I’m linking up with Amanda to share Rachel’s story today! 

Rachel’s story is so compelling.   She’s a lover of karate.  She’s a lover of Jesus.  She’s passionate, joyful, happy, excited about life, and she’s also walking the road of recovery from eating disordered thoughts and from orthorexia.   Rachel opened up and shared her whole journey from childhood to highschool, where she is now.   

One thing that Rachel shared was really interesting to me.  She said that Instagram, at first, was not a good influence in her life towards food freedom and balanced eating.  She shared with me, and I resonated with her thoughts on feeling like you have to eat oatmeal and salads and such to be healthy because of letting your mind be influenced by what you see on social media.  

Yet, the flip side of that for both Rachel and I is that social media is also where we’ve found the positive recovery community, encouragements to EMBRACE and not hate the way God designed us, encouragements to be GRATEFUL for God’s gracious gift of food instead of fearful about it, and from the interview I again concluded that it’s not Instagram that is the problem.  It’s the way I use it, the way I perceive the messages that are shared, and who I follow.  

And most of all, Rachel reminded me that Jesus is my covering. He’s my identity.   It’s not my body or the calories I eat or the food I consume; it’s Jesus, who is my robe of righteousness, my King, my Lord, my Savior!  

In the episode Rachel talked about:  

1)  Why Instagram wasn’t healthy at first for her when it comes to learning what truly healthy eating is.  

2) Rachel’s relationship with exercise and discovering that she doesn’t HAVE to exercise in order to be hungry and feed her body.  

3) Remembering what God says about His children, His redeemed children, and defining ourselves by that, not by what we look like in the mirror.  

4) Why Rachel Needs to Calorie Count at this point in recovery to keep herself on track and how she hopes to transition back to more intuitive eating.  

5) Figuring out that restriction is just not worth it.  

6) Embracing the GIFT of Food, Carbohydrates, Sugars, and Dairy! 

7) How Rachel Used to Be Afraid of Dairy 

8) Why Nourishment Doesn’t Look Like Just ONE certain way of eating 

9)  Learning about how to influence for good on Instagram and that 

Rachel said one thing that REALLY stood out to me, and I want to quote in hopes that I will encourage you and encourage you to listen to her story!  

The verse Rachel shared is this one too:  

‘You are altogether beautiful, my love;
there is no flaw in you.’  (Song of Solomon 4:7) 

‘Why do we spend so much time demonizing food when our lives were meant to be so much more?’ 

Why do we spend time demonizing food when life is meant to be so much more? #recovery #bodypositive…
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Rachel has a beautiful Instagram at Cooks and Kicks, and she shares everything from OATMEAL (because we know oatmeal is GOOD), ice-cream, her journeys with re-learning how to love eating and nourish her body, EPIC peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, and so much more; I really appreciate especially her Instagram stories about her relationship with food and exercise.  They’ve been a HUGE help to me just in the past few weeks.  I would say that she uses her Instagram to be an influence for good.  She is promoting balance, and I definitely see her walking that road every day.   

These stories are what make me so excited about recovery.  They remind me that recovery is always possible with God.   Recovery may be hard and ugly and include tears and heartache and serious mind shifts around body and eating and food, but they are ALL worth it!  

Whenever I get to hear these stories of recovery, I think I should sing this song that so perfectly describes the greatness of our God, the AWESOME nature of God, that is shown through redeeming the captives and setting us free for His glory! 

‘Then sings my soul
My Savior, God, to Thee
How great thou art
How great thou art
Then sings my soul
My Savior, God, to Thee
How great Thou art
How great Thou art’  

Tell me:  

Have you found that Instagram can influence your food choices in a good or bad way?  

How do you stay conscious of that influence and discern the right influences?  

What spoke to you the most from Rachel’s story?    

The post Rachel’s Story: How Instagram Can Influence Orthorexia – Episode 50 appeared first on Beauty In Christ - The Book.