A couple months ago, I joined Pinterest.
Stupid.
But I did it.
Anyway, now I have a whole board dedicated to Healthy Foods. Then one dedicated to "No So Healthy Foods." And one dedicated to fitness and 'beauty,'. And one for goodies that can be made healthier, but still you probably shouldn't eat.
This has not made my food addiction any easier.
For those of you who don't know, Pinterest is basically an online idea...pile. You pick a category and you surf around these images for inspiration, ideas, recipes, how-tos, blah blah. If you find one you like, you click the image and it takes you to the original website. Then, you "pin" the image and it save the link for you on your own special "pin" board.
So there's this one category "Health and Fitness." And basically it's pictures of body builder chicks and captions that say stuff like, "How to get abs in 6 weeks, guaranteed!" Except none of those body builder chicks have stretch marks, that I can see. And trust me, they aren't exactly covering up.
So here are my thoughts on Pinterest, dieting, and "inspirational" messages that I've wanted to rant about, but there's no special "Ranting" board.
1) "Nothing tastes as good as skinny feels." Really? because I'm pretty sure that I'd take chocolate cake with peanut butter ganache over a size 2 dress any day. I really have a problem with this one. This is why so many girls like me grow up with issues. We have tastebuds for a reason, people! Food is awesome, and I LIKE it. So much more than exercise.
2) Reasons to be fit--"To out lift everyone else" "To look at my muscles and be proud" "To crave healthy food" and on and on and on. All of these come with close up pictures of some hot chicks butt or abs. This also frustrates me, because guess what. All the lifting and crunching in the world isn't going to give me a better self image. It's not going to take away extra skin, stretch marks, or scars. It's not going to do anything for your confidence. The point is to be the best that YOU can be. Setting up unrealistic expectations for ourselves is exactly the perfect way to screw up your psyche. Self assurance, confidence, and self-esteem can ONLY come from within ourselves. Maybe getting fit can help, but I know plenty of skinny chicks that hate themselves and plenty of heavier people that love themselves as is. Besides, the girls in the pictures are all probably professional athletes. Who has that kind of time?
3) "Food and Drink"--This is the worst part of the internet. Period. Pretzel chocolate chip cookies? Peanut butter chocolate cake? White hot chocolate? Pie? Cookie pie? Brownies???? For a food addict like myself...this is bad. This is really bad. No amount of time on the elliptical can counteract the glorious creations to be found in this category. Stay far far away. (However, only about 1/2 the recipes turn out like their pictures. Just so you know.)
4) Lovey dovey quotes. Come on. "Nothing is more beautiful that the way the tide keeps kissing the beach every time it is pushed away." Talk about a dysfunctional relationship metaphor. Girl, if he pushes you away, FIND SOMEBODY ELSE. He's not worth it. I don't care how much "good" you see in him.
Anyway, there's my pinterest rant.
Don't get me wrong; I'm addicted to the dumb site. Love the funnier quotes, and have found multiple clever ideas from recipes to games to cleaning tips that work great. But seriously--I've gotta get away. The jury is still out on whether pinterest is a good or bad addition to my life. And diet.
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ReplyDeleteI've found that in my life Pinterest is a both a blessing and a curse. It's great because of all the amazing new things I can learn about, but it can also be hard because it makes me feel like a failure because I haven't done all these things I think everyone else HAS done. I have to remind myself often that Pinterest is an amalgamation of ideas and projects and recipes from all over the internet, not the work of one single person.
ReplyDeleteWhen I notice myself starting to feel down or despondent while surfing the Pinterests I shut it down. I close the computer and go do something else. It helps.
I also have become more stringent about the boards that I follow. If I notice I seem to be getting a lot of "thinspo" or "motivational sayings" about exercising, etc I stop following those boards: I have enough to worry about without these things popping up in my newsfeed making me feel like I'm not good enough.
Those are just some of my thoughts. Maybe they'll help a little.
(Also, if you're looking for a sweet treat without flour or sugar, try these banana/oatmeal cookies I found, yes, on Pinterest the other day. I put in a handful of chocolate chips with mine, but I bet they would taste just as good with raisins. They are best warm, but good cold, too. The 9/10 year olds in my Primary class even liked them! So, enjoy. http://www.recipebyphoto.com/2-ingredient-cookies/)