How Does TikTok Encourage a Healthy Lifestyle?
Table Of Contents
Let’s Talk About HealthTok
Wanting to lead a healthier lifestyle but don’t know where to start looking? Glad you found us. Social media apps such as TikTok offer a wide variety of video content, including topics involving healthy habits. This can range from balanced, healthy, and easy recipes, to at-home workout routes, to cleaning hacks, mindfulness exercises, and so much more.
Taking a step back and interacting with healthy content on TikTok can lead to positive change in your life. In this blog, Hollywood Branded shares how TikTok encourages a healthy lifestyle through the promotion of at-home cooking, workouts, organization, and overall wellness.
We Know What You're Thinking...
You might be thinking… How does TikTok encourage a healthy lifestyle? Isn’t it known for sucking people in for hours and hours on end? Well, yes, spending hours mindlessly scrolling can negatively impact your mental health, but if mindful of the content you’re consuming, you might actually benefit from your scrolling. Content creators don’t intentionally make mind-numbing videos, and some have discovered how to create content that’s positively impactful and beneficial for their audience. By tuning in to current trends, dedicating time to making high-quality videos, and making relatable and easy-to-follow content, influencers are able to sway audiences into following healthy habits and trends and can benefit viewers’ well-being overall.
FoodTok
Maybe it’s the foodie in me speaking, but I go through phases where I just can’t get enough food content videos. Dinner Recipes, baking, snack foods, cake decorating, you name it. Believe it or not, I get the majority of my meal planning inspiration from recipes that I’ve saved throughout the week on TikTok. Content creators often thrive when producing simple, easy-to-follow, and delicious recipes that viewers can replicate. By incorporating ingredients that most people have on hand, it doesn’t take a grocery run to make each dish. They also share tips for the best way to prepare vegetables, smoothies, and chicken in an air fryer (all the rage), which attracts a niche audience. The beneficial component of being on FoodTok is that I find myself craving the recipes I saw online, more than the food I could eat out. Generally cooking meals yourself is the healthier and more cost-efficient route, and I know I’m not the only one that gets inspired by FoodTok.
Gaining a following from her famous salmon and rice dish, influencer Emily Mariko specializes in lifestyle videos with a focus on meal prep. She sources many of her ingredients from a local farmers market and walks viewers through the preparation, cooking, and plating of each dish. Her recipes stand out because they aren’t hard and hit the important food groups, such as protein, vegetables, and carbs. Her method of cooking truly shows her audience how easy it can be to cook a balanced at-home meal.
See below for a recent example of one of her meals, featuring marusaki sweet potato, sausage, and cauliflower.
Also… the famous leftover salmon rice dish - which is a staple in my household.
One of my other favorite food vloggers is Hailee Catalano, who first got me hooked on her Boursin spreadable cheese and cucumber toast. Unlike Emily, her channel is entirely dedicated to food recipes, ranging from fancy toasts with fun toppings (my favorite), homemade sourdough bread, veggie-packed pasta dishes, and more. Again, she focuses on achievable, time-efficient, and good-tasting eats that viewers can easily replicate in the comfort of their own kitchens.
Since I’ve been working on incorporating more vegetables into my diet, I was particularly inspired by this “spring twist on Aglio e olio,” a play on the traditional pasta dish that now includes shredded asparagus. I’ve yet to try it but according to reviews in the comments, this dish is a must.
@cafehailee asparagus aglio e olio
♬ Chopin Nocturne No. 2 Piano Mono - moshimo sound design
The Hot Girl Walk
Throwing it back to March 2020, at-home workouts became all the rage. While some people joked about gaining the “quarantine 15,” others took advantage of the stay-at-home orders to work on themselves. TikTok, as well as YouTube, played a significant role in encouraging people to try new methods of staying in shape throughout the pandemic. Multiple creators started posting their ab routines, walking patterns, arm workouts using household items, and other fun ways to take advantage of working out in the comfort (and safety) of your own home.
Playing off the phrase “Hot Girl Summer,” coined by musician Megan Thee Stallion, TikTok user Mia Lind came up with the idea, Hot Girl Walk. This Hot Girl Walk can be whatever type of walk you’d like, varying in distance, terrain, time of day, etc., but there is supposed to be an emphasis on wellness. While out on a Hot Girl Walk, people are encouraged to focus on self-reflection, positive thoughts, and confidence. Play some empowering music, release negativity and tension, and improve your mood while out on your Hot Girl Walk.
See below for one user's breakdown of her “Hot Girl Walk Starter Pack”, and be sure to check out the hashtag #hotgirlwalk on TikTok to see more of what women are doing to enhance their daily walking routine.
@abbzbon it’s a lifestyle and we’re embracing it 👯♀️ #hotgirlwalks #ChewyChattyPets #walkandtalk #hotgirlsummer #ootd #amazon #foryou #stepcount
♬ Funky Town - The Dance Queen Group
Recently, a trend called the 12-3-30 rule has been making its way through workout communities on TikTok. It does call for a treadmill, which people have access to either at home or at a local gym, and participants are supposed to set the incline to 12, walk at a speed of 3 miles per hour, and continue for 30 minutes. TikTok users swear by this method, as seen by users such as Nina Angelina, who happily share their results with the TikTok community. Supposedly, the incline and speed are just right for toning abs and glutes, as well as losing overall body fat. Since it’s only a 30-minute workout, it’s a realistic way for users to squeeze in a short and effective workout into their day.
Cleaning Hacks For Days
Whether it be cars, houses, or landscapes, TikTok has an abundance of users whose accounts have a focus on the most effective and efficient cleaning hacks. Content creators on this side of TikTok often highlight tips and tricks that the average person might not know about and encourage viewers to clean various areas of the house they might forget about.
Users such as Nessa dedicate their accounts to aesthetic, achievable, and motivational cleaning videos. Some of her most viral videos include an ASMR sink clean and a satisfying fridge restock.
One mother-daughter duo, Margaret and Stetson, draws attention to cleaning and organization gadgets that benefit your home in a variety of ways. These include drawer organizers, sink accessories, shoe shelves, and clever Shark Tank products. Additionally, they share their hacks for preventing mold in ignored spaces, easy decorations that don’t cause damage or cost a fortune, and cleaning/organization routines that help keep your spaces clean and in check.
At the end of each month, Margaret and Stetson post a review and recommendation for organization and cleaning tools from Amazon that followers and TikTok viewers can check out and purchase for the overall improvement of their homes. See below for their April Amazon Top Sellers.
@everythingenvy 🛍 Amazon Storefront In “April Top Sellers” folder. #amazonfinds #founditonamazon #amazonmusthaves #amazonfavorites #amazongadgets #amazonfind #amazonfavorites #fy
♬ Love You So - The King Khan & BBQ Show
Practicing Mindfulness
Last but not least, TikTok and creators on the app can actually promote and benefit users' mental health and wellbeing through mindfulness techniques. There’s a wide variety of creators who focus on mindfulness content, including but not limited to guided meditations, daily affirmations, spiritual guidance, or even simple morning routines with a focus on alleviating stress and unwanted thoughts.
Some apps, such as Breathwrk, create content solely for the purpose of making its way onto peoples’ For You Pages and encouraging them to take a moment to breathe. This one appeared on my feed recently and allowed me to breathe, watch some satisfying videos, and calm down before continuing my scrolling.
@breathwrk #duet with @zrykl breathe and watch 👁 #fyp #foryou #greenscreen
♬ original sound -
Additionally, TikTok often will alert users with a video after scrolling for too long, telling them to take a break from the app. They know their algorithm draws people down an endless cycle of videos, but simultaneously understand the potential negative effects that come with that. They also promote apps such as Calm, which provides guided meditations and soothing sounds, which are meant to only last a few minutes a day, but greatly improve one's mood and mental state.
Let's Wrap This Up
In the midst of all the funny, highly engaging, and fast-paced videos we often see go viral on TikTok, it’s important to find ways to use social media apps such as TikTok for good. By expanding your interests and the types of videos you dedicate time to on the app, the algorithm will start incorporating those healthier videos to consume onto your For You Page. This can be FoodTok, workout motivations, satisfying organization, daily affirmations, or anything else you see as healthy habits you’d like to integrate into your daily routine. Before you know it, you’ll find yourself motivated by the content you’re consuming and apply some of those healthy habits to your lifestyle. Remember that TikTok content doesn’t have to all be mindless, but mindful as well.
Take A Look At Similar Content!
Eager to read more? Check out the blogs below to further your knowledge on TikTok, at-home fitness, food influencers, and mental health.
- Peloton Instructors Are The New Fitness Celebrities
- Peloton's Music And Pop Culture Programming Revolutionizes Fitness
- 10 Products That Have Gone Viral on TikTok
- Mental Health and Company Culture With Michelle Dickinson
- The Top Food Influencer and Branded Partnerships
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