I’m kind of in a snarky mood as I write this and that started me thinking about comfort food.  I’m guessing almost everyone has a comfort food, the food that has the taste of home, or which just satisfies some craving in a way that no other food does.  I’m also guessing that most comfort foods aren’t terribly nutritionally sound.   Comfort food, after all, isn’t about being healthy or being thin, it’s about being comforted.

I’ve found I have two types of comfort food.  One type is the meals that I ate when I was a kid.  Beef stew and biscuts.  A big pot of chicken noodle or beef barley soup.  Pot roast.  These are meals I remember my Mom making, and almost all of them have a specific memory attached.  Beef stew was a Winter meal, something filling to warm you when it was cold out.  Soup was our Sunday meal.  A big pot sat on the stove and bread warmed in the oven while everyone watched football.  Supper was whenever you wanted it and the pot of soup seemed bottomless, there was always enough for one more bowl.  Pot roast was a family gathering meal, with tender flavorful potatoes and carrots and lovely rich gravy.   Food was an occasion, and certain meals went with certain times.  To this day, there are some foods that only seem right when eaten in certain circumstances.

The other type of comfort food is the type that simply satisfies some craving for me.  Sometimes it is something sweet.  I also have a great affection for cheesy, greasy food.  Nachos are a particular favorite,  as is Idaho pizza.  There’s just something about the combination of flavors and textures that works for me.  I’m not sure what it is, but for me those foods are fun and uniquely satisfying.  They provide a sense of fulfillment that other foods just don’t give me.

When we start working to lose weight, one of the first things that often goes is all the foods that give us comfort.  While I fully applaud the efforts to eat healthy, and firmly agree that nutrition should be considered and eating wisely should be pursued, I also think there’s a place for the foods that fill that empty space that has nothing to do with hunger.  There should be room for the comfort foods, and they should be eaten without guilt or remorse, but in moderation.  Whether we like it or not, food is often about comfort, and that’s not entirely a bad thing.  If we can accept that, and not beat ourselves up about it, eating well becomes that much easier.