The Psychology Behind Comfort Food

Comfort food. I am certain that each one of you have a clear idea of comfort food. 

Here goes my questionnaire. Have you ever been emotional over something and felt like a cup of hot chocolate with whipped cream and marshmallows could solve your problems? Then this mouthwatering cup of hot chocolate is your comfort food.

All of us have different preferences when it comes to comfort food. Some of us find comfort in buckets of ice-cream, the rest of us might find it in cheeseburgers or mac and cheese or pizza, the list is endless. We prefer these during times of stress or when our emotions are all over the place. We tend to associate our preferred comfort food with memories, positivity, sentiments, nostalgia, childhood and most importantly home.

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Ever wondered how your brain recognizes a certain food as your comfort zone, or how this specific food shuts down the voices in your brain. How does a food know the hidden portals to your soul, heart?  Most importantly, how does it take away your worries, takes over your emotional turbulence and makes you stable. Weird? Definitely.

No worries. I will make it simple for you and explain the psychology of comfort food. 

Previously studies hinted at emotional regulation or chemical changes in the brain (like serotonin release) as potential reasons. Understanding the psychology of emotional eating can help reveal why certain craving strike during loneliness, fatigue or mental exhaustion. On conducting a survey, researchers found that people who ate comfort food frequently, did so to alleviate boredom or boost cognitive performance. Eating due to boredom was the strongest predictor of comfort eating. 

According to research, eating particular meals “rewards” people’s brains. A study from 2020 in the journal Physiology & Behavior claims that there are “hedonic hotspots” in the brain, which are specific sub regions that heighten the pleasurable sensation or “liking” of pleasant tastes, such as carbohydrates, fats, and salts. This may cause a dopamine spike, which increases the desire to look for and eat a certain food. 

As the previously mentioned research pointed out, dopamine is a crucial brain chemical that greatly influences mood as well as motivation and reward-seeking tendencies. Several studies have discovered that some meals, sometimes known as “hyper-palatable” 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, according to the Harvard School of Public Health. Beyond dopamine, hyper palatable meals have been shown to increase the release of insulin, cortisol (stress hormone), and leptin (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 don’t include any of these ingredients, people’s brains aren’t often wired to seek healthy meals like they are wired to crave pizza or doughnuts. 

Now that we understood the psychology behind seeking comfort food, it is important that we know whether they are helping us or not. Truth be told, comfort foods are usually health hazards for they bring in huge amounts of calories. Don’t listen to me just like that, instead go ahead and check out exactly how many calories are present in a cheeseburger. Approximately 300-320. That is certainly not healthy for consumption on a routinely basis. Studies suggest that comfort meals are not always successful in reaching their aim, in reducing stress and in making one satiated. Further, the studies indicate that comfort food work well for short term dopamine surges. Still, overtime, they frequently elicit regret and guilt. This maybe because the consumers are aware of the poor nutritional value of these meals. 

All I am trying to do is to make you all realize that your comfort food might be a comfort to your brain for a while but what does it do in the long run. It is previously mentioned that the generic comfort foods are a combination of sugar, carb and fats, it is impossible to forget the condiments that come with these. But my point is that unhealthy consumption of these do more bad than good. Keeping aside the occasional guilt trips, these unhealthy obsession can lead to diabetes and heart diseases in the future. At the end of the day what matters the most is our health. Let’s vow to keep ourselves well.