Friday Interview: Sue Campbell

TRE: What is your current relationship with food?

SC: Ha Ha, well as you can tell…we’re not strangers! I love to cook and also eat. One of life’s great pleasures is discovering new tastes and new foods. Today we are so lucky to live where we do and to have the wealth of multi-culturalism here and with that comes great food. 

TRE: Which do you prefer, cooking for yourself, or others?

SC: Well when I cook for myself, it’s really for my husband and me. He’s open to trying new things and he has learned to eat mostly vegetarian with me. It may be old fashioned, but I really love cooking a nice meal for him as an act of love. (I do most of the cooking, though he’s a pretty good cook, being a cajun.) Entertaining a crowd is more stressful, but I enjoy that challenge too. I’m hosting Thanksgiving this year, and since I pretty sure the family won’t go for “tofurkey” I’ll be doing the traditional bird—hopefully with a twist or two.

TRE: Thanksgiving seems to come up often in conversations with vegetarians, I think because it is a cultural tradition built around eating meat. Have you ever felt like being a vegetarian is an issue of contention with your husband or family?

Not really. I am not a strict veggie person. I eat fish a couple of times a month and very occasionally, chicken. I must confess that when on vacation I succumbed with gusto to consuming an In and Out burger in California. But only once, and it’s been almost a year—in fact I made the decision right after Thanksgiving last year. I thought I would miss meat more than I do, which is hardly ever. My husband doesn’t mind that much, in fact less than I bet he thought he would. It’s amazing what a large variety of good tasting other foods can do in satisfying you. We did have some red meat still in the freezer over the year and I cooked it for him sometimes, certainly don’t mind when others want that around me. 

The family doesn’t hassle me about it either. I tell them to make whatever they would normally and I eat the parts of the meal that I want. If I were a strict vegan I imagine that would be harder. There are two other vegetarians that come to family gatherings so I have company.

TRE: Have you had pretty consistent food habits, or have there been changes throughout your life?

SC: One thing that has been consistent is that I do love vegetables. My grandparents were tenant farmers back in the “old” Great Depression. They continued to garden throughout their lives and they developed in all of us a love a fresh bounty from the garden. Nearly all of the family has gardened at one time or another. During the 1970s there was a “back to the land” movement leftover from the hippy era. I was part of that. 

My first husband and I had five acres stocked with chickens, ducks, and goats, plus a huge garden, about 50 by 100 feet. We grew most of what we ate, bought grain from a local farmer and made bread. We milked the goats and I made cheeses. We canned, and froze veggies. I even made my own baby food! There is a great sense of accomplishment in putting a complete dinner on the table made entirely of what you produced at home. We also ate our animals too, which meant killing and processing our meat. 

It wasn’t that experience by the way that prompted me to become a vegetarian, butchering I mean. I’d been seeing it done since I was a child and it didn’t bother me that much. It always hurt a little to have to kill a creature, but farmers grow philosophical about it. I think you have much more appreciation for the animals you eat if you make the connection between their deaths and your life. We had the solace of knowing that our critters were well cared for and happy for their time on earth and that they didn’t suffer in their deaths. I don’t think you can really say that about the meat industry as a whole.

Let me tell you though, that lifestyle is a LOT OF WORK! That’s probably why even though I ate a lot of calories I was in good shape, because I was on the move all the time. And I was younger. So yes there have been changes too. As a young person I think you can usually eat more, and less healthy and not suffer too much, as long as you also eat good foods too. Especially if you’re an athlete. I was a skater as a teen, long hours everyday. I ate like a linebacker! And it didn’t show, then. But give that up, get married, have babies and hello hips. 

Your body and your metabolism changes over the years, and maybe especially for women. I am post-menopausal now and prior to about age 35 I never had to worry about my weight. After that I only need to walk by food and it’s my pal for life.  I changed my habits partly because of my weight gain. Now my body has adjusted to the new food and it’s hard to lose any weight on my current diet. So it’s a struggle always.

TRE: People often assume that “diet food” and “trying to lose weight” go hand in hand, but food advertised to people trying to lose weight often is only “healthy” if you strictly look at the numbers (calories, fat grams, etc). It’s no secret that many people are beginning to doubt this sort of “food science”. How do you balance healthy eating with a desire to lose weight without going crazy with 100 calorie packs?

SC: I admit to trying different fad diets in the past. I know better now. Or, I think I do. Diets don’t work. Or they work, but as soon as you stop you gain it all back because your body is efficient at saving energy (fat) as a survival mechanism. Diet foods are often just phony food with the calories and the nutrition stripped out. If you are used to eating larger portions and suddenly you get those 100 calorie packs of Oreos you’re not going to be satisfied with the tiny bits you get, so you eat more (maybe not of the Oreos but anything else). Because you’re not satisfied, you wind up either being very hungry or eating more. 

The problem with “diet foods” that are made specifically for dieters is that they are often not satisfying, not tasty, and not nutritious. Are you better off being good (and unhappy) not eating any fats or sweets, or other stuff you love? Or eating the right fats, the right sweets, and things you love in moderation?  If you eat larger amounts of low cal, but high bulk food like salads and other veggies, and fruit, plus a healthy fat like olive oil (in moderation) you’re more likely to be happy with a small piece of chocol
ate for instance than say, a quart of Ben and Jerry’s because you’ve been denying yourself yummy stuff that your body craves. Also listen to your body! Push away from the table before you start feeling like an expanding balloon.

I guess that’s a long winded way of saying that I don’t really eat “diet foods” anymore with the exception of diet cola and only when I am out just because I like it. I’ve got a pretty good idea of what is healthy food and what isn’t. I can recommend a good book on diet and nutrition, You On A Diet by Drs. Oz and Roizen. While it IS a diet book, it is really a very good primer on how your body and metabolism works. The diet is more of a life change and they teach you about healthy food.

Plus you really have to exercise! 

TRE: What would you say to someone who told you that food isn’t an important part of their life?

SC: Really? You are what you eat, I guess.

TRE: Despite your healthy eating habits, are there any aspects of your relationship with food (or what you eat) that you’d like to improve?

SC: Well, sometimes I wish I didn’t like it so much! Portion control is the hard one. When you find out what a portion really is? A half-cup of something isn’t very much!! Also, I’d learn to drink more water. I often forget.

TRE: Thank you so much for talking with us Sue. Do you have any last words of advice or wisdom for our readers?

SC: Don’t be afraid to try new foods. Fresh is always better. And, food is one of life’s pleasures enjoy!