After spending a stressful day many of us rush to the pantry, refrigerator, or fast food for a tasty meal that seems to ease ourselves and soothe us somehow.
The foods that control our mood or make our mood are called ‘comfort foods’.
What is Comfort Food
The term “comfort food” appeared in 1966 after it was used in an article in the Palm Beach Post newspaper.
Comfort food is usually associated with high values of carbohydrates, and sugar as per your craving preferences that trigger the brain’s mood pleasure centers and reward our brain with boosting mood.
According to an expert, Kate Ingram while talking to Yahoo Life: “Research is mixed, but it looks like comfort foods — particularly highly processed foods — may improve mood for an hour or two after consumption. This may be due to the release of dopamine and other feel-good hormones in our brain.”
Food Memories
Another expert, Dr. Uma Naidoo, director of nutritional and lifestyle psychiatry at Mass General Hospital attributed rushing to the comfort food with memories.
Like the first rain of the season, you remember your friends eating fried items in the university cafeteria or when your mother makes delicious sweet delicacies specific to winter weather.
“Memories play a huge part in recollections of food and food associations and books have been written about this,” Dr. Naidoo says, “Unlike other species, humans can make choices and decisions around the foods they eat, and by doing so, this naturally taps into our psychological makeup.”
Comfort Food - Easy on Mind - Heavy on Body
Aside from the psychological effects that may feel positive, the long-term health effects are seldom positive unless your comfort food is broccoli.
Foods high in simple carbohydrates like pasta, doughnuts, pastries, bread, and candy increase insulin levels and allow more tryptophan — the natural amino acid building block for serotonin.
Serotonin or 5-hydroxytryptamine acts as a hormone as well as a neurotransmitter. Its biological functions include mood, cognition, reward, learning, memory, and numerous physiological processes.
Experts warned, that due to the fact comfort foods are often high-fat, high-sugar, low-nutrient foods, we have to think about the long-term consequences of this type of comfort.
