Skip to main content

Posts

Showing posts from July, 2011

Why We Love Comfort Food

As a child, do you remember the foods your mother served you when you were sick? Or on holidays or your birthday? You came to associate warm and comforting feelings to these foods because they made you feel good. Maybe it was ice cream, macaroni and cheese, homemade chicken or pea soup, an apple pie or a hearty stew. You attached memories and emotional feelings to these foods because they made you feel better. They still do. So…why why do we stay attached to these foods? Basically it’s because these foods bring us back in our minds to simpler times, times when we were loved and cared for, times when responsibilities were non-existent and living was relatively easy. What’s going on in your life today? Given the times, you are probably under a great deal of stress – emotional, physical and financial – the kind of stress that brings you back to comfort foods because you want to feel better. So what’s the problem with that? Well…most comfort foods contain rich amounts of fats, sugars, and

Older People Make the Most of Life

As seen in USA Today By Brandon Smith and Victoria Rodriguez "Think you are happy now? Just wait. The best emotional times come later in life, according to the Gallup-Healthways well-being index. The oldest group outscored the other three age groups in emotions, which was one of six categories measured in a sweeping study on well-being. Out of a possible score of 100, the 65-and-older age group scored 83. Those 45-64 had the lowest score, 76. Credit experience, says Kay McCurdy, 72, of Springfield, VA. "You shift your idea of what a good life is into what you can have as a good life," McCurdy says. "You get realistic." Elisabeth Burnett, 73, a neighbor of McCurdy's at the Greenspring retirement home in the Washington metro area, says having a strong emotional life takes a hefty dose of true grit. Burnett has a daughter going through divorce and has had to bury another grown child, yet she says she looks ahead with hope and joy. "Today is the gift,"