Comfort food is about family
and relationships and a longing for
the place the food takes you to. As
my father’s craving for turkey
likely arose out of his family
dinners growing up. Mine came
from being linked to him at dinner
and picking up on his wistfulness
as he ate his meal.
So why do
we get nostalgic
eating comfort
food? It has a lot
to do with our
nose. A person’s
sense of smell is
linked to the part
of the brain that is
associated with memory and
emotional experiences.
So why do we recollect bad
times and not a bag of baby
carrots? The reason it seems we
always crave stuff that is less on
the healthy side and more high in
fat or sugar is because eating
foods high in these kinds of
calories releases opioids into our
bloodstream, bringing about
feelings of pleasure and even a
mild euphoria.
However, food has only been
easily available to the Western
world for the past two centuries.
While globally 161 million
children were stunted by hunger in
2013, the west has eradicated
starvation. Only because of the
Industrial Revolution did food
become plentiful in Western
Europe and North America. Early
man had to fear that what they
were eating was their last meal.
Evolutionary-wise
and for humans’
first 200,000 years
if existence,
survival often
depended on
loading up on as
many calories as
possible.
So with food readily
available for us now, hunger is not
something to trust completely with
your health and wellbeing. Issues
can arise with the rise and fall of
hormones and it is important to
question why you are craving
something before noshing away.
Eating from Exhaustion
Sometimes the longing to eat
those creamy carbs comes from
another place that is not so
nostalgic. If you are overtired or
depressed, which can easily
happen in the cold north of