One of the things that David Kessler talks about in The End of Overeating is the incredibly strong trigger of nostalgia, emotions about certain foods that are hardwired from childhood.
I’m going to a major league baseball game this weekend. I wasn’t really worried or thinking about it at all until a friend (who is also going) just emailed me and said, “What do they have for food? Is it mostly junk?” My immediate reaction was, “YES, AND I LOVE IT ALL!!!!!!!!” I know, I KNOW, they are horrible disgusting products made of pig toenails and rat ears and nitrites and poo, but god, I LOVE hot dogs. I remember very clearly being at a church picnic when I was about ten? years old. The hot dogs were perfectly grilled, with the crispy little lines on them, and I remember squirting them with that fluorescent yellow mustard and thinking I had never tasted anything so delicious in my life. The weather was perfect. I kept going back to the outdoor grill, and one of the church dads was grilling, and he kept saying (delightedly), “You want another one??” I don’t remember how many hot dogs I ate that day, but it was probably five or more. It was a lot. (was that the beginning of it all?)
Imagine my horror when I grew up and realized that hot dogs were not, like, the perfect food. We don’t eat them at home anymore (except when my mother wants them–she has NEVER given them up, and she’s 86) although we do enjoy the occasional chicken-apple sausage (yummy, but not exactly the same). I felt like the only place where I could legitimately enjoy a hotdog was at a baseball game. I mean, who ISN’T eating hot dogs at a major league baseball game?
Obviously, I have not been to a ball game since January. Sigh. NOW what do I do. I did have some ideas about hosting a healthy tailgate (oh GOD) in the parking lot beforehand, but I have something else going on all day, so wouldn’t have time to prepare anything.
I could, obviously, eat ONE hot dog and it would not kill me. But there’s that slippery slope. And I’d probably hate it anyway. (would I?)
I have to make a plan. I have to find the one vegi-burger stand in the entire stadium, and do that. Or else pack a bunch of random things in a carry-in bag: carrots, hummus, apples, cheese. Sigh.
No hot dog? No garlic fries? Realllly?
Yeah, really.
foodfoodbodybody 
May 22, 2009 at 3:28 am
I say take the healthy food… and eat it first! And if you want a hot dog after that, have one. Filling up on the nutritious stuff first is a great strategy!
May 22, 2009 at 12:33 pm
What I do is eat the hot dog with a salad or whatever is healthy to go with it!
May 23, 2009 at 9:23 pm
I went to a baseball game today and I had a hot dog. My friend K, a long-time vegetarian, went looking for food and came back 30 minutes later with a tofu dog from the only tofu dog stand in the whole place, which was clear on the other side of the park, on an entirely different level. She’d been there before and knew the tofu dogs were there. I’m telling you: it looked exactly like the regular ballpark dog I ate 30 minutes before.
May 24, 2009 at 12:33 pm
That’s funny, heide. SO it turned out that the group I was going with was full of healthy minded folks, so we had a feast of roasted chicken, roasted veggies, hummus, a giant bag of blueberries, cherries, wild rice and asparagus salad, fruit salad… we were quite satisfied. Somebody ordered some garlic fries. I didn’t have any, but my friend said they were soggy and not so good. YAY.
May 24, 2009 at 8:02 pm
I agree with those who said have one hot dog and some healthy food to go with it! If you deny yourself too much, it might be harder to keep making healthy choices! I say enjoy the hot dog!
May 24, 2009 at 8:10 pm
Oops! I saw after I posted that you had already gone to your baseball game. Forget what I said earlier. Good for you! Your healthy feast sounds like it was fabulous!