If you’re someone who absolutely adores social media, you might have an Instagram account. Along with millions of active users, you’re probably enthralled by the app’s sleek design and diverse content. If you’re starting a new health and wellness journey, there are so many ways to incorporate Instagram into the mix.

Consider these ways Instagram can be a great guide to optimal health:

1. Meal Prep

There are hundreds of Instagram accounts that are specifically dedicated to healthy eating. Many of the accounts demonstrate how to cook healthy yet delicious meals and stick to a certain diet. Whether you subscribe to a gluten-free diet or a vegan diet, there’s plenty of accounts to follow and learn from. The pictures always make me hungry.

2. Trainers

If you don’t have a membership at the local gym, it tends to be harder to find a trainer in your area. Thankfully, Instagram has hashtags. You can put your city in the search engine along with the type of trainer you’re looking for. It’ll take some perusing and scrolling. However, you can find a trainer in your area. If people in your local circle post about their workouts and trainers online, check to see who they use. When a trainer has a presence on Instagram, they tend to use it to validate and showcase their services. This way, you’ll have a better idea of what you’re walking into. Some even travel to your home or work or offer online sessions!

3. Workout Ideas

If you’ve ever been in the midst of a workout regimen to lose weight, it’s not uncommon to experience a plateau. When this happens, there’s a struggle to continue losing the weight. In order to break past the plateau, it’s important to focus on a variety of elements. Perhaps, you’re not getting enough sleep. You might want to eat more vegetables and cut out certain carb-heavy foods. You might also want to try different workouts. Instagram fitness influencers provide a range of workout regimens. You can find everything from Kettlebell workouts to aerial yoga workouts on Instagram. There are times when it’s going to take a lot more than a simple jog to get the weight off. In addition to using home gym equipment, get inspiration from the workouts you see in the app. It’d be a great idea to create a workout list and use the inspiration from Instagram to build a variety of workouts. As you try the different workouts throughout the week, your body has a better chance of breaking past the plateau.

What ways have you used Instagram for healthy lifestyle inspiration?

Vitamin C is one of the most helpful of all vitamins. It can give your immune system the boost that it needs to help you get through cold and flu season without a single sniffle, make you recover faster from common illnesses and let your body recuperate from injuries quicker too. While you probably know that fresh fruit and some juices are high in this vitamin, you might not realize that other foods contain the vitamin too. There are some simple and easy ways to boost your daily Vitamin C intake without spending a lot of time or money.

Cool Treats

Kiwi is a fruit that is extremely high in Vitamin C and one that you’ll see appearing on grocery store shelves in the late spring. Instead of just cutting one in half and eating the inside with a spoon, use kiwis to beat the heat on a hot summer day. Peel the furry skin away from the fruit, toss the fruit in a blender with a small amount of water or your favorite fruit juice to create a thick liquid. Pour the liquid into an ice cube trap or a popsicle tray that you freeze for several hours or overnight. You can also pour the liquid into a ceramic dish and freeze. Scraping the top of the liquid every few hours turns this simple recipe into a granita.

Make Your Own Veggie Tray

Some of the veggies that contain a lot of natural Vitamin C include red and green peppers and broccoli. The next time you bring home groceries from the store, wash those vegetables in cool water and cut into thin strips or small pieces. Divide the veggies into small bags that you keep on the top shelf of your refrigerator or in another convenient spot. When you’re in the mood for a snack, you can grab one of those bags and enjoy all the benefits of Vitamin C. You can dip those veggies into peanut butter, hummus or your favorite dip.

Change the Way You Cookout

Hosting a backyard cookout is a great way to relax and have fun with friends, but if you’re like most people, you probably stick to the same foods and condiments. Don’t top your hot dogs with the same old ketchup and mustard. Try reaching for a jar of sauerkraut instead. Though it might seem hard to believe, sauerkraut is high in Vitamin C. You can use store bought or make your own. If you feel like trying something even more different, consider topping grilled burgers and dogs with kimchi, a spicy Asian condiments that is high in Vitamin C.

Grab and Go

One of the easiest ways to increase your daily intake of Vitamin C is with vitamin supplements. When you buy vitamins online, you can purchase supplements that contain all the vitamins and minerals that you need. Instead of changing your diet, you can down a vitamin on your way out the door in the morning, once you finish a workout or even before you head to bed. These supplements are available in smaller bottles that are perfect for keeping in your desk drawer at work or in your bag too.

Make Your Own Sun-Dried Tomatoes

Tomatoes contain a lot of Vitamin C, but when you choose canned or jarred tomatoes, you’ll get less of the vitamin. While sun-dried tomatoes are a better option, many companies pack those tomatoes in jars with oil that detract from the flavor of the vegetable and add to the calories that you consume. You can make your own sun-dried tomatoes at home. All you need is a few tomatoes that you slice thinly and a place to set those slices in or near direct sunlight. The sun will dry out the moisture in the tomatoes. You can do the same thing in a food dehydrator or in an oven set to the lowest temperature.

Whether you buy Vitamin C online or make some changes to your diet, you can get all the benefits of this great vitamin. Use simple recipes and ideas to increase your daily intake of Vitamin C and to eat a little healthier.

When I was a single mom, I met a lovely lady, Debra, who suffered from macular degeneration. She attended the Sunday school class I taught single moms on finances through Crown Ministries.
Since she was legally blind and unable to drive, Debra relied on friends and family to get her to church and doctor’s appointments and other necessary events. I was on her call list.

Macular degeneration can be hereditary. Her beautiful daughter (inside and out) was already experiencing similar symptoms, and she was only in her late teens. I remember how her apple tasted and looked – with pretty little piecrust leaves and flowers, and I have never been able to make one anywhere near like it, thought I keep trying!

She invited me and my toddler daughter to a fun 4th of July celebration with a huge firework show at her house in a fly-in airport subdivision. It was magical and I felt right at home with her family.

She always had a great attitude and was so cheerful to be around. She was truly a light in the darkness. I’m sure she must have hidden her fears and anger over losing her sight and only showed the public a positive front.

That was almost 15 years ago. I don’t even remember how we lost touch, but I think she moved away. Then, when I met my husband, we started attending a different church and soon moved out of state.

I can’t imagine the fear of losing the sense of sight. I wish I knew more about Debra’s condition. I wonder with the more modern technology, if there are improved options for her eye health today?

We take it for granted, being able to view sunsets and art, read, enjoy the smile of my children.

Jesus healed the blind, so we should care about people who are blind, learn more about a common curable eye disease, AMD.

While keeping your body fit, make sure you keep your eyes healthy too!

Learn more about AMD here:

Download this FREE guide:

 http://bit.ly/2nAezey

I grew up in a time when it was normal and even expected for meals to come from a box, can, bag, or package.

Margarine, Crisco, and canola oil were the go-to fats in our pantry. We didn’t read labels. We ate soft white Sunbeam bread and liberally sprinkled table salt on our food. We didn’t have a garden. We bought the cheapest meats we could and stretched everything as far as it could go.

Breakfasts were colorful, sugary cereals swimming in 2% milk or Pop-Tarts with a glass of frozen concentrated orange juice, thawed and mixed with water. Weekends were for quick-mix Bisquick biscuits or pancakes or muffins from the pouch with on-sale Oscar Meyer bacon or Tennessee Pride sausage patties.

Lunches eaten at public school: congealed soggy pizza rectangles, unidentifiable soy-based meat patties and gray gravy, corn, white rolls, hot dogs, hamburgers, overcooked peas or green beans, occasional iceberg lettuce and carrot strips, and little cartons of Mayfield chocolate milk.

Lunches eaten at home: fish sticks, frozen pizzas, Oscar Meyer Bologna and American cheese slices or Jif peanut butter on white Sunbeam bread with Doritos. I drank Coke and red tropical punch Kool-Aid all the time.

Dinners were often canned Green Giant Frenched green beans or LeSeur peas, scalloped potatoes from a box, and Spam or Oscar Meyer hot dogs or fried cube steak with a jar of gravy.

Special occasions called for Duncan Hines yellow cake mix and canned double chocolate frosting.

No one I knew lived much differently.

We didn’t know any better.

I learned how to cook some basic meals and treats from early PBS cooking shows, my grandmother, my aunt, and friends’ moms. I enjoyed learning new styles and recipes from cookbooks from the bargain bin at the bookstore or library.

I practiced cooking meals and baking at home from the time I was 12 or so, but my dad would seldom enjoy the meals I prepared. It was very discouraging. He doesn’t like new foods, textures, styles, or flavors. When I learned a way to improve upon meals we’d always eaten, it was too often met with disdain.

My parents take pills by the handful every day now. My dad has suffered from obesity all my life, now complicated with high blood pressure and pre-diabetes. My mother has very high cholesterol. They both have arthritis and live with pain every day. I feel many of these aging disorders can be prevented or slowed with a better diet and lifestyle.

In the early years of my marriage, it was frustrating, expensive, and exhausting for me to plan, prepare, and cook all the time after working all day teaching school, then later, homeschooling one, two, then three young children. I often got lazy, relying on easier, quicker, cheaper, and processed “foods.”

When I got sick in 2008, we knew we needed a big lifestyle change. I was tired all the time. I just couldn’t do all the things I was used to doing. I was drained. The doctor put me on a Paleo diet and prescribed a lot of vitamin and mineral supplements. In a few months, I was feeling more like myself. We decided to continue that regimen with our whole family.

Thankfully, we have no food allergies. We noticed some sensitivities that don’t show up in lab tests, but we’ve done elimination diets that reveal sensitivity to modern wheat products and low-quality dairy in a couple of our family members.

We started to research eating better, more natural whole foods for our whole family.

For the past few years, we seldom eat out, almost never get fast food, and prepare almost all our foods from scratch at home.

My goals for cooking real food are simplicity, ease, and quality.

Simple means that I want foods as close to their natural state as possible.

Fruits and vegetables have no “ingredients” or labels. They’re simple.

Preparation can be as simple as consuming them raw in a salad or blended into a smoothie.

We often steam or roast or grill veggies. We eat a lot of fun colorful salads with interesting flavor combos.

I like simple, fewer-ingredient recipes with lots of flavor, but nothing too complicated or time-consuming.

We occasionally try new recipes that require some advanced preparation or complicated steps, but they are special and rare. Even our holiday meals have simplified.

Ease requires a bit of preparation ahead of time.

When I do my big grocery shopping trips (twice a month), we prep the food to make it easier to consume during the week.

We clean and chop fruits and veggies into manageable portions so snacktime and meal prep aren’t so stressful.

We marinate and grill a bag of chicken strips for salads and snacks.

We thaw a bag of mini shrimp and place in a glass storage container to be ready.

We freeze bone broth for soups and sauces. I miss my deep freezer (it’s in storage) – we don’t have the quantity of ready-made homemade items we used to have around.

Quality doesn’t have to be super expensive.

I buy the best we can afford.

We buy fresh food in season and we shop at local stores, farmers markets, and the military commissary as needed.

While it is ideal to consume organic food and grass-fed meats and dairy, it’s just not readily available in our area.

The local military commissary has a small frozen section of organic, free-range, grass-fed meats, but they’re 3-4 times as expensive as the regular local meats – and they’re often freezer-burned from sitting in the freezer for so long.

That’s not quality to me.

We’re realistic.

I have four kids and a very carnivorous husband. We don’t often eat a plant-based diet, although I totally could most days. We like meat and we like animal protein at every meal. We’re trying to eat more fish, but it’s so expensive here.

We consume dairy and wheat. My girls and I like yogurt and kefir and kombucha, but my son and husband just do not. We’re learning to make sourdough and we often make our own yeast breads. I’m experimenting with spelt, buckwheat, and sprouted grains. I buy German honey O’s cereal for my son (they’re more natural than the American Honey Nut Cheerios).

I don’t sneak in fruits or vegetables without my family knowing.

I don’t make my kids or husband eat foie gras or pâté, but I sometimes sprinkle liver powder into ground beef dishes to boost nutrition.

We love to try new foods when we travel and come home to recreate it.

I respect that everyone has dislikes. I try to make meals with variety so everyone has choices they love.

I prepare many different foods with fun flavor combos and textures. I encourage everyone to try new foods frequently. Often, my family is pleasantly surprised. My girls and I love Brussels sprouts. Everyone loves broccoli and asparagus. My son loves steamed cauliflower. The middle girls and I love cabbage.

We buy German Oreos and frozen potatoes and 100% juice Capri Suns. We’re not terrified of sugar, but we do limit the chemicals we ingest when we can.

We have a Soda Stream and buy the natural syrups for ginger ale, lemon-lime, and root beer. We also make homemade fizzy juices. These products have fewer harmful ingredients than the American ones.

I never tell my kids what they can or cannot eat. I encourage them to make better food choices and eat meals before treats – like most parents, I assume.

The kids love to be in the kitchen, learning and helping and creating. They’re getting more and more independent with baking and preparing meals and I couldn’t be more proud.

I know we’re on the right track when my kids make good choices on their own at events, parties, or church pot lucks without my supervision – when peer pressure is at its finest from even the other adults.

I want our family to be healthy and live long prosperous lives and we feel that a healthy balanced real food diet can help us achieve that.

Food can heal or hurt. We are what we eat.

Linking up: Darling Downs Diaries, Missional Women, Modest Mom, Moms the Word, Strangers and Pilgrims on Earth, Curly Crafty Mom, Marilyns Treats, Sarah Celebrates, VMG206, Southern Beauty Guide, Crystal Storms, Sweet Little Ones, Practical Mom, Simple Life of a Fire Wife, Purposeful Faith, Holly Barrett, Lori Schumaker, Mary Andering Creatively, Mrs AOK, A Fresh Start, Written Reality, Life of Faith, Inspiration for Moms, Denise Designed, Juggling Real Food and Real Life,  Jaime Wiebel,Christian Blogger Community, A Wise Woman Builds Her Home, Cornerstone Confessions, Women with Intention, Oh My Heartsie Girl, Hip Homeschool Moms, Al Things Beautiful, A Bountiful Love, Giving Up on Perfect, Wondermom Wannabe, Milk and Cuddles, Saving 4 Six, Yearround Homeschooling, Katherine’s Corner, Live Laugh Rowe, I Choose Joy, Pat and Candy, A Kreative Whim, The Natural Homeschool, Happy and Blessed Home, Susan B Mead, xoxo Rebecca, Sincerely Paula, Create with Joy, What About, RCH Reviews, Missional Women, Life with Lorelai, Juggling Real Food and Real Life, Being a Wordsmith