Comfort Food, Not So Comforting

World over people reach out to food to bring about a sense of well-being — either to relieve a negative effect or boost the positive one — in their lives. It is this food that one reaches out to as a form of stress-buster or sustains the high that is called comfort food. Such food choices may vary with people, but invariably most pick food that is rich in carbohydrates or fats for these pick-me-ups. People, who are under pressure or people who suffer from emotional stress and seeking satisfaction, are the people most likely to be the connoisseurs of comfort food. Generally these types of food are cuisines that give one pleasure and delight. Saudi nutritionists and psychologists say people often feel worse after a compulsive bout of comfort food. It’s because after the initial euphoria of the food helping them in their emotional quandary of the moment, they go on a different emotional ride of worrying of the possible weight gain. The University of Illinois Food and Brand Lab even came up with their own definition of comfort food saying, "It’s a specific food consumed under a specific situation to obtain psychological comfort." In 2004, the university’s survey on trends in gender choices revealed that women on the whole sought out comfort food as a way to relieve stress and preferred sweets and desserts, while men sought comfort food as a pick-me-up, generally to get into a good frame of mind and preferred warm, hearty food such as meatloaf, steaks etc. But as trends have shown many comfort foods consist of a significant amount of sugar, or are deep-fried, and are rich in trans fat and carbohydrates and sometimes are a combination of carbohydrates and fats. And these are the most harmful to health according to Dr. Riham Abdulmajeed, a Saudi nutritionist at Al-Safa hospital in Jeddah. “We always tell people to avoid those specific categories because they add up to your weight with no advantage to your body,” she said. “I always ask my patients to do other activities when they are feeling down like write a diary or go to the gym and take their anger out through exercise,” she added. Comfort food supplies a sense of fullness and pleasure long after it has been consumed especially ones with high carbs or fat that can be emotionally satisfying, which is ultimately the point of eating comfort food said Abdulmajeed. “People feeling down are always looking to eat food that looks good, smells good and tastes good,” she said. “It’s like they are trying to cover what they feel inside with what they see in front of them. They also search for meals that makes them full and pleasant,” she added. People are different when choosing their comfort food but most choose what is best for them or what they crave the most. “Some people go nostalgic when choosing their food linking it to a good memory from their childhood or a feeling they had when eating this food,” said Mona Saleh, psychiatrist in Al-Salaam Hospital in Tabuk. “This shows that it connects them to their happy place and that’s where they want to be at the moment of sadness,” she added. The stress relief process is different in men and women according to Saleh. “Men are usually aggressive when they are angry and would punch or scream at someone when they are extremely angry or just feeling stressed,” she said. “Women are usually more dramatic and would do things differently that’s why they find eating and stuffing themselves a good and soothing solution,” she added. “Even if women started yelling and shouting, they would still feel bad and uncomfortable and would rather articulate their anger in food,” said Saleh. Researchers at Cornell University and McGill University in Montreal, Canada, reported that women are more prone to eat high-fat, high-sugar comfort food such as cake and ice cream. The study also concluded that women do so with feelings of guilt, loneliness and/or depression. Men choose soups, pasta and steaks to help their mood. Arab News asked a number of Saudi women about their choice of comfort food and found out that majority found peace after eating chocolate with it’s every kind from cookies, hot chocolate, chocolate bars to brownies. “After a long and stressful day at work, I normally would go to my drawer where my chocolate stash is and start eating one after another,” said Sarah Balkhair, 31-year-old schoolteacher. “After every chocolate attack, I feel guilty for eating so much and would starve myself for days to avoid gaining weight,” she added. According to Saleh people who give in to comfort food usually feel dreadful and worse after realizing what they had just eaten. “Weight watchers and people who calculate their daily calories are the most likely to eat comfort food when they are stressed,” she said. “The rationale is that these people are stopping themselves from having the pleasure of eating fat, chocolate and deep fried food and this pushes them to even wanting it more especially when they feel unhappy or emotionally stressed,” she added. As much as people love their comfort foods many of them now look for new and improved ways to turn them into healthier choices, with a lower fat content and less calories. “I would highly recommend people who see chocolate as their comfort food to substitute the  milk and white chocolate with dark chocolate, it has less sugar and fat but it’s still chocolate,” said Abdulmajeed. “I would also recommend people who have sweet tooth to eat fruits like berries — all kinds especially strawberry which is known to be spirit-lifting fruit,” she added. "And people who find comfort in eating deep fried dishes and chips to switch to popcorn for it is lighter and has few calories while it is still crispy and tasty," she said.