<\/p>\n
I love chocolate chip cookies. The smell of freshly baked ones makes me smile, and eating one or two warm from the oven? Heaven. It\u2019s amazing — mix flour, sugar, eggs, baking soda, salt, and chocolate chips in a bowl; add love and attention, and voila! You have a guaranteed day brightener. Sure, there are people who don\u2019t like chocolate chip cookies, but I don\u2019t know many. I do have a couple of unlucky friends who can\u2019t eat them because of allergies, but, I know that they\u2019d fall in love with these little gems, if they could only try them.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
When I was little, I didn\u2019t worry about eating too many cookies. Having any in the house was a treat because Mom only baked them occasionally. As I got older though, I started to feel guilty when I ate any sort of baked treat, especially cookies. I convinced myself that they were bad for me because they had \u201ctoo many carbs\u201d and \u201cno nutritional value\u201d. I deliberately erased them from my personal menu, thinking I would be happier as cookie-free. I wasn\u2019t. Instead, avoiding chocolate chip cookies made me sad and a little anxious; I worried I would \u201ccave in\u201d or \u201cslip up\u201d and eat one. It was horrible.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
I can be an emotional eater, and I know that I\u2019m not alone. For many, food and feelings are tightly woven together, and growing up in my house, food equaled love. If you were sick, you ate homemade chicken soup. When I was sad or stressed, my mom would bake me cookies. Cooking for someone is a big deal; it is a nurturing and demonstrative act of caring. Eating what someone makes for you is even more important though, because it both acknowledges and honors those feelings.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
One day I realized that eating chocolate chip cookies didn\u2019t have to be an all or nothing issue, and I ended the madness by putting homemade cookies back on the menu. It no longer made sense to banish them completely, especially when someone was kind enough to bake some for me. Foods can have an emotional value as well as a nutritional value, and that\u2019s not necessarily a bad thing if you recognize it. For me, choosing a well rounded diet includes the traditional \u201chealthy\u201d stuff along with comfort foods; and often they simultaneously fulfill both categories. I can\u2019t say that I\u2019m perfect at it all the time, but it works for me.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Since re-adding chocolate chip cookies to my diet, I\u2019m pleased to report that my waistline isn\u2019t much different, but my attitude sure is. Sure, there are \u201cexperts\u201d who preach that they know what we all need to do, say, or eat to be happy, but ultimately I am the only person who really knows what I need. The same goes for you. If you want to eat a chocolate chip cookie because your day stinks, or because it rocked, or just because \u2026 eat the cookie without guilt, and enjoy the gooey goodness it provides.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Message of the Day: While I\u2019d like to think that I always know how best to nourish myself, I\u2019ll admit that I\u2019m often not confident in my choices. Even so, I do know what makes me happy and what doesn\u2019t, and that has to be a pretty good place to start.<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n P.S. \u00a0The cookies in this picture were made for me by Aunt Hillary\u2026 a MASTER cookie baker. These are some serious nummage, folks.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I love chocolate chip cookies. The smell of freshly baked ones makes me smile, and eating one or two warm from the oven? Heaven. It\u2019s amazing — mix flour, sugar, eggs, baking soda, salt, and chocolate chips in a bowl; add love and attention, and voila! You have a guaranteed day brightener. Sure, there […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":161,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[6,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-162","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-family","category-food"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6ZedX-2C","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":262,"url":"https:\/\/www.peanutmark.com\/?p=262","url_meta":{"origin":162,"position":0},"title":"Exercises in Conversation","author":"Melissa","date":"November 29, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0 My local Target store has self-service kiosks. They look helpful, but if you have used one you already know that they don\u2019t work at least 50% of the time. You inevitably end up standing at a lane with a blinking \u201chelp me\u201d light, and it takes FOR-EV-ER for someone\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Random Subjects"","block_context":{"text":"Random Subjects","link":"https:\/\/www.peanutmark.com\/?cat=1"},"img":{"alt_text":"target-self-checkout-screen-scanner-506x675","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.peanutmark.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/target-self-checkout-screen-scanner-506x675-225x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":538,"url":"https:\/\/www.peanutmark.com\/?p=538","url_meta":{"origin":162,"position":1},"title":"I’m Fifty Years Old!","author":"Melissa","date":"May 24, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Well, I\u2019m about to turn 50 this weekend. It\u2019s a big birthday. One where folk often find themselves wondering who they really are, and where they are going in life. It\u2019s a half-point, if you\u2019re lucky; a place to stop, look back over where you\u2019ve been and then turn around\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Random Subjects"","block_context":{"text":"Random Subjects","link":"https:\/\/www.peanutmark.com\/?cat=1"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.peanutmark.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/UNADJUSTEDNONRAW_thumb_156.jpg?fit=1024%2C1024&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.peanutmark.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/UNADJUSTEDNONRAW_thumb_156.jpg?fit=1024%2C1024&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.peanutmark.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/UNADJUSTEDNONRAW_thumb_156.jpg?fit=1024%2C1024&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.peanutmark.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/UNADJUSTEDNONRAW_thumb_156.jpg?fit=1024%2C1024&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":408,"url":"https:\/\/www.peanutmark.com\/?p=408","url_meta":{"origin":162,"position":2},"title":"Stella The Pumpkin","author":"Melissa","date":"October 31, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0 I belong to Twin Cities Writing Studio (TCWS), and have been a member since its inception. The women who I see weekly at class are smart, clever, creative, brilliant, and always present. I love my ThursdayGirls. 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Well, it feels like that, anyway. You know what I\u2019m talking about. You\u2019ve got a to-do list humming along, and then everything falls apart because life hurls a bunch of unexpected events into your day. Sometimes I\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Random Subjects"","block_context":{"text":"Random Subjects","link":"https:\/\/www.peanutmark.com\/?cat=1"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.peanutmark.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/IMG_9219.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.peanutmark.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/IMG_9219.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.peanutmark.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/IMG_9219.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.peanutmark.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/IMG_9219.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.peanutmark.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/IMG_9219.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":273,"url":"https:\/\/www.peanutmark.com\/?p=273","url_meta":{"origin":162,"position":4},"title":"The Purse Mousies","author":"Melissa","date":"December 10, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0 I am an only child, and as the only, I learned early how to entertain myself when there was no one to play with. 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