What's Your Comfort Food?

Ahhhh, comfort food!  I think that we each have a favourite comfort food.  Many times it reminds us of a special, comforting memory or it just brings us back to feeling all warm and fuzzy inside.  I remember as a child, always loving lazy Saturday mornings.  To me, there is no better comfort food than pancakes.  I love the whole process of making them, the smell of the pancake batter as it first settles on the pan, the mouth-watering smell of maple syrup.  In fact, my mouth is watering right now as I type this :)  As I grew older and started to enjoy cooking myself, I learned to take pancakes to a whole new level.  In the autumn months, it became all about the 'pumpkin spice' or 'apple fritter' pancakes.  In the summer, it was all about the blueberry, peach or lemon-poppy pancakes.  In the colder winter months, nothing is more comforting than chocolate chip and banana pancakes.  Basically, pancakes are my go-to feel good food.  That being said, I've had a love/hate relationship with comfort foods as well.  For many years I struggled with trying to eat gluten free and even eating Paleo for my health.  Giving up grains was amazing for my health and I never felt better, but denying myself some of my favourite foods was difficult.  Since spending time in Europe and particularly my most recent trip to Spain, I had to come to terms with a concept called 'moderation'.  As much as I love and still eat a diet based on the Paleo/Lower-Carb approach, there are times that you just have to allow yourself to indulge in some comfort food.  Living in North America where everything is available to us all the time, we sometimes develop an unrealistic and unhealthy approach to eating.  Treats and comfort foods in many parts of the world are only consumed once in a while or on special occasions.  When you indulge in a rich dish, you savour it and eat less the next day.  BALANCE is the key word when it comes to comfort food or any other thing in life.  It's important for us to return to these life-lessons.  In a world where many of us are entitled and have almost everything accessible to us, learning about balance, self-control, moderation and true appreciation of life's best foods and flavours is vital to our ability to appreciate good food and a good life!!!