Instagram, Twitter, tumblr and Pinterest (other social networking sites are available) all boast millions of food bloggers, fitness lovers and perfect life fanatics, but what effect is this having on you? I agree that some are insightful, inspiring and even educational but still…
Instinctively, I approach with caution because I feel like it can so easily add to the immeasurable pressure for us to live our lives by a myriad of what experts judge to be a suitable healthy lifestyle. I’ve read many a smug “martyr” claiming that they haven’t had a grain of sugar in 10 years. This then becomes the bar to which we all judge ourselves as we fail to meet this high standard of what it is to be “healthy”. These bloggers of cyber perfection are the idols of many young people growing up and many will perceive such perfection as normality.
This isn’t my inspiration. My inspiration is a woman who exercises regularly and enjoys a beer on a Friday night, a weekly curry with her friends and occasionally a croissant and coffee for breakfast. Who keeps slim through moderate portions and listening to her body, by concentrating on all the delicious healthy foods that make the body function well. The woman who eats when she is hungry and then continues with life, absorbing and enjoying all that each day has to offer.
There is definitely a thin line between eating healthily and being obsessed with healthy eating. I struggle to know where this is myself, but I feel that it depends on how happy the person feels about how they are living. I also think that it is important not to judge or define your self-worth by what you eat or how much you exercise. Obsessive healthy eating is now a recognised eating disorder called Orthorexia (check out here) and I worry that “perfect” bloggers are unknowingly encouraging people who struggle with this.
I post healthy recipes and exercises for you to do to encourage positive behaviour. There is no doubt that eating good and exercising makes people feel good about themselves and this is what I aim to achieve: making you feel good/better. I do not post pictures of the cheese on toast I ate at 10pm on Saturday night, nor the slice of cake I had last Thursday afternoon, but I enjoyed every bite.
So please be mindful that all happy bloggers will allow themselves the freedom to deviate from perfection. Be motivated and enthused by blogs, but take them with a pinch of reality and understanding. Eat rice, veggies and oily fish but allow yourself to have a treat from time to time 🙂
