Today The Reluctant Eater interviews Sue Bella, a baby-boomer who has taken care of people for most of her adult life in one way or another. She has worked in medical imaging, radiation therapy and the cardiac cath lab, as a United Airlines flight attendant for ten years, and currently as an esthetician at Neroli Salon and Spa in Milwaukee. For exercise she bikes to work, walks herself and her dog, in-line skates, and is a sculler with the Milwaukee Rowing Club.
TRE: Hi Sue, what is your current relationship with food?
SB: Hi Ryan, I have an nice opportunity now with our recent move to purge everything from my pantry and refrigerator, and replace it with fresh food and quantities that I can handle on a daily basis, or a few days at best. In the 'old days', I'd buy quantity rather than quality, and freeze things. Now, I want to buy my food as I need it daily and from a good source, like Whole Foods or the Outpost here in town.
I am trying to limit my sugar intake and I am aware of food labels, sodium content and the fewer ingredients listed, the better...I love good food, and I've found from my travels that the simplest, freshest food is always the most pleasing.
TRE: What has motivated/inspired you to change the way you ate in the 'old days'?
SB: Being a baby boomer, a child brought up in the 50's, it was a time when packaged foods first came on the market en masse, like TV dinners, Swanson, Encore, etc. I think my mom thought that this was a wonderful thing that she didn't have to work that hard to put a meal on the table, as she worked as well. My dad was a very picky eater who didn't like much variety or seasoning in his food. She lost interest in trying new recipes, so we ate pretty much the same things each week.
In my adult life, I didn't cook much until about fifteen years ago, when I traveled to Europe and Asia and tasted the wonderful simple, beautiful foods of Italy, France and Japan. I wanted to eat like that and I wanted to give my daughter the foundation of food that is fresh and simply prepared. I was never overweight, but didn't have much energy during much of my twenties and thirties, I wonder about all of the sugar and sodium consumption, some fast food and just plain junk food that I consumed at that time...
TRE: The countries whose food you loved, why do you think they've maintained a traditional food culture, whereas we have not?
SB: I really don't know the answer to that question...do they just see what havoc that industrialized food has had on our population and refuse to go that route? Not to say that McDonald's, etc. hasn't made a dent in their countries as well, but their way of eating is so deeply embedded and enjoyed that I think they would not give it up for anything.
TRE: I haven't been to France, Italy, or Japan, but I can say from personal experience that in Thailand fast/processed food seems to be an increasingly important part of the middle class diet. In Bolivia, fast food isn't prevalent at all, but most of the little shops are filled with processed american food. Part of me fears that we're going to wake up and move away from that type of diet, while the rest of the world embraces our worst food habits.
To change the subject a little bit, do you promote healthy eating to your friends and family?
SB: Yes, I really try to promote healthy choices to my daughter, and i think it is pretty set in her brain with the way I cooked and packed her lunches for school. Her friends at school were always envious of her lunches...pasta, fruit, whole wheat wraps with turkey, spring mix...I try to steer my mom away from processed stuff as she is kind of addicted to buying frozen packages for convenience. The group of people that I work with at Aveda seem to bring really healthy lunches as opposed to when I worked at the hospital. I wonder if being happy at your work has anything to do with it...or a certain level of frustration...it seemed at the hospital there were always donuts, candy, tons of processed snacks, and take-out pizza for example.
TRE: I am always so surprised when I hear about people in the health industry making poor choices about their own health. Tell us a little more about Aveda, it seems like the kind of place that would attract people with healthy lifestyles. Has working there help to strengthen your own convictions?
SB: Working at Neroli has definitely strengthened my convictions to eat well and remain active. I am surrounded by my colleagues who reinforce my intentions each day. Not to say that there are not folks who drink sodas and eat chips etc...but, the hospital just seemed to be such a magnet for poor eating habits. Do you think that the level of frustration or job satisfaction has anything to do with eating choices? Or just laziness? Or poor education/ example while growing up? I can say that early in my adult life when I was frustrated or unhappy, I would pound pints of Hagen Daaz, chips or whatever was in my sight line. Now, I do not eat for those reasons. For the most part, I really think about the choices I make.
TRE: There are just so many factors involved, and I believe you touched on several of them. Education plays a huge part. Many people think that all food is created equally, and it's hard to blame them for that. Diets and "food science" give everyone the impression that health is all about numbers (calories, carbs, fats, etc). Some people reject this and go one way (by eating all kinds of strange food...fried stuff, chips, ice cream), while others head the other way and try to eat naturally.
It's hard to say why people eat unhealthily when they are unhappy, but there is a little bit of self-destructiveness in all of us. When we are feeling bad, it seems like the right time to do something we shouldn't be doing...something that will make us feel better in the short term (but not the long term). I've written about
this before, but usually this is the wrong strategy and we'd be better off doing the things that make us feel better in the long term.
I do believe unhappiness may cause periods of unhealthy binging, but on the whole I believe it's education and the examples set by your childhood and current support system.
I didn't start caring about any of this until I was close to 30, do you think your daughter cares about food for her own sake, or is just continuing the example you have set? Do you worry about it now that she has "left the nest"?
SB: I think that I gave Casey a pretty good foundation for food, and it seems that she has some very healthy choices at Emerson College. So, it will be up to her from now on. Boston is certainly a city of endless choice in food of all ethnicities, fresh seafood, vegetables, etc. I have confidence that she will choose wisely most of the time.
TRE: Thanks for chatting Sue. Any last words of wisdom or advice for our readers?
SB: My advice? Buy what you are going to eat only for today and so on...not always possible, but something to aim for. Food is such a joy, so enjoy it!
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