When I'm talking about BalanceofFood.com in a social situation, and I want to point to an extreme of what I cover, I mention the time I tried deep-fried butter. Their faces get that look of disgust. "How could he eat healthy and still have deep-fried butter?" That's my point. You don't eat it every day.
"Oh, my gosh, you had turducken," is what I expect the reaction would be if I shared that. Yes, I did have turducken recently. This wasn't the first time. But people sometimes get that look as if you ate the whole turkey, whole duck, and whole chicken all in one setting.
With portion control, you can try deep-fried butter once. You can eat turducken once in a great while. Years ago, I even had deep-fried turkey — once.
Eating deep-fried chicken is no big deal. Or pork rinds. Or artificial fat-free ice cream. Or the extremes of the menu at Denny's. Somehow, these seem normal, even in larger quantities.
I had the turducken at a party. About 30-40 people had some, so in terms of portion control, I didn't eat that much. And none of it was deep-fried.
Yes, the butter was dipped in batter and deep-fried. But you have seen the picture: what you saw is what I ate. I offered some to my newly found friends in Toronto; they turned me down.
I was telling a co-worker about cooking steak in butter and then dipping the cooked steak in more butter. She wondered why I wasn't 300 pounds. "Because I don't do it every day. I consider a treat to be a treat," was my reply. She liked that attitude.
If you need an incentive to be good most of the time, allow yourself a crazy treat every so often. I was on vacation during the deep-fried butter experience. The turducken came at a holiday party. I didn't seek those out; I seized the opportunity that was there. I enjoyed the experience. And I have no regrets.
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