By Adrienne Dawkins-Smith, Certified Nutritionist, Nervous System Regulation Coach and Founder of Flexzone Life
What if comfort food could grow with us?
Fall changes the way we eat. As the air cools and the produce aisle shifts, many of us instinctively reach for heavier, richer food, the kind that warms you from the inside.
Comfort food deserves honesty, not judgment. It's not just food, it's memory. It's your mother's kitchen, your grandmother's hands, the particular way your family makes the mac and cheese, or the stuffing, or the lasagna with just a little too much cheese, on purpose. For a lot of us, comfort food is inseparable from culture, from heritage, from love. That's not something to dismiss or take from you.
But a lot of what we grew up eating wasn't nourishing us, even as it comforted us. I don't say that to shame anyone, including myself. Because here's the truth: our parents did the best they could with what they had. They didn't have the research we have now. They couldn't check an ingredient list against a label's claims, or see through marketing that called something 'healthy' while hiding what was really inside. They cooked with love, and with what they knew, shaped by a different time and far fewer tools.
We don't have that excuse. We have the research. We have knowledge no generation before us had access to. And with that comes a responsibility: to do better, not because what came before was wrong, but because we simply know more now.
Here's where I'd start, and where I'd tell you not to: the Thanksgiving table is not the place to test something new. Your family has eaten the same way for years, and the biggest day of the season isn't the moment for a meatless lasagna or a lighter mac and cheese.
Do it now, weeks out, while nothing's riding on it. Try a new dish on an ordinary Tuesday, and keep it small. This isn't about pulling the cheese out of the mac and cheese everyone loves. That's not new, that's a loss, and people feel the difference. Real change is something new sitting quietly alongside what you already have, given room to earn its own place.
In my house, that's a Mediterranean protein bowl: cucumber, tomato, red onion, chickpeas, avocado, extra virgin olive oil, cilantro, garlic, salt, pepper, and a little vinegar. My youngest loves it so much she named it herself: kryptonite. I didn't grow up eating anything like it. Now it belongs to her, so completely that when she started junior high this year, it's what she chose to bring on her first day.
One day, that bowl will be her comfort food. She'll remember making it, remember calling it her kryptonite, and maybe pass it on to someone else. That's the real opportunity in front of us. We can honor where we came from and still choose something new. That's how we nourish ourselves, and the people we love, intelligently.
Adrienne Dawkins-Smith is the Founder of Flexzone Life and Editor in Chief of Flexzone Life Magazine. Formerly a New York City talk show correspondent, she is now a certified nutritionist and nervous system regulation coach and wellness coach with additional certifications in breathwork, stretch and flexibility, and sound therapy. Her work bridges nervous system science, intentional living, and performance-driven health for high-achieving individuals seeking sustainable transformation.