Health Bloggers Dish: Lynn and Christy from The Actor's Diet

It's time for another serving of Health Bloggers Dish!  Today we have the pleasure of sharing the thoughts of the two fabulous ladies behind the scenes of The Actor's Diet blog – Lynn and Christy!

Lynn and Christy from The Actor's Diet

Lynn and Christy co-write their blog, giving readers a glimpse into each of their lives as actors and what's on their plates too!  With so much pressure on body image in the world of acting, The Actor's Diet gives readers a fun and unique look into what the day to day diet of an actor can look like.  Not only do Lynn and Christy each do food journal style posts, but they have a regular series on the blog called Tweats of the Week where they share some Tweets of what other actors eat. These posts are bound to leave you with a smile on your a face, followed by the sudden urge to get up out of your chair and to head for the fridge to scrounge for something to eat.

So without further ado, let's get to it!

Thanks so much gals for joining us today!  How long have you been at this food blogging gig?

Since June of 2009.

What was your inspiration to start blogging about food and healthy living?

Lynn: I was already reading food blogs and thought it would be a good way for me to express myself creatively.  Actors have a lot of free time – we spend a lot more time NOT working than actually acting on a project – and I wanted something to scratch that artistic itch on a daily basis – writing, photography, and having an audience.

Christy: Lynn came to me with the idea.  I am a holistic nutritional counselor as well and I loved the idea of letting people see that actors are normal people with heightened pressure about their bodies who can still eat normal diets and have good relationships with food.

How much time to spend on blog related tasks every day?

Lynn: Too much!  I am a little addicted to food blogs.  Probably about half an hour actually blogging, and then, depending on the day, up to 2 hours reading other food blogs, answering emails, updating the site, etc.

Christy: Depends on the day but I would say that it averages out to about 30 minutes.

What made you decide to take a co-authored approach to The Actor's Diet?

Lynn: Christy and I have worked together on other projects in the past (a podcast called Actors Off) and we are currently working on writing a script together.  Since we already talk about food a lot, it seemed like a natural fit to have her join me on this endeavor.

Christy: As I said earlier, Lynn came to me with the idea.  I think we make a great team though because our approaches to food are different but complimentary.  Lynn does a great job of having variety in her diet and trying new foods and products.  I tend to go for the same foods over and over if they work for me because I know they work nutritionally for what I am trying to accomplish.  Since we started blogging though, I have added much more variety and tried a lot of products I probably wouldn't have picked up to try.

As a blogging team, do you have a blogging schedule?  How do you work out who will blog when?

Christy: We both try to blog every day.

Lynn: Yup, though there’s no real schedule though we do try to do it daily.  I also do all of the website setup, blog-related emailing and twittering (by choice, because I love doing it!)  The only time we really coordinate is when we are both eating together, in which case we will do a joint post.

What are some of the challenges you've faced with blogging?  How have you overcome them?

Christy: My biggest challenge is when to blog.  Originally, I was blogging at night about that day.  But since I do so much counseling during the day, I am tired of talking about food by night time. I just want to relax and not think about food anymore.  So recently I changed it to a day time blog about the day before and that works much better for me.

Lynn: Sometimes things in my life are truly sucky and it feels weird – almost insincere – to do a post without mentioning it.  Most of the time I don’t, because it’s personal, and I have to remember that there is a barrier between the public and the private.

What do you think is one of the best ways to gain readers when you're first starting out?

Christy: Have an amazing co-blogger who is a genius at getting fans and followers Also visit other blogs, make comments and link back to them in your blog. We add blogs we like to our blog roll and ask them to do the same for us.

Lynn: Agreed.  Though I don’t know about that “genius” part….

How long were you blogging before you felt like The Actor's Diet was taking off?

Lynn: Probably a few months…when we started getting comments from regular readers and companies started giving us samples.

Have you made any mistakes along the way?

Lynn: We are now on wordpress, which gives a lot more freedom and looks a lot better than blogger!  Wish we had started there to begin with.

What advice might you give to a brand new blogger?

Lynn: Find out if you love blogging before you start investing time into your layout/look.

Christy: Pick a subject you really enjoy or have a passion for.  Think of the blog world as a huge community you can learn from.  Look at other blogs, what you like/what inspires you, and then find your own blog style.  If it is fun for you, you will do it more and be more involved.

What's one of the craziest things you've ever done for a blog post?

Christy: Well, every time I go to a restaurant, I become a crazy person.  I ask about all the ingredients of every dish I order so that I can get it right for the blog, and then I spend all kinds of time trying to get a good picture (with flash, without flash) – I'll even ask for a new plate or more light if I think I need it.  The people sitting next to me must think I am nuts!!

Lynn: Whipping my camera out in front of strangers and snapping a picture of my meal may look weird, but I don’t really care what others think! I don’t get embarrassed easily when it comes to food blogging – it’s enriched my life in so many ways that I’m not willing to hide my love for it!

Thanks ladies for taking the time to give us a peek into what goes on at The Actor's Diet!

Do you have questions you'd like to have answered by guest bloggers in the future? Send any ideas or questions our way! We'll ask the questions you want answered!