Comfort food - how do we make it comfortable?

Comfort food. We love it! Warm, filling… comforting. Of course!

But are we remembering that we want to feel comfortable as well as comforted after eating? Let’s look at how you can enjoy some comfort food without compromising your, well… comfort!

Our relationship with food is emotional.

…In different ways, for all of us; it could be nostalgic, making us think about family, friends or the past, a complicated one if we have felt or do feel unhappy about how we look, or perhaps a frustrating one if we suffer from intolerances or unexplained discomfort. It is also ceremonial; connected to parties, gatherings, homecomings… And I think most of us have our ‘comfort foods’, things we want to indulge in and turn to in times where we feel fragile, cold, need a pick-me-up, whatever it might be.

Comfort food can have slightly different meanings for people, but put simply, I define it as dishes where flavour, sensation and straight up indulging are the main areas of focus, rather than nutritional value or your overall ‘health plan’. And that is totally allowed sometimes, in my opinion. It’s a whole big industry too, with comfort food cookbooks, blogs, Instagram accounts… It’s very easy to get seduced by it and wanting to chase that delicious, comfort food feeling from every meal. You learn so many ‘secrets’ - “just add cheese! Just add butter! Just add salt! Drizzle with sugar and it looks and tastes amazing. Deep fry and it tastes so naughty but so good. Mmmmm!!!”

But hang on. After we have had that comforting meal, was it worth it, if we feel uncomfortable? I do not in any way want to make you feel bad or guilty for enjoying comfort food sometimes. Not at all! But since we are on a journey of cooking food that makes us feel great, let’s remember to keep in mind how our body responds to these dishes too. Instead of cutting comfort food completely, maybe we can look at how to tweak them so they leave us feeling good for the rest of the day, and long-term too.

As you may have found by trying some of my recipes, bringing the amount of certain ingredients down, like sugar or cheese, does not really make that big a difference in how the food tastes, but it can hugely improve the health benefits and how you feel afterwards to do so. So look at the components of your favourite comfort foods - really respect each ingredient and ask yourself if you can bring some of the amounts down without compromising on the enjoyment of them. I find that a lot of ingredients are much more enjoyable in smaller amounts - for me that is things like cheese, sugar, salt, mashed potato, bacon, ice cream… It might be slightly different for you, but pay attention to when you are enjoying, and when you are just mindlessly eating. My philosophy is that it’s totally okay to eat things that aren’t super mega healthy sometimes, but that you don’t need to go over the top with every ingredient to experience that lovely enjoyment. And you can then feel both comforted and comfortable afterwards.

Another thing to keep in mind is the frequency at which you have these meals. If you don’t want to cut down on any ingredients and just straight up indulge in the food as it is, maybe you will actually find that you can enjoy it more by having it only occasionally. Be honest with yourself and check in with your habits. Are you turning to comfort food as a choice, for true enjoyment, or as a bit of a habit due to lack of inspiration or motivation?

Moderation is a great way to help you feel great - the impact when you then have those delicious dishes is not so bad, and there’s true enjoyment in having something you know you chose consciously to have. And you know what I’m going to say next - cooking your comfort meals from scratch instead of ordering them or buying them ready made from the shops will make you respect, and therefore enjoy, the food SO MUCH MORE! Trust me.

Now dig in!

What is your favourite comfort food - and what goes in it? Post on Instagram and tag me @TheFromScratchBody and use the hashtag #TheFromScratchBody so I don’t miss it!