comfort foods do not mean fatty or sugary calorie bombs. They are simply any items that evoke sentimentality for the consumer 2. So someone’ s famous family casserole might have the same effect as someone else’ s cherished Cosmic Brownie.
A box of Kraft for dinner or a bowl of Lucky Charms in the morning are not meant to disengage us from the present, as some critics believe. These products prosper because they bring a little bit of joy into our current existence. They can create meaning in our lives 3, perhaps even helping to“ alleviate existential threat” 4.
This is not something to scoff at, with adolescents exhibiting more depressive and anxious tendencies than ever before 5. Americans are also on more mental health medication as well( much of which is over prescribed, abused or ineffective) 6.
Maybe we are turning to drugs in haste, when a simple
PB & J might do the trick. I believe food has the power to heal, not just physically but psychologically.
Some foods truly can comfort us, as their moniker suggests. They make us feel connected when we’ re lonely, uplifted when we ' re sad. So put away your phone and enjoy your sandwich, served with the reminder of all that it represents.
2 Merriam-Webster. Merriam-Webster.
3 Juhl, Jacob, and Clay Routledge. " Nostalgia Bolsters Perceptions of a Meaningful Self in a Meaningful World." The Experience of Meaning in Life( 2013): 213-26.
4 Sedikides, Constantine, Tim Wildschut, Jamie Arndt, and Clay Routledge. " Nostalgia: Past, Present, and Future." Current Directions in Psychological Science 17.5( 2008): 304-07.
5 Twenge, Jean M., Brittany Gentile, C. Nathan Dewall, Debbie Ma, Katharine Lacefield, and David R. Schurtz. " Birth Cohort Increases in
Psychopathology among Young Americans, 1938 – 2007: A Cross-temporal Meta-analysis of the MMPI." Clinical Psychology Review 30.2( 2010): 145-54.
6 " Inappropriate Prescribing." Http:// www. apa. org.