Finding comfort in food

That we find comfort in food is not really headline news. The term “comfort food” has been around forever.

But new research cited in a USA Today article suggests that the fatty acids usually found in some comfort food actually make us feel less sad or anxious about things.

It’s not just an emotional adjustment from comfort food, there’s a chemical reaction between what’s in the food and what’s happening in the brain.

You’d think that half a life worth of experience would immune us Baby Boomers from the kind of situations that make us seek out comfort food.

We’re certainly wiser with age, even -- with luck -- a little smarter.

We’ve seen a lot, experienced a lot, can cope with a lot.

Yet, we stress.

We stress about work, about whether we can retire in comfort, about whether we’re fulfilled in retirement.

We may be empty-nesters but we still stress about our children.

We want our lives as melodies with sweet hooks of harmony. Sometimes what we get is static, irritating static, and we need ways to quiet the noise.

Not too long ago, I felt the physical need for fat, fat and more fat.

I don’t remember being anxious about any one thing, nor sad or depressed. I just knew I needed comfort food, which I equate sometimes with junk food.

I chose a lunch of an extra large Italian sub sandwich with all kinds of fatty, salty cold cuts, along with a bag of chips.

This kind of lunch is completely contrary to my current efforts to watch what I eat and exercise regularly to keep my weight -- and therefore my blood pressure and cholesterol -- in control.

Yet there I was: Happy -- physically and emotionally happy -- as I gobbled this high-calorie, high-fat, high sodium meal.

We have to keep our stressors, our anxieties in control. Exercise is good. So is sex.

And so is comfort food. I love food; it’s one reason I created Eats@Home for home cooked recipes.

But too much comfort food -- as in too much of a good thing -- certainly isn’t good for our long-term health. A high fat diet is averse to everything we’re told about a healthy lifestyle.

Which begs the question: What’s left? I guess we could drink.