Comfort Foods

So a few weeks ago I was looking through a cookbook that "lightens up" comfort foods and I started thinking, what exactly makes something a comfort food? What makes the cut? The cover of this particular cook book has a picture of baked macaroni and cheese. Yummy for sure, but not a comfort food for me. My mac and cheese came out of a blue box growing up and that is the stuff I crave when I crave mac and cheese.

And that's where I started thinking about what makes a comfort food a comfort food. My best friend from middle school's mom used to cook only a couple times a year and when she did she would make baked macaroni and cheese, fried chicken, collard greens and bread pudding for dessert. This was heavy duty comfort food for them. I can remember the first time I sat down to that meal. First off, I had never even heard of collard greens let alone eaten them, like I mentioned before mac and cheese came from a box, not from the oven and fried chicken should be in a bucket! But for Chrystal and her mom this was the perfect meal. It was a lot of work on Chris's part and she wouldn't even hear of either Chrystal or me helping her. It was her way of putting love on the table. So it became comfort food to Chrystal.

Now for me, my mother stopped cooking for the most part when I was 12 or 13. She would still trot out some of her specialties here and there but for the most part she just stopped. Where most families would have a food schedule like, on Tuesday we have meatloaf we had a restaurant rotation. Goody's, Andy's, Furrs, McDonalds and a few others that would come in and go out for variation. This was the way it went all the way through my high school years. When you were sick, you couldn't really go to dinner with everyone so after dinner you would get something brought home to you. For me it was McDonald's. A Big Mac, fries and orange drink. So now when I get sick, that is what I want. You can keep your homemade chicken soup, bring me a burger!

For Brent it was Chinese food. When anyone in his house was sick they ordered Chinese food. So when he is sick, that's what he wants. And we have been married long enough that now if I am sick for more than a few days my second or third day I want Chinese food as well. Won-ton soup to clear my nose thank you. Christopher leans towards the Chinese food, in case you are wondering.

Then there are emotional bandage foods. Any kind of chocolate works. But a brownie is best. I can remember eating almost an entire pan of brownies at different points in time during my youth. That and raw cookie dough. Chrystal and I used to buy a roll of cookie dough and split it between us. No cooking them, just eating them. Brownies and cookies. So when things are stressful I still want them. Ultimate comfort food for me.

Dropping the weight this year has meant trying to not fall back on comfort eating when faced with situations like stress, not feeling well, what ever the triggers are. And for a long time I really worked at it, did the whole questioning of "Am I hungry or am I stressed?" and if it really is just a stress reaction can I stubborn my way past it and not eat? And if not is there a lower calorie substitute I can have? And the conclusion after almost a year really paying attention is that comfort foods are just that. Comfort. And it's okay, every once in a while to indulge in them. For me the emotional benefit I get from that Big Mac while I am sick is worth the extra time at the gym when I feel better. Instead of a pan of brownies, buying one and enjoying that one can help make a truly bad day seem like a distant memory. And learning that an apple with peanut butter is really one of nature's perfect combinations for any situation (and good for you as well) has been a blessing.

So how about you? What are your comfort foods? What triggers the craving? And do you feed it or ignore it? I think for me I have found the balance. But if you ever see me sitting down to a pan of brownies, know that it's been a really bad week and you might want to walk in a wide circle around me!