I wrote a post about staying motivated and mentioned that, for me, one of the best ways I stay motivated to live a plantbased lifestyle and stay on track every day is to follow like-minded people on social media who inspire me each day. A lot of people reached out wanting to know who exactly inspires me the most and I wanted to break it down here to give extra information instead of just listing names. So, let’s get into it.
I am not really into all the crazy beautiful smoothie bowl/avo toast/acai bowl recipe accounts because I am way too lazy to ever make them and they don’t fit into my reality. I admire them, but those are not traditionally the accounts I lean towards nor do I want them taking up my feed. I actually randomly go through and delete anyone I follow who doesn’t educate me or inspire me in some healthy way on a monthly basis, not to mention Insta models who make me feel inferior or fashion accounts that make me want to buy clothing.
I find that doing this really clears out the noise in my feed and I highly recommend this so you find yourself surrounded only by people who make you feel good and inspire you on your health journey. That way, the daily messages and visuals you are receiving are aligned with your interests and keep you in a positive mind set.
Because I am not 100% vegan I also don’t follow all of the popular 100% vegan accounts, not because I don’t agree with them, but actually because I do agree with them but have tried hard to find balance in my life and not become too extreme. When I followed all of them I found myself becoming too strict, judgmental and closing myself off to others and life around me. So I chose to unfollow many that show animal cruelty on a regular basis or anything shocking that disturbs me. I know the injustices and do not support factory farming – I don’t need to see it at 8am.
This is what works for me, it might not work for you but I am trying to be completely open and honest about this to help others to be plantbased, not perfect as well.
Recipes – minimalistbaker, thevegan8
I want recipes that require very few ingredients, nothing elaborate or expensive. Many plantbased recipes are just too much work and too many ingredients and I feel that they counteract the point of being plantbased to begin with as they aren’t healthy at all. These are my top two favorite recipe accounts and if I am looking for something specific like “banana bread” I just Google “banana bread + vegan” to find new recipes to try. Don’t overcomplicate it.
Lifestyle – LoniJane, EarthyAndy, 801010athlete, BeachyBanana, The Balanced Blonde
Loni Jane started this entire path for me five years ago when I stumbled upon her on a Dailymail story. I read her entire Tumblr account and was hooked on her meal ideas and insight on living a vegan diet. I highly recommend reading through her Tumblr where she provides a lot of insight into the lifestyle and answers a lot of questions over the years.
Earthy Andy was an account I came across after Loni Jane who I have continued to follow over the years, she lives in Hawaii with two little kids and healed her health issues through a plantbased diet. She gives such great food inspiration on Insta – I just finished her #eatyorainbow challenge and loved it.
801010athelete I came across on Youtube when I was falling down the vegan rabbit hole and I love all of his educational videos on eating plantbased, he also posts great studies and tons of health information on Instagram Stories, which keeps me in the mindset constantly.
Beachybanana is a newer one on my list who I found through IG and I love her meal sharing, everything about her lifestyle is so raw, real and simple which is right up my alley. I think she is so inspiring and love her Youtube channel as well.
I have the Balanced Blonde on my list, which some might find odd because she had a very controversial time when she stopped being vegan because it triggered orthorexia for her. At first (because I was super vegan at the time) I didn’t want to follow her, but I reminded myself to stay openminded and not be so strict that my only viewpoint was my own. Over time I have really started to love her message and am happy to report she has circled back around to a healthy plantbased, not perfect lifestyle herself. I think all of us can learn from this and stop being so fing judgmental.
Fitness – MelissaWoodHealth, BananaBlondie108
If you follow me you know I absolutely LOVE Melissa Wood Health (#girlcrush), her workouts are the only ones I do and she also shares loads of plantbased recipes, meal tips and tricks on her blog as well as on her social channels. Banana Blondie is an insane sexy yogi who is hilarious – she has a ton of amazing Youtube Videos ranting, sharing What I Eat posts and much more like how to pack vegan lunch boxes for your kids.
Education – Veg_MD, Nutrition_facts_org, MedicalMedium, AngieSadeghi
I love to learn and nothing excites me more than seeing doctors who promote and follow a plantbased lifestyle. I love when they share patients who have healed or break down misinformation in the community so we can learn and maybe help others in our lives. It is really exciting to me that more doctors are educating the masses on social media as it truly signals a shift in the right direction. If you need to hear the facts from a Doctor or maybe have a loved one who will only accept truth coming from a lab coat – than here are the ones you should be following!
Skincare – AlicePanikian
Over the past two years I have slowly been replacing my skincare and beauty products to more natural products. Thanks to Alice I discovered the App @ThinkDirty where you can look up all of your products to see how toxic they are. As someone who also has endometriosis, I really took her platform to heart and wanted to know for myself what is lurking in all the products I put on my skin on a daily basis. You should check out her Instagram and blog where she breaks down tons of information on clean products.
So those are my absolute favorite accounts that I make sure to check out daily. Their posts educate me, inspire me and create a sense of community for me that I don’t necessarily have in my everyday life. I hope that these accounts inspire you as well and help you to stay motivated on this sometimes difficult journey of being plantbased, not perfect in a modern world.
xx, Beth
