Wednesday, April 6, 2011

Sheryl Crow Singing a New Tune With Cookbook 'If It Makes You Healthy'

Sheryl Crow is a busy rock star and activist raising two boys as a single mother. When Crow battled breast cancer five years ago, she took that as a wake-up call to eat better. Around this time she met chef Chuck White, who taught Sheryl how to eat seasonal, vitamin-rich food that would boost her health and singing voice.

The two have now teamed up on a cookbook called 'If It Makes You Healthy,' which is brimming with delicious and nutritious recipes.

 
#How did you meet Chuck ??
I have worked with Chuck off and on for three years. He's extraordinarily talented. We have this mutual love for incorporating the healthy components of food and the knowledge of wellness and disease with prevention and I wanted him to share what it is that he does. He had been on tour with me and cooked in my home while I had been recording.
 
#When you're not touring or doing albums do you cook for yourself ??
For the most part when I'm home I cook for me and my kids. We sit down and eat meals. I cook the things I learned from Chuck. I'm always looking for healthy ways to feed my kids. My 10-month-old eats everything. Wyatt's a little pickier. The one thing he loves is pasta and there are lots of different ways to make pasta with quinoa or spaghetti squash so he's not just eating plain carbs. There's always creative ways to feed kids.
 
#Does the music business today depress you ??
For somebody like me who makes records to go out and play, I would play no matter what; it's unfortunate that the climate is what it is. I enjoy playing live.
#Before you got diagnosed with cancer, did you eat a lot of junk food ??
We would eat what was at the gig. Not to knock the catering companies, but you would eat catering that was sitting out all day or eating from room service and then when I was diagnosed five years ago and I became a student of nutrition and wellness and really wanted to be proactive in getting well. I think now what we know from the information we get about antibiotics in the meat and pesticides in produce that there's a direct correlation to disease and there are components of food that are very disease-defensive and it's food that we can incorporate. We wanted everything in the book to be delicious and not boring.
 
#What do you say to people who can't afford to buy organic ??
It's really tricky. I'm able to afford organic meat but I think ultimately in the long run you pay for food and not pay as much in medical bills. For someone like me, had I not been insured I would have paid upward of $170,000 and that was just for radiation, that wasn't my entire treatment. It is an investment. Also there are great meat companies online that will deliver; you can buy into a side a beef. The internet has allowed us to be creative.
#You're a single mom. Are you constantly exhausted?
If it's 9:30 and I'm still awake I feel like I had a great day. I usually crash. I'm the most boring rock star right now, but that's okay, it's exciting in a different way.

I saw you were part of the White House salute to Motown.
It was the most nerve-wracking thing I've ever done, without question. To be singing Motown in front of Stevie Wonder and Smokey Robinson and Berry Gordy, and not to mention the President.

#Did you hang with Obama afterwards ??
There was a party afterwards but it's not the kind of thing where the President hangs out. I can't fathom what it's like to be in the kind of stressful climate he's in everyday with everything that's going on and then take a break and sit with an audience for two hours. I'm sure he wasn't for a moment not thinking about what was going on.

#What's something surprising about you ??
I like to sew. I have a sewing machine. I can actually read a pattern and make a skirt. I've made pillows, quilts and jackets.

No comments:

Post a Comment