If you happen to have been born a marine iguana and living on the Galapagos Islands, when you get hungry you eat seaweed. Because you eat so much seaweed, you have a very high and unhealthy intake of salt, which you get rid of by sneezing. Much of this excess salt settles on the top of your head, leaving an attractive white crust.
If you are a panda you eat bamboo when you get hungry, which is weird because you have the digestive system of a meat eater, but you somehow manage to live just fine on bamboo.
Maybe in your next life you will be a Koala, you will be cute, but when you get hungry you will eat Eucalyptus leaves. Only Eucalyptus leaves, boring perhaps, but convenient.
But you are not a marine iguana, a panda or a cute Koala, nor do I know that you ever will be. Meal times for these animals is a simple proposition, and animals that eat only one thing are indeed few; people are not counted among their number.
When you get hungry, you have a choice to make, and the choices seem infinite to a Tennessee boy. It has been called the omnivore’s dilemma. This choice can be the topic of many frustrating conversations among family and friends. “What do you want to eat?” “What are we having for dinner?” The initial response to this type of question is usually something along the line of; “I don’t know” or “I don’t care.” And while the first may be true the second never is, you do care and you care very much, you just need time to think about it.
Making a food choice is a complicated and complex decision-making process, involving biological, physiological and phycological systems. Way too advanced for this old carrot cutter. But as you know, that won’t stop me from digging in.
As we approach the first anniversary of our birth, we begin to be introduced to a new and wide variety of food items. These are food items that are chosen for us; no parent has ever asked a one-year old if they wanted pureed peas, they just shovel them in. This is one interesting aspect of being human. For most young humans, their food choices are made for them well into their teens. You eat what your parents have in the house.
Our eating patterns are in large measure determined by our parents and because they are ingrained in us over the better part of two decades they don’t change much as we age. This results in some foods that can provoke strong emotional responses which are usually triggered simply by their aroma. Many of these foods become what we call comfort foods.
Whether we realize it or not, we all have these comfort foods and in times of stress or emotional upheaval, we tend to seek them out to assist us in reducing our emotional distress. Each person may define their own comfort foods and the possibilities are almost limitless. If it brings you comfort and reduces your stress, dig in. However, there are some foods that make the American list more than others. Maybe yours is here:
- Mac and Cheese
- Ice Cream
- Mashed potatoes
- Chicken Soup
- Biscuits
- Grilled Cheese
- French Fries
- Cake
- Peanut butter
- Peanut butter and jelly
- Gravy
- Biscuits and gravy
- Pie
- Pudding
- Tomato soup
It’s certainly not a comprehensive list, but perhaps it seems familiar. Why do these so-called comfort foods have such an impact on our emotional state? What magic do they hold? If these foods have anything in common with one another I would submit that it is this:
They don’t require a lot of chewing. Most of these you can eat without teeth. Some of these foods may be the first foods you were introduced to as a child and the time before you have teeth is one of the least stressful periods of life. Who doesn’t want to return to those carefree times, if only for as long as it takes to eat a huge bowl of pudding.
Another characteristic these types of foods share is that they are not particularly healthy. Even if your comfort food of choice is not on this list, I would wager that it is high in fat, high in salt or high in sugar, maybe all three. This can be a problem.
Modern American life is perhaps the most stressful period in human history. Just about anything can and does cause stress, the job, the wife, the kids, the truck, the guns; blah, blah, blah, it’s a never-ending list. Throw in a pandemic that seems to never end and a former President that won’t leave it alone. You lost, get over it already! It’s all too much and a certain recipe for disaster. Hand me a waffle cone or I’ll storm the Capitol!
As a society we need to figure out how to reduce the emotional pain, the stress and the anxiety. We can’t continue to flock to our nearest comfort food every time something happens that raises our blood pressure. It is contributing to our obesity epidemic without doing anything to solve the underlying issue.
Maybe, like me, you get infuriated every time Mitch opens his pie-hole. Or maybe for you its Nancy. Perhaps you are afraid of catching covid or maybe you think it’s a hoax. Conceivably, you believe that the winner is sitting in the White House and the LOSER is in Florida, or possibly you think the evil Libtards were able to steal the Presidential election while at the same time losing seats in house and Senate, but then managed to steal the run-off in Georgia. If only!
The point is, it really doesn’t matter which side of the fence you are on, we are all pissed off.
This is my new drum, and I will beat it loudly. It’s clear Kentucky is not going to get rid of Mitch and it’s just as clear that California ain’t getting rid of Nancy, so we need to do it for them.
Career politicians were never the intent of the Founding Fathers, so let’s uphold their wishes, (they were clearly smarter than we are), and support term limits for members of Congress.
Our reliance on comfort foods is killing us and not solving any problems. You are grown now, so don’t blame your parents.
This is a good place to start.
Right on Tom. Very well said