Deconstructing the Twinkie: Or, Thou Shalt Not Eat the Pudding.

There's a brand-spankin' new book coming out on Thursday called Twinkie, Deconstructed: My Journey to Discover How the Ingredients Found in Processed Foods Are Grown, Mined (Yes, Mined), and Manipulated Into What America Eats by Steve Ettinger.

Here is an interesting review in Newsweek, which describes one ingredient in the Twinkie as "food-grade plaster of Paris."

Eek. I grew up on those things!

No wonder it's easy for us to be unhealthy and overweight. Food companies are coming up with these wonderfully tasty treats that have absolutely NO nutritional value whatsoever. And we've learned (over time) that these "foods" are making our lives easier because they're fast to prepare, and easy to carry around with us.

Fast forward to my desk at lunchtime today...

I happily chomped down my fat free chicken sandwich (complete with honey mustard, sans mayo) and then considered my next option. I had a lovely clementine rolling around in my lunch sack...right next to...a little plastic cup of heaven: a Jell-o Fat Free Chocolate Pudding Cup!

Ohhhh boy. Well I wasn't terribly hungry, having just gobbled my sandwich, so I decided to choose one or the other to finish off my lunch.

Clementine?

Pudding?

Guess which won. Yah. You got it. The tiny cup of goodness...100 calories of God knows what that gave me nothing valuable in return other than a 1 minute full of chocolatey bliss.

I should have picked the clementine.

But tell me, what would you have done?? Honestly! I felt like I'd broken a commandment afterwards.