The Write Spot Blog by Marlene Cullen

Tag: comfort food

  • Comfort Food and more  . . . Prompt #727

    Excerpted from the May 2023 issue of the Sonoma County Gazette:

    Research over the past 20 years shows the same result time and time again: when we’re stressed, we want what researchers call high energy and nutrient-dense foods—those snacks, treats and meals that are high in fat and sugar.

    Comfort foods improve mood, reduce loneliness and connect us to cherished memories, often linked to childhood. A craving for comfort food typically stems from an extreme emotion, including happiness, meaning we reach for comfort foods even to celebrate.

    Comfort foods often trigger our reward system by releasing dopamine, a hormone and neurotransmitter. When we take a bite of that comfort food, whether it’s a hot fudge sundae, peanut butter and apples, tikka masala or a double bacon cheeseburger, dopamine floods the brain and gives us a huge boost of pleasure feelings. Any negative feelings we may have been experiencing before—stress, anger, sadness or anything in between—is diminished thanks to that hit of dopamine.

    For more info, you can read the entire article, “Why do comfort foods make us so happy?”  by writer and editor Amie Windsor.

    Today’s Prompts

    Write about food that brought you comfort as a child.

    Write about food that brings you comfort now.

    If you have replaced comfort food with an activity, write about that.

    Stressed is desserts, backwards.

    Have you backed into an activity that offers a hit of dopamine?

    I discovered GROOVE dancing with Diane Dupuis (link to her Facebook Page) and love the endorphins that dancing produces.

    Share your writing on my Writers Forum Facebook page. Note: There is no apostrophe on my Writers Forum Facebook page.

    Posts on The Write Spot Blog about comfort food and activities that produce endorphins:

    Comfort Food and the results of my informal poll.

    Ideas for activities to get a dopamine fix:

    Create a Hygge Calendar or List

    Qi Gong To Calm The Mind

  • Comfort Food . . . Prompt #653

    Comfort Food is a real thing.

    The idea of eating for comfort might be new to you.

    Or you may have experienced how food can bring relaxation and a sense of well-being since you were a child.

    Perhaps you are an “eat to live” person and became a “love to eat” person during shelter in place, when activities were limited and frustrations were high.

    Here’s what happened to me with comfort food during shelter in place, summer 2020.

    “Comfort food took on a new meaning. It was more than comfort food. It was about how to cope with feeling scared. When food filled my belly, there was more than a feeling of satiation. There was a feeling of we’re going to be okay. We can handle this. I tell myself this is just a moment in time. It’s temporary. But I know we are forever changed.” —“Things I Never Thought I Would Do,” excerpt from The Write Spot: Musings and Ravings From a Pandemic Year.

    What is your definition of comfort food?

    One idea is that when sugar, salt, and fat hit the pleasure center of the brain, we experience contentment.

    Perhaps an interesting concept to explore.

    Today’s writing prompt: Comfort Food.

    What does comfort food mean to you?

    What do you eat that offers a sense of well-being and security?

    What was your comfort food as a child?

    Note: When I was looking for an image to go with this writing prompt, my first thought was mac and cheese. But I didn’t like any of the images I found. Then I thought “popcorn.” Again, couldn’t find an image I liked.

    I decided to take a poll on Facebook. I was surprised at the range of responses to my question “What is your comfort food?”

    From the informal poll: Ice cream is the most popular comfort food, followed closely by potatoes (mashed and baked).

    Some of the answers were specific: Hazelnut gelato, rice cakes with strawberry jam, mushroom risotto, toast and peanut butter and bourbon whiskey, my wife’s mother’s grandmother’s spaghetti sauce, warm blackberry pie with ice cream, Belgian fries with mayonnaise.

    Also: Granola, hot dogs, jambalaya, lemon bars, meatloaf, pot roast, tapioca pudding, tuna melts, artichokes, and yams.

    A cousin in Grand Rapids responded with “Tamales from the Roosevelt Tamale Parlor!”

    And a couple of “whatever anyone wants to make for me.”

    Your turn: Write about comfort food.

    “Our obsession with sugar, salt and fat.” By Alexandra Sifferlin and TIME.com, March 1, 2013