The local radio station posed an interesting question yesterday as I listened, swinging a few of my 500kb swings a day. What is your favorite comfort food? People called in and gave the usual junk answers, Twinkies (thanks dogs for them that they’re back!); Mountain Dew (that’s a food?); cake (that’s a food?); pasta; chili dogs, etc. Basically, which food do we turn to when we need comfort.
Uhhhhhhhh, huh?
Food doesn’t comfort. Duh. Food fuels. Food is prepared. Food is processed in our bodies. Food is savored by our taste buds assuming you haven’t killed them with too much sugar and carbs (which many of you have but don’t even know it.) But comfort? Someone’s going to have to explain that one to me.
Ohhhhh, I see. When someone is stressed or sad, their HABIT is to consume shitty food and they’ve talked themselves INTO the idea that it is needed for comfort to feel better. Nice. (Insert V8 forehead punch here. Ya, punch. Don’t waste time with a silly palm bump. Punch some common sense into that sugar hazed brain of yours.) You don’t want to give up this shitty food, which by the way, is keeping you from feeling your best and gives you the ability to think clearer to deal with the issue you needed “comfort” from in the first place. Gotcha. Comfort on…
Habits can be changed. It’s hard at first, but completely doable. It’s much easier to change a habit then to talk yourself out of some misled attachment to an inanimate object that you believe you need just cuz you’re having a bad day. Food holds no power people unless you are starving. Like, really starving. As in, I have to humble myself and take my family to a shelter for dinner just so they can eat and thank gods that we HAVE a food shelter that will take us. Starving. Chances are 99.999999% that that’s not you. So food? NO. POWER.
Lots of us work hard in the gym. Right now, this is some of the hardest work I’ve done. High volume; throws drills; watching my food (2# of ground turkey with onions and brown rice still needs to be made up for the next couple of days); kettlebell swings, with an Oly or Throw day thrown in there. Why in the hellz would I then go and eat a meal that will not only make me feel like crap for two days OR send me into some type of sugar/carb coma, but completely derail my progress??? I don’t want to feel like crap. I want to feel big and strong! Crap isn’t comfy. It’s crap.
So I had to think long and hard about a “comfort food” for me. I’m going with blueberry pancakes. I’ve always enjoyed blueberry pancakes, with just a hint of powdered sugar and a good mix of blueberry AND maple syrup. As much as that sounds good right now, I know the after effects would be so miserable it’s not even a hint of temptation. When I want to be comforted I’ll go snuggle with one of my kids; or my Bigg guy; or my dogs. Dogs are great for comfort. If you think you need food, get a dog. And if your dog doesn’t give you comfort, get a different dog. SRSLY.
His touch was like heroin in my veins, and I was a grateful addict.
Kitty Thomas, Comfort Foods
tosabarbell 