A container of ice cream with a big spoon, a helping of chocolate fudge cake, or gooey cheese pizza full of your favorite toppings. How about a glass of wine, a cup of tea, or a tumbler of your favorite alcoholic drink? A plate of cheesy mac n’ cheese, a bowl full of spicy wings, or a platter of seafood placed in front of you. Do I have your mouth watering yet? How does all of these foods and drinks make you feel? How comfortable are you really when you indulge in comfort food?
What is comfort food
You have recently had a fight with your best friend, broke up with a significant other, heard some devastating news, and you walk into your home, head straight for the kitchen and grab…what? That item is your comfort food. I have found it to be very easy to grab the box of candy and dive right in when I am stressed. Or a glass of wine at night to pull me away from my thoughts. What is your food or drink you steer to in the hard times?
How do you get comfort
What is it about these foods and drinks that seem to comfort us or ease us from the stressful times? In some cases, I feel that these foods provide a sense of pleasure in indulging in sweets or savory food that we don’t normally treat ourselves in. That pricey box of chocolate that we may buy once a year. Or it is the wine you can only get from out of state. Maybe we are trying to watch the type of foods we eat, so on those stressful days we grab the bag of chips.
Remembering
Comfort foods can also be a remembrance of a time in our lives that was peaceful. In spoiling ourselves for a moment, a time to escape the stress of life, we grab the cup of apple cider that reminds us of our childhood days. Or we grab the bag of cookies from a bakery that we used to visit with a parent that may no longer be with us. This comfort food has pulled our mind away from the strain of the day to a brighter and happier time. A chance to calm our thoughts and re-center our minds around the situation.
Does it work
Can comfort food really help? Yes! (In moderation.) Studies have shown that comfort foods do improve moods. Obviously, eating an entire bag of cookies in one sitting may improve our mood at the time, but our waistline…not so much. But that is for another week. Right now, I want to focus on those times that we are on the verge of screaming, crying, throwing things, that moment in life that it didn’t just rain, it poured! Those are the days and times in life that a bag of Oreos, a box of Sees candy, or a nice bottle of wine can make all the difference.
Problems
There is an underlying problem when we start turning to food for comfort, the effect is temporary. At least it is for the mood. The situation is still there, and it still needs to be dealt with. Another issue is the side-effect of consuming our comfort foods. Many comfort foods are full of sugar, fat, and consumption of too much alcohol is overall a bad idea. So why do we so easily turn to these foods? Easy…it is an assessable “band-aid” for our situation. It is a change to break away from the craziness in our life and not think about it for one minute.
Where is the comfort
Does comfort food really provide comfort? Maybe for that few minutes it takes to indulge. Then what? How can we indulge in our comfort food without going down the “slipper slope” into compulsion? So, the container of double fudge chocolate ice cream made me feel better about the fight I had with my friend, am I going to be finding myself eating a container every time I have a fight?
Does it hurt
I had a coworker ask me a long time ago, is one bite of cake really that bad for you? One bite won’t hurt. My answer… that one bite will hurt. Because that one bite will be the way my mind will respond to any reason or chance I can come up with. I had a stressful day at work (again), bite. Had to get gas for my car and was late to work, bite. Forgot to call my friend, bite. Kicked the chair and hurt my toe, bite. Got a paper cut, bite.
Getting too comfortable
Comfort food can break our minds away from the stress of the day or the events in life. Are we strong enough to know when we need to break away from the comfort food? Are we too comfortable with our comfort food?
With great warmth,
