Dissecting Your Meal

For many out-of-town students, Thanksgiving is one of the first opportunities to return home to the family. In an effort to cut down on some of the awkward conversations – like the ever-dreaded "what have you been learning about in school" conversations – here are some little-known facts about some traditional Thanksgiving food items that may help you change the subject.

Or, you know, make it look like you learned something this semester.

Food: Pumpkins
Who to target: Your grandparents and other diabetics
Pumpkin extracts may help prevent diabetes and may help current diabetics keep their blood sugar levels down, according to Science Daily. The extracts have been shown to help regenerate pancreatic cells in rats, which places more insulin into the bloodstream. Type 1 diabetics will still have to inject themselves with insulin on a daily basis, but the pumpkin extract may help cut down on the number of injections needed.

Unfortunately, eating a slice of pumpkin pie this year probably won't help you if you are diabetic. It goes without saying that if it is not sugar free, there is a chance that it may still spike your blood sugar.

Food: Cranberries
Who to target: The people who are afraid of germs (there's at least one in every family).
Compounds found in these little red berries are able to stop E. coli, the monster behind all sorts of food poisonings, before the bacteria becomes an infection, according to Science Daily. No one is really sure why, but the cranberry compounds prevent the bacteria from sticking to the cells in the body.

Now all you have to do is get over the taste of the cranberry sauce, although there is no guarantee that the canned kind has any cranberry content at all.

Food: Turkey
Who to target: The ones who seem mentally-unstable
Besides just making you sleepy, the l-tryptophan found in turkey can be metabolized into serotonin – the brain chemical we are always hearing about in those depression commercials. Serotonin essentially makes you feel less sorry for yourself and believe that life is worth living.

Unless you are a turkey, because then your life is for eating. Anyway, if there becomes a heated debate at the dinner table, you can tell them all to shove it – and by it, I mean their mouths – with turkey.

Visual Stimulation
Who to target: Everyone else
For those of you who prefer to look at pictures instead of words, Wired posted some neat photos of food under a microscope.

My favorite photo is the beer, and it's not just because I like to drink it.

Well, maybe it is, since beer also prevents awkward conversations.