Comfort foods are nostalgic or sentimental meals that are easy to cook but contain high amounts of calories and carbs. When we are stressed, sad or under the weather, we tend to reach for them. It feels very good to eat them but the problem with them is that while they give you a high spirit, they can also deliver an overload of unhealthy ingredients to your body. Even though nobody is telling you to give them up, it is always better to do so for your own sake. You may crave for them but it is important to understand the signals in your body and brain the show you dig in into such foods.

Paleo comfort foods

Even though most of the Paleorecipes can be really good, they may not resemble what you consider as comfort food. When you follow a Paleo diet, you do not eat any grains, sugars or dairy. Most of the comfort foods are made up of those ingredients. However, even without these ingredients it is possible to prepare delicious comfort foods which will make your mouth watery. It is possible to paleo-ize your comfort foods and keep the best six and the balance of macronutrients along with pleasure. It is possible to find some paleo com fort food recipes which not only give you the taste of the comfort food but will also stay in the boundary of paleo foods. When you think about comfort foods, you may think about chicken soup, roasts, casseroles, roasted root veggies, mashed potatoes and sausages. From a nutritional point of view, this may not be wrong for you because it means broth / collagen, fattier slow cooked meats preserving their precious proteins, starches and more (healthy sourced) fats. This is something that you can give your body when it is looking for comfort food.

Some of the common comfort food cravings

Let's find out some of the most common comfort food cravings that you may have-

·         Collagen rich foods. It may include slow cooked meats which is important for every cell.

·         Roast vegetables and starches in healthy fats. They will also provide you with fat-soluble vitamins which are important for the body.

·         Healthy fats with proteins. They are important for the structure of your body.

·         Healthy sourced fats which are important for the lipid bilayer of the membrane of each cell.

So whenever you feel the craving for comfort foods, it may be body signal for something which will help it in healing and regenerating itself and get back to 100%.

Some common Paleo comfort foods

some of the common Paleo comfort foods may include raw beet truffles, home-made chicken pot pie, sticky date pudding, biscuits, fried chicken, original Shepherd's pie, broccoli soup, Apple cinnamon or strawberry paleo tart, ice cream sandwich and hundreds of others.

Raw Beet Truffles: it has a delicious sweet taste and creamy texture. Because of hormonal changes, you may have chocolate cravings and it will satisfy such cravings.

Home-made chicken pot pie: this is warm and filling and it is a very good comfort food. It contains healthy fats and so not only satisfies your cravings but also provides you with important healthy elements.

Sticky date pudding: if you like pudding, you can make a sticky date pudding. It is not only very tasty and delicious, it will also provide you with dietary fibre and lots of polyphenols.

There are hundreds of different comfort foods that you can eat even when you are following a paleo diet.

References

1. Paleo Comfort Cookbook
2. Paleolithic Diet and Exercise Study
3. Beneficial effects of a Paleolithic diet on cardiovascular risk factors in type 2 diabetes: a randomized cross-over pilot study