10 Questions: Gena Hamshaw of The Full Helping
This post is part of an interview series in which I’ll be asking my very favorite bloggers ten questions, with the goal being to share both a little about each of them and also their top advice when it comes to veganism, blogging, and overall happiness.
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I’m so excited, giddy really, to kick off these interviews with a blogger whom I respect and admire immensely: Gena Hamshaw of The Full Helping! Gena’s blog has been instrumental in shaping the way I think about food, and she’s such a grounding force in what can be an overwhelming and sometimes extreme niche. She’s kind, oh-so-wise, and does an amazing job of balancing all that she has on her plate, between grad school, blogging, freelance writing, nutrition counseling, and a million other things. She’s kind of superwoman.
1. What is your food philosophy?
I’ll eat anything, so long as it’s vegan. In my home cooking, I focus on nourishing, whole food ingredients, and I have a penchant for raw food recipes. I believe that food should be a source of pleasure as well as nourishment, and I think there’s ample room for moderation within any healthy diet. We live in a moment of tremendous anxiety and alarmism surrounding food, and I feel strongly that stress and hysteria about food choices are far more unhealthy than any amount of so-called “indulgence.”
2. If you could give one piece of advice to new vegans, what would it be?
Transition slowly. It’s always really exciting to watch new vegans make the shift overnight, but I personally had a slow transition, and I think that I was happier and more solid in my veganism for it. I was already vegetarian when I became vegan, and then I focused on eliminating one animal food at a time (and on finding creative replacements, naturally).
I also always tell folks to add first, subtract later. By this I mean that it’s wise to master a few wonderful vegan meals and try a bunch of cool new ingredients before you get hung up on what to eliminate from your diet. People think about veganism as this tremendous sacrifice, but they forget that there is so much you gain in exchange for what you give up. Before I went vegan, I’d never tried tempeh, soba noodles, quinoa, millet, aduki beans, raw cashews, nutritional yeast, tamari, curry paste—the list goes on. And there are a ton of dishes and preparation methods that were unfamiliar, too. My culinary repertoire has been enriched immensely by my shift to a plant-based diet. If you think about veganism as a way to enrich what you eat, rather than limit it, the transition will go far more smoothly.
3. Why do you blog?
It’s so cliched, but I blog to connect. When I went vegan and then got into raw food, I was really the only one of my friends who ate a plant-based diet. I was full of excitement about my food and my lifestyle, and I wanted to share it with others. I initially resisted discussing my eating disorder history on Choosing Raw, but of course when that happened I began connecting with other women and men who had experienced similar struggles. That has become without a doubt the most meaningful, significant part of what I do.
I also blog to express myself. I spent the last three years in a grad program that called upon my creative capacities very little. Cooking, recipe developing, and writing were an important outlet for me.
4. If you could give one piece of advice to new bloggers, what would it be?
Be yourself. There’s so much information out there about what bloggers should and shouldn’t be doing, what they should and shouldn’t write about, which keywords they should and shouldn’t use. When I read some posts that list tips for new bloggers, I’m struck by how formulaic they all are.
I read blogs primarily to experience voices. Of course I enjoy prescriptive advice and inspiring recipes, but really, there’s no shortage of information or food porn on the internet. What draws me more to one blog than to another is a blogger’s particular sensibility and style. Perhaps this has something to do with my background in editing and writing, but I don’t think so; most people I know who read blogs avidly do so because they’ve developed some sort of connection with a blogger’s voice and persona.
So, if you’re starting out, do what you can to let your character shine. Be opinionated, be real, be brave. Be sensitive to your readers, of course, and be considered in the way you write. But don’t stifle your message or your feelings in some effort to fit into a particular blogging niche.
5. If you had to choose a favorite and a least favorite word, what would they be?
Yikes. Do you mean style, or meaning? If you mean the former, I don’t know. So many words are beautiful. I get a kick out of onomatopoetic words, like murmur or cackle or clank. But then again, croak and ooze and slurp are onomatopoetic, too, and they’re not my favorites.
In terms of meaning: favorites might range from“courage” to “coffee.” (This is really impossible, Amanda!) But for a favorite, let’s be to-the-point and go with “ahimsa.” For a not-favorite, I’d offer cruel, false, cowardly, cold, conventional.
6. If you weren’t you, who would you be?
There are certain fiction writers whose powers of perception are so keen that I’d love to go through the world in their shoes for a day. I’m thinking of Alice Munro, Amy Hempel, Lorrie Moore, Mary Gaitskill, Joan Didion, Donna Tartt, Jeffrey Eugenides. These are living writers; the list would go on and on if I were counting non-living ones.
7. What is your idea of happiness?
Loving. Giving. Feeling free. Feeling as though my actions and choices have meaning and significance.
8. What makes you unhappy?
The converse of what I just said: feeling isolated or self-involved. Feeling trapped or limited or somehow stifled (creatively, professionally, etc.). Failing to see meaning or value in the work I do or the choices I make.
9. What is your best kept beauty secret?
Oh god, I’m the wrong person to ask. I don’t take very good care of my skin—I sit in the sun for hours with no sunblock, I don’t use any special creams—and I blow dry my hair, which is probably really terrible for it, and I don’t really wear makeup. I moisturize a lot, though. Sometimes coconut oil, sometimes argan oil, sometimes whatever vegan cream is not expensive. Right now it’s Rose cream from Weleda. I don’t really have any secrets, or systems.
10. If money did not matter, how would you spend your days?
I’d spend it the way I already hope to spend it: in some sort of health care job, helping people, and using words to connect with others. If resources were limitless, I’d travel more and have a bigger kitchen. But not much else would change.
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Gena Hamshaw is a certified clinical nutritionist and the author of the blog The Full Helping. Her work has been published in O Magazine, VegNews Magazine, Food52, and Whole Living Daily.
