Comfort Food

So I was reading on the internet and found this:

You don't have to give up your favorite comfort food, as long as you keep it in balance. You can enjoy your favorite foods even if they are high in calories, fat or added sugars. The key is eating them only once in a while and balance them out with healthier foods and more physical activity.

The point is, you can figure out how to include almost any food in your healthy eating plan in a way that still helps you lose weight or maintain a healthy weight.

Being consistently healthy in your eating choices is the key. Making the same healthy eating choices over time can lead to better eating habits. By thinking more positively and focusing on what you can have, you'll help yourself establish healthy eating habits.

Some General Tips for Comfort Foods:

1) Consume them less often. If you normally eat these foods every day, cut back to once a week or once a month. You'll be cutting your calories because you're not having the food as often.

2) Eat smaller amounts. If your favorite higher calorie food is an afternoon chocolate bar, have a smaller size or only half a bar. Be careful! This technique works well for some people, but others may find it is too tempting to have their favorite food available, even in smaller amounts.

3) Try a lower calorie version. Use lower calorie ingredients or prepare it differently.

4) Avoid using food for comfort, such as when you are upset, stressed or angry.

When I realized I was eating food for comfort it was a little easier for me to get it under control. I then was able to substitute exercise for food when I was stressed and upset instead of food. I still enjoy the good and naughty foods... I can honestly say that I enjoy it now; before I could just say that I enjoyed it while I was eating it and hating eating it afterwards. Now I have no regrets... most of the time

I agree with this completely. As long as you keep it in balance is key. You don't have to give up all of your favorite foods if you keep them in moderation!

My grandfather on my moms side used to say the same thing, "Anything is fine in moderation".

The tough part is figuring out how much is a moderate amount because everything's different. A moderate amount of venom can work wonders for getting rid of bad tissue, but if you used as much venom as what's considered a moderate amount of say, drinking water, you'ld certainly die.

Yes, figuring out how much in moderation can be tough. Maybe a way to control that is to count how many calories you eat during the day. First you would need to figure out how many you should have per day (depending on your activeness, age, etc), and see if you have any room left over on those calories for a little comort food. Just an idea...

The calorie counter tool that we added to Healthy Pals can calculate for you the approximate amount of calories that you should be eating per day to maintain your current weight:
calories.php

Something that I heard to regulate yourself is to cook and give yourself one serving then put it away... most of the time we're too lazy to get more after the initial craving is satisfied... what do y'all think?

I agree.

Another thing is that I don't like anyone to make a plate for me.
I catch a lot of guff about being rude, but I tend to eat many smaller "meals" instead of a few normal sized meals and people always give me too much because I look like the jolly green giant and they think I should eat that much. When it's given to me I will eat it because I don't like to waste food. Herein lies the problem.

I think it is a good idea to make your own plate. I know when I dish plates for other people, I tend to put a lot of food on the plate! Not sure why, I guess I am just trying to not be stingy and make sure everyone is happy with how much they get.

I think a good way to control your cravings for comfort food is by portion control. Don't eat out of the carton (if your comfort food is ice cream), instead put a small amount in a bowl and you most likely will be satisfied with your craving after you finish the amount in your bowl. If you leave yourself to just eat out of the carton... there is no way to tell how much you have eaten and when you should stop!

Potato chips are another comfort food good to put in a bowl instead of eating out of the, err, bag.

I need to stop eating the Garden Salsa Sun Chips out of the bag. I never know when to stop! If I put a small portion in a bowl or a sandwhich bag I think that would help. Once I start eating those things out of the big bag, it is really hard to put it away!

Anybody ever have these? They are super good!

Cookies n Cream ice cream is my weakness . In college back in my dorm days we had the small fridges that didn't really have a freezer section so a friend and I would go shopping and buy the half gallon of ice cream and we'd eat as much as we could until we got sick... we could have gotten the pint size but that was more expensive and we couldn't only eat half because that is wasteful. I'll tell you the older I get the more wasteful I have become in the aspect of food. When I was younger I was woriied more about quantity too; now I focus more on quality. Give me a little bit of the good stuff and I'll be happier than if I get a whole lot of the marginally good stuff!

I've never had that variety of Sunchips. I do like the other flavorss of Sunchips and blue-cornchips with actual salsa though.

You know what else rocks and is tougher to eat just one of than Lays potato chips ?

Those are my favorite... it's like a pizza on a Wheat Thin! It's not just hard to eat one... it's though to eat just one box at a time! I go though a package of those on a one day road trip.

Oooh! I absolutely love the Sundried Tomato and Basil wheat thins!!! For the longest time I was addicted to just the original flavor of wheat thins. Not until a few months ago did I branch out and try the Tomato and Basil flavor and wow, it's sooooo good! I can't believe it took me so long to try them! I'd say getting addicted on wheat thins though, is better than any type of chip.

I have to agree there.

I just discovered there's 9 servings in the 9.5 OZ box. I thought there were 2-4 servings.