Hey you with the Lindt bar in your hand! It doesn't matter if you have raging PMS, you've had words with your significant other, or that you've just had the day from hell. It's official—comfort foods don't have the power to comfort you.
No matter how staunchly we may feel otherwise, cookies and ice cream and chocolate don't provide any more emotional rescue than eating celery or even *gasp* nothing.
Turns out that if we just sit long enough and wait it out, the black cloud will pass—whether or not we stuff our pie-holes with thousands of empty calories. Don't take it from me. A University of Minnesota study found that we tend to give treats more credit than they deserve when it comes to lifting our bitchy moods.
After splitting participants into three groups, researchers concluded that those who got to pig out on their fave comfort food (it goes without saying that chocolate ruled) felt better over time, regardless of whether they'd scoffed Haagen-Dazs, a "neutral" granola bar, or nothing whatsoever.
What about the euphoric endorphin dance that comes from sugar and caffeine? Surely that must count for something.
Nope. It didn't matter how much of the fetish food was consumed. The end result was the same, even though a whopping 81 per cent of participants firmly believed that eating said food would make them feel better.
"We found no justification for people to choose comfort foods when they are distressed," reported the researchers. "Removing an excuse for eating a high-calorie or high-fat food may help people develop and maintain healthier eating habits, and may lead them to focus on other, food-free methods of improving their mood."
I know it's depressing to be told you really don't need that soft gooey goodness inside you. But just consider how that shitty feeling gets compounded after you've indulged too much.
And couldn't the same be said for my vanilla latte or even my cherished glass of Riesling, I wonder. Please say it isn't so.
Spill it: What's your go-to comfort food? Would you be prepared to give it up?
I'm sticking with Dr. Kim on this one.
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