Don't Change Comfort Foods Into Diet Foods

Don't Change Comfort Foods Into Diet Foods
A colleague asked me to contribute to a project she is
doing for her job. She works on a web site for people who
are going through illnesses or caring for their loved ones
who are ill. The site provides a space for these folks to
share their stories and offer (and receive) support and
encouragement.

As a nutritionist, her suggestion was that I discuss how to
make comfort foods more nutritious. I remember we
mentioned what our comfort foods were, including a specific
brand of vanilla ice cream, mashed potatoes, macaroni and
cheese (for some reason, at least for me, my comfort foods
are all white-except chocolate, of course). Macaroni and
cheese seemed to be a popular item, and she suggested that
I come up with a way to modify it to make it more
nutritious.

After my colleague finished telling me about this idea, I
found myself immediately saying "I would never touch
anyone's comfort food." And I wouldn't. I can't imagine
telling someone, going through a difficult time in their
lives, to change the food that brings them comfort. There
are many types of nourishment; emotional and psychological
may be more important at this time in your life than
physical nourishment.

If you changed your macaroni and cheese to whole-wheat
macaroni and low fat cheese, it would be an entirely new
food. I would never tell a person who loves brand name
vanilla ice to switch to fat free frozen yogurt-not at this
time in their lives. Mashed potatoes with plain yogurt and
fat free margarine? Perhaps, when watching your weight,
this is an appropriate choice, especially if you like it.
But changing one's comfort food creates an entirely new
food with entirely new associations. And one of those might
on a subconscious level say, "you weren't doing this right,
you should have done it this way." Where is the comfort in
that?

The whole idea of comfort foods is that they fill you with
a memory, a feeling of safety, perhaps a reminder of a time
when a parent made this food to take care of you. And now
you are making it to take care of yourself. You are not
eating the food for any particular nutritious reason, but
rather an emotional, psychological reason. It takes you to
a time when you felt safe and secure, and for a small time
during this particularly chaotic period in your life; you
need a small island of comfort.

So I told my colleague I'd be happy to write for her, but
not on the subject of changing recipes for comfort foods.
My advice in this area? Perhaps you don't need to eat the
whole bowl of mashed potatoes, or the entire box of
macaroni and cheese. But during illness, stress, it is not
time to worry about the "right" foods, the low calorie
versions, the low fat cheesecake. While this may not be
the most nutritious advice, my primary concern is to help
you take care of yourself. And taking care of yourself
doesn't involve making changes to anything (including food)
that has worked for you in the past.

I can be your nutritionist another time.

----------------------------------------------------
If you would like more information on becoming At Peace
With Food™, as well as access to interesting articles and
links to nutritional resource websites, visit=>
http://www.AtPeaceWithFood.com/freetips.html