Mentally Healthy Foods
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There’s some science behind it.
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/brain-babble/201501/smells-ring-bells-how-smell-triggers-memories-and-emotions
I suggest if you go for emotionally evocative foods that you decide ahead of time what your portion will be and fully immerse yourself in the feelings and the memory.
Otherwise you may eat mindlessly, one after the other, trying to repeat the experience.
It makes sense and good advice for those of us that enjoy mental time travel.
My next example is something I will never eat again:
Boiled spinach from the frozen box or the can. I liked Popeye as much as the next kid but spinach cooked that way would only bring back negative emotions. Is is good for me nutritionally? Sure. Does it represent an otherwise fairly obedient child taking bite after nasty gagging bite for 45 minutes after the meal was over? You betcha. I like raw spinach and I like barely wilted spinach but even if I have outgrown the aversion to boiled it will not ever be on my plate again
I feel that way about liver and mustard beans.
My favorite nostalgic food is rice pudding.3 -
My mother cooked a banana pudding a certain way which always delighted me. She died in 1987. Several times afterward I tried to recreate her banana pudding. Every time, something was not right. When I thought I was close, my sisters could tell it was not. My dad remarried and eventually he also died in 2005. Last Christmas my wife and I went to visit my step-mom at her home. While visiting, our conversation sparked her to remember that she had a cookbook that my dad had brought into the house when he married her. She found that cookbook in a cabinet and gave it to me. Inside it on a scrap of paper in my mother's writing was a list of ingredients for her banana pudding!
Mentally healthy? Absolutely.20 -
Buttered toast with cheese is my go to comfort food when I'm sick too, or just a slice of crusty french bread with butter and cheese, together with strong black very sweet tea - just like someone else mentioned, I never drink sweetened tea any other time or tea in general. Also when i was young my mom would make me drink camomile tea when I was sick and I didn't like it then, but now I find the flavor comforting when I'm feeling under the weather3
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My mother's grilled cheese and I did the same for my daughter....mentally healthy...YOU BET!
My recipe for baked mac&cheese at thanksgiving and now my daughter makes it at thanksgiving for her daughter and carry it on down....emotionally healthy....YOU BET!2 -
I have always considered food healthy in more than one way. There is nutritionally healthy, performance healthy, mentally healthy, emotionally healthy, socially healthy...etc. Some foods are healthy in more ways others in fewer, but nutritional healthiness is not my only consideration.
Every year on my birthday we have this ritual of my mom making me this amazing mousse cake, plus another random dessert of her choice, and we get together and eat it as a family. I don't care that I'm spending 800 calories on a slice of cake (plus more for the other dessert) that provides me with a fraction of the nutrition I could get for these calories. It's good for my mental health. I always look forward to my birthdays. I feel special and loved, my stress levels go down, my connection with my family strengthens, and I feel grateful for what life has given me. This all pour backs into my dieting: with my refueled emotional meter, I find I achieve my best dieting streaks after my birthday.
It's just a recipe she got from the internet a few years ago, not a special handwritten recipe passed through generations, but it has already created ritual and memories. I have the recipe saved because I know one day I may have to face the reality of her not being around anymore, and this is one of the rituals I will continue doing to remember her by.8 -
A tomato sandwich with white bread and a little Miracle Whip brings back great memories!
We ate so many mater sandwiches in so many interesting places. Mom and Dad liked to take us on weekend adventures, but to save money while feeding 5, we'd stop and make sandwiches - at state parks, playgrounds, pretty creeks, by a river, and once at a quiet, country cemetery. I wouldn't trade those memories for all the fine food in the world. And I still love my mater sandwiches.
A can of Campbell's chicken noodle or bean and bacon soup takes me back to school days when Mom would pack a thermos and a baggy of crackers for me. Add a Little Debbie oatmeal cream cookie and I'm 10 again.
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WandaVaughn wrote: »A tomato sandwich with white bread and a little Miracle Whip brings back great memories!
We ate so many mater sandwiches in so many interesting places. Mom and Dad liked to take us on weekend adventures, but to save money while feeding 5, we'd stop and make sandwiches - at state parks, playgrounds, pretty creeks, by a river, and once at a quiet, country cemetery. I wouldn't trade those memories for all the fine food in the world. And I still love my mater sandwiches.
A can of Campbell's chicken noodle or bean and bacon soup takes me back to school days when Mom would pack a thermos and a baggy of crackers for me. Add a Little Debbie oatmeal cream cookie and I'm 10 again.
We had tomato sandwiches a lot too sometimes with bacon added as well. Still love them4 -
WandaVaughn wrote: »A can of Campbell's chicken noodle or bean and bacon soup takes me back to school days when Mom would pack a thermos and a baggy of crackers for me. Add a Little Debbie oatmeal cream cookie and I'm 10 again.
Reminds me of school trips when I was guaranteed a Hostess fruit pie, bag of Dipsy Doodles, and a cheese or tuna sandwich. Those were the only times I'd get those for lunch. Then trade Now n Laters or other candy on the school bus.3 -
Boxed mac n cheese is the one I can think of right off the bat. I have no specific memories tied to it. Other then growing up on it as a kid, and it being one of the first things I learned to cook. Can I make home made mac n cheese with similar time spent, and will it probably taste better? Most likely. But, there is something to be said about that cheap cheese product flavor, and orange color. It's delicious, and comforting. lol. Bonus points for slicing up a cheap BAR-S hot dog and tossing it in there. MMM.
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Crafty_camper123 wrote: »Boxed mac n cheese is the one I can think of right off the bat. I have no specific memories tied to it. Other then growing up on it as a kid, and it being one of the first things I learned to cook. Can I make home made mac n cheese with similar time spent, and will it probably taste better? Most likely. But, there is something to be said about that cheap cheese product flavor, and orange color. It's delicious, and comforting. lol. Bonus points for slicing up a cheap BAR-S hot dog and tossing it in there. MMM.
Or a can of chili to make your own chili-mac. I think that's the second thing my daughters learned to cook for themselves - after Ramen noodles. lol3 -
My grandmother, and my other grandmother’s caretaker/housekeeper both made amazing chicken and dumplings. That’s probably my favourite childhood memory food, and it’s something I haven’t had in probably 20 years. My grandmother’s caretaker used to give me little pieces of the raw dumpling dough and it was so good. I’ve never tried making it because I don’t have either of their recipes, and I’m afraid a random recipe I find won’t be as good as theirs was. Just thinking about it makes me happy.
Things my mother made for me were homemade chicken noodle soup, smoothies (fruit & yoghurt), toast with mayonnaise, tomato, onions, salt, and pepper, and egg noodles with spinach and mozzarella. I still make chicken noodle soup, tomato and onion toast, and smoothies for myself regularly, but the chicken soup is never as good as my mother’s. I haven’t had the spinach noodles in a long time, but this thread is making me want to make some.3 -
WandaVaughn wrote: »Crafty_camper123 wrote: »Boxed mac n cheese is the one I can think of right off the bat. I have no specific memories tied to it. Other then growing up on it as a kid, and it being one of the first things I learned to cook. Can I make home made mac n cheese with similar time spent, and will it probably taste better? Most likely. But, there is something to be said about that cheap cheese product flavor, and orange color. It's delicious, and comforting. lol. Bonus points for slicing up a cheap BAR-S hot dog and tossing it in there. MMM.
Or a can of chili to make your own chili-mac. I think that's the second thing my daughters learned to cook for themselves - after Ramen noodles. lol
Chili mac is one of my IDGAF go to's when I don't wanna cook, but also don't wanna spent money on going out. It's also fairly balanced provided you don't pay attention to saturated fat and sodium.
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My mom made the most amazing bread pudding with raisins and always served it with warm, homemade cherry sauce. I would eat it now as a mentally healthy food but the recipe is long gone from her memory and it was never written down. She also made delicious, thin homemade pancakes that were just this side of crepes and she would add thinly sliced apples and cook them in butter in her well-seasoned skillet. We'd only need to add a sprinkle of sugar or a smear of jam before eating. That recipe is also gone, along with that pan.
These would be my mentally healthy foods but I won't be able to experience them anymore. Only in daydreams.5 -
Waffles, using my dad's recipe. On nights when my mom would work late my dad would cook, and when I had a bad day and he was cooking he would make me waffles for dinner.
Now I make them sometimes when I've had a bad day and my husband, who's very much a "breakfast food is for mornings ONLY" kind of guy, will be on his own for dinner.
I was wondering when/if waffles or pancakes would make an appearance. Breakfast food is only for breakfast? That has to be grounds for divorce!!New_Heavens_Earth wrote: »Movie theater popcorn reminds me of trips to the circus and whatever new blockbuster movie came out with my huge extended family as a kid. Even most of my date nights, single or now married, involved the movies. Great times. I still must have popcorn at every movie or event.
I think we must have eaten too much popcorn because I can't really isolate any specific memories other than the air popper phase which was thankfully short.Cosmic brownies make me feel like a child again. Asking my grandma if I could pick something out of the "snack drawer" in her old country house. Heck, she still has a snack drawer in her new house. She asked me to let her dog out after work and to eat something if I needed.
Opened the snack drawer..
and there was a Cosmic brownie waiting for adult me
I had to google cosmic brownie to figure out what it is. A snack drawer sounds like something a cool grandma would have.
I am really enjoying these stories.
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@nutmegoreo Sorry about the liver and beans. I have never had rice pudding. I suppose I need to try that someday.JeromeBarry1 wrote: »My mother cooked a banana pudding a certain way which always delighted me. She died in 1987. Several times afterward I tried to recreate her banana pudding. Every time, something was not right. When I thought I was close, my sisters could tell it was not. My dad remarried and eventually he also died in 2005. Last Christmas my wife and I went to visit my step-mom at her home. While visiting, our conversation sparked her to remember that she had a cookbook that my dad had brought into the house when he married her. She found that cookbook in a cabinet and gave it to me. Inside it on a scrap of paper in my mother's writing was a list of ingredients for her banana pudding!
Mentally healthy? Absolutely.
Wow. That is amazing how you have fought for years to get back to that dish and then the recipe being found is remarkable.2 -
We have a carrot cake recipe with a similar story. My grandma used to make it, and then died. My mom tried re-creating it to no avail. It resurfaced a few years later and disappeared before she was able to make a copy. It wasn't until many years later when my grandpa died, we found it again going through his things. We call it "lost carrot cake", lol.6
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JeromeBarry1 wrote: »My mother cooked a banana pudding a certain way which always delighted me. She died in 1987. Several times afterward I tried to recreate her banana pudding. Every time, something was not right. When I thought I was close, my sisters could tell it was not. My dad remarried and eventually he also died in 2005. Last Christmas my wife and I went to visit my step-mom at her home. While visiting, our conversation sparked her to remember that she had a cookbook that my dad had brought into the house when he married her. She found that cookbook in a cabinet and gave it to me. Inside it on a scrap of paper in my mother's writing was a list of ingredients for her banana pudding!
Mentally healthy? Absolutely.
Have you made that recipe since you got it? I am so glad that your step mom gave it to you.3 -
WandaVaughn wrote: »A tomato sandwich with white bread and a little Miracle Whip brings back great memories!
We ate so many mater sandwiches in so many interesting places. Mom and Dad liked to take us on weekend adventures, but to save money while feeding 5, we'd stop and make sandwiches - at state parks, playgrounds, pretty creeks, by a river, and once at a quiet, country cemetery. I wouldn't trade those memories for all the fine food in the world. And I still love my mater sandwiches.
A can of Campbell's chicken noodle or bean and bacon soup takes me back to school days when Mom would pack a thermos and a baggy of crackers for me. Add a Little Debbie oatmeal cream cookie and I'm 10 again.
Oh that does bring back memories for me too. Toasted tomato sandwiches with Miracle Whip!2 -
My mom made the most amazing bread pudding with raisins and always served it with warm, homemade cherry sauce. I would eat it now as a mentally healthy food but the recipe is long gone from her memory and it was never written down. She also made delicious, thin homemade pancakes that were just this side of crepes and she would add thinly sliced apples and cook them in butter in her well-seasoned skillet. We'd only need to add a sprinkle of sugar or a smear of jam before eating. That recipe is also gone, along with that pan.
These would be my mentally healthy foods but I won't be able to experience them anymore. Only in daydreams.
It's so sad when recipes from the past are lost.3 -
Thick slice of white farmhouse loaf - toasted. Lots of real butter and a good spread of marmite - Heaven.1
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My mom made the most amazing bread pudding with raisins and always served it with warm, homemade cherry sauce. I would eat it now as a mentally healthy food but the recipe is long gone from her memory and it was never written down. She also made delicious, thin homemade pancakes that were just this side of crepes and she would add thinly sliced apples and cook them in butter in her well-seasoned skillet. We'd only need to add a sprinkle of sugar or a smear of jam before eating. That recipe is also gone, along with that pan.
These would be my mentally healthy foods but I won't be able to experience them anymore. Only in daydreams.
It's so sad when recipes from the past are lost.
Read old newspapers.
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My mother made a wonderful strawberry pie with a sweetened cream cheese base, whole berries on top, covered with a strawberry and white wine sauce. She made it for my birthdays instead of cake, and when I got older I made it for her birthdays (although my pie crusts were ugly.)
I no longer eat cream cheese and my mom is gone, but one day when I find a really good vegan cream cheese I'm going to recreate that pie.3 -
WandaVaughn wrote: »A tomato sandwich with white bread and a little Miracle Whip brings back great memories!
We ate so many mater sandwiches in so many interesting places. Mom and Dad liked to take us on weekend adventures, but to save money while feeding 5, we'd stop and make sandwiches - at state parks, playgrounds, pretty creeks, by a river, and once at a quiet, country cemetery. I wouldn't trade those memories for all the fine food in the world. And I still love my mater sandwiches.
A can of Campbell's chicken noodle or bean and bacon soup takes me back to school days when Mom would pack a thermos and a baggy of crackers for me. Add a Little Debbie oatmeal cream cookie and I'm 10 again.
So glad you posted this. Took me back to vacations with my mom and dad. We always had a big breakfast and a hamburger for supper, but lunch was a sandwich, water where we could find it, and a package of cookies, as you said, in a park, playground, or just a pretty spot,
Had lots of mayonnaise and mustard sandwiches at the creek at grandma's house.4 -
JeromeBarry1 wrote: »My mother cooked a banana pudding a certain way which always delighted me. She died in 1987. Several times afterward I tried to recreate her banana pudding. Every time, something was not right. When I thought I was close, my sisters could tell it was not. My dad remarried and eventually he also died in 2005. Last Christmas my wife and I went to visit my step-mom at her home. While visiting, our conversation sparked her to remember that she had a cookbook that my dad had brought into the house when he married her. She found that cookbook in a cabinet and gave it to me. Inside it on a scrap of paper in my mother's writing was a list of ingredients for her banana pudding!
Mentally healthy? Absolutely.
What a wonderful story!
We had to move our parents out of our beautiful family home in a retirement/nursing facility and no knew what happened to the 'cookie jar' that housed mom's recipes. Somehow it ended up in a corner of the 'cold room' pantry in our basement. We decided to rent the place out for now and as I took one last look through the house before we handed over the keys, I discovered it! The best day ever!! Just the recipe cards and her little side notes are priceless to me.
Love this thread
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My mentally healthy food is a Happy Meal, I am such a dork that I get excited over the prize. No matter how crappy the prize is, I just feel better all day.6
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bean and bacon
i still can't make one taste like campbells. i think that is my biggest mentally healthy food3 -
Fennel seed tea with a dollop of honey.
If I close my eyes and inhale, I can picture myself in my grandmother's kitchen again, watching her cook. My grandparents were on the poor side of life, but since grandfather had bees, honey was always available in abundance. Same with fennel seeds, which they had from their garden. Grandmother considered it the cure-all miracle cure for pretty much any illness: from indigestion to a broken heart.
I still love that tea and make it regularly for myself, especially when I'm generally feeling unwell. It puts a smile on my face without fail.5 -
I am shamefully bumping this thread from about this time last year. I enjoyed this discussion and I would like to see if anyone would like to add.5
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So glad this was bumped! I missed it last year. Loved reading these stories. One of my comfort foods would probably be waffles and ice cream just cause a girlfriend's mom made them for me once as a kid when I was visiting and I'd never had something so decadent for dinner. The second one is kind of embarassing because it's so weird to miss food from a school lunchroom. We had a meal I loved that was ground beef in gravy over rice. Weird right? But it's nostalgic. No idea what they put in it. Probably better not to know, lol.4
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