Comfort food can be just what you need

I remember the time that I dropped the children off at junior school and then popped back to the car to retrieve a lunch-box that one of them had left behind. For some reason, which I can't remember, I left my handbag in the car knowing that I would be back in a minute. I chose the day that two men were working the whole street outside the school. It took them approximately 10 seconds to break the window and steal my handbag.

I raced back to the school and told the lady who ran the kitchen/first aid and a whole heap of other activities (it was a small school) and one of my close friends was there. She told me to sit down, have a cup of tea and that she would be back in five minutes. True to her word she appeared with a small bar of chocolate. She told me that she found it helped when she had a nasty surprise. The tea helped as well and the chocolate made me feel a bit better and more able to cope.

Over the years comfort food has been given a bad rap and yet there are times when it offers a hit of sugar and fat just when we need it most. Mention comfort food and many people envision some lonely woman eating her way through a litre of ice-cream or a family sized box of chocolates or chocolate biscuits, or maybe all three.

However many of us turn to comfort food in times of emotional need. The sugar gives us an instant boost from which we benefit  because our body may have diverted much of our fuel resources to the fight or flight mechanism, which means that our hearts are pounding and our muscles are ready to go and we feel edgy. The endorphins found in foods such as chocolate help to elevate our mood and can help us to calm down and think more resourcefully. All our cells need fat to function and it can also help to keep us fuelled whilst we sort out and cope with the issue or situation that caused us to want comfort food. Psychologically we feel better when we indulge in some comfort food and this can be traced back to food our mother gave us to help us feel better when things upset us.

The problem only arises when we turn to comfort food every (or nearly) every day because the stressful and/or upsetting situation continues. If this is the case then having a plan can really help. A friend of mine went through an on-going stressful and upsetting situation for nearly a year and for that year she turned to comfort food on a regular basis. As she explained, she knew that it was increasing her weight to the point where she was uncomfortable in her skin and for her, getting through the situation to a conclusion and closure was the most important thing in her life. She decided that once she had closure she would go back to making better food choices. And this is what happened.

For the short-term comfort eating enjoy and savour every mouthful.

For long-term comfort eating there can be slightly healthier alternatives to chocolate, chips and ice-cream. Below are a list of suggestions which you can adapt to suit your taste and comfort needs:

• banana muffin 
• buttery popcorn
• strawberries dipped in melted dark chocolate
• thick sliced wholemeal bread with butter or peanut butter
• banana with thick creamy yoghurt sprinkled with Cinnamon

Enjoy the odd comfort food with all of your senses.

love
Sarah