Listen UP ladies & gents !!
I had the opportunity to meet the man, the myth, the LEGEND… who makes the smoothie bowls that saturate your Insta feed, J.J. Beasley!
J.J. is the man behind the @beazysbites camera and has grown his Instagram following to nearly 40k! He shares beautiful pics of his meals, including his famous smoothie bowl.
Beasley is breaking down the barriers of being a male in the female dominant nutrition industry. He inspires thousands of people to chase down their passion and be unapologetically themselves. He also keeps his diet real with his followers and shows that eating healthy doesn’t have to burn a hole in your pocket and that it is okay to treat yourself to a donut… or two… 😉
And without further ado, here is J.J.!!
Q’s:
HAILS: Why did you start your Instagram account, “@beazysbites”? Were you always interested in nutrition and fitness (if not, how did you become interested)? What do you want your readers to take away from your Instagram?
J.J.: I originally started my account to network in the Nutrition/ Health field and also to have a place to post some of my meals since I am such a big foodie & love to cook never thinking anything would come of it. I have always been interested in fitness as a result of playing sports my entire life. I never really thought about what I ate all that much until I started to develop some of my own health problems. I ended up healing myself when I started to change my nutrition and as a result uncovered this large passion of mine. I want my readers to realize that they don’t need fancy, expensive meals/ products to be healthy and to learn ways to create a healthy, sustainable lifestyle!
HAILS: How and why did you decide to study business and nutrition? When will you finish your studies? What do you hope to do with your degree & masters? Do you plan to become a RD?
J.J.: I do have a degree in business management/ international business and about my sophomore year is when I uncovered this passion for nutrition. I did not want to start my degree over half-way through undergrad and understood business will be beneficial in all aspects of life so I finished out my degree and began taking some of the science courses required to pursue nutrition at the graduate level. I recently got accepted to a coordinated master’s program in nutrition starting in the Fall, which allows me to get my master’s degree in 2-3 years while doing my internship and then take the RD exam right after. I hope to use my business background with my nutrition credentials to open my own private practice as well as possibly run a café connected to my practice. I would also love to get into the Sports Nutrition world as well.
HAILS: You grew a large following pretty quickly, what you think helped your success?
J.J.: I think being a male in such a female dominated space definitely help set myself apart initially, but also just being genuine and creating unique content. I am honestly still a little shocked myself!
HAILS: What are your goals for 2018? Where do you see your social media presence going this year?
J.J.: A brief overview of some goals for this year are to get accepted into a graduate program for nutrition, become more mindful, read a little each day, start journaling, get outside of my comfort zone, travel to a few new places, create a website and start to implement a morning/night routine.
HAILS: Where do you see yourself in 5 years? (Dream job, where you would like to live, etc.)
J.J.: I see myself having my own community/sports nutrition business with a café connected in Colorado, California or Boston with a dog & maybe a girlfriend haha!
HAILS: What is something your followers don’t know about you?
J.J.: I was on the track team my freshman year at Westmont College. Also, I lived in Rome for a couple months while studying abroad!
HAILS: What is the question you get most asked about on your Instagram?
J.J.: There is quite a few actually… “Are you vegan?”, “How do I make my smoothie bowls?”, and “Where are my favorite places to eat in Denver?”
HAILS: What are your top three tips for eating healthy on a budget?
J.J.: Shop in-season/ at a Farmer’s market, don’t buy a lot of prepackaged foods/fancy health items (stick to the basics of fruits, veggies, rice, spices, etc., and buy in bulk/ in the freezer section.
HAILS: What are your favorite foodie/ fitness instagram accounts or blogs? (besides @allhailsthekale of course;) )
J.J.: This one is always so hard for me to answer… a few that come to mind right now are @carrichey, @nohlsen, @forkinpancakes, @hummusapien, @thewellnecessities, @doctors_kitchen and so much more.
HAILS: Staple pantry items? Fave recipe to make? Fave workout? Fave music and/or podcast to listen to?
J.J.: Staple pantry items are oats, sweet potatoes, nut butter, Ezekiel/ sourdough bread, loads of spices, and coffee…always coffee. Favorite recipe lately has been either some kind of banana bread, chickpea curry or salted caramel oats. Favorite workout right now is CrossFit. Favorite podcasts at the moment are ‘How I Built This’ and ‘Rich Roll Podcast.’
HAILS: If you could live off one meal, what would it be?
J.J.: Loaded oatmeal bowls or sweet potato wedges & nut butter.
HAILS: Where can we find you?
J.J.: Instagram: @BeazysBites, YouTube: JJ Beasley, FaceBook: https://www.facebook.com/BeazysBites/
Check out J.J.’s Smoothie Bowl tutorial on YouTube …
Thanks again, J.J.!
Let me know what you thought of this interview on my latest Instagram!
xx hails