"Ugh! How can you eat that?"
Usually that is said by someone eating wholewheat bread, which is GOOD for them. (And what about the greasy eggs, sausage and home fries on their plate?)
The truth is, I got used to eating toast with nothing on it back in my yo-yo diet days. And I actually got to like the taste. Same as I got to like skim milk. In fact, I like skim milk so much, I drink at least a half gallon, if not a gallon of the stuff every week. I was on vacation a few years back and ate cereal for breakfast. (No hot breakfast in that motel chain.) They only had whole milk. Yikes! It tasted like I'd poured melted ice cream on my corn flakes. (And even 2% milk tastes pretty decadent to me.)
You'd think with no butter on my toast and fat-free milk I'd be a Kate Moss look-alike. No such luck. (It's portion control that's the key, and sometimes--okay, OFTEN--I need someone to slap my hand when I reach for that second helping.
Of course, I have a conference coming up at the end of April and I'd like to lose some weight--but I refuse to diet, since that only means I'd gain it all back and then some. So portion control is the name of the game.
For toast, you can't do better than Wegmans Country White (it's especially good on BLTs), but it is a bit too much for regular sandwiches. (Those slices are FAT.) So I've switched from the Wegmans ( bread (100 calories per slice) to Monks white bread (80 calories per slice) for toast, and have gone back to eating pumpernickel bread (more fiber) for most sandwiches.
I remember having one of my characters eating toast as comfort food and a critique partner chiding me that comfort food HAD to be something decadent, like a hot fudge sundae. 
That made me feel odd, because there's nothing like bread for comfort when you're feeling down, be it toast or a nice, thick slab of Italian bread slathered with a thick layer of butter.
But I'm trying to cut down, remember. So...hand me another slice of that dry white toast. Mmm, Mmm, good.
What's your idea of comfort food?
Comfort food is something that you shouldn't have every day and yes, it has to be unhealthy. Like a big bowl of ice cream covered with fudge and pecans or a plate with baked macaroni and cheese and fried chicken and buttered biscuit.
ReplyDeleteAll of my comfort foods are fattening. Homemade mac & cheese with real cheddar, tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwiches, shepard's pie. Good job acquiring a taste for dry toast. It's not easy.
ReplyDeleteBelieve me, Mare, you eat enough dry white toast, and it has the calories of a big dish of ice cream or a piece of cake. And I do still put butter on my bagels (never acquired a taste for cream cheese).
ReplyDeleteArrgh. As far as I can figure, everything I eat is comfort food! :sigh: One food I never considered was macaroni and cheese. Which is weird, considering I love pasta and cheese. But in my formative years (grade school), mac & cheese was a mainstay. They'd plop it on your dish (while you were in a long line in the cafeteria), dump a ladle-full of cooked spinach next to the mac & cheese (so the two tended to mix together) and by the time you made it through the line, paid your money, and got to your seat ... the whole mess was stone cold. Brrrrrr. See why mac & cheese is NOT one of my comfort food choices?
ReplyDeleteI'm with you, Laurie. I can't stand Mac and cheese, either. And it took me years before I could eat rice. The cafeteria ladies used an ice scream scoop and put a big starch ball on your plate. It glued your tongue to the roof of your mouth. I eat Basmati rice now and love it.
ReplyDeleteSmall world. I also like dry white or egg bread toast as a comfort food. Almost any bread will do it for me. I also don't eat cream cheese with my bagels. I got out of the habit because of my dieting. Same thing with skim milk. We call it non-fat on the West Coast. Putting whole or 2% (low fat) milk in anything taste as if I used cream. But I confess that I still get a lot of comfort out of a banana split, too. LOL. Love your books. Judy in California aka Judith Klerman Smith
ReplyDeleteI love macaroni and cheese (amazingly enough, since I had a cousin who lived on it for years and it was present at every family gathering), but comfort food to me is good old fashioned meatloaf and mashed potatoes.
ReplyDeleteMy comfort food is a breakfast dish: Chocolate gravey!! YUM!! My mom and grandmother used to make if for us on Saturday mornings while we watched cartoons. I still make it for myself at least once a month.
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