在所有引发舒适食品的渴望的事物中，寒冷的天气非常普遍。寒冷非常不舒服，我们的自然本能是想在内外温暖自己。
But while your instinct to maintain your core temperature may explain why you don’t yearn for salad and gazpacho in the dead of winter, it doesn’t condemn you to four months of pancakes and mac n’ cheese. If you understand what your brain is ultimately after, you can tend to your deepest needs without diving head first into the cookie jar.
In times of physical and emotional stress, your brain yearns for comfort and safety. Foods, particularly those that stimulate the dopamine/reward pathways in your brain (sugar, fat, salt), can feel like the perfect antidote in these conditions. And indeed, they can provide some temporary relief.
Research has shown that personally defined “comfort foods” do improve mood after a stressful event, but there’s a catch. Comfort foods improve your mood, but theydon’t do a better jobthan any other type of food. That is, all foods are equally good at making you feel better, whether you think they’re special or not.
The idea that some foods are uniquely comforting is a cognitive illusion, likely driven bydopamineand the difficulty your brain has making rational decisions when under stress. This means that if you can anticipate the desire for comfort foods, you can prepare for it by having a more nutritious alternative that is just as satisfying.
Don’t worry, I’m not saying it isn’t OK to indulge your cravings every once in awhile. Eat what you love, and don’t let anyone tell you that you can’t. What I’m trying to help you do is avoid making unconscious choices that ultimately leave you feeling worse rather than better.
I want you to notice that what youthinkyou want and what youactuallywant can be very different, and your brain has clever ways of tricking you into believing otherwise.
Choosing satisfying foods that are both warm and nutritious is one strategy to break the spell of comfort foods. Another is to realize that food is only one form of comfort.
Warmth itself can be an excellent source of comfort, and I’ve especially found herbal teas to be a fantastic way to take the edge off when it seems like nothing will warm my bones.
You’re the expert on what comforts you best, but don’t be confined by your initial impulse. Maybe you’re soothed by hot baths or paperback books or talking to your mom.
记住,照顾我自己ncludes both tending to your needs now and setting yourself up to feel well in the future. That may involve food, and it may not.
