Comfort
Food
“Food
is a lot of people's therapy—when we say comfort food, we really
mean that! It's releasing dopamine and serotonin in your brain that
makes you feel good.”
Brett
Hoebel (Fitness Expert)
When
I was a kid, growing up Southern meant eating fried food. And not
just cooked in a skillet, but boiled in oil. My grandmother made the
best fried chicken on earth. Even cuts of meat such as pork chops and
vegetables straight from the garden were battered and fried.
Cornbread had bacon grease in it, and slices of ripe tomato were
slathered with mayonnaise. My family ate fried salt pork and saw-mill
gravy over biscuits on a fairly regular basis. It was cheap and
filled stomachs. Folks didn't consider the health implications of
what they ate because that wasn't part of the communal consciousness.
We simply ate food that tasted good. Surprisingly, there were few obese
people then for two reasons: we lived far more physical lifestyles,
and there was no such thing as "fast food."
Today,
I eat differently, of course. Lots of salads, steamed vegetables, and
lean cuts of meat, grilled or broiled. But when I want comfort food,
I rub a sweet potato with butter, wrap it in aluminum foil, and bake
it in a regular oven for an hour, just the way my mother did. Oh, my
goodness, even the skin is delicious! Our notions of comfort food
almost always come from memories of childhood. They hark back to
clan and tribe, evoke the sweetness of family around a table, and
love shared. It's the love, I think, that releases all our good brain
chemistry.
In
the Spirit,
Jane
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