Friday, June 25, 2021

How to explain my brain

Two things:

1) grated cheese has fewer calories than ungrated because of all the air between the bits;

and

2) the risk of Covid is higher in a cinema because it's dark.

I recently did a FaceBook post saying something along these lines: If I'm using cheese that has 30% less fat then I can eat 3 times as much.

Some people realised it was just an excuse to eat more cheese but a few very kindly corrected my maths. I know I only scraped through but I do have A-level maths although please don't ask me to do algebra.

Anyway, back to the two sentences at the top. Now 90% of my brain knows they're not accurate, not even right, but the first-thought-logic of them still lingers. I mean wouldn't you feel more at risk from all those viruses in the dark? And when you grate cheese you're breaking down all the cell walls so reducing the calories. 

You see, even thinking about it rationally I'm pulled towards the ridiculous. Maybe that's what happens to the conspiracy theorists only in opposite proportions. Ninety per cent crazy, ten per cent rational.

11 comments:

Marie Smith said...

If you eat grated cheese standing by the counter, its calories don’t count, ir so I’ve heard.

Liz Hinds said...

That's what I've heard too, Marie.

pam nash said...

Well could be you'd be safer in the dark as the virus probably can't see either and will just zip by and hit someone further down. You never know - could happen.

Debra She Who Seeks said...

I prefer to think of this kind of logic as "magical thinking" -- sounds so much more delightful, doesn't it?

Kathy G said...

You could say the same thing about whipped versus liquid cream. All the incorporated air really lightens it up :-)

Liz Hinds said...

True, Pam.

It does, Debra.

Oh definitely whipped cream is practically all air, Kathy.

I'm so glad my readers think the same way as me!

Cop Car said...

I agree with Pam that viruses can't find us in the dark; but, I must admit that breaking down cellular walls in food means that our body doesn't have to work as hard to digest it - thus - net carbs/fats/proteins are greater. I try to eat everything while it is still frozen in order to make my body work harder to bring the food up to ambient temperature. (That makes up for the pint of ice cream!)

Liz Hinds said...

Excellent advice, CopCar!

Janie Junebug said...

1. True
2. True

I hate it when people toss logic around that gets in the way of my theories.

Love,
Janie

PipeTobacco said...

Actually cheese is not cellular. It is congealed milk proteins and fats. Milk is just basically water, plasma constituents (salts, minerals etc), proteins, fats.

For me the way to *try* to think about grated cheese having fewer calories is to use the air analogy PLUS the idea that grating it allows it to EXPAND a bit so the same cheese is “bigger” than ungrateful cheese..... so I can eat more! :).

I could also facetiously theorize that by grating I would increase the likelihood that some calories would be able to evaporate away. :).

PipeTobacco

Liz Hinds said...

Thank you, Janie.

Precisely, PipeTobacco. Excellent arguments.