Blog

Nov
07
Social Media and Food

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Let's be real here... we ALL spend a good deal of time on some form of social media platform whether it be Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat, or Pinterest, etc. We use social media as a way to share our every day experiences with others. What is one thing we do every day? We eat food. I'm as guilty as anyone for poking fun at "that person" who always has to take a photo of every meal they eat and every fancy cocktail they order at dinner, but let's take a second to think about what this really does for us and how it affects the way we view our food.

The truth is, everything we see on social media affects the way we view the world. From pizza to politics... we see it on our mobile devices and we either crave it or we cringe at it. The same goes for food. If you spend the 30 seconds to watch a video on how to make peanut butter cup cookie pies topped with ice cream that your friend tagged you in, more than likely you will opt for the less healthy snack option when one becomes available. If you are bombarded by friends and family posting about their new Paleo diet, trying the 30-day whole foods challenge, their #MealPrepMonday, etc, you're probably going to tell yourself you need to get your sh*t together and start doing the same!

One of the goals for the first two weeks of the Train N' Habits program is to snap photos of your meals each day and post them to the Facebook group or to your Instagram account with the hashtag #TrainNHabits so that others doing the program can see it. This not only helps provide accountability for ourselves but it may also inspire the next person to make a healthier choice knowing that they are not in this thing alone. Just seeing healthy foods on social media makes nutrition more prominent in people's lives.

Food is social. It is a natural way for human beings to connect. Unfortunately, in America, we have lost sight of the days where preparing a home-cooked meal and sitting down with friends and family to eat was the norm. Instead we rush everything, we never "have enough time" to prepare meals, and fast food restaurants, microwaved dinners, and meal replacement shakes are what we have become accustomed to. Social media is the perfect platform for sharing food-related content. Why not make an effort to use this platform to inspire those around us to make smarter food choices? Your food/nutrition message on social media matters.