Ep.34 IIN It

The Chicken Mind Nuggets's Podcast

Chicken Mind Nuggets.

Hosted by Wifey

Chickenmindnuggets.com

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@mindchicken

References for this episode

https://www.onlinepsychologydegree.info/what-to-know-about-the-psychology-of-cults/

Introduction music graciously provided by

Music from https://filmmusic.io
"Thinking Music" by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.com)
License: CC BY (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

Show script: (may differ slightly from spoken word)

I went to the Institute of Integrative Nutrition (also known as IIN) in New York City around 2006. I was living about an hour and a half away at the time, so I commuted via train into the city. Once I reached Grand Central, I took a few subway rides and walked a few blocks until I reached the school when it was located at Jazz at Lincoln Center in Columbus Circle, which is right at the South West corner of Central Park. School was 1 or 2 weekends a month for about 9 or 10 months. During that time, we had guest lectures from Ann Marie Colbin, David Wolfe, and Deepak Chopra just to name a few.

Now at THAT time, Keto wasn’t popular, so the focus of several lectures was on healthy grains, the importance of vegetables, yoga, and not eating processed food. Each weekend we received a book bag of goodies which included books from our lecturers, CD’s, some food samples, and informational packets. During lunch, we would travel to the basement of the building where a Whole Foods was located. This was a Mecca for us Integrative Nutrition students who were desperately searching for umeboshi plum and perfectly looking kale.

When we got back to class, we sat through a few more lectures in the amazing auditorium we were seated in, then we all went our separate ways in the evenings. I traveled to the city with 3 other women, but we didn’t really hang around after class. They took the train back home, but I couldn’t afford multiple trips so I hosteled around the city with a friend because it was cheap. I survived my weekends in NYC with subway fare, food, a ride home, and a place to sleep, for less than $100 each time. If you have been to NYC, you know it is NOT cheap. I stayed with some friends a few times, but mostly stayed at hostels. The rooms were big, with rows of bunk beds, and sometimes you had a locker near you. The showers were gross, but it was what they had. I would sleep with my travel bag as my pillow, hoping no one was going to steal anything. I did inventory every morning and luckily, I was never robbed.

At the end of the program, I graduated as a holistic health coach, and I couldn’t have been prouder. I used that coaching certificate here and there and tried to start a mini business, but it never took off the ground. I have seen other people who were very successful with their businesses, such as Andrea Beaman and a controversial YouTuber who has chased several different diets and lifestyle changes, but will remain nameless because I know many people have different beliefs about her.

I was hooked from school to follow everything they taught me. I used those resources to eat better, cook better, have better knowledge on food and products, and I wanted to spread this information everywhere. I did what I could to preach the good word about health, and the dangers of sugar, white bread, and shake and bake. If you saw a crazy girl telling you about how you should replace your panko for corn flakes, that was me. I didn’t do it to be an asshole, I did it because I cared and I wanted everyone to get better and to feel better.

While I was doing this, I had a gut. I had a weird low hanging gut that I was continuously ashamed of and my parents even gave a nickname for. I sweated profusely, and have been doing so for years, but couldn’t understand why I was doing it. I had an overacting brain on some days and brain fog on others. I was unhealthy, but I thought I was on my way towards being healthy.

I looked up IIN years later and found several forums on people calling the school a cult because they compared the chanting, the lectures, the information, and the coaching to a cult. We did sing and dance, we watched videos, we all strongly believed in certain things, but we never worshipped anything. We never thought the apocalypse was coming and we needed to steam our broccoli or else we would be captured by reptilians.

But I understand where they are coming from. Cults lure people in who are looking for answers, who are needing something to believe in. They reach out and are able to get into people’s weaknesses and provide them with shelter as long as they obey the rules. A new member gets love bombed and feels a sense of, “home” and that they are finally among people who are like them. And all the while, people have no idea they are in a cult.

Cults will draw a person into their belief system to satisfy a desire or a deficiency that an individual has which hasn’t been fulfilled by religion or another belief system. They will use fear tactics to keep you in with a promise of being the righteous ones and following the right path. Members will collectively follow the leader without question, and when beliefs are questioned, the member is shunned and punished for their sins. There is no getting out, not without severe consequences to the individual.

When I joined IIN, I was bombarded with welcomes and given bags of materials. I was looking for an education that involved healing and doing good, and IIN fell into my mailbox. Seriously, I have no idea how their school catalogue ended up in my mailbox. I needed to believe there was something beyond my terrible environment, and I was willing to do whatever it took to obey the school schedule and commitments. I danced, I sung, I cheered, I met amazing teachers, I found answers, I found friends, and I found security. After the program was over, they offered support, continued resources, and graduate incentives.

I still value the teachings of IIN, and I am extremely grateful I had 9 months of traveling to NYC, hosteling and eating on almost no money, all the while getting an education and getting out of my house. I don’t regret joining, and even though I don’t know how the program is now, I would recommend anyone who is interested in benefitting their health to check them out.

So was I in a 9-month cult? I was allowed to leave when I wanted, but I never wanted to. I was allowed to hang out with whoever I wanted to, but I chose certain people because of my social anxiety. I was never told that I had to believe in something, but there was a general consensus that fat was bad and healthy grains were the only way. I could ask questions, but no one challenged the health gurus who taught us or thought they were teaching anything harmful.

Here is my take. I don’t think it was a cult, but I do think it was a tunnel visioned program, geared towards emphasizing the diet mentality at the time. I see a lot of people on the internet now preaching the latest and greatest diet with swoons of followers leaving coconut oil for duck fat. When it all comes down to it, make the best choices you can, for the situations that you have, and if you can swap out your candy for some strawberries, then more power to you. Be in it, but don’t lose yourself to a delicate fluctuating societal mentality, that will hop on the next lifestyle bandwagon for Instagram likes at the drop of a booty pic.

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