it's all or nothing

When discussing my dieting, my standard joke is that I can't eat one donut. I can eat none of them, or I can eat all of them. But I can't eat one.*

The truth of that joke was driven home to me yesterday. Blair and I hosted a meeting of the Jamaica Estates Association Gardening Club. In preparation we bought lots of healthful snacks -- baby carrots, hummus, peanuts, cheese, crackers. It was easy for me to be a good boy. Of course, some of the guests brought snacks as well, and we put them out. These included cookies.

For most of the meeting I was good. I was snacking on the food we put out. Mostly I had the carrots and hummus. But I also ate peanuts and cheese. And only a couple of crackers. I had decided that I wasn't going to eat cookies, so I was fine avoiding them.

Until one of the guests noted, in disappointment, that no one was eating her homemade cookies. So I had one. And, somehow, that opened the floodgates. Before I realized what I was doing, I had eaten several. I managed to stop myself (eventually), but it was suddenly much more difficult.

I mentioned it to a friend at work, and he noted that all these junk foods are engineered to be as addictive as possible. He specifically mentioned Doritos, and suggested I Google "Doritos addictive." Among the items was this article in the New York Post, which explains things very neatly. I'm impressed and horrified at the same time. It also reminds me of the advertising line about potato chips -- that you can't eat just one. A lot of what the article says about Dorito's is true for potato chips as well. Maybe it's just that Dorito's are like potato chips on steroids.

But these were homemade cookies, using (I assume) wholesome ingredients. Not that it's good for me, what with the combination of sugar and wheat flour. But are they really addictive the way Dorito's are? Or do I need an infusion of willpower?

*Of course, if there is only one donut, I can eat it.