Yes, social media can be a time suck when you spend hours scrolling through your college roommate’s European vacation photos followed by a-puppy-meets-a-pig-for-the-first-time videos. But there are worthwhile things to be found too. Case in point: inspiration for eating and living healthier. Thanks to Instagram, we can find more recipes, quick snack suggestions and meal prep plans—all usually accompanied by fabulous food-porn photos—than ever before. Here, seven North Jersey ’grammers to follow for healthy food, fitness...and fun.
Protein-packed salads and sautés have never looked as good as they do in the feed of Franklin Lakes-based mom and health coach Donna Davis, who also makes her own flavored almond milk she’s dubbed dOn. Davis not only shares the combos she invents (more often than not involving kale or some other gorgeous green), but also makes sure to note where she sources many of her ingredients from, like avocado oil from Chosen Foods or maca from Moon Juice.
Leslie is an instructor at hot spot fitness studio SLT in Tenafly where she leads classes on the crazy-intense Megaformer, so yeah, she’s in pretty good shape. In addition to photos of her getting her workout groove on at the studio, she also shares snaps of her fresh and healthy meals you can replicate yourself, from chopped Greek salads to zoodles spiked with olives to ghee-cooked egg whites with avocado.
There’s a reason registered dietitian Melissa Rifkin has more than 100,000 followers. Her feed is full of text-and-graphic-heavy photos that explain the nutritional and caloric breakdowns of every item (often with recipes—bonus!) along with shots of her colorful weekly meal prep layouts filled with good-for-you stuff like wild salmon, edamame and sautéed kale. It’ll make you want to organize your own meal plan ASAP.
Personal chef Jennifer gives followers a peek at the seasonal, healthy and family-friendly meals she provides to her clients. You’ll spot comfort food-meets-good-for-you fare throughout her feed including her plays on Mexican street corn and smoky black bean sliders. Best of all, you can head over to her website to get the recipes if you’re itching to make anything.
Mom and realtor by day, amatuer chef by night. We love Yasmine Haobsh-Elashmawy's kid-friendly, easy-to-pull together healthy meals, that even the pickiest eaters will enjoy. The self-proclaimed "Middle Eastern flavor afficionado" is not afraid to experiment with spices and has great lunch tips for making home lunches the kids will love.
Yoga teacher Thara Natalie, who owns Fire Shaper hot yoga in Tenafly, gives us pose envy thanks to her feed that finds her doing Warrior One on the beach or boat pose on an actual boat. You’ll also find photos of some of the healthy, often veggie-based meals she makes at home.
Lara, a teacher and health and fitness fanatic, posts magazine-worthy pics to her feed that currently has more than 20,000 followers. And she also often captions the shots with their recipes so you can try ’em out too. Definitely give her beet berry smoothie or vibrant pea pesto a go ASAP.
Ally Lash, a Demarest-based registered dietitian and mom of teenagers, is known for making killer protein balls as well as beautiful salads she shows off in her Instagram feed. Her dishes are often chock full of colorful ingredients like bell peppers, watermelon radishes, edible flowers and avocado, and she even tops them with star-shaped veggie cut-outs that’ll inspire you to start putting your own cookie cutters to healthier use.
