For many reasons, comfort food is the perfect get-well gift. Often, people think that sending a casserole or chicken soup over to a friend who’s not feeling well is just nostalgic. Or maybe they figure it’s a nice gesture. But the truth is that comfort food is packed with benefits that range from helping the body heal to helping you and your loved one connect. So, if you’re considering sending over a big dish of baked macaroni and cheese, don’t think twice. Here’s why:
It’s Genuinely Healing
Comfort food is typically a meal you had as a child that helped you feel better. It doesn’t necessarily have to be when you were sick. Maybe you came in from a freezing day. It might be that you had a rough time at school. Or you could have suffered from a bad breakup. In any event, a parent or caregiver would whip up a batch of something warm, rich, and delicious, and it would make the hurt just a little bit easier to bear.
What you might not realize is that comfort food serves this purpose at a physical and legitimate level. It’s not just some kind of mystical food magic. Most of the dishes people identify as comfort food have genuine healing properties. Garlic, onions, herbs, and spices all contribute to your body’s wellness and help your immune system fight off illness. Protein and vegetables, especially starchy foods, are fortifying, making you feel stronger and more energetic. You felt better after eating these foods because they actually help make you better.
It Offers a Sense of Control
Beyond the physical, comfort food helps people heal at a mental level as well. Yes. Healing is a psychological process as much as it is physiological. Eating foods you know are aimed at making you feel better actually do make you feel better. This is because it gives you a sense of control over your destiny. You’ve decided that chicken soup makes you feel better, so chicken soup makes you feel better. There’s nothing wrong with the placebo effect if it actually works.
In this situation, it helps to make sure your get well care package includes a comfort food that the person already considers healing. It could be macaroni and cheese, or it might be a spicy enchilada platter. In most cases, these foods are indeed packed with healing nutrients. But it can’t hurt to add extra onions, garlic, herbs, and spices to back up the placebo. Then, make sure you deliver the dish with a note that reminds your loved one how strong they are. This will help reinforce the sense that they’re doing something good for their body.
It Triggers Mood-Boosting Chemicals
Speaking of the psychological effects. Eating comfort food to recover from an illness or get through a tough time does have mental properties beyond the placebo effect. When you eat meals that trigger your happiest childhood memories, you also trigger your mood-boosting chemicals. Dopamine tells your brain you’re getting a reward. Endorphins make you happy. And serotonin helps you regulate an unbalanced mood.
Feeling mentally better does indeed help you feel physically better. This is thanks to the mind-body connection. The better you feel mentally, the more likely you are to take the steps you need to take to improve your physical condition as well, and vice versa. Comfort food steps in and aids the healing process from both angles. There really is such a thing as chicken soup for the soul.
It Strengthens Bonds
Part of feeling better, physically and mentally, especially from comfort food, is the act of comforting. It’s not just called comfort food because the food works on your body and brain. It’s also soothing because of the person who makes it and/or sends it. Remember, it typically begins as a memory from childhood. This means mom, grandma, dad, or a favorite auntie usually made the food and sat to eat it with you.
You’ve heard the expression “it takes a village.” Comfort food comes from the village. It strengthens bonds between the person making or providing the food and the one receiving and eating it. You can make this connection even stronger if you can show up and make the food or eat it at home with your healing loved one. Just sitting on the couch with a bowl of mac and cheese while watching soap operas together is a fortifying, bonding act.
It Lasts
Finally, but no less importantly, one of the best reasons comfort food makes the best get-well gift is that it lasts. Usually, if you make a big pot of chicken soup, a chicken pot pie, or even a batch of chocolate cookies, you can count on those dishes and snacks to last at least a couple of days. This is a big deal for someone who’s not feeling well because they’re unlikely to want to cook for themselves.
So when you’re preparing or planning a comfort meal for a loved one who’s under the weather, make sure it’s a large portion. A casserole dish can usually feed a whole family at least twice. And if it’s a treasured meal for a single person, it might get them all the way through their cold, flu, or bad breakup. They may be dipping back into the cookie jar for days on end. And remember, if you love to cook, you can always just keep those comfort meals coming.
In the end, comfort food is celebrated across cultures and generations because it truly does make people feel better. And the best news is that there’s no specific single meal that works this medical and mental magic. For your loved one, it might be a grilled cheese sandwich. For someone else, it could be meatloaf. The key is to know your friend or family member well enough to serve the right meal at the right time. And let the healing begin.
