butter or raw tofu block: from the sublime to the ridiculous...

from an old Oprah magazine:

The "fix" to eating mindlessly...

Take the tofu test. "As you grab a snack, ask yourself: Would I be hungry if it were a block of raw tofu? If the answer is no, you're probably just eating out of boredom. Go for a walk instead!" From a PhD Psychologist at Stanford University

...and this from Cooks Illustrated Light Cook Book on replacing the fat in oatmeal cookies

fruit puree: too dry egg whites: no flavor light cream cheese: too thin and crispThe Winner? Butter. After trying a number of fat substitues, we found that there was no beating butter. The secret was simply to ue less of it. Cookis made with a redulced portion of butter were still "thick and chewy" with a "balanced oat flavor..."What do you think? Which is more affirming of joy, and the importance of taste and appetite. Is "grabbing" a block of tofu okay? Can't you mindlessly eat tofu? The first tofu example is dangerously reductionist IMO. One of the key things we forget about (me too in my quick writing) is APPETITE. There is a lot of talk about eating only when you are hungry, so I guess the raw tofu test would work to assess if you were really hungry. (I personally would be on the brink of starvation before raw tofu sounded appealing...) To me, this is disordered thinking. It denies pleasure and nuance, and it's just, well, silly.