Facebook may lead to eating disorders.
Last week it was narcissism, this week it’s eating disorders. Poor Facebook is taking a hit!
A new study that found that “51% of respondents felt more self-conscious about their physical appearance after looking at pictures of themselves on Facebook.” These Facebook users are checking out their friend’s photos, which leads them to be more critical of their own physiques.
I don’t know about this… you can compare yourself to other people just walking down the street.
Read the full article on Newser by clicking here.
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Want to know how to feel better? Eat some veggies!
Yesterday I asked you all to join me in the Green Giant Veg Pledge to add an additional cup of veggies to your daily eats. Jenn @ Peas and Crayons is also taking part in the challenge, so this month her What I Ate Wednesday theme is…
Check out my veggies below; then click here to see how everyone else incorporated extra servings.
Breakfast:
Do you ever wake up starving? After Sunday’s jam-packed day of softball and plyometrics, I was in need of an extra-filling breakfast. I mixed this concoction and let it sit in the fridge to thicken (~15 mins) while I downed a glass of water and got the coffee started.
Those blackberries on top were incredible – the first perfect berries of the season!
In my oat bowl:
- Rolled oats
- Chia
- Greek yogurt
- Chia seeds
- Unsweetened almond milk
- Vanilla extract
- Cinnamon
- Blackberries
Lunch:
I failed to take a picture of the final result… but here’s what my veggie-centric lunch consisted of:
I am fully aware that gazpacho is easy to make yourself… but with my crazy schedule, Whole Foods’ soup had to happen. It was delicious with some red pepper flakes and avocado (unpictured) on top.
I devoured this with some spinach, broccoli slaw, and ak-mak crackers. These crackers were new to me – they were delicious and reminded me of Wasa crisps.
Snacks:
It was a snack-y sort of day – handfuls of this and that here and there. A few munchies:
KIND bars are my new addiction
Bowls of grapes and edamame
My two favorite drinks - coffee and kombucha
Dinner:
I was starving by dinner time. You know what that means…
All that remained were 2 strips of tempeh when I remembered to take a pic. My cousin and I hit up a local vegetarian spot called World Peace Cafe for dinner. It was my first time there, but certainly won’t be the last!
That tempeh was sitting on top of a huge salad with shredded beets, carrots, and tomatoes. On the left is a bowl that held a delicious mushroom–kale–lentil soup. The crumbs around to bowl belonged to a slice of rye toast. The tea pot in the background was filled with lemon-gnger tea.
We also split a piece of vegan chocolate-almond cake. It was divine.
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Adding veggies isn’t so hard… I think I could eat edamame all day long.
Did you incorporate an extra veggie serving to your day? If so, how?
Any thoughts on the Facebook story? Do you think it’s any worse than the millions of other way you can compare yourself to others?
I still have yet to try chia! oi!
Do you know how many times I’ve forgotten to take a pic of a really good meal? LOL. sucks. Well, I am glad to hear it was super yummy!
I’m going to have to mail you some! 🙂
Love your breakfast- I’ve been eating the same combo everyday for the last month or so – only differences are strawbs instead of blackberries and half a scoop of vanilla Sunwarrior stirred in: simply divine! The Facebook study is interesting but like you said, there’s a billion ways comparison can arise! Even within the blogging community, it’s so easy to look at fellow bloggers and think we are eating/exercise too much/too little in comparison!
I normally will add the Sun Warrior in the mix too, but I didn’t get my morning workout in so I held out for an afternoon protein shake.
You bring up a good point about the blogger community. I think it other bloggers can be great motivation, but can definitely see where it could turn into something negative.
I just ate the guest bowl of roasted veggies and tempeh ever. 🙂 oh… Those dark chocolate cranberry Kind bars are amazing!!!!
I think having the time to really look over and nitpick a photo makes it easier to zone in on comparisons than just walking down the street and it’s much deeper when comparing to someone you know and might have other insecurities around. I can see the report being true. Just as that e-card is true! LOL
Good point… I guess I use all my time blogging instead. LOL!
I usually have some large servings of veggies with my dinner. My brother taught me this awesome trick on “steaming” asparagus in the microwave when I am in a pinch. It has minimal cleanup and I love it. I have found it works for other veggies, too! Wel.. at least broccoli. More tries to come! 🙂
I stream spinach in the microwave! I was too embarrassed to admit my laziness. LOL! Asparagus will be happening soon though – thanks for the tip.
Mmmm Kind bars… I love those things and have enjoyed every flavor I have tried! I snacked on some fresh sugar snap peas for a snack today and loved them 🙂
That FB study is interesting but there is just so much more to all of this and a million and one ways people compare to others!
Snap peas make such a good snack! I love them with hummus.
I agree that Facebook can definitely promote comparisons to others. But I don’t think you can blame Facebook – people are going to compare themselves to others no matter what! Whether they compare themselves to someone in real life, in the movies, in a magazine, or over Facebook, it’s all the same.
I agree 100%!
Your breakfast oats look especially tasty, blackberries are my favorite!
Eh, I think Facebook gets a bad rap for everything.
I need to go back to World Peace Cafe. I’ve been twice and both times were very good.
Have you had the burger? I really want to go back and try it!
What a yummy day! I think Facebook is the devil. For one thing, I check the site at least 100 x a day. Wth. It’s out of control. Lol. My days are packed with veggies lately. I think adding a cup a day would be a breeze! I’ll join.
I’m so glad you’re joining! We should start a FB group. LOL!
Oooh! I really enjoyed my first experience at World Peace Cafe – I had that soup + that cake too, great choices! I wanted to buy a new teapot when I was there – they had such a fun selection and so darn cute. 🙂
You, me and Lee should go sometime! I want to try the burger and the carrot cake.
Love this weeks theme!! And love ALL of you eats! Think I’ll make that oat bowl right about now =)
I don’t really see how facebook makes people feel more self-conscious. I think anyplace where women compare themselves to other women can make them feel self-conscious!
You’re right. Why are women so bad about that?!
Great eats – dinner sounds wonderful. I guess I feel a little self-conscious when looking at Facebook photos, but not too much – especially compared to flipping through a magazine, doing a fitness dvd, or various other everyday things.
I agree with you–it’s no different from any other forum for comparison, it’s just yet another one. At least the people on Facebook are (usually) real and unphotoshopped people with normal human flaws. Jealous that you have good fresh berries! I’m ready for that season to start around here–although then I might have to cut back on my springtime asparagus consumption, and I’m just not ready yet.
Cut back on asparagus?! *gasp* Never!
Meh, I don;t spend that much time on facebook. You can only talk about yourself in a few lines, and people get annoyed if you post to many times in a row. The blog is much more effiecient for talking about one’s self 🙂
I can understand see social media in general giving people complexes, but there are other issues there to begin with.
You did work up an appetite this weekend. The meals didn’t last long enough for pictures! The food sounded good, so I would have faced the same problem.
LOL! That’s totally why I blog. 🙂
I think I could eat edamame all day long too…And I love the idea of adding an avocado and red pepper flakes to the whole foods gazpacho- sounds like a perfect lunch to me!
thank you so much for that article! my eating disorder really became worse after seeing a picture of myself on facebook. i hated what i saw so i promised myself to lose weight. that sure went well…
that dark chocolate cherry cashew kind bar is one of my all time favs!
Thank you for sharing your story!
It’s my favorite flavor too. 🙂
you make me really happy, Laura and I always incredibly look forward to your WIAW you are inspiring <3
Love you 🙂
Meg… thank YOU for always making me smile. 🙂
Oh man – I’m feeling so positive about my lack of Facebook page right now… except that even without one I am A) narcissitic and B) have some disordered eating tendencies. Maybe if I created one they’d go away? Love your eats and I agree coffee+kombucha are the two drinks I cannot live without!
You need to BE the study! (I may need to join too.) 😉
Oh man I love edamame!! Great idea for a snack! Never thought of it before. I think it is so great what Green Giant is doing and what Jenn is doing encouraging everyone to take in more veggies! Usually when I incorporate an extra serving into my day it is through something like a smoothie or in one of the ways you mentioned like adding spinach to something I usually don’t eat with veggies. Missed your posts while I was gone!! Read up on them & think they were all awesome! 🙂
Thanks Carol! I actually added an extra handful on spinach to my smoothie this morning… and I still couldn’t taste it. I wonder how much you have to add for it to come through?
I love akmaks! Ate some today, in fact.
I share your edamame sentiment. When I have it in the fridge I am always grabbing handfuls – that and carrots.
I have not problems incorporating veggies into my meals – maybe just bfast. For some reason lunch and dinner never feel complete unless served over giant piles of veggies.
I’ve recently gotten into wasa cracker, so I will have to try these akmaks.
As far as the facebook thing – I agree with you, not much than anything else. I stopped using it for years then started again because of my blog. I don’t pay too much attention though – just blog stuff and if someone sends me a message. I guess if something on fb is really messing with someone they should just stop using it or stop looking at that person’s profile. But yea, I don’t think fb is any different than the gym, or magazines, or even comparing yourself to bloggers, etc.
If you like Wasa, you will LOVE akmaks!
I agree with you – there are opportunities every where to compare yourself to others. The trick is NOT to take them.
When I wake up hungry I always feel like my calorie intake was right the day before. Is that weird? Love edamame and Kind Bars.
[Fitness, Health and Happiness]
That’s interesting. I always assume I had a really good workout the day before. I like the combo of both thoughts!
FB leading to eating disorders. Jeez people, step up, show some personal responsibility and eat up!!!
ha! you know i can completely relate to the scarfing of the dinner. oops! 😉
Eh, again, not really. I assume it’s easier to compare when you have an image of yourself to look at at the same time, but that applies to blogs/journals/anyrandomsocialmediatool with pictures.
I am still on the fence about chia – how much is filling? Where do you get yours?
It depends on what you are mixing the chia with. I will use 1-2T in shakes or my chia puddings. They are also great just sprinkled on dishes (salads, pastas, etc) for a little extra crunch.
I get mine at the farmer’s market – they’re much cheaper than at Whole Foods!
I definitely haven’t ever felt words about myself after looking at Facebook photos. Usually I feel better, because unlike so many people, there are no photos of my lying on the floor drunk or mimicking sex acts with bottles of beer or anything… 😛
Oh how I miss snacking on edamame every night, like I did when I studied at UVA! I need to make a pilgrimmage to an Asian grocery store here 🙂
HAHAHAHA! Comment of the day.
Very interesting about Facebook causing all sorts of problems. I can see how it would happen, but let’s hope people are able to resist taking things to the extreme.
I think I could eat edamame all day too!
That article totally makes sense, but it’s kind of crazy to think how something that (most of us) use EVERY single day, for long periods at a time can be so bad for our self esteem!
At least we have our veggies 😉 they’re ALWAYS a good thing!
Yes! I love Ak-Maks! I discovered them randomly when I was working a Central Market, and apparently they were “in vogue” in the eating world in the 80s. They were Wasa before Wasa was Wasa. (Or something.)
The 80s…. ah, the good ‘ol days. I think I may like them better than Wasa. Though the fact that they’re from the Madonna era may influence that. 🙂
Your breakfast creation had me drooling (especially a lot considering I wake up every morning hungry like a beast 😉
And I did not realise FB was so influential – good thing I do not have it!
Happy Easter!
Choc Chip Uru
Thanks! It was a good one – especially with the berries! 🙂
Happy Easter to you too!
Lets face it, with the way food production is, along with society’s obsession with thinness we ALL have an eating disorder on some level. Our relationship with food as a society is very skewed. Facebook is not going to cause an eating disorder any more than reading a fashion magazine (if people in the US think the women in those magazines are too thin there, they should read a French magazine. I feel like I’m 300lbs after flipping through one of those.)
Agreed… I can only imagine how it would be in France! Is it better when you get outside of Paris?
Ha, I read that in the newspaper too. How ridiculous. Eating disorders don’t have to do with facebook… where did they get the research for that 😛