What foods do you feel like eating when you have been out on a cold, snowy day? How about when you have had a stressful day or feel like celebrating? These foods may be your comfort foods.
We often reach for foods that connect us to a certain feeling or situation. Each of us will find different foods comforting, depending on the experiences we have had with foods. Age, religion and ethnic background all affect which foods we find comforting.
The Food and Brand Lab at the University of Illinois conducted surveys in the United States to learn more about comfort foods.
The top foods rated as comfort foods were less nutritious, processed foods. For example, potato chips, ice cream, cookies and candy. However, 40% of comfort foods were meats, main dishes, soups and vegetables. They included those that are homemade.
The top three comfort foods for women were ice cream, chocolate, and cookies. The top comfort foods for men were ice cream, soup and pizza or pasta.
People aged 18-34 years preferred ice cream and cookies, while those aged 35-54 years favored soup and pasta. The 55 plus age group identified soup and mashed potatoes as top comfort foods.
People were more likely to seek out comfort foods when happy, celebrating or wanting a reward than when depressed, bored or lonely.
At this point, we do not know much about how foods become comfort foods but these surveys provide some insight. Comfort foods can be related to specific people or events. As adults, we take pleasure in flavours from our past or that remind us of people that have provided us with comfort. For example ?My father loved mashed potatoes? or ?we always had ice cream for dessert after Sunday?s family meal?.
Tasting, smelling or thinking about a certain food can provide a flash back to past moments for some people. Common feelings are ones of safety, love, homecoming, appreciation, control, or victory.
It is natural to have certain associations with eating since eating is tied so closely with other people and events. Learning about the foods we choose that trigger feelings of comfort can help us in our pursuit of healthy eating. Eating for comfort is okay, as long as it is part of a healthy, balanced diet. If this is not the case, we may need to recognize there are ways to deal with certain feelings in a more productive way. Food should not be used as the only way to feel good.
What are your comfort foods?
? Written by the Public Health Nutritionists of Saskatchewan and supported by the Prince Albert Parkland Health Region. For more information, contact Victoria Jurgens, Public Health Nutritionist at 1521-6th Avenue West, Prince Albert, SK S6V 5K1, or call 765-6604.
