ROASTED: Do you have a specific food that triggers a certain memory? When I was an exchange student in the 80s, in Germany, is when I was first exposed to foods beyond things like Wonder Bread. So Germans have this quarter rye bread, so having that, along with thinly sliced cheeses and vegetables, reminds me of being in Germany in college.
What does a healthy lifestyle mean to you? One that is balanced. Maybe not particularly one that makes you happy but one where you have some activities that offset others so you aren’t doing too much of one thing. Plenty of exercise, rest, eating, although I confess I violate that all the time.
Weirdest health food trend? Paleo. Drives me crazy. People sort of con themselves into thinking they can figure out exactly what people living at that time ate, and somehow eating that way will accomplish something. Humans are omnivores and also had 35 year life spans at that time.
What do you consider unhealthy about the way you eat? Mostly we tend to eat pretty healthy: lot of vegetables, not much meat, limited dairy, but full fat.
Name your guilty pleasure food? Chips. But even then, it's like kettle cooked chips.
How did working in frozen fish processing influence the way you eat now? Probably my fish standards. I worked in frozen fish processing through college in Bristol Bay, specifically Naknek, Alaska. I thought I liked canned salmon until working there, and for whatever reason had a weirdly different idea of what it actually was. They grind up the bones and everything after deheading and defining it, and it all gets processed together. There is nothing that smells worse than fish that's been rotting for five or six days behind a dumpster.
How did eating healthy for you change after college? Well this isn't going to be invariably true, but if you have more income you can generally afford to buy better quality groceries. So I'd say that and more free time is what changed for me.
Do you think you are healthy? I think in some respects, yes. So I used to weigh quite a bit more than I do now, so I think I am in the best shape of my life at 49. I think in other respects I am not, for example I average four to six hours of sleep which is not enough for anyone. I eat mostly vegetarian with meat occasionally.