comfort eating
Our use of language around food is one that I find fascinating.
We tend to assign particular words to meals or ingredients such as ‘bad’, ‘naughty’, ‘cheat’ or ‘comfort’, with these labels often triggering an emotion of guilt or a need to counteract the ‘mistake’ by ‘doing better next time’. This pattern of thinking seems entrenched in our cultural conditioning, but being so apologetic about our eating behaviours can really impact our emotional and physical wellbeing, especially if it’s constantly there, putting pressure on our feelings about food. In fact, it is my observation, having worked with hundreds of women who are confused about their relationship with food, that labelling food in this way can actually be a block to achieving the balanced, healthy and happy attitude to food that they’re so desperate to experience.
Sometimes changing the narrative can be a useful way to start looking at our language around food differently.
Let’s take ‘comfort food’ as a good example of how this can be done. What springs to mind when you think of comfort food? Many of my clients describe themselves as comfort eaters, linking their emotional state – whether stressed, sad, or happy – to a need for specific foods that bring a sense of emotional wellbeing. Observational studies report that flavour plays a big part in the selection of a ‘comfort’ food, which is why it’s so logical that items high in sugar and fat are most commonly used. They provide quick gratification, but again, research shows the feel good factor provided by these foods tend to be fleeting.
Changing seasons can also direct our need, or not, for a particular experience from food. In winter we find ourselves wanting to hibernate, and many of us are drawn to comfort foods as a natural reaction to the time of year. This seasonal shift is intuitive. We’re far more likely to want to eat warming, dense foods in the winter versus fresh summery salads. I see no problem at all in embracing comfort food as something extremely positive, nurturing, balanced and healthy
“I prefer to actively think of comfort food as being something more sustainable and satisfying.”
Food that contains colour, texture, aroma and visual interest, as well as delicious flavour. To me, comfort food is something that nurtures and restores me. I have shifted the perception of what comfort food looks like in my mind, and work with my clients to do the same. Using mindfulness techniques such as positive anticipation, and having resources to hand that help with the engagement of colourful, satisfying and healthy food can be really helpful for slowing things down, and retraining the brain to approach food and eating in a more positive way.
“The interesting thing about working to shift our language and beliefs about food is that in doing so we have the power to physically alter our need for sweet, fatty foods at times of high emotion.”
This is thanks to neuroplasticity; the ability of our brain to rewire its connections and make lasting changes to how we think and feel. In addition to actively working to change our perception of what comfort food means to us, our gut can also play a role in helping us adapt our wants and tastes for food. While the mechanisms are not well understood, researchers in the gut microbiome are interested in the role microbes play in our food choices, hunger and fullness mechanisms. By feeding our microbes with the right kind of comfort foods we could be helping to reprogram our desires for food over the long-term.
What can you begin to retrain your need for comfort food?
As a starting point, begin really imagining what nourishing comfort food might look like for you. During the winter, comfort foods for me include steaming bowls of soup, for example rich, tomato-heavy Tuscan bean soup. I also love roasted sweet potatoes laden with beef or vegetable chilli, topped with creamy avocado and lots of fresh herbs, a hassle-free chicken and veggie traybake, and I love a steaming hot bowl of porridge with all kinds of nuts or nut butter and berries. When I think of these foods I picture what they are going to look like, how they are going to taste, and how good I’ll feel while I eat them. Importantly, these comfort foods are likely to sustain me for a good few hours after eating vs a quick-fix, high sugar comfort food that’s likely to only feel good while it’s being eaten.
My advice for making comfort food satisfying enough to carry you through a few hours would be to include the following three magic elements that make meals really nourishing and sustaining. They are: protein (e.g. meat, fish, eggs, nuts, seeds, quinoa, tofu, lentils, beans, peas), natural fat (e.g. found in meat, fish, eggs, nuts, seeds, olive oil, avocado, coconut milk) and fibre (e.g. all foods from the plant kingdom such as vegetables, grains, nuts and seeds).
Nicola
References:
Van Strien T (2013) Appetite
Van Strien T (2019) Psychology Behaviour
Bohorquez DV and Liddle RA (2015) J Clinical Investigation
Novelle MG (2021) Int J Environmental Research and Public Health
Bongers P et al (2013) Appetite
