All blogs are NOT created equal. Blogs can vary from positive, fun and informative, to silly, unreliable, and nonsense. The best way to find a good blog is to research and research until you find one that you enjoy reading, and you feel confident in the information you’re receiving. During my search to find a good blog, I finally came across one and it is called Hungry Hobby by Registered Dietician Kelli Shallal (http://hungryhobby.net)!
What drew me into the blog immediately was the bright colors and natural inviting pictures. Her home page included pictures of not just food, but of exercise and scenery. The blog also uses a color palette of yellow, purple, and white which is very inviting and NOT intimidating. What I also like about the blog is that she doesn’t just post about food; she posts about recipes, exercise, healthy tips, travel, and everyday life. When it comes to the layout of the blog, it is very easy to follow and interact with. She categorizes everything so it is easy to find a topic to read about if you click on the appropriate category.
The author of the blog is also very casual. She uses sarcasm and positivity to make the reader feel comfortable and entertained; her blogs are very approachable and non-intimidating. When it comes to reliability of the blog, I feel like the author has great ethos. She is a Registered Dietician and she declares that multiple times throughout her blog. Secondly, she talks a lot through personal experience so she knows the effects, consequences, or rewards of the topics she talks about. When she does refer to outside information, she refers to that source directly, citing it in her blog. I believe that she is a very reliable source of nutritional and lifestyle information!
She also blogs about very up to date topics, which makes the blog relatable and informative when you are trying to find answers to todays big questions. For example, say you go to the coffee shop and get a medium coffee with skim milk. You get your coffee and go over to the sugar counter. You have 5 different types of sugar you can pick from: Splenda, Sweet and Low, white sugar, and raw sugar. Which one do you choose? Kelli takes you through the positives and negatives of each type of sugar, and doesn’t tell you which one to choose, but tells you how to incorporate your favorite into a healthy lifestyle. She is not a diet crazed nutritionist, she believes like most people — everything in moderation. Finally, on a more serious note, she does put links on her page to direct you to her website where she offers various nutritional services such as individual counseling, recipe development, and wellness/nutritional presentations. Overall she is an author that incorporates fun, food, and life in her blog. I hope to include the same style and casual feel in my blog, along with the vibrancy that hers also includes. I definitely see myself reading this blog weekly or even daily! There is great information that I believe is useful in everyday life and in my nutritional career.