Big Mac Or Guggenheim?
A new study shows that when a dieter is tempted to eat a high-calorie treat, they can ease the craving by drawing a picture of that food item.
This is swell in theory, but who draws that well?
I was longing for a big, fat slice of the carrot cake I got my mother for her birthday. I reined myself in and drew a picture of it, birthday candles, decorative flowers and all. What I drew looked like the front end of an ocean liner, which might have satisfied me if I wanted to chew on the Titanic, but didn’t help me much in the baked goods department.
My husband, in a desperate moment, tried to draw a Big Mac. The picture he produced looked strikingly like New York’s Guggenheim Museum, which of course is nearly 3000 miles away and pretty much inedible (although their shrubbery might be nice with a good vinaigrette.). The good news is, although he ended up eating 550 calories worth of junk meat, he expended a good 50 in the drawing exercise.
Nora was not able to curb her desire for a pancake rafter drawing something what looked like a Frisbee. My niece Katy sketched a potato salad which only dampened her appetite for the Rocky Mountains.
So, while this study would work for Picasso, its not for the ordinary person. No wonder da Vinci was slender. He’d get hungry, he’d just pop into the studio and put a polish on “The Last Supper.” Warhol was likewise able to avoid obesity due to overeating tomato soup and Cezanne to cut back on his fruit intake.
For the rest of us who are seeking a diet plan that works, it’s back to the drawing board.
nice drawing!
Bacon is easy to draw, it’s just a bunch of parallel squiggly lines. Maybe the easier it is to draw, the more fattening it is! Mmmmmmmmm…bacon.
Jessica, your blog is eternally witty.
I do personally find that representing something artistically (with song lyrics in my case) I can quench or exorcise my desire for it to a large degree. Perhaps I should try writing about food?
Have you ever considered constructing your own Big Mac? I made one myself awhile back. My goal was to create something a lot more palatable than the Micky D’s original. I started with a freshly baked bun that I coated in *toasted* sesame seeds. Then I pan-seared two two-ounce patties of choice ground chuck. I chopped up some iceberg lettuce, some finely diced white onions, and topped it all off with a homemade Thousand Island dressing.
It turned out pretty damn well if I do say so my damn self! I’m sure I burned several hundred calories in the process of making it. Also, my patties had a natural brown look as opposed to the original’s gray hue.
Yum!!