Back in my pre-blogging days I used to think that healthy lifestyle/ food bloggers were like celebrity status. (LOL… it wasn’t that long ago). They are so creative and never running out of ideas!
I used to use paper plates, make enough food to have tons of leftovers for every night of the week, and never felt the need to make my food “look pretty”. I even ate over the sink a few times, to save dish clean up! How ugly is that?!
On the blogs, I saw pretty plates, new meals every day, and an assortment of veggies with every meal! I thought, WOW! these people are awesome and super dedicated (aka food celebs). Once I actually met a few bloggers, and started the blog myself, I realized that bloggers are normal people! Gosh! What a shocker!
Now that I have a blog of my own, I sometimes feel pressure to eat more veggies (a good thing, not complaining!) I feel like if I don’t feel as hungry one day, or super hungry the next that someone might judge me for eating too much or too little. Sometimes I spend so long taking pictures that my food gets cold.
Overall, I eat very similarly to how I ate before blogging. I eat the same foods as before, just more variety now! (Ex… tofu)
I don’t always want to eat vegetables. I usually do because I like them but sometimes they are just a pain to cook or something else sounds better. I also sometimes don’t feel like whipping up an ultra-healthy meal. Let’s face it… I’m human. Take today for example:
I wanted Pizza. ONLY pizza. Nothing else would do.
Organic Tomato sauce was my veggie today. I used these guys…
… to make two mini pizzas which were just what I wanted.
I do not eat perfectly and would never claim to. However, I love blogging and everything good it has done for me. I am more creative with my meals, have realized that eating healthy is fun, and have developed an even better relationship with food. 
Just wanted to share my thoughts… does anyone else agree? Has blogging changed how you eat? Did you/Do you ever feel like bloggers always love eating perfectly?
<3 MegaNerd
Filed under: Anything and Everything
Haha, I totally agree with you! I used to think of them as celebs too (Still kinda do, not gonna lie). Blogging has changed the way I think about food, but there are def times when I go back to my pre-blog favorites. It's good to welcome the new but remember the old
I think the key is balance & moderation. We all have days where only certain foods sound good to us. You have to feed your body when it asks and satisfy cravings, in moderation. I think your lunch looks great!
Kim
What an honest, humorous post!
I appreciate all the food blogs because they've made me want to slow down more and actually enjoy the food more, not just wolf it all down. I now try to change things up on a daily basis, but everynow and then, I just want cereal all day long! He he!
I agree 100%! I have learned so much from so many talented people. Blogging makes me care about my food, proud to eat it and I almost seem to enjoy eating to a greater degree.
no need to feel pressure at all!! Eeryone has those days when they are hungrier. No shame girlie! Plus it is better to listen to your body – its the only way to be happy in life
AWESOME pizza!
i definitely eat different now too, but that was the goal. but making my food pretty is something that is way different.
i know how you feel about wanting only one thing … sometimes the body just wants something and you cant deny it.
-muffy
Yesterday over at my blog was a perfect example of this, I kind of did not want to post it, but figured what the heck?!?!! I am human. So I took a nasty picture of chocolate cake and posted it on the internet for all the world to see.
I don't take pictures of my all my food, but reading other blogs has definitely exposed me to a lot of fantastic ideas that I've now incorporated into my every day life! I don't think I realized how much inspiration I got form blogs until I started blogging myself.
thank you for the honest words..i couldn't have said it better myself…but no one is judging because your body knows what you want!
Haha I agree with you…Hence, why I don't food blog/journal. I can't stand to sit there and take pics of me food before I can eat it!
Plus, sometimes I just want to eat half a pizza or (almost) an entire bag of chips. There's no shame in that as long as it's not every day!
Maybe I should start a food blog, "ChasRunner: Most of the time eating really healthy and running a lot, some of the time, eating a lot of crap and LOVING IT!"
I definitely put forth more effort to eat more healthfully and more balanced now that I have the blog and its readers to keep me accountable. Definitely why I started it and keep with it! (And definitely gorged on 4 pieces of office pizza at lunch on Friday!)
I don't have a food blog (and I do see them as sort of celebs) but I have found since I have started following these blogs I have made a conscious effort to think about what I'm eating. I have never liked leftovers but I had a routine of this for Monday and that for Tuesday. I have always loved veges but I have since started eating a vriety that I didn't before, e.g zucchini. I have always hated cereal and milk, even as a child I had to have them separate (yes I know I am not normal) but now I eat my granola with yogurt and I love it.
I LOVE this post! It is so honest and real and I thank you so much for posting it! I have been taking pictures of my food far longer than I have been posting them (and WAY longer than before I knew people actually had blogs about it!) because we both LOVE to eat and I made a goal to take more pictures for 2009. Since we don't have kids but do eat a few times a week I found it a fun way to take pictures of us and what we do.
Once I found food blogs I was awe-struck! I couldn't believe the amazing food combos and variety of food. I know if I hadn't found Caitlin's blog I never would have tried Greek yogurt or a Green Monster. I love all the great ways to incorporate veggies into dishes and to try to have them or fruit at every meal to really balance the dish out. Some of this started when I began reading Clean Eating Magazine last summer but having the food blogs really helps to reinforce those concepts.
I love reading your blog so THANK YOU for all of your yummy food ideas (and being real!) too
ah Megan this is a great post! seriously – i used to idolize bloggers and try so hard to "be them" or "impress them" in my initial stages — but it's really important to realize that those "note worthy" bloggers are just normal people who have normal cravings too, and we need to follow them
okay i definitely outdid the " " quota for this comment
I totally agree with you about the celeb bloggers, haha. Isn't that funny that so many of us feel that way??
I think blogging makes me more aware of my food-related decisions. Like if I'm out to dinner, I'm more likely to divide my meal in half and take leftovers home instead of eat until I'm uncomfortable ("what would people think if I ate the whole plateful??" haha). And some days, if I notice I haven't posted many fruits or veggies, I will try to add more of them in the next day, because blogging about my meals has made me aware that I am missing those foods!
P.S. Those mini pizzas look so yummy. I'll have to try that with my sandwich thins!
I think food blogs are so fun to read, but it has to be so much work!! Especially with people who do such pretty presentations. Sometimes I wish I had the patience to do it because I love to look at others'! Even though I don't blog every thing I eat, blogging has DEFinitely helped me to eat better. I eat a TON of fruits and veggies….it's the majority of what I buy at the grocery now!
Tomorrow is my 1 month anniversary of blogging! I'm going to do a post about how it's changed some things in my life. I can feel a distinct difference in the way I look at food now and the way I used to look at food.
ok i'll bite
i think blogging has been great for me in terms of how much veggies i eat. also, its helped me eat a lot of variety. i think if i wasnt blogging i would eat a lot more PB sammies and cereal. i wouldn't be as educated about food choices and would probably not be a vegetarian.
i think the one thing i really struggle with is working out. i really like to run (obviously) but i feel a tremendous amount of pressure to run. i am trying to decide if its because of the blog or because of the marathon…. but i think its the marathon because i never felt like this before. it sucks to feel pressured to work out, but at least it's good for me!
re: being perfect, i feel like im a pretty good example of non perfection. LOL.
Amen! Sure blogs have introduced me to a lot of foods I wouldn't have normally tried but I still eat like the girl I was before the blog. Sometimes I just want good old white bread and I eat it! I don't care about the nutrition info – I want the taste and the memories that come with it
I totally agree! I try to make leftovers for the whole week, and when on the run at work, I grab frozen meals a lot. Now I'm trying to focus on switching those things up to keep it fresh on my blog as well! Or trying new combos with my leftovers (ex: my black bean salsa dip & all it's creations!). I think being a "perfectly healthy" person includes eating exactly what you're craving, and not just what you're "supposed" to eat.
My husband teases me sometimes when I make a really pretty or really healthy meal, about it being "blog-worthy"…and whenever I'm on the computer he asks what Kath is eating, just to harass me – I'm not a blogger, but I love getting ideas from them, and yes, I think they are celebrities too!
But, without reading these blogs, I never would have tried kale, green smoothies, baked tofu (WHICH I LOVE!)….very inspiring! But, I really can't eat as healthily as they do all the time…guess that's a goal to work on!
your mini pizzas look good! I use bagels sometimes- super good! yummmy
I love this post! And I think it's fun to see new bloggers go through the stages of trying to make super impressive meals at every meal, to realizing it's ok to have a boring old bowl of cereal.
So glad you started blogging!
Such a great post! So true! We aren't perfect
That post was so great I am going to post the link of this post onto my page for other bloggers to see. I totally agree with you. I am new at this whole blogging thing, just got one last week, and I still think that you and all of the other BIG good bloggers are like food celebs, but i do agree with you that bloggers are just normal people! thanks for sucha great post!
Jenna
http://jennaelise.blogspot.com/
This is basically why I don't post all the food I eat. It's way too boring and some days I do not have balanced meals. I just like to post when I make something good, too much pressure to do it all the time
I eat the same, but after viewing other food blogs, I decided that I needed to pretty up my plate – not just for the blogging world, but for my own enjoyment of the food!
Hey, Megan, I just found your blog, I am fairly new to the whole blogging thing, and yes, it has definitely changed the way I eat, but I think for the better. But you're right, it is important to remember that we are ALL normal people and not everything is perfect all the time, great post!
Very interesting post! I don't really feel this kind of pressure because I never set out to blog all of my food or snacks. And I think it's really good to show the normal side of being a celeb food blogger too.
Sometimes I eat cereal for dinner and I tell that too. I am with you on food getting cold for pictures though.
I don't feel pressure to be perfect…but I do sometimes feel embarrassed when I have a bad eating day. I always post the good, bad and ugly of my eats because I think it's important to have flawed bloggers around. I am very far from perfect and sometimes feel downright unhealthy compared to other bloggers!
I used to feel like I had to eat balanced meals all the time for the blog! I finally realized that I just need to be me, because that is not only good for me, but good for my readers — to see that I am only human
Great post!
I couldn't agree with you more!! I just did a post on perfection and I had the same revelation. Some blogs just seem too perfect and it makes me feel bad sometimes! I've realized that we're not all perfect and every blogger is unique and talented in their own way
-kristen
I totally agree with this post, some bloggers either (unintentionally or intentionally) make it seem like they are perfect, however, you only see what they post and you'll never know everything that goes on their life. We, as readers, just have to remember that no one is perfect! Sometimes I do feel pressure to create new meals, eat healthier and post everything I eat, but usually it's not a bad thing and overall I really love blogging and the food blog community.
Almost food bloggers eat pizza/chips/or other unhealthy foods sometimes – I think it's perfectly normal and acceptable.
Great post.
[...] about delicious food that is also healthy, whether or not it fits into a labeled lifestyle. Food bloggers are normal people, so for now I’m just going to eat as healthy as I can, meat [...]