Comfort Food - My Unhealthy Obsession & Some Little Tricks

Hi There!

I've been feeling a little bit down over the last few weeks, well if a little bit was measured on a scale of crap to catastrophically awful - it would be somewhere pretty close to awful.

There are literally hundreds of websites on the net that try and offer help and advice on how to feel better, but in all honesty if you keep reading the opinions of others, you will eventually lose your own. The best advice anyone ever gave me was "find what works for you". It's a simple concept isn't it - listen to your body and your mind, if it makes you feel better and your wellbeing improves, keep doing it. 


This post touches on my obsession with food, yes it could pile on the pounds (and it generally does, temporarily!) but there is no denying that it makes me feel good. Sometimes that's for a short time or sometimes for the rest of the day, for me the length of time isn't important, the fact that it works is.  

I can't turn to food every time I get down, with my life at the minute I would be the size of a small factory in no time! I do have other releases, which are more in line with the conventional methods we are told we must follow for a healthy balanced lifestyle.  I have dogs, I go out walking, I write, I read and generally take time away from the things that stress me out - but this post isn't about those things.

So back to the food! What is comfort food? Well according to the dictionary definition it is: 

"food that provides consolation or a feeling of well-being, typically having a high sugar or carbohydrate content and is associated with childhood or home cooking" 

So do I have a comfort food of choice? Not really, if it's unhealthy and contains vast quantities of sugar and/or fat then it does it for me. I can't explain what it is about it that does it for me, but it clearly does it for other people too or there wouldn't be so much of it out there - or quotes about it for that matter!

I suppose the foods that are likely to drag me out of a mood nearly always consist of something rich and chocolatey i.e. Chocolate Fudge Cake, 

or something containing melted cheesy goodness such as pizza.



So while I could've definitely existed on a diet solely made up of pizza and chocolate fudge cake of late, I have developed some tricks for keeping my calorie intake down while still getting a similar, if not, the same effect.

My Pizza substitute

Once ready you will have a gorgeous reduced calorie Margherita style 'pizza'  without losing any of the flavour.

Spread a slice of bread (or pitta bread if you're really being good) with tomato puree, sprinkle with chilli powder and mixed herbs or oregano then grate some cheddar over the top and add any other topping you like before putting under the grill to melt. If you are being especially good you could try low fat cheese, however I really don't feel you get the same effect as full fat cheese in this recipe! 

My Chocolate Fudge substitute

This hardly constitutes a recipe, but it promotes the same feeling as hot fudge does. What is it I hear you cry?! ROLOs!!(Although you probably worked that out from the picture!) Yes, Rolos eaten at the same time as drinking a mug of tea. Simply place a Rolo in your mouth and drink tea, (or some other hot beverage) let the Rolo melt on your tongue and repeat as necessary! Some of you will be repulsed by this, but I bet the rest of you will try it - especially when you think about the fact that there are approximately 400 calories in one small slice of fudge cake compared to approx 250 in an entire tube of Rolos!

While the above tricks are still not healthy for my body, they help my mind to get where it needs to be to get me through whatever trouble it is I am facing and that can only be a good thing.

I would love to hear from you in the comments below if you have any similar tricks and I hope to see you next week.

Lottie x