On this guest podcast episode we were joined by Khushi Jain, known as @shetalksandeats on Instagram and the founder of DefEating Disorders. In this episode Khushi dives into her eating disorder journey, why she founded DefEating Disorders and her take on self-love. This episode really hit home for me and I think everyone can take something away from it!
Finding Joy in Swimming
Khushi begins her story by talking about her life growing up in Dehli, India. Early on she found a passion for swimming and decided to take it to the next level and begin training. She became a very dedicated athlete, her and her parents would wake up at 4am to get to practice before school and then after school she would continue training until late in the evening. Her days were long and grueling and as a young girl, she felt isolated from her peers. Her focus was on swimming, training and school and she placed less focus on social gatherings and making friends.She began to be teased for her work ethic as well as her body; she was very tall and muscular and due to her training she had to eat a lot to stay her best. She realized that this experience made her who she was, and it made her stronger in the long run. But luckily she had an amazing coach who she is still in contact with today, that empowered her and helped her to feel that everything she was doing was for a purpose! She fully enjoyed the sport, but soon this began to change.
Effects of bullying + body-shaming
Luckily when she was younger she was a bit protected when it came to judging her body. She knew that she needed to fuel her body for the amount of exercise she was doing and needed to be muscular to perform in her sport. This changed when she entered high school. She started to compare herself to the other girls her age. In high school she came to the US for training, but she ended up making poor food choices and the training didn't go as planned. She ended up gaining weight and once she went home, people began making negative comments about her body. This is when the term "dieting" entered her mind. She wanted to change the way she looked fast.
Diet culture + fast fixes
People around Khushi began making comments about the weight she had gained while abroad. All of the negative comments shifted her mindset and she began dieting. She began looking up "how to lose weight fast." She looks back now and wishes that she did it in a healthier way and had help to lose weight. When she entered college, she began making decisions for herself and this meant restricting her food. She was struggling with finding balance between social life and swimming and this led to her needing to control her food intake. She began cutting calories, counting her steps, skipping meals and entered a weird space with the relationship she had to food. It reached such a bad point, that she was severely under-eating and still swimming that she reached a breaking point.
Asking for help
Khushi was in such a space of denial and didn't want to admit that she had an eating disorder. Her mental health began to deteriorate and she started seeing a school therapist. One day she called in to an emergency phone service and reached a point where she needed to talk to someone so bad, she didn't know how to get out of her current space and feelings. Luckily, she met with an amazing woman who listened to her and gave her a safe space to share what she was going through. This situation made her realize the importance of talking about what you are going through and releasing the pain you are going through. This was the ultimate driver for why she wanted to creating DefEating Disorders.
founding defeating disorders
Khushi fought her eating disorder on her own, and that having a spot with the proper resources and people that can help you through your disorder is so important. She would have loved to have had someone to talk to when she wanted to skip a meal or needed further resources to educate herself. This is why she decided to create DefEating Disorders. This became her passion project, she spent her sophomore year summer building on this idea. She began reaching out to influencers and trying to make connections to get the word out about her nonprofit. She created three pillars; prevention, education + treatment that DefEating Disorders is based off. She now goes into schools and hosts workshops with dieticians and psychologists to educate middle school and high school students on nutrition, bullying + body-shaming. Her dream is to get this implemented into the curriculum in schools in the US + India. By having this knowledge at an early age, it can help change the narrative of diet culture for kids growing up today.
Self love
One of the biggest things Khushi has learned about self love is that it is an on-going journey. She likes that she can find new things about herself and learn from them. She understands that slow growth is real growth and that progress is what counts in the long run. Everything that is hard in life makes you realize that you are the person that will be there for yourself the most. You need to treat yourself with kindness and know that you don't need to change yourself for anyone.
This episode had so many pieces to it, that everyone can take something away from it. If you want to listen to more or watch, click below!
xo Michaela
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