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Quotes about Comfort Foods from the world's top natural health / natural living authors

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"After eight years, I realized that I was spending one-seventh of my life in a car, and I began to look for another job. Why comfort foods Are Appealing When we feel stressed, we are more likely to seek out comfort foods— specifically those high in sugars, carbohydrates, and fats—as an antidote. Comfort foods temporarily reduce feelings of stress, which is no doubt why we find them so comforting. Some research suggests that eating comfort foods is comparable to self-medicating our stress wounds." - Jack Challem, The Food-Mood Solution: All-Natural Ways to Banish Anxiety, Depression, Anger, Stress, Overeating, and Alcohol and Drug Problems--and Feel Good Again (Get the book.)

"But all too often, these "comfort foods" only make the problem worse. "Obesity," Sencer said, "is coming to dwarf cancer as a childhood health problem, and this is a huge concern, since obesity sets kids up for just about every adult health problem you can think of later in life. If we could improve one thing across the board," she went on, "I'd pick nutrition. Nutrition is really our biggest problem in this country." She said point blank that "the fact that most doctors don't talk about nutrition with their patients is sinful." - Deirdre Imus, Growing Up Green: Baby and Child Care: Volume 2 in the Bestselling Green This! Series (Green This!) (Get the book.)

"Because most people think of starches as "comfort foods," foods that just plain make you feel good. But many fear that eating an abundance of starches will cause them to become overweight. Not true. When you look around the world at the hundreds of millions of people living primarily on starches, like rice for Chinese and Japanese populations, do you see people characterized by obesity? Certainly not. And here's more good news—not only does the McDougall way of eating allow you to eat those wonderful comfort foods, it also encourages eating as much of them as you want." - John A. McDougall, Dr. McDougall's Digestive Tune-Up (Get the book.)

"Some research suggests that eating comfort foods is comparable to self-medicating our stress wounds. Yet there is a serious downside: the regular consumption of comfort foods leads to unstable blood sugar and insulin levels and can contribute to overweight and mood swings. The combination of high Cortisol and insulin levels causes sugar to be stored as fat in the belly, instead of on the hips or the buttocks." - Jack Challem, The Food-Mood Solution: All-Natural Ways to Banish Anxiety, Depression, Anger, Stress, Overeating, and Alcohol and Drug Problems--and Feel Good Again (Get the book.)

"And often we eat "comfort foods" to make us feel better, if only psychologically. But what our bodies really need when we're sick is a rest of the digestive system to free up that extra energy we need to get well. I am not suggesting we should refrain from eating when we're sick, but we need to consider eating foods that require little effort from the digestive system, and ones that are high in nutrition. Freshly juiced fruits and vegetables would be a great choice during times of illness." - Tom Bohager, Everything You Need to Know About Enzymes to Treat Everything from Digestive Problems and Allergies to Migraines and Arthritis (Get the book.)

"It's the comfort foods, the quick fats and sugars, the alcohol to take the edge off, or, for some people, drugs or other addictions that cause problems. If you exercise or even just socialize, you're tapping into the evolutionary antidote to stress. Sometimes it's a simple matter of substitution, as my patient Susan can attest. She doesn't always jump rope religiously, but when she lapses, she reminds herself of how the exercise makes her feel. " - John J. Ratey, MD, Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain (Get the book.)

"For people who use comfort foods as a way to de-stress or suppress their emotions, surely 100% raw is the easiest way to stay on this diet. (See "Is Cooked Food Addictive?" on page 183.) Raw fooders who remain 100% or very close can go to cooked parties, pot-lucks and restaurants and have no temptation to eat those foods. They may enjoy some of the aromas, but they don't salivate and don't feel deprived. How do you get enough protein?" - Susan E. Schenck, The Live Food Factor: The Comprehensive Guide to the Ultimate Diet for Body, Mind, Spirit & Planet (Get the book.)

"Shopping, Cooking, and comfort foods Galore By now you have discovered the exciting secret of the McDougall Program—it's in the starches! Why is this exciting? Because most people think of starches as "comfort foods," foods that just plain make you feel good. But many fear that eating an abundance of starches will cause them to become overweight. Not true. When you look around the world at the hundreds of millions of people living primarily on starches, like rice for Chinese and Japanese populations, do you see people characterized by obesity? Certainly not." - John A. McDougall, Dr. McDougall's Digestive Tune-Up (Get the book.)

"And you don't have to sacrifice comfort foods, either—you can make healthy antioxidant pizza. Slowly replace white rice with brown rice. And get your kids involved in the kitchen—show them how to chop up kale and crush garlic. Make mealtimes a pleasurable, relaxed experience for the whole family. Nursing Immediately after childbirth, you face your first big decision about that baby's diet: to breastfeed or not to breastfeed? We all know about the immunological benefits of breastfeeding. Breastfeeding can protect newborns from ear infections and other allergies." - Deirdre Imus, Growing Up Green: Baby and Child Care: Volume 2 in the Bestselling Green This! Series (Green This!) (Get the book.)

"Compounding the buildup of fat, after a stressful event, we often crave comfort foods. Our body is calling for more glucose, and simple carbohydrates and fat—like those glistening in a box of Dunkin' Donuts—are readily converted into fuel. And in modern life, people tend to have fewer friends and less support, because there's no tribe. Being alone is not good for the brain. A common protocol scientists use to induce the physiological stress response in rats is to remove them from their social structure; simply isolating them activates stress hormones." - John J. Ratey, MD, Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain (Get the book.)

"Rewarding yourself with comfort foods, because you feel undeserving. All of these and similar symptoms are serious risk indicators for developing cancer or another illness. There are no fundamental physiological differences between the development of a simple cold and the occurrence of a cancerous tumor. Both are attempts by the body to rid itself of accumulated toxins, but with varied degrees of intensity." - Andreas Moritz, Cancer Is Not A Disease - It's A Survival Mechanism (Get the book.)

"And every night we have the option of making a soup from the diced butternut squash, a stir-fry with chicken and Asian greens, or, if we're feeling like comfort foods, grilled steak, sauteed spinach, and roasted parsnips, which taste like sweet French fries. And if we have any leftovers, which we often do, we incorporate them into another meal, such as a big, colorful salad—so that we more often than not "make it once and use it twice." - Frank Lipman, Mollie Doyle, Spent: Revive: Stop Feeling Spent and Feel Great Again (Get the book.)

"In other words, we are finding "comfort" from the mind-altering addictive effects of many cooked comfort foods! For example, meat, poultry and fish contain opioid peptides. Dairy and wheat have addictive opioids too. Salt is also very addictive. Even sweet receptors in the mouth are hooked to brain areas that release endogenous opiates. See Appendix A for more information. The conclusion is that we need to start finding comfort from our internal compass instead of from outside pleasures. What about my family? How can I ever get my family to eat my raw food dishes?" - Susan E. Schenck, The Live Food Factor: The Comprehensive Guide to the Ultimate Diet for Body, Mind, Spirit & Planet (Get the book.) "I was hounded by extended family most of the time: they missed their comfort foods that I used to make; they missed the holiday foods and my homemade rolls. My husband had several severe meltdowns, thinking he was going to waste away. When my son was 19 months old, due to an anonymous report that my son's only source of "milk" was from a coconut, Child Protective Services (CPS) visited me on two separate occasions. They closed the case after his height and weight were found to be within their government chart guidelines." - Susan E. Schenck, The Live Food Factor: The Comprehensive Guide to the Ultimate Diet for Body, Mind, Spirit & Planet (Get the book.) "She published a DVD entitled "Annette's Raw Kitchen," in which she shows how she prepares her own comfort foods, including raw versions of some of the Southern soul foods she grew up on. She unpretentiously proclaims, "I'm not a chef. You won't see me throwing around any knives. If I can do this, so can you!" She also produced a twelve-series show on a local cable TV station called Health Alternatives with Living Foods, which she based her DVD upon. (Her booklets and DVD are for sale on her web site.) Annette sees herself as someone who introduces the raw diet to others." - Susan E. Schenck, The Live Food Factor: The Comprehensive Guide to the Ultimate Diet for Body, Mind, Spirit & Planet (Get the book.)

"When craving sweet "comfort foods," start picking healthy alternatives. This is a tactic that has worked well for fitness guru and author Kathy Smith. "A favorite of mine is to have a baked apple at night. Or I'll put blueberries in a crystal wine glass, top it with some plain yogurt, toss in some nuts, then add a layer of strawberries, and top it all again with yogurt," says Smith, who believes in turning your snacking time into an "event" by using, for example, crystal or a good piece of china. She also suggests making a cup of herbal tea when you crave sweets. Nutritionist Dr." - Connie Bennett, C.H.H.C. with Stephen T. Sinatra, M.D., Sugar Shock!: How Sweets and Simple Carbs Can Derail Your Life-- and How YouCan Get Back on Track (Get the book.)

"Yet there is a serious downside: the regular consumption of comfort foods leads to unstable blood sugar and insulin levels and can contribute to overweight and mood swings. The combination of high Cortisol and insulin levels causes sugar to be stored as fat in the belly, instead of on the hips or the buttocks. Belly fat, a sign of Syndrome X (sometimes called metabolic syndrome or insulin-resistance syndrome), elevates cholesterol and triglycerides and increases the risk of diabetes and heart disease." - Jack Challem, The Food-Mood Solution: All-Natural Ways to Banish Anxiety, Depression, Anger, Stress, Overeating, and Alcohol and Drug Problems--and Feel Good Again (Get the book.)

"Nutrition expert Julia Ross, author of The Mood Cure and The Diet Cure, also suggests taking "biotin, another blood-sugar supporter; tyrosine, a natural stimulant that turns off chocolate and caffeine cravings; 5-HTP, an antidepressant and sleep promoter; and DLPA, which helps eliminate the need for comfort foods." Now, here's a list of supplements from nutritionist Jill Vollmuth that she believes could help with sugar cravings. (Just bear in mind that this isn't health advice." - Connie Bennett, C.H.H.C. with Stephen T. Sinatra, M.D., Sugar Shock!: How Sweets and Simple Carbs Can Derail Your Life-- and How YouCan Get Back on Track (Get the book.)

"But most people interpret those cravings as hunger for comfort foods. For example, when a person craves magnesium, the body might be trying to tell them that they should get more magnesium in order to be healthier. But many people interpret that as a craving for chocolate, which contains magnesium. So they will eat a giant piece of chocolate instead of just getting calcium and magnesium into their body through natural food sources. There's nothing wrong with chocolate if it were eaten in its raw form from the cocoa plant." - Mike Adams, The Seven Laws of Nutrition (Get the book.)

"Trader Joe's has zeroed in on what many people want: generally wholesome, convenient, and comfort foods, along with first-rate customer service. Trader Joe's sells organic chicken, produce, eggs, and dairy foods alongside more conventional food products. Its cheeses come from both the United States and Europe. Seafood is labeled as to whether it was wild or farmed, as well as the nation of origin. Not everything, however, is low in carbs, sugar, or fats." - Jack Challem, Stop Prediabetes Now: The Ultimate Plan to Lose Weight and Prevent Diabetes (Get the book.)

"Memorial University of Newfoundland, found that women long for "comfort foods" when premenstrual, in part because during this time the pain threshold goes down. That gives females a biological "predisposition" for foods that trigger the release of opioids (morphinelike substances) that help them endure premenstrual cramps and irritability. In fact, the "female" hormones estrogen and progesterone stimulate the release of the opioid beta-endorphin around that time of the month." - Connie Bennett, C.H.H.C. with Stephen T. Sinatra, M.D., Sugar Shock!: How Sweets and Simple Carbs Can Derail Your Life-- and How YouCan Get Back on Track (Get the book.)

"Switch to whole-wheat bread and pasta, and stay away from refined flours. comfort foods like porridge and oatmeal are also a dieter's best friend. They fill you up for hours and dampen the constant cravings that keep you from losing the weight you want to lose. • Beans. Known as the 50group of healthy men didn't cut calories but added about two and a half cups of beans to their usual daily menu. They still lost weight." - The Editors of FC&A, Unleash the Inner Healing Power of Foods (Get the book.)

"If the allergenic foods were also your comfort foods, you may experience emotional feelings of loss and distress. But as Dr. Braly explains, "Once the withdrawal phase has passed, the cravings also abate, and the allergy sufferer is free of dependence on that food, free of both the physiological and psychological desire to consume it so frequently, and in such great quantities."28 Dietary Recommendations Diet can make a major difference for the person with a sleep disorder. The following recommendations can help ensure that your diet is not working How to Stop Your Food Allergies Fast 0." - Herbert Ross, DC with Keri Brenner, L.Ac., Alternative Medicine Magazine's Definitive Guide to Sleep Disorders: 7 Smart Ways to Help You Get a Good Night's Rest (Get the book.)

"Holding on to 10% "comfort foods" in the diet can be helpful, as it will slow the emotional traumas from arising too rapidly. 2 Get out your journal. Do any of these ten reasons apply to you and why? How will you face or overcome these challenges? Record the answers in writing in your journal. 3 Remember: Going 100% raw is great, but it is also beautiful to give a 100% effort. 100% raw is not for everyone. Decide what works for you in your lifestyle. A magnificent Kirlian photograph of a scoop of www.rawfood.com's organic raw cacao powder." - David Wolfe, The Sunfood Diet Success System (Get the book.)

"And here's more good news—not only does the McDougall way of eating allow you to eat those wonderful comfort foods, it also encourages eating as much of them as you want. In fact, the more you eat of the right things, the healthier and thinner you will become. When I had shared this last bit of information with Louise and Larry they were ecstatic. Louise, however, had a hard time believing she was really going to get thinner by eating all she wanted. "You mean even though we're going on a diet, it's not really a diet at all? And we're still going to lose weight?" - John A. McDougall, Dr. McDougall's Digestive Tune-Up (Get the book.) "Larry added, "One of my all-time favorite 'comfort foods' is mashed potatoes. So you're telling me that since potatoes are a starch, I can eat all the mashed potatoes I want on your diet and still lose weight?" "Yes, Larry," I reassured him, "you can have all the mashed potatoes you want, BUT ..." "Always a but," interjected Louise. 143 "But you won't prepare them with two sticks of butter and a pint of half-and-half like before. There's really no comfort in knowing you're clogging up your arteries and layering fat onto your body." - John A. McDougall, Dr. McDougall's Digestive Tune-Up (Get the book.)

"Foods and Beverages Amy's Kitchen WTiile you might never get childhood comfort foods like Swanson roast beef TV dinners completely out of your life, you just might have a chance with prepared foods from Amy's Kitchen. They make prepared food not only healthy but also absolutely tasty. Their vegetarian dinners with plentiful organic ingredients are sold at health food stores and natural food markets as well, as supermarkets and club stores in the United States, Canada, and across the globe." - David Steinman, Safe Trip to Eden: Ten Steps to Save Planet Earth from the Global Warming Meltdown (Get the book.)

"Ice cream and donuts, which are high in the sugar required to produce the subconsciously desired serotonin hit, are common comfort foods. Giving in to these cravings will satisfy the brain, but this satisfaction is short-lived. And so you eat more serotonin-releasing foods, which eventually leads to more stress, since these refined carbohydrates offer very few nutrients—not having enough nutrients in our diet is a form of nutritional stress and therefore produces a stress response. Simply by having lower levels of Cortisol (meaning less stress), the body will naturally produce more serotonin." - Brendan Brazier, The Thrive Diet: The Whole Food Way to Lose Weight, Reduce Stress, and Stay Healthy for Life (Get the book.)

"When you get upset, you may reach for comfort foods. Some people over-eat in the face of stress or anxiety. Typically, the foods that you eat at these times are high up on the list of Usual Suspects. If you over-eat these foods on a regular basis, it is all the more likely that these are the foods to which you will become addicted, not just biochemically but emotionally as well. If eating a food too much and too often is the number-one cause of food intolerance, then binge-eating a food time and again is a sure-fire way of developing an intolerance to it." - Antoinette Saville and Antony J. Haynes, Food Intolerance Bible (Get the book.)

"Very few people object to the presence of healthy foods as long as you do not take away their comfort foods. You can always make healthful meals for yourself and some extra food for the rest of the family. Over time it will get easier. Keep in mind that some people require more time to make changes. My patient Debra Caruso faced this dilemma. Her teenage son and daughter told her they were definitely not going to eat this way. Debra knew they could all afford to lose weight. There was so much junk food in the house that it was even tempting her." - Dr. Joel Fuhrman, Eat to Live: The Revolutionary Formula for Fast and Sustained Weight Loss (Get the book.)

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