Has anyone else ever been on social media and had ads constantly popping up about something they were just recently searching about? I know this has happened to me plenty of times and it always seems like a coincidence.

When this happens to me, it is sometimes helpful. For example, If I was just recently searching for different types of gold necklaces, then all of a sudden I could be getting ads for a thousand different types of gold necklaces. This could’ve made my search for a pretty gold necklace much easier.

What is really going on…

On the flip side of that, getting ads about things you are searching can be not only annoying but detrimental. As explained by Jennifer Goldbeck in her ted talk, “Your social media likes expose more than you think”, there is actually a system created to track different aspects of your social media. For example they will track you’re likes, posts, followings, and even what or who you interact with on social media.

Once they gather this huge amount of information about you and your social media interactions, they will send it to behavior analysts and marketing teams to study your behavior. Then you will get ads marketed for you based off your recent social media interactions.

This can really be difficult for people who are trying to obtain a healthier lifestyle and are getting ads for unhealthy/fast foods, because maybe you recently liked a picture of a delicious looking burger you saw on instagram. From my own experience, sometimes all it takes is to see a super appetizing picture of a brownie for me to cave and go and get one.

Helpful hints

For all of you that don’t know, my blogs here are all about promoting healthy eating habits and how to make changes to accomplish that. If you are new here, you should go check out my blog, “Change isn’t scary, It’s healthy!” to get some insight as to what this page is all about. Also check it out if you are interested on how to make healthily living changes.

Im sure all of us know how hard it can be to break habits, especially if you’re constantly being tempted on different social media platforms. A better way to keep this temptation out of the picture is to not interact or search it on social media. Better yet, interact and search healthy foods and healthy habits instead! That way when you are getting pop up ads, they will be promoting healthier choices that could actually further motivate you to make healthier lifestyle choices.

If any of you are In need for some good and reliable websites to interact with, make sure you check out my last blog post, “Making smart choices, together!” for some guidance.

In my efforts to help make healthy lifestyle websites and content more available and by advice given by Lawrence Lessig’s in his Ted Talk, “Laws that choke creativity”, I am allowing any of my content to be used for non-commercial use as long as their is credit given.

Im hoping that this will help make useful information like this more available and accessible to those who want to become more knowledgeable in this topic. I also hope will will inspire other bloggers and writers to allow their information to be shared to help further spread information on healthy living.

Overall, I hope this blog gave you guys some insight as to what really goes on when your on social media and how to use the system to your benefit.

For future updates on my healthy living campaign, keep checking out my blog weekly and also check out my Vimeo for more information.

In my last blog post I talked about how it is very important to switch up your diet and the foods you eat. Now that I’ve explained and proven why it is important to do this, I want to give you guys some reliable sources to use when researching this information. There are a ton of websites and social media platforms that try to give advice on this topic, and that can become very overwhelming. If you want to see what sites to trust or not trust, keep on reading!

One really great and reliable source of information to get dietary advice from would be the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. They have a great variety of information about food, health, and fitness. They are one of the worlds biggest organizations of health and nutrition professionals and offer highly detailed information in a broad range of catagories. They have their information categorized into kids, men, and women so you can get specific information and advice based on your specific needs.

Another great website I highly recommend is Nutrition.gov. This website offers credible information on healthy recipes, food safety, and physical activity. The information on this website is regularly updated by a group of certified food scientists and nutritionists. You can access a wide variety of information based on dietary supplements, basic nutrition needs, and even different health conditions.

An often undercooked website that offers good and reliable nutrition information is the Harvard website of nutrition. This site will offer advice on staying active, healthy diet choices, and healthy drink options. There is information based on each food group (carbohydrates, proteins, fruits, vegetables, and sodium). There is also information about disease prevention and even recommended diet plans for you.

Websites to avoid

Pintrest offers tons of information on arts, crafts, recipes, design, and pretty much anything you can search. This can be a great website, but it can also lead you to some not so credible sources. Some peoples ideas of what a healthy and well balanced meal can be not accurate to say the least.

This site can definitely offer some delicious meals and recipes, but you need to be wary of the nutritional values. If you are going to use this website, I highly recommend you do your own research or apply your own knowledge on if these foods/meals are healthy.

Instagram has also become a huge platform for diet and health pages. Don’t get me wrong some of these pages dedicated to diet and nutrition can be really helpful to some people. A lot of the information on these pages are solely based on that particular persons nutrition needs. For example, a lot of people will post their meals for each day and post their macros for that meal. These can be helpful but you have to know what your nutrition and weight goals are before following any diet on there.

Twitter is another site that can also offer some wary information for diet and nutrition. One issue that comes with putting this type of information and advice on twitter is that you are very limited to the amount of words you can write In each post. This really only gives people the option of just posting whatever video or picture of their “healthy” meal, with not much context around it.

Overall a there are a lot of good websites out there can offer great information on health and nutrition. Some are better than others, but it truly is how educated you are with your options and the research you do about the information you see. Hopefully these websites I listed will give you guys some reliable and credible information for your health and nutrition needs.

How many of you go out of your way to add new foods into your diets weekly? Or how many of you rarley ever switch up your diets? Sticking to foods you like is great, but there are so many different foods out there that are amazing for your body. There are a lot of benefits that can come from trying or adding new healthy foods into your diet. A lot of people don’t even know the hidden truth of what these foods can do for your body. It seems the average person sticks to a limited variety of foods, and making a change could really benefit you. If you’re at all skeptical about switching things up, or just want some knowledge on how rotating foods can make for a healthier you, this blog is for you. 

In a poll done bythe New Covent Garden Soup Company, it found that around 77% of people ate the same lunch for over two years. This has become a societal norm for people all around the world. This seems to be the trend because It’s simpler and allows people to stay in their comfort zone. It was also found that most people don’t like to switch up their diet because it limits the amount of choices they have to make throughout the day. These are all valid points, but I’m going to give you a few reasons to try something new.

It turns out that switching up your diet can come with some really great benefits. It is very likely that if you’re constantly sticking to the same foods, that you may be missing out on some curtail micronutrients. It was also found that in a 2002 study that switching up your diet could potentially lower your mortality rate by 42%. Rotating your diet was also found to lower your risk for metabolic syndrome. Not only does this lower risk for metabolic syndrome, but adding variety to ones diet has also shown to reduce your risks for several cancers as well. Additionally, adding variety into your diet can easily result in a drop in body weight. It was found that having a versatile diet increases different types of good bacteria in your gut. Having diverse good gut bacteria is therefore also associated with weight loss.

Not only is adding variety to your diet good for you physically, but its great for you mentally as well. Having a wide variety of foods to eat and switching up your diet regularly has also been linked to a lower risk for depression!

Switching up your diet may seem challenging or impossible, but it really isn’t as intimidating as you think. By simply trying one or two new recipes a week, you can easily accomplish this. There are many simple ways you can switch things up. You can try a new vegetable of fruit each time you go to the grocery store. The classic trick is to eat the colors of the rainbow. Find a fruit or vegetable that’s a different color each visit and give it a try! You’ll be amazed by the difference it can make.