We were lucky to catch up with Dishita Y. Patel recently and have shared our conversation below.
Dishita, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today We’d love to hear about the things you feel your parents did right and how those things have impacted your career and life.
Being sheltered my entire childhood, through no intentional fault of my parents, the opportunity to branch out and figure out who I am as a person was nonexistent. It wasn’t until the first heartbreak that my parents taught me one of the essential life lessons.
Being sheltered can come with suppressing emotions and no clear understanding of anything, so constant confusion and difficulty accepting imperfections. Now you can imagine why that relationship ended. I had completely lost myself in this person. I allowed manipulation, gaslighting, and disrespect. Looking back, it made sense why I stayed for longer than needed.
Telling my parents about a secret relationship, especially outside of my race, was terrifying. But it was one of the best decisions I made. My parents taught me how to heal. They helped me understand and become aware of my deepest fears and why I like to be alone. They allowed me to feel different emotions/feelings. They taught me that for me to be the best version of myself, showing emotion is essential. By teaching my brother and me that showing emotion is not a sign of weakness, I was finally able to branch out and explore the person I now love. The sheltered little girl inside of me finally broke free.
Working with suppressed emotions helps release deeply rooted fears intertwined with unwanted nutritional behaviors. Discovering this connection helped me build the foundation of Rooted Deeply, a safe space for individuals to unravel the deepest nutritional worries and bring to the light the desire to love themselves again.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
I created Rooted Deeply Nutrition to unravel emotional nutritional behaviors and get to the root of the problem; I work with individuals by disrupting their mindset to actively love themselves and food again. Rooted Deeply Nutrition is for anyone who is seeking to release suppressed emotion and learn to develop a healthy and sustainable relationship with nutrition.
In my work, I specialize in working with women of color, in hopes of creating a safe space to openly discuss the root of their nutritional doubts and feel a sense of security in their own health. As I further my education and complete my degree as an RDN, I will continue to add multicultural families and children and specialize in generational nutritional improvements.
At Rooted Deeply, I coach individual sessions and teach in a group setting. Each individual session can range from 30min to 1hr. Group settings consist of nutritional classes that cover a variety of topics such as macronutrients, processed foods/beverages, ingredient/label reading, and the food pyramid. It is designed to create a solid foundation in nutrition. I believe my clients should receive the nutritional attention they needed as children. It goes beyond teaching nutrition. It taps into their minds and uncovers what is holding them back from making better decisions; it taps into their fears, doubts, and most importantly, their stagnant desire to love themselves again through food. I work with my clients to water their roots so they can watch the long-awaited blossom of their flowers.
Other than training/knowledge, what do you think is most helpful for succeeding in your field?
I think trust is the most underrated characteristic of a healthcare professional, especially those in your circle of care. It’s been seven years since I was diagnosed with papillary carcinoma, and it wasn’t until three years ago did I finally find someone I could trust. You probably are thinking, Dishita, what do you mean?? Shouldn’t you have a solid circle of care because you had cancer?! That is what I thought too. He was the first endocrinologist I saw after moving to Texas. I wish I had kept looking. As a 23-year-old who had to figure out post-cancer life independently, I knew nothing. But I trusted my endocrinologist to help me through it. Boy, was I wrong! For him, I was just a profitable target. I had so many questions. I wanted to know the root of this, and I wanted to know the WHY. It was a waste of time for him, and he felt he had to “dumb” things down for me. I stayed his patient longer than I should’ve, something I think patients/clients do more often than they should.
He helped me gain a new perspective. I learned that their credentials, knowledge, and experience mean nothing if I cannot trust them. Trust is more than them knowing your name, your medical history, and if you can confide in them your deepest fears. Trust is knowing that you will not be left alone no matter how challenging the situation. My current endocrinologist can ask me about my classes and work, standard questions that should be asked, but she does more than that. She fights to get to the root of my issues; she does not stop until she finds an answer. No matter how busy she is, she gives me her time; she makes it known that I am not a profitable target to her. As a future RDN I will ensure that not only is the root of my patient’s/clients is discovered, but their voice is heard and they never feel alone.
What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?
When bottled in a jar for most of your life, logical thinking tends to fly out of the window. Not being allowed to branch out made it difficult for me to accept self-validation. For a while, I sought validation from others. I made myself believe that if others approved of me, I am doing something correctly in life; I am achieving greatness because other people like me. Thinking like this can be so exhausting, right?
After being rejected from two nursing and PA program cycles, I became even more critical of myself. Not because I could’ve done more during undergrad to increase my chances but because “what would society say.” I became so engrossed in societal opinions that I couldn’t focus on the good of this rejection. It took me a few years to learn that self-validation is more critical than societal validation. Can I say it was easy? Absolutely not. Can I say it was rewording? Absolutely yes. Letting go of what others thought of me lifted such a heavy burden off my shoulders. I was finally able to see my potential, my capability. I was able to see myself as a strong independent woman that wants to save the world, one healthy taco at a time. Unlearning this lesson brought one thing to light, you can only remain caged and sheltered as you get older. But you and only you can break that cycle and be set free.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.rooteddeeplynutrition.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rooteddeeplynutrition_/