Watch out for the turkey.
I heard this warning one fall as Thanksgiving approached.
I was quite young at the time – maybe 9 or 10. And I was perplexed.
You see, I wasn’t the biggest consumer of turkey back then. I preferred chicken.
But I sure feasted on the Thanksgiving turkey my relatives prepared each year. It was exquisitely roasted, neither too dry in texture nor too gamey in flavor. And it was perfectly carved.
It was everything I wanted at the center of my holiday plate. Why would I need to watch out for it?
My parents explained to me that the caution had nothing to do my relatives’ turkey. It was more about what was contained within all turkeys. Namely, an amino acid called Tryptophan.
Excessive Tryptophan makes you sleepy, they said. It exacerbates the food coma feeling that often overcomes Thanksgiving dinner guests.
These words didn’t quite land with me. After all, I had the metabolism of a hummingbird back then. I’d often watch television or play games with my cousins after the Thanksgiving meal was over. Midnight would approach and my energy would be nowhere near gone.
Turkey couldn’t possibly be the problem. No matter what anyone said.
My youthful innocence is long gone now. And so are my days consuming the Thanksgiving cornerstone.
I swore off turkey entirely in early adulthood. I no longer had any tolerance for its taste, no matter how it was roasted.
But even though I’ve heeded the advice of the naysayers, I don’t quite agree with the principle of it.
Turkey isn’t something we need to be wary of.
Not too long ago, I came across an article about which fruits best improve health.
Now, I’m no flagbearer for the clean eating movement. But the title was intriguing enough that I clicked through. (But not so intriguing that I saved the link. Apologies.)
The article went fruit by fruit, explaining each’s unique benefits. Much of this wasn’t news to me; I understood that berries were high in antioxidants and oranges had plenty of Vitamin C.
But when it came to bananas, something stopped me in my tracks. The article mentioned that the fruits provide a beneficial boost of tryptophan.
No way, I thought. Not because I was skeptical of the science. But more because I couldn’t imagine readers seeing tryptophan as a benefit.
Heck, I sure couldn’t.
The lore of the Thanksgiving Turkey Coma has taken over our society. It’s as much a part of the holiday narrative as family and football. And it’s turned tryptophan into a boogeyman ingredient.
In fact, tryptophan is so reviled that it sits on ingredient blacklists, alongside monosodium glutamate (MSG) and saturated fat. It deters health-obsessed diners, rather than attracting them.
For that reason, I was sure the article’s sales pitch for bananas would fall flat.
But we might be the ones who are bananas.
Yes, further research proved to me that we have tryptophan all wrong.
These amino acids, it turns out, are essential in creating serotonin. That’s the neurotransmitter impacting our moods, our pain tolerance, and yes, our sleep cycles. Without tryptophan in our bloodstream, we’d be a frazzled, unstable mess.
Fortunately, most of us don’t have this issue. For even if we’ve sworn off turkey, plenty of other foods contain tryptophan. Foods like chicken, eggs, fish, peanuts, milk, cheese, and – yes – bananas.
No matter our diet, the purported boogeyman ingredient has come for us. And we’re better for it.
It’s time we got the message.
Up in the mountain valleys of Utah live millions of followers of the LDS Church. Or Mormons, as they’re colloquially known.
Mormons live by a strict honor code. Alcohol, tobacco, coffee, and tea are forbidden by the church. Swearing is not permitted. Chastity is demanded until marriage.
For many of those outside of the LDS movement, these requirements seem a bit mind-boggling. Myself included.
I don’t smoke, and I’ve been sober for years. But I can’t imagine going a week without a cup of coffee or a four-letter word.
Yet, I defy this code of conduct with unease. I occasionally find myself wondering if those following the LDS Honor Code have it all right, and I have it all wrong.
The answer is far from straightforward.
You see, many Mormons live prosperous lives without a caffeine jolt or the chance to cuss someone out. But many non-Mormons live equally prosperous lives with those elements woven in.
The key to prosperity, it seems, is not necessarily bequeathal. Instead, it’s moderation.
It’s possible to thrive while drinking a cup of joe a day, rather than four. It’s possible to be considered classy, even if a swear word passes our lips now and then (but no more often than that).
Moderation is an art, not a science. We can leave our own mark – much the way Picasso and Rembrandt left unique brushstrokes on the canvases they graced.
The problem is that many of us are more Pollack or Rauschenberg than Picasso. Our grasp on moderation is nonexistent. It’s all or nothing.
This is how the lore of the Thanksgiving Turkey Coma can take root. We’d rather cast out the amino acid that causes us to doze off than consider how we can enjoy it more responsibly. We’d rather abstain than restrain.
I call this the Butterfly Effect of Caution. And it’s a serious problem.
For it leads us to blow things out of proportion. To stop in our tracks needlessly. To take a machete to what demands a scalpel.
The truth is there’s often a fair deal of good in what we label as bad. There are benefits in the balance.
But our turn toward sensationalism can keep those treasures beyond our grasp. It can turn lizards into Godzilla, computers into Skynet, and tryptophan into the boogeyman.
Yes, The Butterfly Effect of Caution causes us to lose more than we stand to gain. But we still have the power to choose a new path. A more moderate path.
We can let loose now and then without sabotaging our air of professionalism. We can hit the gym without provoking a world of pain.
And we can take a few bites of turkey, rather than resigning ourselves to imminent slumber.
The choice is ours.
So, let’s set that butterfly free.