Since the real reason behind Thanksgiving is that the Native American's kept the white folk from starving their friggin asses off, I find celebration of this day ridiculous. Families that have a get-together on Thanksgiving day usually end up with someone drunk and making a total ass out of themselves...I know this personally as I have done it many a time. If you are a vegan, you probably could give a shit about the following information. From
Wikipedia:
One belief is that heavy consumption of turkey meat (as for example in a Thanksgiving or Christmas feast) results in drowsiness, which has been attributed to high levels of tryptophan contained in turkey.[53][54][55][17] While turkey does contain high levels of tryptophan, the amount is comparable to that contained in most other meats.
Furthermore, post-meal drowsiness on Thanksgiving may have more to do with what else is consumed along with the turkey and in particular carbohydrates. It has been demonstrated in both animal models[56] and in humans[57][58][59] that ingestion of a meal rich in carbohydrates triggers release of insulin. Insulin in turn stimulates the uptake of large neutral branched-chain amino acids (LNAA) but not tryptophan (trp) into muscle, increasing the ratio of trp to LNAA in the blood stream. The resulting increased ratio of tryptophan to large neutral amino acids in the blood reduces competition at the large neutral amino acid transporter resulting in the uptake of tryptophan across the blood-brain barrier into the central nervous system (CNS).[60][61]serotonin in the raphe nuclei by the normal enzymatic pathway.[56][58] The resultant serotonin is further metabolised into melatonin by the pineal gland.[10] Hence, these data suggest that "feast-induced drowsiness," and in particular, the common post-Christmas and North American post-Thanksgiving dinner drowsiness, may be the result of a heavy meal rich in carbohydrates which, via an indirect mechanism, increases the production of sleep-promoting melatonin in the brain.[56][57][58][59]
Personally, I like the stuffing best which of course is carb laden since it's usually made with bread products. The furry critters at our house simply love Thanksgiving as they are the ones that get all those fucking leftovers. Enjoy your day anyway, especially if your a sports-crazed wingnut like moi. ;)
