By: Christina Meyer-Jax MS, RDN
“Show me who your friends are, and I’ll show you who you are.” I heard this phase often as a strong-willed teenager from my pragmatic and well intentioned Grandma. The power of who and what we surround ourselves with makes a radical difference in our lives and well-being. Research has shown countless times that our “external” influences mold and shape our behavior. Remember college? (or insert some other peer pressure scenario)
As a dietitian (a.k.a nutrition nerd) I have spent my professional life in pursuit of the best approaches to shape health behaviors. Why? Because change is HARD and knowledge doesn’t equate to change. If it did, I would never eat that plate of greasy nachos again! Ha! Instead it’s a mix of knowledge and motivational influences that create change.
There are a lot of ways to slice and dice a person’s external influences. But one easy approach is dissecting who and what is followed on social media. Are these digital “influencers” supporting our behavior goals? In the nutrition world, I encourage clients to surround their “online selves” with positive social accounts. Their social nutrition “feed” should provide them with inspiration and nourishment to influence healthy behaviors. You know a “feed” that feeds you!
Willpower is pretty limiting, so why work “hard” when you can work smart! By choosing authentic and health driven content to fill our minds, we make it easier to make the better choices.
For me, I’m pretty happy to count WholeMe as one of my online (and kitchen cupboard, backpack, workout bag, etc) friends! The recipes and uplifting messages are one of the influences that support me in making “Healthy” my continuing “Selfie”!
Christina Meyer-Jax MS, RDN (twitter @nutrition_up and IG @christinajax) is Founder of NutritionUp Consulting and professor at St. Catherine University in St. Paul, MN. Her passion is fueling fun lives and practices it often with her love of trail running, punny t-shirt collecting, and watching her kids play hockey and sing in garage bands.
