Photo Courtesy of Sam Diamond
For Sam Diamond, a junior marketing major, food is more than simply something she eats three times a day: It’s a passion.
Diamond, who is known on Instagram as @sammydeats, focuses on “healthy eats and treats,” posting food she makes in hopes of inspiring others to live healthier lives. The account was started in July 2019 and has over 2,800 followers. “Some people like to listen to music. Some people like to work out. For me, [cooking is] a stress reliever and it’s just something fun I enjoy doing,” Diamond said.
Her passion for cooking and baking came when she moved to college and stumbled upon a community of food bloggers on Instagram. “I thought it was so cool and I [said to myself], ‘I would like to do that one day.’”
With barely any experience in the kitchen, she started small and worked her way up to cooking every meal for herself, taking photos of the ones she was proud of. “I would send [the photos] to my parents and they were like ‘You need to make an Instagram account. Other people should see the food,’” she said. The rest is history.
Inspired by accounts focusing on topics like mental health, body image and healthy lifestyles, Diamond hopes to have a positive impact on her own followers with everything she shares. “I just hope that it inspires people. My favorite thing is when people remake my stuff and post it. That makes me so excited,” she said.
While eating healthier can be daunting to many, her best piece of advice is to start small just like she did. “You don’t have to go zero to 100 right away. Just start with small changes,” she explained. “[It’s just about] choosing good quality foods. Real whole ingredients like vegetables, whole grains and good quality proteins.”
“You have to start somewhere,” Diamond added.
And while making elaborate meals often takes planning, as a busy college student, Diamond works with what she has. “Sometimes I’ll [get inspiration] from seeing what other people are making, but I feel like a lot of times [it’s] just what I’m in the mood for, working with what I have in my fridge,” she said.
Eating healthier is regularly portrayed as needing to cut out certain foods entirely. For Diamond, that’s not the case. She still enjoys healthier alternatives to all her favorite meals, from breakfast items, pastas and salads to desserts. “I love ice cream and dessert. There’s not a night that I don’t have dessert,” Diamond laughed.
As a member of the Hofstra women’s soccer team, Diamond’s new focus on healthy eating has paired nicely with her athletic lifestyle. “Since I changed my diet and focused on choosing good quality food, it has helped me become stronger, faster and ready to play,” she said.
The New York native has been surprised by the success she’s had with her Instagram account, growing her audience to over 2,800 followers in 14 months. “There’s been some pictures I’ve gotten 1,000 likes on, and that’s crazy to me because I don’t usually get that many,” she said. “[I’ve also been surprised] by how many people will save my pictures … I’m like ‘Wow, that’s just crazy. 300 people are saving something I made.’”
The success of the account and her newfound passion for food blogging, along with her pursuit of a marketing degree, have inspired Diamond to grow the brand and hopefully turn it into a career. She’s even working on a website. “I really do want to do it full time. I just think it’s such a cool thing,” she said. “You get to be in the kitchen all day cooking and making different recipes.”
“I’m really brand loyal [to] a lot of certain products, so I’d be interested in working for a health food company to start out with if I couldn’t blog right away,” she added.
For someone whose parents joked about how awful she was at cooking in high school, Diamond has turned food into her passion in a short amount of time, making and sharing healthy meals and inspiring others to do the same.
For healthy eats and treats, check out @sammydeats on Instagram.
