Eat Yourself Happy Without the Guilt
Why comfort foods work and how to avoid the risks
Comfort foods are considered a health no-no for good reasons: they tend to be high calorie, high carb and unhealthy; and comfort eating feels (and often is) undisciplined and therefore ‘wrong’. But we all need comfort from time to time, both psychologically and physically, and food can be an effective way to get it. Do we really need to throw the comfort-baby out with the unhealthy bathwater?
We don’t. We can have the benefits and mitigate the risks but forewarned is forearmed. So let’s start by taking a look at why comfort foods are so comforting and what the risks are.
Psychological Comfort
Food can change our moods in a number of ways, some of which have even been shown through brain imaging and biochemistry studies.
Feel-good food triggers the brain’s reward and pleasure centers
Studies¹ show that foods rich in fats and sugar alter the mood via the brain’s ‘reward’ center. This is the neurochemical mechanism in the brain that makes us feel good. Addiction is mediated through the same pathways, which is why what starts as a little pick-me-up often ends in a food fest — we just can’t get enough.
On top of that, these foods interrupt the signals in the brain that control appetite and the feeling of satiety. Interestingly, it increases the feeling of both hunger and satiety, creating an endless cycle: the more we eat, the more satisfied we feel, the more hungry we feel and so on.
These mechanisms are thought to be the cause of the massive increase in obesity worldwide. And this isn’t the only way our food comforts us. There are also other important emotional mechanisms²:
- Pseudo-social eating evokes the feelings of social interactions
This is particularly important in the context of loneliness, which is more relevant than ever as the Covid pandemic continues to require varying degrees of social distance. When we eat foods that we associate with being social, like tapas or pub meals perhaps, it triggers not just the memory of past events but the emotional experience of it, which reduces the feeling of loneliness. - Nostalgic food brings back memories of childhood or loved ones
Have you ever had a smell transport you instantly into a poignant memory? Whether it’s your grandmother’s baking or her perfume, and whether we’re brought to tears or to joy, our olfactory memories are powerful drivers of our emotions. Nostalgic food combines that power with the reward mechanisms of eating and the deeply emotive experience of taking a multi-sensory walk down memory lane. It can allow you to fully relive a favourite past experience rather than just remember it. - Indulgence foods feel like a special, or naughty, treat
We all know the feeling of wanting what we can’t have. Whether it’s too expensive, too unhealthy or not allowed in some way, it’s often that much more delicious when we indulge. The psychological boost we get from our special occasion or “cheat” foods is a double trigger to our mental rewards mechanisms. Often even the anticipation of the treat improves our moods over a more prolonged period than just while eating.
Physical Comfort
All bodily processes take energy, including eating and digestion, which uses about 10% of our energy. The easiest way for the body to fuel its needs is from food and the easier food is to digest, the less energy is used on the digestion process itself. This means that when we have an energy shortage we’re likely to crave foods that are easier to digest, which just happen to be those yummy but not-so-nutritious simple carbs.
When you’re under physical strain, due to illness for example, the body needs as much energy as possible for the critical processes and/or needs to conserve energy. Depending on the nature of the stress, the body may also need to protect muscle mass, which is another possible energy source. This means that it can actually be helpful to eat foods that are quicker and easier to digest, even though they may be less nutritious.
Fun and comfort have roles to play in healthy relationships
Having fun and feeling comfortable are normal human needs and play important parts in any healthy relationship, including your relationship with food. The problem is that our typical go-to comforts come with significant health warnings.
Aside from the question of nutrition, or lack thereof, studies³ show a strong connection between all kinds of comfort eating and guilt. While you might think that would act as a limiter on the behaviour causing it, unfortunately it does not. The neural mechanisms at play are much stronger and, in any case, guilt is not necessarily an emotion we work to avoid.
“The lust for comfort, that stealthy thing that enters the house a guest, and then becomes a host, and then a master.” Khalil Gibran
You Can Have Your Cake and Eat It
Given the risks and dangers of comfort foods, people tend to think the answer is to avoid them. But in reality this means more than just forgoing a sweet treat now and then. The reason so many New Year’s resolutions, diets, and other self-restriction attempts fail is that we’re fighting against our natural physical and psychological needs and mechanisms.
Instead, understanding these mechanisms allows us to find healthy ways to meet our needs, happily:
1. Break the guilt cycle. Start by changing the way you think about comfort food. Remove the double whammy effect of making your comfort foods also indulgence foods by thinking of your go-tos as “fun” foods rather than “cheat” or “treat” foods.
2. Make allowance for them in your healthy eating plan. Make a conscious choice about what you want to eat, when and how much and account for the calories and types of nutrients/nutrient deficits your fun foods contribute. But don’t make the mistake I did by over-planning it and being too specific. Part of the fun is the spontaneity! If your plan is rigid in terms of when you can eat exactly which food, you might find that you defeat yourself and break free with other even more fun foods, i.e. over-indulge!
3. Avoid the downer trap. We tend to experience an energy and/or mood crash after eating food that is super easy to digest. This is because the body’s control system is a bit of a clean freak. When an unexpected burst of glucose (energy molecules from food) comes in, the digestive system cleans it all up (via the hormone insulin) and packs it away — usually as fat. The body is also a notorious risk manager, so it stays on alert, continuing to mop up glucose after the binge in case there is another burst coming.
This means we swing from having a lot of glucose available, and therefore feeling high energy, to having very little. And this is why we tend to feel drained and even a little depressed after a food fest. One way to avoid this is to not having it all at once — instead of having a fun-food binge, spread your fun out over a day, or two.
4. Swap out the worst without sacrifice. A combined benefit of the gluten-free vegan and real food trends is the explosion of healthier versions of traditional comfort food favourites. It’s now possible to get the emotional fix you need without sacrificing your health!
And many of the carb alternatives, such as buckwheat flour, not only have better nutrient and calorie profiles, they also take the body longer to digest making them less likely to cause glucose spikes and downers. Oats are my current favourite because they’re inexpensive and versatile.
Before you dismiss these as far too healthy to be comforting, check out the breads, desserts and pasta dishes I’ve created with alternatives. They’re sure to please you. And if cooking doesn’t make you happy, there is an ever-expanding range of tasty ready-made snacks, meals and takeout foods for the health conscious comfort-craver. You just need to be willing to expand your horizons — specifically to the health/”free from” section or store — and ready for some trial and error to find your new favourites.
¹Erlanson‐Albertsson C. How Palatable Food Disrupts Appetite Regulation. Volume 97, Issue 2, August 2005, Pages 61–73
² Troisi JD, Wright JWC. Comfort Food: Nourishing Our Collective Stomachs and Our Collective Minds. Teaching of Psychology. 2017;44(1):78–84. doi:10.1177/0098628316679972
² ³Spence C. Comfort food: A review. International Journal of Gastronomy and Food Science. Volume 9, October 2017, Pages 105–109
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