Junk Food

T'is the season to be jolly and load up on all that calorie-laden stuff you normally avoid.

Today's Tally

Pralines (OMG so, so good!) Hot Rotel Dip and corn chips (Yep, made with intestinal glue otherwise known as Velveeta which I won't even buy at any other time of the year.) Tiny glazed cinnamon buns (Each one is just 2 bites. Delish with cup of hot coffee.) Grilled hot dog. Christmas sugar cookies with sprinkles. Texas Trash (my spicy version of Chex mix.)

I have avoided Turtles, chocolate-covered cherries, peppermint bark, Ferrer Rochere, and other temptations. Don't I get a gold star for that?

Is Joan Insane

Let me assure you that I'm not. I'm just the victim of holiday parties, visiting friends, and family traditions that dictate you cook and bake and eat and push food at others from Thanksgiving until January 2. I'm normal and nutritionally circumspect the rest of the year.

Today's Quote

An anonymous wise person is reported to have said: "My body is a temple where junk food goes to worship."

Ah, junk food, beloved by taste buds, despised by anyone with an ounce of sense. In 2008, a Scripps Research Institute study suggested that junk food consumption alters brain activity in the same way as cocaine or heroin.

Of course they tested that on poor little lab rats who, after weeks of unlimited access to junk food, had the pleasure centers in their brains desensitized so that they had to keep consuming more and more food to get the same amount of pleasure.

Then when the junk food was replaced by a healthy diet, those poor rats starved for 2 weeks rather than eat the nutritious food. (Wonder if it was tofu and alfalfa sprouts?)

Junk Food History

That made me wonder about the origin of the phrase junk food. I spent about 30 minutes trying to pin down the origin using online sources. All I could discover was that most sources agreed the term originated in the early 1970's in America. Funny, but I could swear I heard people use it before then when I was a kid.

Takeaway Truth

My body is a temple where junk food goes to worship. I'll eat, drink, and be merry for tomorrow, or January 2--whichever comes later--I die-t. Again.