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Guest Column: Comparing rats and resolutions

By Nanncy Simpson/Herald guest columnist

The pursuit of good health is a common promise heard at the beginning of the year. Usually my mind isn’t preoccupied with resolutions. I don’t like waiting to start something new. However an article published in November by the Washington Post about the addictive elements on junk food and rats has caused me to think.

Researchers at the Scripps Research Institute gave rats junk food in unlimited supply. The inevitable outcome was the rodents became overweight. Also the scientists argued that the rat’s brains needed an increasing amount of food to get the same amount of pleasure. The rodents even fought through shock induced pain to get their fix. When healthy food was administered, the rats chose to starve rather than eat. The article stated that junk food “is addictive in the same way as heroine and cocaine.”

My record is completely clean when it comes to drugs and alcohol, but junk food is another story. I would be an idiot if I didn’t realize that my love for red licorice was unhealthy. When I bite into a really good cookie I find myself soothed. My affection to confection is no secret in my home but I’m not addicted. It’s not as dangerous as drugs. Right?

Judging from the Post article, it is easy to make the assumption that any over indulgence can open the “pleasure pathway” in the mind causing addiction. Take for example Tiger Woods and blonde women; the Octo-Mom and her houseful. Type in “too much of a good thing” into a search engine and you can find loads of stories, books and news articles that expound on the dangers of our over-indulgent society.

I can’t buy into the doom and gloom theory that our world will be destroyed by our insatiable appetite. What worries me most is that we will destroy ourselves long before the world is gone. Aren’t we less permanent than the earth?

Instead of making resolutions related to weight loss maybe we should focus on how to regain balance in our life. There is no way I can cut red licorice out of my life entirely but I could cut back

I remember the old V8 commercials where people would walk around tilted to one side because their diets were unbalanced. Wouldn’t it be interesting if all of our addictions were as visible as that advertisement? I think it would be hard to be judgmental if my weaknesses were blatantly obvious. As my dream for a Utopian society fades, I can at least hold onto this silver lining: I am not a rat.

Nancy Simpson lives in Puyallup. You can reach her at nsimpson145@hotmail.com.