For many of us, comfort food provides solace during stressful times. But why does it appeal to us so much?
Many people turn to comfort food in times of depression, anxiety, or just when they need a little pick-me-up. Comfort food is often associated with carefree recollections, which evoke coziness and comfort. However, why do we consistently feel drawn to particular kinds of foods? And do they really make us feel better?
Numerous psychologists claim that certain foods are both consciously and unconsciously linked to happy and enjoyable memories. People go to them as adults when they feel emotionally threatened; they are foods that were provided to us when we were cared for as children, for example. Comfort food is usually simple to make, traditionally associated with a past event, and high in carbohydrates or sugars, which means itās high in calories.
Certain foods ārewardā peopleās brains. According to a 2020 study published in the Physiology & Behavior journal, the brain contains āhedonic hotspotsā, or certain subregions that intensify the enjoyment of certain foods, such as salt, fats, and carbohydrates. Dopamine ā a neurotransmitter and hormone that plays a role in many important body functions, including movement, memory, and pleasurable reward and motivation ā may jump as a result, heightening the desire to seek out and consume delectable food rewards. Peopleās brains may, therefore, be predisposed to seek out and consume particular food.
5 Reasons Why We Crave Comfort Food
In earlier paragraphs, we scattered around possible reasons for craving comfort foods. Letās shape them now.
Here are five factors that can contribute to comfort eating, experts concur:
# 1 Feel Good
Eating food high in fat, sugar or salt activates the brainās reward system. For example, chocolate has a strong effect on mood, generally increasing pleasant feelings and reducing tension.
Highly palatable, or hyper-palatable, as called by some (weāll explain this term later on), foods activate the same brain regions of reward and pleasure that are active in drug addiction. Studies of obese individuals show that brain areas associated with drug reward are activated by anticipation and receipt of highly palatable foods.
# 2 Self-Medication
There seems to be a consistent connection between negative emotions and unhealthy foods, a phenomenon called āemotional eatingā. In a bad mood, people are drawn to unhealthy foods (sugary and fatty) as a coping mechanism. In contrast, people in a positive mood tend to choose healthy foods.
However, one study from the Food Research International journal in 2015 found that although comfort food provides some relief from negative moods, so do other foods or even receiving no food at all. Furthermore, comfort food can put you in a bad mood. In fact, the link between consumption of comfort food and increased negative moods (perhaps due to guilt or the crash after a high-carb meal) lasted for two days.
# 3 The Need to Belong
We tend to associate certain foods with our family members, social and family gatherings, holiday meals, and people taking care of us. When we feel lonely, we crave these foods to give us comfort and security. That is, comfort foodās power may lie primarily in the associations it calls to mind, memories of secure attachment.
For example, for a university student away from home for the first time, comfort foods may serve as a reminder of family or friends in times of stress or isolation. Evidence showed that people with positive family relationships were more likely than others to reach for comforting foods on the days that they felt lonely.
# 4 Nostalgic Eating
Thereās a strong link between scents and emotional memory. The smell of certain foods can evoke vivid and detailed emotional memories of our past. Our learning history predisposes us to enjoy specific foods.
For example, the scent of corn grilled on the cob may remind you of one of your childhood summers at the local amusement park. Because odor-evoked memories tend to be positive, the smell improves mood and produces feelings of social connection.
# 5 Special Occasions
We tend to go for special, often unhealthy, foods on celebratory occasions, like birthdays or Christmas. The excuse reflects an underlying dilemma. From a momentary perspective, indulgence is the best choice, but from a long-term perspective, healthy eating is the best choice.
The ideal solution is to somehow do both. This is impossible, except in one situation. If the situation can be framed as the ālast time,ā then the dilemma disappears since the person can say to himself/herself that a new and better life will begin tomorrow.
Why Is Comfort Food Often Considered to Be Unhealthy?
But why is comfort food often considered to be unhealthy? And why is it that when youāre trying to feel better, you rarely find yourself craving a salad or a stalk of celery?
As we previously pointed out, dopamine is a crucial brain chemical that greatly influences mood as well as motivation and reward-seeking tendencies. And, food isnāt the only thing that speeds up the release of this hormone. Anything that gives you pleasure will trigger the release of dopamine. This can range from a fun activity you enjoy, like dancing or cooking, to sex, shopping, spending time on https://bookmaker-expert.com/bookmakers/european-bookmakers/ to find the best site for one of peopleās (menās, to be more precise) most popular pastimes, and even certain drugs.
Some meals, sometimes known as āhyper-palatableā foods, can trigger strong pleasurable emotions. The brain thus motivates us to chase these objects again and again. Hyper-palatable meals are sweet, salty, or rich in flavor and are often simple to digest. Beyond dopamine, such meals have been shown to increase the release of insulin, cortisol (the stress hormone), and leptin (the hunger hormone). Cravings for specific foods or flavors might result from an increase in these hormones.
Leafy greens, for example, are abundant in vitamins, minerals, and fiber but low in sugar and salt. Because they donāt include any of these ingredients, peopleās brains arenāt often wired to seek healthy meals like they are wired to crave pizza or doughnuts.
How to Make Comfort Food Healthier?
Itās clear nowāour brains and bodies are seeking out the good feelings that comfort food provides. But there are ways to retrain the mind and eating patterns.
Given that almost all comfort foods are primarily composed of fats and carbohydrates, there usually isnāt a proportional amount of protein, vitamins, minerals, or phytochemicals (plant-based nutrients) in these types of foods. Itās just the way they are made.
When consuming food, we want to ingest meals, which are balanced servings of protein, carbs, fat, vitamins, minerals, and phytochemicals washed down with a tall glass of tepid water. To avoid imbalance and circumvent human nature, begin your meals by consuming vitamins, minerals, phytochemicals, and protein.
So, how do you do this in an easy, nutritious, and affordable way?
You build in convenience to offset the urgency of cravings when they come. Early in your dayābefore any cravings set ināprepare a salad to consume later. Include the protein in the salad, so you get everything that the comfort food doesnāt provide. Eating a small salad quickly before diving into your true comfort cravings. It will take you all of five minutes to consume this and bring some balance to your meals.
The salad wonāt only deliver vitamins, minerals, phytochemicals, and protein, but also water. The water and the fiber in the salad will be somewhat filling, limiting the volume of comfort food a person might eat. Keep prepped salads on hand in the refrigerator for when the cravings hit. And keep in mind, salads are generally available when ordering takeout.
Other Healthy Alternatives That Can Also Be Comforting
Although we may not be able to do anything about whatās causing the stress in our lives brought on by many factors, we can control the impact of stress on our diets.
Focus on complex carbohydrates that are minimally processed and high-fiber carbohydrates that take longer to digest and prevent blood sugar fluctuations. Better carbohydrate choices include root vegetables such as:
- sweet potatoes
- turnipsĀ
- legumes (lentils and chickpeas)
Adding that, it helps to prepare your favorite foods at home with ingredients from scratch. That way, you are guaranteed to have less sugar, salt, and fat, as well as preservatives.
If our comfort food is pasta, you can choose a whole-grain noodle. If youāre making a stew, you can use fresh vegetables instead of frozen or canned versions. Consider laying the stew on a bed of wild or brown rice instead of white.
Barley or quinoa can also add an interesting flavor and texture to any dish. And for a creamy base, try using evaporated skim milk to get a thicker consistency without the added fat.
Eat sherbet or sorbet instead of ice cream; it gives the taste buds the same smooth sensation. Switch out the sugary desserts for the sweetness of fresh fruit and berries. Enjoy the pleasure of dark chocolate, which provides a healthy dose of antioxidants, instead of milk chocolate. The antioxidants in dark chocolate are shown to reduce inflammation and heart health.
Can Comfort Food Really Help?
Studies suggest that comfort meals arenāt always successful in reaching this aim: to feel satisfied or reduce stress.
According to the OnePoll research conducted four years ago, two-thirds of American adults ate foods they liked as kids, whether intentionally or accidentally, to help them deal with the pandemicās effects and the following lockdowns. However, fewer than half (41%) surveyed claimed to turn to comfort food to ābring happiness.ā
Furthermore, in a 2022 survey conducted on 2,000 individuals in the United Kingdom on behalf of the grocery store Aldi, one in four respondents acknowledged consuming comfort food at least five times a week, even though more than half (56%) said that doing so made them feel worse. According to the same survey, 57% of participants admitted to feeling guilty after consuming their favorite comfort foods.
These studies seem to indicate that comfort food works well for short-term dopamine surges. Still, over time, they frequently elicit regret and guilt, maybe because the consumers are aware of the poor nutritional value of these meals.
However, some studies have shown that comfort food might help us feel calmer and more at ease, although not more so than other foods. Although comfort food can instantly improve oneās mood, a 2014 study reported in the Health Psychology journal discovered that any food can have the same effect whether or not a person has been craving it. According to the study, people could be attributing mood benefits to comfort food that theyād experience with other foods as well.