Taylor Swift’s Positive Influence on ED Recovery

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Celebrities have negatively influenced our society to idolize ‘thin’ idealistic body images, which can lead to disordered eating issues. However, a new research study suggests that celebrities also could influence more positive health outcomes. For instance, a new study shows that singer and superstar Taylor Swift has been able to participate in her fans’ disordered eating recovery process and positively influence body acceptance without even physically “meeting” or “talking” to her fans! This is history in the making!

It’s important for us to fully understand how Taylor was able to achieve this by analyzing the study’s findings so that more celebrities can follow in her footsteps.

Study overview:
The research study looked at over 8300 TikTok and Reddit comments that referenced Taylor’s struggles with body image and disordered eating.

Key findings:
Fans initially developed a sense of trust, personal connection, and admiration towards Taylor through two main sources: her documentary and her songs. Taylor’s followers felt a sense of personal connection, which later encouraged behavior change.
In her documentary “Miss Americana,” Taylor openly talks about her struggles with body image issues and disordered eating multiple times. She mentions feeling that her tummy was too big, triggering her to starve herself, but later expresses this was wrong of her. She says, “If you eat food, have energy, get stronger, you can do all these shows without feeling badly.”
Taylor references wanting a more body-inclusive society and further talks about her personal struggles through her songs. In her song, “You’re on Your Own, Kid,” she says, “I search the party of better bodies” and continues with ”I hosted parties and starved my body.”

Here are three comments that stand out:
1) “Proud of her… and myself because she taught me I’m perfect the way I am.”
2) “She has seriously had such an amazing and profound impact on my life”
3) “I can honestly say that if I didn’t have her inspiration I wouldn’t be where I am today, I wouldn’t be in recovery.”

These comments highlight Taylor’s influential power to promote body acceptance and lead fans into positive behavior changes.

Still Room for Improvement
The research study found mixed reactions from fans in regard to Taylor’s music video “Anti-Hero.” Although Taylor Swift promotes a more weight-inclusive society, in her music video “Anti-Hero,” she steps on a scale that says ‘fat,’ and her alter ego admonishes her. The controversy arises from her pushing body acceptance, but then objectifying the meaning of ‘fat.’ Some fans have found this misleading, while others say that it was insightful to learn more about Taylor’s struggles, relating it to their own. It is important to point out that objectifying body shapes/sizes could hold us back as we move towards creating a ‘body-positive’ society. A body-positive society would ultimately steer away from using descriptive words to define body types.

What does this mean for us? Imagine a society in which celebrities use their fame to promote all body acceptance while supporting positive health outcomes! Taylor Swift proves that celebrities have this ability. Think about how she has made such a large impact on her fans in a short time period and what she could do in the next few years!

Our Take Away:
Celebrities can positively influence our society in regard to better health outcomes.
Celebrities like Taylor Swift have the ability to move our society closer to health and body inclusiveness.
Taylor Swift’s vulnerability about her eating and body struggle has encouraged fans to make positive behavior changes.
To foster a body positive society, we should steer away from using descriptive words to define different body types.

 

Meal Prepping Made Easy

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I don’t know about you, but sometimes 24 hours a day is just not enough. With school and work, some days I struggle to find the time to eat nourishing meals because I don’t have the time to make a meal and any prepared options are usually not the best choices. I started meal prepping can help free up some time during the week by cooking meals ahead of time!

Set a Day for Meal Prepping

First, set a designated day to cook your meals. I like to cook on Sundays and Wednesdays making meals for three to four days so I don’t get tired of the same meals every day. Also, most of the time food only says good for about three to five days or so. This is also a great way to get the family into the kitchen. Getting kids to help out can spark their interest in healthy food and cooking. Plus, they are more likely to eat the food that they helped cook.

Plan Your Meals

Once you have set a day to make your meals, plan what you are going to make and write a list of food you need to get at the grocery store. Planning your meals in advance can help make grocery shopping much easier as you already know what to get. This way you only need to go to the grocery store once a week. When planning your meals, think about ingredients that could be cooked in multiple ways. For example, you can make spinach into a salad, put it in some soup, or sautee it with other veggies!

Don’t limit your meal prepping to just lunch and dinner. You can save time in the morning by portioning out your smoothie ingredients in mason jars or pre-making pancakes and cut fruit for an easy breakfast for the kids.

Having pre-made snacks make it easy for you to grab and go. Cut up and portion fruits and veggies! Portion out cheese, lunchmeat, and crackers for homemade Lunchables! Pre-package trail mix or cereals! The combinations are endless.

Be Efficient

Utilize your kitchen to the max!

  • Make sheet pan meals by roasting multiple items on the same sheet pan. That’s one less dish to wash at the end of the night!
  • Multi-task. Whether that be boiling some pasta while sauteeing some greens or baking chicken and roasting potatoes, make use of your time cooking.

Portion Out Your Meals

After making all your meals, portion out your meals. This makes it quick and easy to grab your lunch when you are on your way out the door! If you don’t have enough room in your refrigerator, pack your lunch and dinner the night before so you have it ready to go in the morning.

Mason jars are a great way to put salads in. Place your dressing in first and then put hardier vegetables like chickpeas or tomatoes or protein. That way your salad is not soggy when you eat it. It’s also great to use if you want instant noodle soups. Just cook your favorite noodles and shock them in ice water before adding it to the mason jar with other ingredients you want. Add miso, tum yum paste, a bouillon cube, or any other soup flavoring. When you are ready to eat, just add hot water and let it sit for a couple of minutes. And voila you have soup!

Freeze It

If you want to meal prep way far in advance, you can freeze the extra meals you made. You can marinate meat, cook vegetables,  or make soup and freeze it! Making and freezing family meals can be a huge time saver when you are running short on time to make dinner. You can make lasagna, oven bakes, or casseroles in a disposable pan and freeze them until you need them.

Fast food can be healthy. Meal prepping may require taking some time out of your week, but you can have ready to eat meals that you know are nutritious! You can make it as easy as you want it by simply putting everything in the oven or have fun making different meals. Not only does it save time during the weekdays, but it can save you money and unnecessary stress. Try meal prepping this week and comment below how you did it!

AN

MyPlate Oklahoma

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MyPlate is the current nutrition guide published by the USDA and the guiding light for nutrition recommendations. Most remember the Food Pyramid. MyPlate was created to depict a place setting that helps better visualize our food groups easier than the previous pyramid.

A place setting with a plate and glass divided into five food groups approximately:

  • 30 percent of grains
  • 40 percent of vegetables
  • 10 percent of fruits
  • 20 percent protein
  • Dairy, such as a glass of milk or a yogurt cup

This is a helpful visual to fit your diet whether or not it consists of animal proteins or not.

Locally produced MyPlate Oklahoma Foods

  • Fruit
  • Apricots Blackberries Blueberries (tame and wild) Muskmelons Cherries (sweet and tart) Figs Nectarines Peaches Pears Persimmons Watermelons
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  • Vegetables
  • Asparagus Beans (snap) Beets Cabbage (head) Carrots Eggplant Mustard Greens Okra Potatoes Pumpkins Radishes Spinach Sweet Corn Turnip Greens Turnips
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  • Grains
  • Barley Corn for grain (e.g., flour) Oats Rye Wheat
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  • Proteins
  • Beans (other than lima beans) Beef Bison Catfish Chicken Cowpeas Duck Eggs Elk Emu Goat Goose Lamb Ostrich Partridge Peanuts Peas Pecans Pheasant Pork Quail Rabbit Sesame Seeds Soybeans Sunflower Seeds Tilapia Turkey Venison Walnuts
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  • Dairy
  • Milk, Milk from sheep and goats
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KD

Super Bowl Sunday Healthy Snack

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For many people, the Super Bowl is an all-day couch and snack fest, but if you are watching your weight, this big game can hinder your healthy lifestyle.
To help make your Super Bowl dishes more waist-friendly this year, try out this delicious recipe! 
Prep Time: 15-20 minutes
Cook Time:10 minutes

 
Ingredients (Serves 4-8)

8 ounces lean ground beef
2 onion, diced
1 red bell pepper, diced
1 green bell pepper, diced
1 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp cumin
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup beans {any kind; I used red kidney beans}

for the nachos:

6 oz. tortilla chips {check serving size for amount}
1-1/4 cup (5 oz.) shredded reduced-fat cheese

toppings:

1 avocado, diced
2 roma tomatoes, cored, seeded, & diced
1 green onion, diced
jalapenos, if desired
salsa

Instructions
Add ground beef, onions, and bell peppers to a large skillet. Cook over medium-high heat until ground beef is done. Drain if needed.
Add chili powder, oregano, paprika, cumin, salt, and beans to skillet. Stir well, and cook for about 3 minutes. Remove from heat.
Arrange half of chips on 2 large or 4 small plates. Sprinkle with 1/3 of the cheese. Top with half of the ground beef mixture. Sprinkle with 1/3 of the cheese. Top with remaining chips. Top with the remaining ground beef mixture, and then sprinkle with remaining cheese.
Microwave for 45-60 seconds until cheese is melted.
Top with desired toppings. Enjoy!

Nutrition Facts per 1/4 recipe using 93/7 beef:

482 calories, 20g fat (6.5g saturated), 49.4g carbohydrates, 7.9g fiber, 30g protein

Nutrition Facts per 1/8 recipe using 93/7 beef:

241 calories, 10g fat (3.3g saturated), 24.7g carbohydrates, 3.9g fiber, 15g protein
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Healthy Resolutions For 2014!

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Thinking of new resolutions for 2014? Try starting off the New Year with a few healthy choices.

Here are a few examples:

 

  • Choose low sugar treats: We consume 355 calories, or 22 teaspoons, of added sugars a day. The American Heart Association advises that we eat much, much less than that. Try to eat more natural sugars such as ones contained in fruits.
  • Eating more foods rich in omega-3 fatty acids might just help you keep your blood pressure down. Researchers found that among 4,680 healthy adults, those who consumed the highest amounts of omega-3 fatty acids in their diets had the lowest rates of hypertension. Research also has found that omega-3s can help improve your mood. Try to get two servings of fish a week, particularly fatty fish, such as salmon, sardines and some types of tuna, which are rich in omega-3s. If you don’t like fish try walnuts and flax, which are good nonfish sources of omega-3s.

 

  • Pile on the veggies: The majority of Americans don’t eat the daily recommended 3 or more servings of vegetables. Vegetables contain many healthy nutrients and fibers important for your body. If you don’t think any vegetables taste good, try roasting. Roasting vegetable caramelizes their natural sugars so they taste amazing.

 

Make eating healthy one of your New Year resolutions for 2014!
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Source: http://www.eatingwell.com/healthy_cooking