Comfort Food for Weight Loss

When you need comfort what do you reach for? Do you have a
particular food you always go for?

Of course it’s better to take comfort in something other than
food. If you can phone a friend or cuddle your dog or your
partner that’s great, but chances are you’ll often still turn to
food for comfort.

Maybe you love the taste and texture of ice cream or chocolate
as it melts in your mouth. Maybe you choose pizza because it
fills you up and makes you feel warm inside. Maybe there’s a
food that reminds you of the good times in your life or one
which always makes you feel better when you’re fed up.

Food can and does evoke lots of great feelings.

But what if your favourite comfort food also

* Uses up half a day’s calorie allowance? * Pads out your hips
and stomach with fat you don’t want? * Clogs your arteries? *
Gives you a huge hit of sugar which creates a craving for more
sugary/starchy food? * Makes you feel full of regret rather than
comfort when you’ve eaten it?

Is it such a friend to you then? Pretty false friend I would
say!

If that’s the case how about getting attached to a new comfort
food?

Don’t worry – it doesn’t have to be boring like carrots and
celery – no one was ever comforted by a carrot! Choose something
absolutely delicious that you can make and keep in your freezer
or have available to cook at a moments notice ready to cheer you
up when you feel nothing but food will do the trick.

How about keeping some hearty warming soup in your freezer and
eating it with crusty bread from ready-to-bake rolls? Or serving
up childhood treats like boiled egg and toast or milky puddings
made with low-fat milk? How about cooking some potato wedges
with very little oil – and enjoying a mini feast without the
calories of French Fries. No matter what you like there will be
something healthy which works for you.

So forget pizza, ice cream and chocolate. They will always be
false friends, making you feel worse after any close encounter.

Choose a new real comfort food that you can get ready at a
moment’s notice and enjoy something which is better for your
waistline as well as your soul.

Copyright 2005, Janice Elizabeth Small

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