Eat the ham, Tina

When I first read about this study, I thought it would be cool to be a volunteer (although it would not be cool to have diabetes). Next, I thought about my mom telling me that chocolate was good for you, and my reminding her that a little bit of chocolate could be good for you. Mom's not one of those people who appreciates the nuance of "if a little of something is good, it doesn't mean that more of it is better."

I got to thinking about mom's other bogus nutritional advice, and the awesomely faulty logic behind it. Her constant refrain in China was, "have more rice; rice doesn't make you fat. That's why Asians aren't fat."

Now, I never welcome mom's unsolicited guidance about what to eat--it has a way of taking the enjoyment out of dining--but this was particularly annoying. You may recall that mom wouldn't pass me the rolls on one occasion, saying that rolls were the worst thing for me.

The thing is, I never really cared for rice. It's fine as a vehicle for curries or other saucy foods, but by itself it's really kind of blah. I wasn't obstaining from it out of fat concerns; I just didn't want any. But thanks for bringing it up, I thought.

Then--back to today--as I thought about this, i.e. the broader topic of people bringing up issues you didn't know you had or at least weren't thinking about--at first I thought of Jay's having asked whether I'd thought about dying my hair. And then I thought of that line from "Napoleon Dynamite":

Do you drink skim milk because you think that you're fat? 'cause you're not. You could be drinking whole if you wanted to.”