Brain Food 
'Mind Over Matter' is a catch phrase which allows me to be open to pretty much anything . I can be talked into pretty much anything, convinced that pretty much anything is either right or wrong, as long as you can give me valid reasons. And, worse-or- better, I can believe both sides at one time.
Some picky types would call me wishy-washy, others would consider me prime presidential material. My name of choice would be 'open minded', able to use mind over matter to accept some off the wall concepts.
It is this same leniency of sorts that I apply when I mind my daily intake of matter, a.k.a. food.
As a mom of a finicky toddler, I was able to convince myself in order to maintain my sanity that; ketchup is a vegetable, jelly is a fruit, and hot dogs have nutritional value, and really do not contain what the package
says. Pigs do not actually have some of those parts in their bodies, it's impossible. Spaghettios and the like were heavily disguised as slimy shapes reeking of barf, but truly were carbohydrate laden pasta worthy of the finest restaurants in Italy. Mind over matter. She ate, I didn't worry.
I have always been a junk food junkie, and despite wanting better for my family, I somehow convinced myself I was above these nutritional needs. The same application of convincing arguments for or against PMA allows me carte blanche in my lunch cart.
Ketchup applied liberally over greasy french fries is a vegetable. Jelly filled doughnuts are a fruit. Pistachios and cashews are a meat group, along with snickers (peanuts) and Reese cups (peanut butter). Cookies fulfill my bread and cereal group, while ice cream and milkshakes supply my body with nutritional milk intake.
Every once in a while the guilt trip sneaks in. So I try to do better. I visit the health sections of the grocery store. I buy whole wheat pitas and stuff them with everything from tofu to humus and sprouts. Then I have a huge piece of cherry pie with whipped cream. (Fruit and milk?) I buy juice drinks along with my Pepsi®, sort of a chaser? So to again maintain my sanity, and reduce my guilt stress level, I have to resort to mind over matter. What good is healthy food if you don't enjoy it, or 'bad' food if you are feeling sinful? Is there a compromise I don't know about? Chocolate covered bean sprouts? Whole wheat cheesy poofs?
I love potato chips and onion dip! Sliced and fried, or grated and pressed into exact shapes as in the case of Pringles®, chips are still a potato, or as Quayle would correct us, a potatoe. Onion...vegetable, dip...milk based. And if you really really want to do it up right, eat the Olestra® fried chips and 'whooooooooosh' it'll all just go right through you. In this case, not only is it mind over matter but move over matter.
Cakes, pies, ding dongs translate to eggs, milk, fruits, flours! Candy... sugar for energy! A margarita...gotta keep the salt level up to maintain my low blood pressure! Most people have a 'junk drawer' in their kitchen. I have a 'snack drawer'. I'm a member of the Ben & Jerry pint-a-sitting club! Saves washing dishes, saves water, saves the chance of breaking the dish, saves losing energy by re-opening the freezer if I simply eat the whole pint right out of the carton.
Nachos and cheese...paying homage to our Spanish population, pizza...feeling my passionate Italian roots (a stretch since I'm no more Italian than pizza originally was, but I'm passionate about pizza). Potato skins loaded with bacon and cheese...God Bless Idaho! I recently read that the FDA has declared salsa a vegetable. Can Jelly Belly® jalepeno jellybeans be far behind???
I can justify pretty much anything as far as a food item, including pork rinds, but you don't want to hear that explanation, trust me! It's time we stopped making ourselves feel guilty for enjoying food, albeit the 'wrong'???? kind. You can spend your entire life doing 'right' and get run over in the supermarket parking lot on your way to buy a frozen veggie burger.
In one of my brief moments of insanity I once made an eggless, milkless, sugarless, butterless cake. It was the most gawdawful thing I've ever passed by my lips. The only reason it's healthy is because you won't eat it. This is definitely one of those items declared null and void under the rule of 'pretty much anything'. Although I have to admit, it wasn't too bad once I plopped a big gob of ice cream on it and doused it liberally with chocolate syrup.
Life is simply too short, I choose to eat dessert first, rich, fattening, sugary dessert. Heck, if I don't mind, does it really matter?
Cheesecake anyone?
Don't mind if I do!
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