to beback in each other's lives in a
more peaceful way. So it hasn'tcome back up yet.
Well, that's beautiful. Andunfortunately, I feel like that
happens. As we're unwinding andkind of uncoupling out of
religion. Oftentimes, it's alsouncoupling out of familiar
(24:57):
relationships too, that arechoosing to stay in because
they're so deep into the dogmaand to the practice of whatever
their beliefs are, that it ispart of the salvation of their
children, and it's challenging.
And so it is it can take awhile.
Yeah, I understand that. A lotof the ways that I felt pushed
(25:17):
by her was it was more out ofher feeling like it was her duty
or Yeah, herfrom a place of love. Really?
Yeah. I mean, she knows tryingto make
sure I get to heaven. But yeah,I don't know. Maybe I don't want
to go to have that happen.
Maybe there is no such thing asheaven or hell, what if what had
(25:42):
happened in hell or both isamazing.
knows, knows. Yeah, I think I'mactually opening myself up to
deconstructing and feeling moreconnection with my own mind and
body. And that coupling thatwith like, entering the anti
(26:04):
diet world, I was a little bitmore primed, ready to be able to
receive it, because I hadalready confronted the
everything that I was raisedwith was kind of a lie. And
doesn't fit for me. And thenconfronting eight IDI, it was
like, a lot of what traditionalnutrition schooling is based on
(26:27):
doesn't apply to me. And it'sprobably not true. So in that
way, it was a little bit easierto digest that I was a little
bit more open to everything notbeing what it seems.
Right? Everything being what itseems. So question, Is this for
(26:48):
me or not? So tell us a littlebit more about your passion with
nutrition? Because clearly youhave a passion with it? Yes. So
tell us a little bit more. Yeah.
And that connection a littledeeper, because I know, when you
reached out, we had talked aboutthat a little bit with that
connection within religion. AndI know you spoke to it. But is
there another piece here of whyyou're so passionate about it?
And that connection withinwithin your foundation? And I do
(27:10):
love I love that you brought upthat actually me asking those
questions probably helped me togo into this space in my life.
And now you're here, and it'ssomething new. Sounds like you
deeply love. Yeah. So there's alot of beauty in that.
I do. I think there's a lot ofbeauty in questioning
everything. Yeah. I think that'sjust a big value of mine. And
(27:33):
something I really bring into mywork. A lot of people come to me
just like, years upon years ofjust like I dieted, and then I
fell off the diet and then die.
And then I had to go back todieting, and it's like, well,
what if like, you've never hadthe diet in the first place?
Like, what if your body is justokay as it is? And that's a
really hard question. In thissociety that we live. Yeah. But
(27:57):
yeah, I just child gentlychallenge and encourage others
to invite just like questioningand curiosity to everything
about the relationship with foodand body. The way that our
society is set up towards themdoesn't allow for much
(28:23):
questioning because someone elseis making money off of you
buying into all the diets,right? All of the uni, this
superfood, and you need both atthe latest and greatest thing.
Well, and it's reallyfascinating. When you look back
at our history, you know, wewent from being farmers and
(28:43):
eating off the earth to thengoing into like, more of that in
the 50s. Right? 50s 60s When didTV dinners start coming out and
all like the processed foods,and then it went into the fad
diets of, you know, Slim Fastand that day, and a lot more. So
it's like, we went for morewhole foods and like nutrition
that came from the earth toprocess process, process
process, diet, diet, diet diet,because your body's reacting to
(29:05):
this crap you're putting in andnot really liking it. And then
you know, I find myself oftengetting sometimes, you know, you
get into the oh, I want to, I'mfeeling like crap. So I want to
do something and it's like, oh,what what things should I tap
into now? Because there's somany different fads out there.
There's the Keto. And thenthere's the plant based diets
(29:26):
and then there's, you know, thei There's so many different
pieces. So I love that you'respeaking to the what if there
wasn't a diet? You know, so,let's say that I'm coming to you
as a client. How would whatwould How does that work? Like,
hey, I'm really kind of feelingmy body just feels shitty. But I
(29:47):
don't really want to do a dietbut I know I need to eat
cleaner. I'd like to lose someweight because it feels heavy.
feels heavier right now. Well,what would that how would that
what would that look like?
I I would first ask you whatyour values are. My love that,
and how that can be integral toyour relationship with food and
(30:12):
body. And then I would ask you,why do you need to lose weight?
And just that usually takes awhile to explore. Yeah? And what
if you didn't? And what if youjust allow your body to be the
way it is? And if your bodychanges in response to
(30:37):
nourishment, does that mean thatneeded to change to be happy and
function? Well?
I love those questions.
And in question like, What Doeseating clean mean? What does?
(30:58):
What does keto mean data,there's so much noise, there's
so much information, quote,unquote, information out there
so much. But no information willever be as important as what is
coming from within you what yourbody is telling you. If you're
hungry, if you're full, ifyou're seeking a sweet snack, if
(31:22):
you're seeking like a nutrientdense food, like your body is
trying its best to take care ofyou. And if you could be its
teammate, it will give you allthe information that you need,
you don't necessarily need tooutsource all of your needs to
someone else. Because someoneelse is probably just trying to
(31:44):
sell you unfortunately, that'susually the case. And again, you
know, it's similar to anybody onthis planet that is creating a
livelihood off of what we'redoing. It does come from a place
even within religion, even withyour mom, right? It comes from
this place of, of desire to wantto better the world desire to
(32:07):
want to create something thatwould benefit people. And you
know, it does come from thatplace. And so I, I, I firmly
believe I mean, the thing thatyou do in your life as far as
your career, what I do, like weall have our motivations as far
as what we do feel like we bringto the world. And in that it's
beautiful. And then I love thatyou're bringing in that you
(32:29):
know, but there is a lot ofnoise. So how can you get quiet
enough to go you know what, thisis an alignment for me. And
that's where I want to go? Thatfeels really good in my body, my
mind my spirit to go that to gothat path? Yeah, yeah, that
isn't that lot of noise.
Yeah, that's really the majorityof work with clients is like
(32:51):
turning down a noise on diet,culture and everything out
there. And reconnecting to yourbody's inherent wisdom. We're
all born as babies with theability to regulate and
interpret hunger, fullness,everything, and we need to
(33:14):
reclaim and rebuild a trustingrelationship with our body. And
it will provide you with thatwisdom that already has it
within within you. I mean, it'sbeen formed over 1000s of years
through ancestors and your bodyhas a lot. Yeah, a lot of
wisdom.
(33:35):
Yeah, it really does. Well, andwe unfortunately we do live in a
society to for whatever reason,whatever the motivations, are,
we when we're born, like yousaid, we do have all this
innateness with knowing what ourphysical body needs, but even
with our connection to spiritsource, or our abilities to see
and hear. I mean, you'll oftenhave babies and kids that can
(33:58):
see spirits and can seedifferent themes. But then
there's the conditioning thatstarts happening with the
familiar system of the family,with the tribal system of the
culture and the environment. Andthen the world stage as far as
what we're all choosing intothat does start to increase the
noise of this is what I'msupposed to do that's outside of
me versus what do I feel so Iyeah, getting back to those
(34:21):
basics is is is is essential.
And I think it's reallybeautiful that you're connecting
those dots with religion andwith Christianity in in your,
you know, your upbringing ofseeing how disassociated you
were, that led you to thenasking these questions and then
finding this really beautifulAvenue within within nutrition.
And for you when you wereleaving, and let's What was the
(34:44):
thing that you felt like was themost beneficial for you at the
time what was really helpful foryou as you were stepping out as
you were leaving as you werestarting to deprogram
Hmm, what was the most importantor helpful?
Yeah, what was? Yeah, what washelpful at the time? Therapy?
(35:09):
Yeah,why didn't we really do it's
pretty integral to being able tofeel safe in my body? Yeah. That
was that was another big pieceof it is that I'd experienced a
lot of direct harm to my bodyfrom my religious peers, it
didn't feel safe to be in mybody. Being able to reconnect to
safety, here in my physicalhome, was the first step.
(35:37):
Therapy, a lot of just like,intentional, like mindfulness
stillness in my life.
I think one of the benefits thatreligion gave me was kind of
(36:01):
like an emotional catharsis andredefining what that would look
like in my life. So I was ableto create more like, intentional
genuine relationships withpeople by having like, genuine
emotional conversations. Thatwas a form of emotional
(36:23):
processing and catharsis for me.
And then being out in nature,was another form of emotional
processing therapy. Finding waysto access my emotions, in my
thoughts in my own body. Outsideof church,
(36:50):
yeah, all of those we think arebeautiful. What would be
something that for those thatare listening, that are
struggling, that are moving outof religion, but they have a lot
of fear they have, they're just,they're just feeling really
alone? What is something thatyou you would love to offer as
advice ofjust a thought? It's scary to
open yourself up to questioningthat everything is not as it
(37:18):
seems. And that can be confusingin and of itself. discovering
what else is out there. Yeah. Ithink what I can offer is
empathy. It is scary, toquestion everything. But in the
(37:54):
process of questioningeverything around you, the
systems that we live in, it'sreally just leading you back
home to questioning like, who amI? What are my values? What what
do I really care about? Whatmakes me enjoy my experience in
(38:19):
life and be able to do that?
Questioning is, it's hard atfirst, and then as you're able
to bring it back around tocoming home to yourself, it
starts to feel more comfortable.
Anything?
(38:39):
Oh, yeah, for sure. Oh, that'sbeautiful. So you have your
degree in nutrition?
Is that correct? Yeah, I haveundergrad and master's degree.
Yeah.
Good for you. So what what doyou what do you do with your
degree, I assume that's what youdo for a living?
Yeah. One on one, nutritioncounseling, kind of like this
via zoom. And I help peoplebreak out of diet culture,
(39:07):
connect to intuitive eating,which is really to say connect
to yourself, and your own body'scues, and what feels good in
your body. And really, what Itell my clients is, I believe
that you already have theanswers and solutions within you
and I'm, I'm a reflection toolfor you. So I might ask some
(39:29):
helpful questions. But really,it's more of like, what
questions do you have?
Oh, that's awesome. Tell us alittle bit about some successes
that you've had when you workwith clients. What do you find
seems to be the thing that like,you know, you've gotten to that
place with them when whathappens?
I think when they're able tocompletely redefine what health
(39:54):
means to them. I connect valuesto On several dimensions of
health outside of just physicalhealth, spiritual, emotional
mental community, how do yourvalues line up with that? And
what does that look like topractice all those dimensions of
(40:14):
health on a daily basis? And ofcourse, maybe starting with all
of those at once. It'soverwhelming. What's it look
like to practice like onedimension of health and your
life each day? It's completelybased on you, your values, what
feels good to you, and not anyof the outside noise?
I love that. That's beautiful.
So if someone wanted to get intouch with you, how would they
(40:36):
do that?
You can find me on the websiteat wise heart nutrition.
wise, wise heart.
Yes. For face heart nutrition.
I'll make sure and put that inthe show notes.
We have an Instagram also whystart nutrition? Awesome. And a
Facebook? Cool, all the samething?
(40:56):
So do you worry is that yourcompany you work with another
company?
Why start nutrition is a privatepractice group of three
dieticians it's me and two otherpractitioners. So
make sure then that the requestswork with Rebecca.
Yeah, especially if you're haveexperienced deconstructing
religion, and how that hasforced you to be disconnected
(41:18):
from your body.
Yeah, I love that. That'sbeautiful. Is there anything
else you'd like to share beforewe wrap up?
Let's see. I don't think so.
I've I've really enjoyed thisjust being able to have like
genuine conversations withpeople with similar experiences.
It's nice. Yeah,I know. It is nice. It's nice to
(41:40):
know that there's a growingpopulation of us. Yeah, they're
all deconstructing and sippingout. Yeah, I think it's
beautiful that you found this,this connection with your body
that you didn't have before. AndI think that's quite quite
profound. So thank you forsharing that with us and, and
sharing some time with us todayand, and sharing some of your
(42:01):
story. It's beautiful.
Thank you. Appreciate that.
Wasn't that a beautifulinterview. And it's really
interesting just to listen toother people's stories and other
people's stories with differentreligions, and how she's
navigated this space within herand now created that to be able
to have empathy and create aspace for other people to step
(42:24):
into, especially with thatnutrition piece, which is huge.
So head over to her website,I'll put it down below in the
show notes, if you're interestedin working with Rebecca. And
again, go secure your spottoday, Amanda loveland.com, Ford
slash activation, the pricingwill be going up here soon. So
you'll want to secure it now.
And again, we'll be activatingthat inner guru, we'll be
(42:46):
walking through how to unwindpieces that may be preventing
you from stepping more into yourgifts and your knowing, and it's
going to be a powerful call. SoI'm excited to step in the space
for those that fill, fill thecall and are ready to uplevel.
Sunday, October 30 at 10amMountain Standard Time, Amanda
joy loveland.com forward slashactivation. And again, I say
(43:08):
this every time because I thinkthat's one of the messages that
is just always so profound to methat while we feel that we are
alone, and there's truth inthat, because only you know what
your experience is that you'regoing through. There is a lot of
people that can understand andhave empathy because we're going
through similar places, similarthings that was unwinding and
(43:31):
deconstructing out of religion.
So please know that you're notalone. If you're in a place in
your life, that you're reallystruggling. Please reach out to
someone reach out and just talknine times out of 10 just
speaking and talking and Rebeccatouched on that that therapy was
really helpful for so if you'refeeling like you need something,
(43:52):
maybe it's just a friend to talkto a therapist. Go up in the
mountains, have a conversationwith God in the mountains and
know that you're not alone. Withthat sending you so much love.
Have a beautiful day.
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