Social Media Can Promote Healthy Eating!

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You’d be amazed at how social networking can affect your healthy eating plan. A healthy eating plan is not about a strict diet, depriving yourself of the foods you love. It’s about feeling great, having more energy, getting that essential support from communities, all of which can be achieved by social networking.

Learn How To Eat

Healthy eating begins with learning how to eat, which can defend you against heart disease, cancer, diabetes, and depression, and can boost your energy, sharpen your memory and stabilize your mood. You can find people on health related social networking sites discussing a range of healthy food choices and you can learn how to plan ahead to create and maintain a satisfying, healthy diet. Such topics discussed include healthy eating tips.

  • Eating with others has many social and emotional benefits than eating in front of the TV or computer.
  • Take time to chew your food slowly and enjoy mealtimes.
  • Ask yourself if you are really hungry or actually really thirsty. Have a glass of water to see whether you are only thirsty instead of hungry. During a meal, stop eating before you feel full.
  • Breakfast is the most important meal of the day, be sure to eat breakfast, and eat smaller meals throughout the day.

Drink More Water

People found on health related social networking sites advise others to drink more water. Water helps flush our systems of waste products and toxins, yet many people go through life dehydrated, causing tiredness, low energy, and headaches. It’s common to mistake thirst for hunger, so staying well hydrated leads to a healthier lifestyle.

What About Exercise?

When it comes to preventing, controlling, or reversing diabetes, consider exercising. Regular exercise maintains your weight and can improve your insulin sensitivity. One of the easiest moderate-intensity activities is walking for 30 minutes five or more times a week, swimming or riding a bike. You can discuss with others on social networking sites your exercise achievements and compare results.

Eat In Moderation 

The most common advice seen on social networking sites is not to deprive yourself of the foods you love, but eat them in moderation. Try not to think of certain foods as off-limits. When you ban certain foods or food groups, it is natural to want those foods more, and then feel like a failure if you give in to temptation. Think smaller portions. If you are drawn towards sweet, salty, or unhealthy foods, start by reducing portion sizes and not eating them as often. You may find that you are craving them less or thinking of them as only occasional indulgences.

Eat The Rainbow

Eat a rainbow of fruits and vegetables. Colorful and deeply colored fruits and vegetables contain higher concentrations of vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants and different colors provide different benefits.

  • Greens, such as broccoli, and Chinese cabbage are just a few of the options, all packed with calcium, magnesium, iron, potassium, zinc, and vitamins A, C, E, and K.
  • Sweet vegetables, such as corn, carrots, beets, sweet potatoes, yams, onions, and squash
  • Fruit such as berries, apples, oranges and mangos, are satisfying way to fill up on fiber, vitamins, and antioxidants.

Healthy Carb Options

Healthy carbs are digested slowly, helping you feel fuller for longer, while keeping your blood sugar and insulin levels stable. Healthy carbs include whole grains, beans, fruits, and vegetables.

Unhealthy carbs digest quickly and cause spikes in blood sugar levels and energy. These include white flour, refined sugar, and white rice that have been stripped of all bran, fiber, and nutrients. Blogs found on social networking sites document peoples experience on carb intake.

Eat Healthy Fats

Eating healthy fat nourish your brain, heart, hair, skin, and nails.  Foods rich in certain omega-3 fats can reduce cardiovascular disease, improve your mood, and help prevent dementia. Unhealthy fats like saturated fats and trans fats should be reduced or eliminated from your diet. There are various healthy fats to consider and remain in your diet, and these include:

▪    Monounsaturated fats that are derived from plant oils like canola oil, peanut oil, and olive oil, as well as avocados, nuts like almonds, hazelnuts, and pecans, and seeds such as pumpkin, sesame.

▪    Polyunsaturated fats, including Omega-3 and Omega-6 fatty acids, found in fatty fish such as salmon, herring, mackerel, anchovies and sardines oil supplements. Other sources of polyunsaturated fats are unheated sunflower oil, corn oil, soybean oil, flaxseed oil, and walnuts.

Guidelines To Protein

Protein aids to the building blocks of our body that provides growth and energy, while maintaining cells, tissues, and organs. A lack of protein can slow growth, reduce muscle mass, lower immunity, and weaken the heart and respiratory system. The different types of protein include beans such as black beans and lentils, nuts such as almonds and walnuts, and soy products such as tofu and soy milk.

Calcium Equals Healthy Bones

Calcium-rich foods are one of the key nutrients that your body needs in order to stay strong and healthy. The recommended calcium levels are 1000 mg per day, 1200 mg if you are over 50 years old. Good sources of calcium-rich foods include dairy products such as milk and cheese, vegetables such as leafy greens and celery, and beans such as black beans and kidney beans.

Visit health related social networking sites to see what people are discussing on healthy eating options!

Social Media… Don’t overdo it

Social media is fantastic for tracking your progress and coming up with new regimens but how much is too much?

Fit Flop No. 1: Posting the following on Facebook: “The plan: 3-mile run/walk splits on Monday, 45-minute swim on Tuesday, Zumba class plus 20 minutes on the Erg machine on Wednesday, 8-mile bike ride on Thursday, rest on Saturday, Hatha yoga on Sunday. PUMPED for this week!!!”

A better way: Put your money where your mouth is by logging your workouts at Gympact, where you’ll have to pay up if you don’t follow through. If you really want to broadcast this stuff regularly, make a blog about your fitness journey, mmkay? Post a pretty Instagram from your a.m. run.

And start with a lot of embarrassing photos of you overweight and looking pale and out of breath. People love Befores as well as Afters.

Fit Flop No. 2: Linking your fitness tracker of choice (Fitbit, Up, Nike+, etc.) to all of your social media channels.

As more and more people get on the fancy-pedometer bandwagon, the programs threaten to become like Spotify — no one really remembers linking Spotify with their Facebook accounts, and now other people’s embarrassing 11th playing of “Countdown” have overrun your newsfeed.

Instead of telling your device to automatically post your steps taken and staircases climbed to Facebook and the like, just swap stats with the online communities that are almost always built into the products’ online dashboards.

Fit Flop No. 3: Posting a graph of last night’s sleep cycles on the Internet.

No seriously, this is a thing. Sleep monitors such as the app SleepCycle and the soon-to-be-released Renew SleepClock, which sits on your nightstand and uses bat-sonar-like technology to monitor your movement as well as your breathing, much like an overly enamored suitor or a bed intruder, include an option of publishing a visual of your slumber to social media channels. “Look, Ma! Almost 90 minutes of deep sleep!”

Being able to keep an eye on your sleep patterns is awesome. And if you can show your nocturnal habits to your doctor on your iPhone, all the better.

But showing the world all the intimate details? That’s about 2.5 steps away from proudly posting pictures of your healthy BM. A pretty good rule of thumb: Whatever happens between the sheets shouldn’t wind up on the Web.

Can Social Media Motivate you to Exercise?

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How to motivate you to move your body in order to get fit, stay healthy, and stop chowing down on an unhealthy amount of resources?

Let’s face it, that energy-sapping treadmill (yes, even if it’s never used… but still plugged into the wall!) in the corner is not motivating you to workout. Nor is that ridiculously expensive gym card (the one that supports the insane electric bill and non-green equipment at the gym) that dangles from your key chain. And now that getting “a bikini-ready body” is no longer a goal, what is going to motivate you enough to get your butt in gear and shed some fat? Technology. Social media.

You’re on your computer all day long… including right now. May as well put it to work (beyond your workload) and help you burn off another load (that which resides on your backside). Here are 3 social media forms that can help motivate you to move. Opt for low-impact exercises like yoga and good old fashioned running for the ultimate  workout.

1. Facebook

It has become a space where millions exchange ideas, offer tips, and give insight into their lives in a safe, non-invasive way. When it comes to motivating you to work out, Facebook is a great way to never feel alone, no matter what fitness or diet hardship is sapping your exercise enthusiasm. And for you yogis out there, as you know, yoga is just about the greenest exercise out there (especially if you use an eco mat, or none at all), and Facebook is full of yoga motivating pages like this one: Yoga Journal Pose of the Day, delivering three yoga poses to your inbox daily based on your experience level and interests.

2. Twitter

Motivational tips and mantras are easily expressed and accessed on Twitter. Similar to Facebook, but in smaller doses, the little blips of information can provide you with the perfect ounce size insight or push to help you continue to plow ahead with your fitness lifestyle. It’s a place where anonymous people share their own triumphs and struggles, reassuring you that you’re not alone, whatever you’re going through, someone else has too. It’s also a great tool for you to update your short terms goals and report on your ups and downs, knowing that someone out there is listening and supporting your success. When it comes to yoga, pretty much every studio has updates but men love the tips from Men With Yoga Mats, and we love the tweets about the streaming yoga classes from Yoga Glo in Santa Monica where you can choose to go in and move in person, or move along from anywhere through the streaming classes online. Talk about techno yoga!

3. Youtube

Yes, YouTube is a great place for passive entertainment. But it’s also a place where everyday people post video blogs about their own personal fitness struggles, in addition to self-made exercise videos showcasing what worked for them. The videos are raw, but they are also real. They expose a very human side, one where barriers are broken down and honesty is paramount because for some reason people seem to feel that they can express their true selves on camera, and you get to benefit from it.

What inspires you?

Hello beautiful!
I started this blog for my BU492k social media course but the topic I chose is something I am truly passionate about.
What inspires you to workout and be fit? What mediums do you use to motivate yourself?
I personally love Pinterest and blogs because they have a variety of motivational quotes/photos/workouts and meal options!
– Emily

The Power of Social Media

Social media has an infinite amount of information. Participating in Twitter chats and joining niche groups on Facebook gives you access to like minded people. Updates from other runners can inspire you to push harder, and links to races can inform you of events you may never have known about. Blogs allow you to post about your personal experiences and read about people that are interested in similar activities as you are. After all, you wouldn’t follow them if they didn’t, right? These people, their information and experiences, make you want to be your very best. To do your very best. They make you want to participate. And for some, deciding to participate in any type of fitness activity is challenge #1.

Social media can distort your image of what is healthy. It’s so easy to compare. It’s so easy to look in the mirror and tell yourself that you aren’t good enough, or to look in a magazine and decide you’ll never be that pretty or that skinny. Images traveling throughout social media can do that to you, too. Instagram, as we’ve discussed already, puts an endless stream of ab shots, flexed muscles and plank times right in your face for self-comparison. And consequently, self-criticism. Whenever you engage in social media environments, remind yourself: THESE PEOPLE ARE NOT ME. It’s okay if I don’t match them perfectly. Be sure to follow only those that really, truly tell you an awesome story…good abs or not.

Social media links to tools and technology that make it easy to keep track of your health and fitness. From MapMyRun to MyFitnessPal and countless other options, you can connect yourself one step further to those that do as you do — or not! Keep yourself quiet on these platforms and use them to keep track of your own progression. They can be really great for that. But if you engage on a social level, the inspiration is yours for the taking.