When I'm upset I turn to cheese. Maybe it's the taste, maybe it's the texture, maybe it's the 20 percent daily recommendation of calcium found in each serving, or maybe it's the fact I can't let go of my childhood dream to one day reside in a house made of cheddar. Whatever the reason, cheese is my comfort food of choice. I'm even pretty sure if Armageddon ever happens, I will be found inside a cave, wrapped in mozzarella.

Even if cheese isn't what you deem your "comfort food," caressing it with your taste buds in a time of need and rocking, chances are there is a type of food in which you seek solace.

Common Comfort Foods
Whether you are trying to get over a harsh breakup or a playoff loss by your favorite football team, something from this list should feed your stomach, and your soul.

Beer: Okay, it's not technically "food," but if you have a particularly frosty ale, you might be able to eat it with a spoon. So, that counts. Beer makes the list of comfort foods because it facilitates this basic logic: the best kinds of problems are the ones you just can't remember.

Chicken Noodle Soup: Known as a cure-all for childhood ailments - a runny nose, strep throat, a lost toy - chicken noodle soup's healing powers have been carried into adulthood. With ingredients that seem to alleviate physical and mental symptoms, chicken noodle soup is capable of comforting everyone and everything, with the exception of chickens themselves (they tend to get genuinely uncomfortable with the smallest mention of the subject).

Chocolate: If comfort foods ever gathered together for a group assembly, patting each other on the back and saying, "there, there," chocolate would be the key note speaker. Containing phenylethylamine, chocolate has the power to physically enhance people's moods and leave them in a blissful, and comfortable, state.

French Fries: Something about French Fries is appealing in a time of need: there's something soothing about grabbing a handful, letting them melt in your mouth, and wiping your grease filled hands on the jacket of an unknowing friend. French Fries make the list for two reasons: grease and salt. If it's the grease that comforts you, French Fries are irreplaceable. But, if it's the salt, save yourself some cholesterol points and just buy a salt lick.

Grilled Cheese: Cheese, seeI told you! Need I say more?

Ice Cream: The image of three women sitting around a kitchen, passing a gallon of Rocky Road among them and crying over lost loves, is a stereotypical vision. However, this one has some truth. Perhaps it's the cool sensation of a spoonful sliding down your throat, or the way ice cream takes us back to being kids, free of stress, chasing the ice cream man as he drove down the neighborhood streets. Whatever the reason, even as adults you scream, I scream, we all still scream for ice cream.

Some of these foods cause comfort because of ingredients and components that physically alter a person's state, while other's cause comfort for an unknown reason: there's just something about them. For whatever reason, comfort foods are one way to gain a sense of serenity. Other ways, including reducing stress levels, exercising, and sleeping frequently on a comfortable mattress, all work together to help you achieve a label everyone wants branded on their life: comfort included.