Some food beckons, some hums

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I hold the belief that certain foods "beckon" while other foods "hum." This is important information if you (or people you love) are planning to eat more healthfully.

Foods that "beckon" typically show up on billboards inviting us to turn off the freeway and into a nearby fast-food restaurant. There's one type of billboard I find particularly enticing. It displays a large, multi-layered cheeseburger with various kinds of delicious-looking condiments dribbling down the sides. The photo is so compelling it seems almost three-dimensional. The caption underneath reads something like "You know you want me."

I drive by and say to myself. "Yes I do." (I'm getting hungry right now just thinking about it.)

Magazines are yet another place from which foods beckon. Let's say you flip open to a luscious-looking illustration of lemon meringue pie. You have not been thinking about pie in any form and suddenly you're riveted to the idea of having a slice of lemon pie. Same thing happens in a mall that has one of those aromatic cinnamon roll establishments.

Usually, if you take a route that bypasses billboards, or if you stop reading the magazine or get out of a mall quickly, the attraction disappears. Not always — but usually.

Foods that "hum" are a completely different story. That's when a particular food does not just wag a beckoning finger — it grabs you and strokes your shoulder. You are not simply attracted — you are entirely consumed by the thought of eating it. We each have a food (maybe even several) that periodically asserts itself and calls out to us in that way.

For me, and a lot of women, I suspect, it's chocolate. (I'm thinking men may have different attractions that involve home-baked cookies, certain types of beer and red meat.)

Let's try to understand this phenomenon using an illustration. Say I am having a normal day and moving through it in a reasonably healthy fashion. I eat oatmeal for breakfast and have a turkey sandwich on whole grain bread for lunch — with carrots sticks on the side. Mid-afternoon comes, and I get a craving for chocolate.

I try to ignore it. But it's really humming loudly — in fact, it's almost an anthem. I decide I should not — will not — indulge." So instead, I eat a crispy apple, fervently trying to ignore my now-mounting desire for a candy bar. I eat my apple — while envisioning apple slices dipped in melt-in-your-mouth chocolate. The naked apple does not satisfy. Maybe a banana might — it doesn't. A handful of almonds? Nope.

Here's what I believe. When a certain food "hums," listen. I am better off succumbing to a small piece of really good (at least 70 percent cocoa) dark chocolate and eating it very slowly, enjoying every delicious morsel, than I am trying to ignore (or eat my way past) that seductive humming sound.

The calories and carbohydrates in the foods I consume while trying to fight off my chocolate passions will far exceed what I might get in a simple chocolate bar.

That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

Sharon Johnson is an associate professor in health and human sciences at Oregon State University and on the faculty of the OSU Extension. E-mail her at s.johnson@oregonstate.edu or call 776-7371, Ext. 210.

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