Speaker 1: From Transmitter Media. This is Rebel Eaters Club and I'm
Speaker 1: your host, Virgie Tovar. Today we're going to be talking
Speaker 1: about something super fun, super exciting, and a little bit sweaty.
Speaker 1: It's hiking. Joining me is Summer Mashad's Good Summer is
Speaker 1: the founder of Fact Girls Hiking, a collective for all
Speaker 1: types of people and all types of bodies to get
Speaker 1: excited about nature and movement. She's also the author of
Speaker 1: a new book, also called Fact Girls Hiking, True to
Speaker 1: Form Summer called in from a yurt in rural Oregon,
Speaker 1: surrounded by the sounds of wind and dogs and the
Speaker 1: occasional truck. Summer. Welcome to Rebel Eaters Club. Thank you
Speaker 1: for having me, Virgie. I'm super excited to be talking
Speaker 1: to you. Me too, Me two same Okay. So, in
Speaker 1: Rebel Eaters Club sort of fashion or tradition, we start
Speaker 1: with a snack. Do you want to tell us what
Speaker 1: a snack Summer? Yes? So, my favorite snack for a
Speaker 1: very long time, I think, since I was a child,
Speaker 1: is popcorn. I love popcorn, MiG grape popcorn with toppings.
Speaker 1: I love doing popcorn on the stove, um with oil
Speaker 1: and let it pop and that's very fun and I
Speaker 1: like to put um. Today I have Micway popcorn because
Speaker 1: you know it's early, and I put a little parmesan
Speaker 1: cheese on it. Yes, I mean I I also made
Speaker 1: my grape popcorn. We have this death Star popcorn maker,
Speaker 1: and I was like, I just don't have time to
Speaker 1: pull it out. But it's so cool. It's like this
Speaker 1: weird Star Wars e ball that shoots out popcorn. M okay,
Speaker 1: so I'm going to count down from three ready three
Speaker 1: to one? Chop Podgy. It's so delicious. I especially have
Speaker 1: to say my favorite part of Mike. I mean, I
Speaker 1: love the popcorn kernels when they're popped, but I actually
Speaker 1: love the half popped kernels at the bottom of the
Speaker 1: bag or the bowl whatever you have. They're just like
Speaker 1: popped open just a tiny bit and they're crunchy. Oh.
Speaker 1: I used to fight over them with my siblings when
Speaker 1: I was a kid, Like I love the fat popped
Speaker 1: blowing my mind a little bit because like, I feel
Speaker 1: like those are sort of I don't know, I don't know.
Speaker 1: I think I feel like those kernels are controversial territory.
Speaker 1: I'm like, I feel like it there would be untouchable kernels,
Speaker 1: And so I'm like, are we reclaiming the bottom kernels?
Speaker 1: Are we doing this? I have to be just like
Speaker 1: popped open, just a tiny bit, not the ones that
Speaker 1: are unpopped, you know, just a tiny pop. And oh
Speaker 1: it's like I don't know. Okay, I'm gonna have to
Speaker 1: try this. I'm gonna try acquired taste maybe yeah, yeah, Okay,
Speaker 1: I'm doing it though, m Okay, so tell me. I mean,
Speaker 1: so in your new book, you write, I didn't know
Speaker 1: my body's strength and resilience until I put myself in
Speaker 1: situations where I had to rely on my intuition, knowledge
Speaker 1: and creative problem solving to get my fat body from
Speaker 1: the trailhead, through the woods and to the destination. I mean,
Speaker 1: I love that this idea of hiking is something that
Speaker 1: can strengthen intuition, that can connect us to our problem
Speaker 1: solving abilities. Right, um, And so I guess this leads
Speaker 1: me to the question, right, when hiking goes right, what
Speaker 1: does it do for you? What does it do for
Speaker 1: a person? I think it's empowering. I think it really
Speaker 1: is empowering, and I've I've had lots of other people
Speaker 1: say the same thing. It's really good for your mental
Speaker 1: health to be in nature like that, Like there's it's
Speaker 1: like scientifically proven, there's been studies done about it, right,
Speaker 1: And I think that's amazing that it has that benefit.
Speaker 1: And I can really see how it benefits me, and
Speaker 1: when I've led group hikes, how it benefits other people,
Speaker 1: how they can just slow down, go at the pace
Speaker 1: that feels comfortable for them. And really, you know, pet
Speaker 1: the moss, look at a leaf, see how the lights
Speaker 1: coming through the tree. Is just what does that feel like?
Speaker 1: And what is that experience going to be like? To
Speaker 1: be really in nature in that way, and especially when
Speaker 1: it's warm enough to have bare feet on the ground,
Speaker 1: there's something about like I am part of this earth
Speaker 1: and the earth is part of me, and it makes
Speaker 1: me feel like insignificant. It really does. It really is
Speaker 1: like this healing space where I can be like I
Speaker 1: am just being, I am just existing, I'm in this
Speaker 1: world and I definitely feel that that. You know, it's
Speaker 1: really like nurturing my inner child to like, you know,
Speaker 1: walk on a log. And but yesterday I did a
Speaker 1: little walk and there's a bay and I was it
Speaker 1: was low tide, so I was walking in the bay
Speaker 1: and there's all this drift logs and I would found
Speaker 1: some sticks and then I'm just like drawing in the sand.
Speaker 1: And it's just such a simple thing, right, just finding
Speaker 1: a cool stick and drawing in the sand. And you
Speaker 1: know there's no point to it, but it feels good.
Speaker 1: And I think we all need that, we all need
Speaker 1: to like just play. Really, it's just play. Yeah. I
Speaker 1: mean when you say it makes you feel insignificant, I
Speaker 1: completely understand that. I mean, like, I live really close
Speaker 1: to the Pacific Ocean, like walking distance, and I notice
Speaker 1: on days where my problems or my trauma start to
Speaker 1: feel massive, the ocean is always there to remind me
Speaker 1: of the scale, the scale of time, the scale of nature.
Speaker 1: And it can be so liberating to be reminded of
Speaker 1: this thing that can be so pressing in the moment,
Speaker 1: like maybe a deadline, maybe that thing that you messed
Speaker 1: up on at work or whatever, and then you go
Speaker 1: into nature and you see the enormity and the incredibleness
Speaker 1: of it and you're reminding I think the other thing
Speaker 1: that I love about nature is time is different in nature.
Speaker 1: And I sort of feel like, you know, I didn't
Speaker 1: come up with this, Actually, some other scholars did, but
Speaker 1: it's called that time. It's also like queer time or
Speaker 1: people of color time, right, this idea that like there
Speaker 1: are these sort of alternative ways, the alternative speeds of
Speaker 1: life that are possible, right, because we're sort of told
Speaker 1: there's this one way to take time, like everything should
Speaker 1: be as fast as possible, as pragmatic or as practical
Speaker 1: as possible. But nature is actually on a totally different
Speaker 1: It's not on the deadline system. It's on its own thing.
Speaker 1: And I think that's one of the most healing things
Speaker 1: to me about nature is being like, wow, like the
Speaker 1: time it takes for one single leaf to grow, the
Speaker 1: time that it takes for this one little project that
Speaker 1: an animal is doing takes you know, weeks, hours, months,
Speaker 1: and you know what I mean. And I love that feeling. Yeah,
Speaker 1: And it's a good reminder that like growth takes time, right,
Speaker 1: like healing takes time. And I think that nature really
Speaker 1: offers us that space to see how things are kind
Speaker 1: of changing all around you all the time. And going
Speaker 1: on a trail that I go on often in the
Speaker 1: winter is very different than in the summer, and what
Speaker 1: different things you can see and experience in these different
Speaker 1: times and so change. I always think I have a
Speaker 1: hard time with change, And when I'm really observing nature
Speaker 1: in this way that I like to do, I'm reminded
Speaker 1: that like change is always happening. It's like always constantly,
Speaker 1: constantly changing, and I think it really helps me to
Speaker 1: be like it's okay that I'm kind of always changing too,
Speaker 1: And I'm reminded that as a human, I kind of
Speaker 1: always want to be growing and changing in the same
Speaker 1: ways that nature are and kind of just always just
Speaker 1: living in the moment, which is really hard to do
Speaker 1: in our culture. Honestly. Yeah. Yeah, And I think especially
Speaker 1: if you're in a marginalized body, like that kind of
Speaker 1: connection is not something that you know, I feel like
Speaker 1: I was not allowed to have that, And I was
Speaker 1: sort of thinking about the parts of my body that
Speaker 1: I feel still are lacking resolution. Right, I'm like, Okay,
Speaker 1: I can reclaim my belly somehow. That felt really easy,
Speaker 1: but there's these other things because other parts, like for
Speaker 1: arms or my inner thighs, where I'm like, this is
Speaker 1: still bugging me after you know, so many years of
Speaker 1: doing this work. And I sort of was like, I
Speaker 1: was like, what tool do I need to develop in
Speaker 1: order to kind of work through some of this. And
Speaker 1: I actually was like nature, I decided to just go
Speaker 1: out to the park and be like, hey, is it
Speaker 1: possible that there's a part that part of me is
Speaker 1: mirrored in nature? And I'm like, of course the answer
Speaker 1: is yes, right, And so what I did was I
Speaker 1: was like, Okay, let's look for inner thighs today in nature.
Speaker 1: And because I mean I have I have case scars,
Speaker 1: I have like discoloration all the things right from like
Speaker 1: years of chubb rub. And so I went out and
Speaker 1: I was like, oh, my goodness, that tree is the
Speaker 1: same shade of my inner thighs. That tree right there,
Speaker 1: that plant like has these kinds of like little ripples
Speaker 1: that look exactly my guys do when I like cross
Speaker 1: my legs or when I like, you know, sit down
Speaker 1: criss cross apple sauce um, and like that those like
Speaker 1: pores that I have that are somehow like you know,
Speaker 1: carrying like so many extra hairs than any other poor
Speaker 1: that it looks like this little cactus pad has like
Speaker 1: multiple follicle little little pores. And so anyway, it's like
Speaker 1: I love that experience of just being like, yeah, go
Speaker 1: out in nature. Every single part of your body, whether
Speaker 1: it's socially acceptable quote I quote or not is there.
Speaker 1: I totally agree with you. And I see my fat
Speaker 1: body reflected in nature all the time, especially on the beach.
Speaker 1: Like when I'm on the beach, I see stretch marks
Speaker 1: all the time. And I feel like stretch marks is
Speaker 1: something that you know, we're taught that we shouldn't have
Speaker 1: and that we should try to eradicate with whatever lotions
Speaker 1: and all the things that capitalism can sell to us, essentially,
Speaker 1: And I saw it yesterday actually, just like these the
Speaker 1: way the water and the wind sort of makes these
Speaker 1: little ridges and it's beautiful, like it is gorgeous, And
Speaker 1: every time I see them, just like like it takes
Speaker 1: my breath away in this really unexpected way, and I
Speaker 1: always take a photo of it, and I usually posted
Speaker 1: on the Factors Hiking Instagram because I'm like people should
Speaker 1: see this, like look at these stretch marks on the beach,
Speaker 1: Like no one would look at these stretch marks on
Speaker 1: the beach and say, oh, like you know, let's get
Speaker 1: rid of those, or let's eradicate stretch marks on the beach.
Speaker 1: It's beautiful and we can embrace our bodies in that
Speaker 1: same way. With how they're reflected in nature, Like, there's
Speaker 1: nothing wrong with our bodies having dimples and you know,
Speaker 1: cellulite and stretch marks and discoloration or whatever we want
Speaker 1: to say it is on our bodies that we don't like, right,
Speaker 1: it doesn't have to be a bad thing. We can
Speaker 1: reframe the things that we've been programmed to think about
Speaker 1: the way our bodies are, you know. And I think
Speaker 1: just you know, I love, you know, taking photos of
Speaker 1: myself next to these spaces because it really reminds me
Speaker 1: of that reflection and it's beautiful. It really is beautiful. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean absolutely. I mean I'm curious if if you
Speaker 1: could talk a little bit about the messages that you
Speaker 1: were receiving that you needed healing from that hiking ended
Speaker 1: up becoming like a medicine or a bomb. Four. I
Speaker 1: mean absolutely. I was as a kid, I was a
Speaker 1: dancer and a gymnast, and I was in track and field,
Speaker 1: and I really loved these movement spaces. And I consider
Speaker 1: what happened to me in these fitness spaces to be
Speaker 1: a trauma and like a source of shame about my
Speaker 1: body because I was always the last person, you know,
Speaker 1: and we had to do like the running the mile
Speaker 1: in gym class. I was always the last person, and
Speaker 1: I remember pushing myself and pushing myself and doing the
Speaker 1: best that I could, but being like you know, talked
Speaker 1: down to or shamed or told that it was not
Speaker 1: good and not right. And I just thought, like, how
Speaker 1: can that not be good? I really did my best.
Speaker 1: I wasn't like not trying to do my best, and
Speaker 1: it was still put down and it really instilled this
Speaker 1: feeling of like I'm not good enough, like in the
Speaker 1: eyes of my gymnast or my dance instructor or you know,
Speaker 1: the track and field coaches, like I'm not good enough.
Speaker 1: And I really internalize that, honestly, I really did. And
Speaker 1: it's really like connecting with other people who are doing
Speaker 1: things that you have maybe that scene a fat person do,
Speaker 1: so like for me, it was like connecting with people
Speaker 1: who are like scuba divers and competitive bicycle riders and
Speaker 1: they're fat and like that to me be like, what,
Speaker 1: so we can really do? You know, people can do
Speaker 1: whatever they want. And to really see that and to
Speaker 1: see how people are sort of changing that narrative of
Speaker 1: like who is a hiker? It can be anyone, you know,
Speaker 1: It's not just like this thin white dude in an
Speaker 1: ARII ad like, it's it's anyone who wants to have
Speaker 1: that experience and do that activity. So that's really how
Speaker 1: I've been able to like turn this like trauma fitness
Speaker 1: from my childhood into a healing space from that honestly,
Speaker 1: and I know that it's helped others as well, and
Speaker 1: so like it's honestly such a yef Like I feel like,
Speaker 1: who am I to be the person to do this work?
Speaker 1: You know, I am no expert. I just am like
Speaker 1: some weirdo who likes to pet moss and you know,
Speaker 1: hates diet culture and all the shame that it, you know,
Speaker 1: gives to us. So I love that loves moss hates
Speaker 1: diet culture. That's right. I just put that on a
Speaker 1: T shirt. You should you should have been. It's really good.
Speaker 1: I'm thinking about, like, you know, for that transition from
Speaker 1: that kid who is sort of learning and internalizing shame
Speaker 1: to the person who is reclaiming nature and hiking. You know,
Speaker 1: how did the repair the shift in that relationship? How
Speaker 1: did that happen? Oh? Man? Ill? So I feel like
Speaker 1: it took me a long time to get where I
Speaker 1: am now, So yeah, as a kid, I had this
Speaker 1: trauma fitness, and then as a teenager I started really
Speaker 1: learning about feminism. And I remember the first time I
Speaker 1: ever saw the word fat being used in a non
Speaker 1: derogatory way was this zine called Fats, which is now
Speaker 1: a book by Marilyn Juan, And it really was like
Speaker 1: really like questioning beauty standards as a teenager. I think
Speaker 1: really helped me because I had my dad was in
Speaker 1: the modeling industry. He worked as a modeling agent in Chicago,
Speaker 1: and that was like really a bizarre you know. I
Speaker 1: would meet people who were models, who were in magazines
Speaker 1: and commercials and things at the time, and they were teenagers.
Speaker 1: They were like my age, so like having that experience
Speaker 1: of like being in that world and being just like
Speaker 1: I was a weird teenager. I dressed really weird and
Speaker 1: I definitely was called the freak of my high school.
Speaker 1: And my twenties was like that too, you know, and
Speaker 1: it really did it really just did take a long
Speaker 1: time of me not connecting to my body, to be honest.
Speaker 1: It was really like this thing is here and I
Speaker 1: wasn't really like in my body, and I think it
Speaker 1: was more just like really appreciating what my body is
Speaker 1: and what my body does is for me. And you know,
Speaker 1: I think about you, Virgie often when I think about
Speaker 1: that storytell about how you were a little kid and
Speaker 1: you're just like shaking your whole body and how that
Speaker 1: felt so good to you and it made you so happy,
Speaker 1: And like, I think about that often because it's really
Speaker 1: just like this freedom just to like be in your body,
Speaker 1: and I definitely lost that for twenty years, you know,
Speaker 1: And it was like I was like in my late
Speaker 1: thirties and I'm in my early forties now that I
Speaker 1: found hiking and I could really get back to that
Speaker 1: place of like, yeah, fuck beauty standards first of all,
Speaker 1: and then how can I be in my body without
Speaker 1: rejecting in it. It's like when those thoughts come up,
Speaker 1: it's really like telling myself a different story. So it's like, Okay,
Speaker 1: I'm feeling a little bit a shame because I'm breathing
Speaker 1: heavy on this hike, or I'm kind of sweaty, and
Speaker 1: like it seems like the rest of the group's kind
Speaker 1: of going a little faster. And you know, that stuff
Speaker 1: comes up from when I was a kid of like
Speaker 1: not being good enough and I really just tell myself
Speaker 1: these like different things, like just be like, um, you're
Speaker 1: doing great. I just say you're doing great and like
Speaker 1: that sometimes is enough. Or I'll just be like you're
Speaker 1: doing great, You're perfect the way you are, like you know,
Speaker 1: all these kind of like silly affirmations, but they really
Speaker 1: do help me to stop the the shame spiral that
Speaker 1: can sometimes happen. You know, yes, yes, I'm like I'm
Speaker 1: just thinking. My my therapist, no matter how terrible anything
Speaker 1: I tell him, he's like good awareness, virgie. You know,
Speaker 1: it's like I hate awareness is terrible. He's like great awareness.
Speaker 1: Like so I mean like idle thing, Yes, I hate this.
Speaker 1: I feel terrible. I am being triggered in a great
Speaker 1: awareness Like that's the very we can always say that
Speaker 1: to ourselves. Right, this sucks right now. And guess what,
Speaker 1: it's not going to always feel sucky, but it sucks
Speaker 1: right now, right. I think acknowledging our feelings on things
Speaker 1: is the first step for sure, And then step could
Speaker 1: be like, you know, this sucks and you're doing great,
Speaker 1: like you're doing great in a sucky situation, and because
Speaker 1: we don't, you know, like the I don't want to
Speaker 1: be like toxic positivity, where like I have to be
Speaker 1: positive all the time. Either. I don't put that pressure
Speaker 1: on myself, but I think it is important for me
Speaker 1: to sort of like know that this is not my thought,
Speaker 1: Like this shame is not my own thought. Like I'm
Speaker 1: way too rebellious to shame myself, Like I am still
Speaker 1: that teenage feminist zine maker. I do not need to
Speaker 1: like you know, perpetuate those ideas within myself. But you know,
Speaker 1: sometimes it's hard and I have to like, you know,
Speaker 1: really just be in that be in that feeling of
Speaker 1: like I'm having a lot of shame and you know
Speaker 1: that's also okay, and just reminding myself it's not going
Speaker 1: to always feel that way. So can you tell me,
Speaker 1: like what is factorals hiking and how did you come
Speaker 1: up with this idea? So fact orls Psyking is a
Speaker 1: community organization that I started in twenty fifteen, and it
Speaker 1: really started as an Instagram account and I was documenting,
Speaker 1: you know, places I was hiking or places like camped
Speaker 1: or traveled to and really just as a way for
Speaker 1: people to see fat people in nature. And from there
Speaker 1: it led to leading group hikes, which I honestly had
Speaker 1: no idea how to do when I first started, and
Speaker 1: then it led to chapters all over the country and
Speaker 1: there's a few outside of the US as well, just
Speaker 1: to have that representation for people wherever they are, you know,
Speaker 1: because it's important to have representation, and it's important to
Speaker 1: be with a group that you feel is going to
Speaker 1: celebrate who you are, whoever that is, because we welcome
Speaker 1: people of all sizes and all genders. Even though our
Speaker 1: name is Fact Girls Hiking. I just want marginalized people
Speaker 1: in general just to be able to experience that same
Speaker 1: healing space that I've found for myself. And so that's
Speaker 1: really like the offering of factorls. Hiking is a healing
Speaker 1: space to connect with themselves, with nature and with other
Speaker 1: people in the community who you know, come together. Yes, okay,
Speaker 1: So I mean pretty much all of us grow up
Speaker 1: essentially understanding hiking as a calorie burning exercise activity. I mean,
Speaker 1: I think a lot of us are socialized unfortunately to
Speaker 1: see nature almost like an outdoor gym. And I'm wondering,
Speaker 1: right like, as you're doing this work to create access
Speaker 1: and to create space for healing, what does it look
Speaker 1: like to redefine hiking, To redefine the outdoors for the
Speaker 1: work that you're doing. Oh, it's so important to redefine
Speaker 1: hiking because there's definitely this gate keeping that happens than
Speaker 1: the outdoor industry of like what is a hike? And
Speaker 1: to me, a hike is anytime you're moving in nature
Speaker 1: and you don't even have to do a hike, Like
Speaker 1: you can just sit and be in nature intentionally. You
Speaker 1: can sit in your yard in a chair, you can
Speaker 1: sit on a blanket in a space that is green
Speaker 1: and just really connect to whatever the nature is around you.
Speaker 1: It doesn't have to be ten miles to constitute a hike.
Speaker 1: And this is how I'm reframing it to my community
Speaker 1: and in my work, that we can make up the
Speaker 1: rules of what a hike is for us. And so
Speaker 1: when I lead a group hike, it's really like inviting
Speaker 1: people into this space that's very intentional. So we have
Speaker 1: community guidelines where we will have absolutely no weight loss
Speaker 1: or diet talk in this space online or in real life,
Speaker 1: you know, And that can be kind of tricky because
Speaker 1: we're all sort of, you know, given this information from
Speaker 1: our culture and from society that as fat people we
Speaker 1: should be wanting to lose weight and make ourselves smaller
Speaker 1: to be more acceptable. And I don't leave that and
Speaker 1: I don't subscribe to that. And I really invite people
Speaker 1: to be like, whatever you need on a hike, if
Speaker 1: it's a group hike or if you're by yourself, you
Speaker 1: could One of my mottos is go at your own pace.
Speaker 1: Like I can't go at the same pace as other people.
Speaker 1: I have chronic pain, and that's fine, and so I
Speaker 1: go at the pace that feels good for me. And
Speaker 1: I always lead group hikes from behind, and for me,
Speaker 1: the slowest people, which is me included, are the people
Speaker 1: setting the pace of each group hike. And I always
Speaker 1: reassure people that the slowest people in the group are
Speaker 1: going to get the most support from the hike leaders.
Speaker 1: And that's how it should be. Yes, no fatty left behind.
Speaker 1: You know, we don't have to exclude people in that way.
Speaker 1: I mean, I'm so glad you brought up no fatty
Speaker 1: left behind. Honestly, that's one of my favorites. That is
Speaker 1: my favorite of fact roles hiking guidelines is that you
Speaker 1: that you lead from the rear. And let's discuss I
Speaker 1: mean for people, I mean the rear of a hike
Speaker 1: is a specific space when you're in a fat body
Speaker 1: or in a body that doesn't move at the same
Speaker 1: speed as what's considered maybe normal or whatever, right, which
Speaker 1: is like a really horrible feeling. Yeah. I've heard so
Speaker 1: many terrible stories from people who have gone on like
Speaker 1: more traditional kind of group hikes and have been left behind,
Speaker 1: and I just think that is shitty. As a leader,
Speaker 1: you should not be leaving people behind. It's unsafe, it's
Speaker 1: not cool, and you know, honestly fuck those people who
Speaker 1: leave anyone behind. And the other thing is how fact
Speaker 1: Rol's hiking is different is you decide what the endpoint
Speaker 1: of your hike is. Your destination is wherever you end up,
Speaker 1: and that is amazing and perfect and I will celebrate
Speaker 1: that with you because you did that. Like I remember
Speaker 1: I was leading a hike in in New York and
Speaker 1: there was like a creek crossing and it had rained
Speaker 1: a bunch recently, so it was like a pretty intense
Speaker 1: creek crossing, even for me, and I'm like fine with that.
Speaker 1: So there's several people on the hike that were like, yeah,
Speaker 1: I don't really want to keep going, I don't want
Speaker 1: to go over that creek. And I was like I
Speaker 1: don't want to eat. And so some people kept going
Speaker 1: and some of us stayed back and just kind of
Speaker 1: sat on a tree log and talked about fat phobia
Speaker 1: in the forest and that was like an it was
Speaker 1: an amazing experience. And so it's an invitation for people
Speaker 1: to really like listen to their bodies and listen to
Speaker 1: their needs and advocate for their needs. And that's what
Speaker 1: Factor's taking. In the spaces that I create with Factor's taking,
Speaker 1: that's what it's about, is you are safe to advocate
Speaker 1: your needs. Yes, yes, I mean I love this one
Speaker 1: hundred percent. I mean I think all of that, that
Speaker 1: freedom and that autonomy, it's so healing, you know, because
Speaker 1: I think the idea, right again with the historical connection
Speaker 1: of hiking in nature with exercise, the idea is it
Speaker 1: should feel kind of miserable one hundred percent of the time.
Speaker 1: And I think that, you know, like it just resisting
Speaker 1: that is amazing. So I want I want to talk
Speaker 1: about community. So being on the trail alone is one thing,
Speaker 1: but being a trail leader bringing people along into your
Speaker 1: vision for what's possible for our relationship to hiking to nature,
Speaker 1: to our bodies. What have you learned from making the
Speaker 1: fact girls hiking community. I have learned so much about
Speaker 1: myself and my own insecurities as a leader. When I
Speaker 1: first started leading group hikes, I wanted to be on
Speaker 1: the top of a mountain with a group of fat people,
Speaker 1: and I thought, God, that would be so epic, you know,
Speaker 1: And so I led a hike where we were climbing
Speaker 1: this pretty challenging trail near Portland, and you know what,
Speaker 1: most of us were miserable and it wasn't like the
Speaker 1: most fun experience. And most of us made it to
Speaker 1: the top, and you know, it was like not as exciting,
Speaker 1: not as great as I thought it would be, to
Speaker 1: be honest, and so like, what I've learned is we
Speaker 1: don't need to stand on top of a mountain together
Speaker 1: to be epic and empowered and inspired. We can sails.
Speaker 1: We can just be wherever we are, like in nature together.
Speaker 1: And really my focus more now is having accessible spaces,
Speaker 1: really like having spaces where wheelchair users will be able
Speaker 1: to access the trail or you know, people who can't
Speaker 1: go up in elevation, whatever people's needs are, Like, I
Speaker 1: want to make sure that anyone who wants to come
Speaker 1: on a hike has a space where we can be
Speaker 1: seen and celebrated and everyone should have that space, you know, yes, Okay, So, Summer,
Speaker 1: if you had one tool, if you had to pick
Speaker 1: one tool that you'd give to our Rebel Eaters Club
Speaker 1: listeners to help them reconnect with nature, to use nature,
Speaker 1: to reconnect to their body, what would it be. So
Speaker 1: the tool that I think is really important is to
Speaker 1: connect to nature. You don't have to hike. You can
Speaker 1: literally be inside your home. You can, you know, look
Speaker 1: at your plant. You can touch the leaves of your plant,
Speaker 1: you can learn more about your plant. Right. You can
Speaker 1: go outside. You can sit on a chair in your
Speaker 1: yard or in a park and just be observing what's
Speaker 1: going on around you in the natural world. You don't
Speaker 1: have to go on a hike. So I think it's
Speaker 1: really just like changing the mindset of what a hike is.
Speaker 1: I often am just sitting in my chair on the beach,
Speaker 1: and that is totally valid and it's really like a
Speaker 1: way to heal the wounds of diet culture for me.
Speaker 1: I love this so much, Summer, Thank you so much
Speaker 1: for being on Rebel Eaters Club. Thank you for having me. Virgie.
Speaker 1: Whether you're right to reclaim hiking or not no judgment.
Speaker 1: Some are laid out the revolutionary foundation for reimagining who
Speaker 1: is in the outdoors and what is possible when it
Speaker 1: comes to how we relate to nature our bodies. I
Speaker 1: love a good reframe. If you have thoughts on this conversation,
Speaker 1: or what makes a good trail snack, or just want
Speaker 1: to say hi, reach out DM me on social media
Speaker 1: at Virgie Tovar, DM our producers at Transmitter Pods, or
Speaker 1: send us an email at Rebel Eaters Club at gmail
Speaker 1: dot com. Rebel Eaters Club is brought to you by
Speaker 1: Transmitter Media. This episode was written and produced by Isabelle Carter.
Speaker 1: Sarah Knicks is Transmitters executive editor. Wilson Sarah is our
Speaker 1: managing producer, Greta Khan is our executive producer, and I'm
Speaker 1: your host, Virgie Tovar. Rick Kwan is our mix engineer.
Speaker 1: And thanks to Taka Yasuzawa who wrote some of the
Speaker 1: music we use in the show. If you love Rebel
Speaker 1: Eaters Club, tell your friends and share the love by
Speaker 1: writing a review on your favorite podcast app. See you
Speaker 1: next week.