Comfort foods are something that almost all of us resort to at one time or another throughout our lives. But what happens when your comfort foods are part of the problem? Then they cease to be comforting so much as a glaring reminder that we are struggling with a weight or health issue that feels impossible to overcome. The things that once brought us so much peace and contentment now bring us strife. What do we do about it?
Don’t fret! Comfort foods may have a place in our hearts, but they don’t have to have a place in our diets. And if they do, they can take up residence in a way that is accommodating rather than destructive. We do not necessarily have to get rid of our comfort foods in order to get them back in our diets.
Instead, we can begin to change our relationship with food by understanding what is unhealthy about our comfort foods and modifying them in order to change them into something we can still enjoy, but that we don’t have to feel guilty about eating!
Sure, this may seem to take away the positive benefits of having comfort foods, to begin with. you may find it difficult to conceive of enjoying a comfort food that isn’t cooked in a very specific way that you like. However, you can retrain your mind to begin to associate your comfort foods with healthier alternative versions.
Interrupting your neural processes can help you to stop any negative feelings you have about replacing these foods. Simply replace negative thoughts with positive ones once you have recognized yourself having a negative thought about your comfort foods. Then, you will begin to have a better relationship with the thought of replacing your unhealthy comfort foods with healthier alternatives.
Healthy alternatives can be found everywhere. For example, if you really love mashed potatoes but you know they are full of carbs you shouldn’t eat, you can cut the number of potatoes in half and replace it with cauliflower for the other half, or you could even make the switch to sweet potatoes instead. Where there’s a will there’s away, and you can begin to seek out healthy alternatives to less than healthy foods.
This can even begin to work with desserts and sweets as well. Instead of eating artificial and processed snacks, you can begin to get your own fix. Looking into raw food cookbooks can provide a guilt-free alternative to unhealthy snacks and desserts so you can begin eating healthy, even when it feels like you’re not!
There has never been a better time to say out with the old, in with the new than when beginning to replace your old comfort foods with healthier alternatives. It may be a challenge at first, but it is one you can easily rise to meet so that you can begin to take control of your life and embark upon a foolproof diet that will benefit you for years to come!
