THE EXPLANATION BEHIND THE NOTION OF COMFORT FOOD

Chapter 1

INTRODUCTION

A. Background of the Study

              A lot of people love to eat. A fact that is agreeable to all human because eating is the best part of the day and having a great meal makes one’s life wonderful. The love for food is part of the human nature, from the very moment he was born; he was nourished and rewarded by food. It is a solution to resolve hunger or to satisfy their cravings. 

              According to an article "Why We Love Food" by Martha Brockenbrough, food is our partner in life that we can never be apart with. But it’s a complicated relationship for humans, being in love with food may  results us to have issues on our eating habits. 

              Martha said: "It might be the most complex relationship in your life, which explains why a poll of more than 6,000 Women's Health readers found that nearly 30 percent feel stressed about food—every...single...day" (http://www.womenshealthmag.com/nutrition/relationship-with-food?page=1).

              Even though they know the outcomes of loving food, still, food always makes people crave. People have this desire to devour a specific food which yet unlikely to fulfill hunger. Making people want something resulting to eagerness to have the taste of delight they are craving for.

              The article "Why We Crave" by Janice Curtine, explains the reasons why human crave for food, there are scientific explanations such as its because of the amino acid the food has or the food that contains gluten, fat, and chemicals or additives.

              According to Janice:"...cravings can be caused by many things and they come from our brain. Brain chemicals regulate thoughts and obsessions about food... Recent research finds that toxins in foods and other chemicals in the environment do more than just cause cravings—they also alter our hormones and our own innate slimming mechanism. Paula Baillie-Hamilton, MD, PhD, focuses on organochlorines, such as pesticides. In her book, Toxic Overload, she reveals studies showing that the higher the level of these chemicals in the body, the greater the body weight will be" (http://www.westonaprice.org/health-topics/why-we-crave/).

              However, some crave for food because of their emotional state. During the moments that people are stressed, emotional, or even delighted, they seek for something great to eat.  This turns to the significance of comfort food,  they are looking for something to eat that will comfort the feelings their having. According to ”The Psychology behind Comfort Food” by Ryan Chang of Spoon University, the significance of comfort food is that it has the power to enlighten ones mood and that these work by creating positive and negative reinforcement, a process of conditioning that affect  our  brain to consume more of and crave for these comforting foods.

              Chang stated: “…when we eat food, we receive positive reinforcement by obtaining physical sustenance along with great flavors and taste. Positive reinforcement is when we receive something, which leads us to want to continue the action that caused the effect (more happiness).... we also receive negative reinforcement when we eat food to relieve stress, and we begin to associate eating comfort food with the lessening of a burden. Negative reinforcement is when something is taken away, which leads us to want to continue the action that caused the effect (less stress). After a period of time, our minds will be trained to seek out food as a way to deal with our problems in life. This process causes us to crave food, creating the idea of “comfort food” (http://cal.spoonuniversity.com/2014/11/07/psychology-behind-comfort-food/).

              People find comfort in eating. For them, food has the power to change one’s mood.  When a person eats the food he craved or any of his favorite food, his mood will be enlighten and be changed. Mainly, People have this idea that the food they crave will comfort them and give them better feeling. 

              Most people think that food can comfort them. However, most of them have no idea that comfort food has no significance in enlighten ones mood. 

              Some people tend to believe in things that are unjustifiable, even to the things that have irrational explanations. Hence a lot of people have different ideas about comfort food and have lack of knowledge regarding to this matter. This paper allows the readers to know the different concept of comfort food and mistakes people believe in.

              Comfort food itself has different aspects; nevertheless, this paper focuses on the  explanation behind the notion of comfort food.

B. Statement of the problem

This study aims to answer this question:

              1. What are the explanation behind the notion of comfort food?

C. Significance of the Study

Emotional Eaters. This research paper will help the emotional eaters to fully understand the reasons why they seek comfort to the food they eat and help them to overcome the reality about comfort food.

Young Adult. Since most of young adults seek for food that will comfort them from their stress and heavy feelings, this study will help most of the them to gain knowledge regarding to the ideas they believe in and the reasons why most of them crave for something to eat.

Future Researchers. Studying comfort food is very exciting, knowing different explanations and information about comfort food. It is essential to the future researchers to make this same study because there will be new researchers that will add up to the information in regards to this topic.

D. Scope and Delimitation

              This study focuses on the facts regarding comfort food and the reality behind it. Since nowadays people tend to patronized food just to overcome the stress and the heavy feelings that they are having.

              Since Comfort food is a broad topic, this study will no longer discuss other information regarding comfort food such as the food that were considered as comfort food or the what are the different healthy and convenient comfort food to eat. This is to emphasize the facts why people have the idea of eating the food they crave will comfort them and the reality hidden behind it. 

E. Material and Method

             The information of this study were gathered from different references such as online articles and researches.

            This is a descriptive study for more concrete and concise detail and information. There will be an author's interpretation regarding to the topic discussed.

F. Definition of terms

             1. Comfort Food - These are the food that people want to have in the belief that eating these food will enlighten their heavy feeling or release their mind from stress.

          2. Emotional Eating - a form of disordered eating, is defined as “an increase in food intake in response to negative emotions” and can be considered a maladaptive strategy used to cope with difficult feelings. More specifically, emotional eating would qualify as a form of emotion-focused coping, which attempts to minimize, regulate and prevent emotional distress (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emotional_eating). 

           3. Food Cravings - These are the food people desire to eat and very eager too have the taste of these food. 

Chapter 2

DISCUSSION

I. Facts about comfort food

            People believe that food can comfort them, that food is one thing that will enlighten their feelings and mood. Every time people are feeling down, food is one of the top thing that their looking for, food that is sweet or even salty and fatty food. 

            In an article entitled “The Psychology behind Comfort Food” written by Ryan Chang, explained the psychological reasoning why people think that comfort food comforts them. According to Chang, the significance of comfort food is to enlighten ones mood by creating a positive reinforcement, just like people getting positive reinforcement. Having something they want and lead to enjoyment and continue doing an action, this is commonly used to children; parents give something they want to eat just to continue and improve the great things they do. 

            People are also getting negative reinforcement in regards with food, this is when they seek comfort from food whenever they are feeling down and stressed and they begin to associate food from lessening stress and unhappy feeling, and leads them to eat more because food tend to lessen their burden and that started the people to seek food for comfort.

            Chang said: “The process of conditioning affects our brains in other ways that encourage the consumption of comfort food. For example, food that is associated with fond memories can bring happiness by enabling you to relive these memories. Similarly, a food associated with a certain person (say, Grandma’s apple pie) can become a comfort food that reminds you of someone you cherish. All these separate factors contribute to amplify your desires and cravings for your specific comfort foods”( http://cal.spoonuniversity.com/2014/11/07/psychology-behind-comfort-food/).

            This explains why people tend to believe in comfort food can comfort them, because of the psychological effects of food to humans. Food are associated with happy and enjoyable memories that is why every time people seek for comfort they look for something to eat that remind them the enthusiastic events happened to them and food symbolizes delightful moments.

            The article, “Comfort food Improve Moods” by Deborah Serani tackled about the psychological effect of food to humans. Mentioned here that the food that are associated with good thoughts improves feelings and decreases the feeling of loneliness. Food is a chemical compound that communicates with the body and it is a compound that affects brains too, because balancing your meals also balanced your brains. 

             According to Serani, “When you're living with depression, it's important to know that there's also a physiological influence to the food you consume. The chemical structure of what you eat communicates with your body, which can affect cognitsion, influence mood and physical body states” (https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/two-takes-depression/201104/comfort-foods-improve-moods).

             This means foods are like a drug that can change your mental and physical being. That there are elements of the food you consume has the characteristics that can change your mood and influences your physical body.



II. Facts how comfort food works

A. Comfort food works because of  life experiences

             The most common foods that are considered comforting are those sweet, salty and fatty foods. Most people tend to crave for sweet delicious taste of strawberry cake, vanilla ice cream or even chocolates; some crave for greasy food such as burgers, fries, or chips. According to an article, “Why do people find fatty or sugary food comforting?” by Alice, that our cravings for these tastes are influenced by our ancestors. These ancestors have no knowledge about the scientific explanations of these foods; they only knew that if they eat something sweet it gives them energy while salty food give minerals we needed. 

             Alice said: "Though humans have inherent preferences for sweet and salty flavors, comfort food choices vary because we are influenced by individual psychological factors that result from life experiences. Even though each of us is born into a unique food environment that is dependent on climate, economy, and culture, studies have shown that women in the United States generally prefer sweet, snack-type foods. This may be the result of pleasant feelings being associated with foods that were served as dessert, as the reward for eating dinner, or for happy occasions, such as parties or holidays. Men tend to prefer salty, meal-type foods, such as mashed potatoes. Meal-type foods might have positive connotations for men because they were lovingly prepared by their mothers and grandmothers. The identification of meal- over snack-type comfort food preferences increases in both genders as they age" (http://goaskalice.columbia.edu/why-do-people-find-fatty-or-sugary-foods-comforting).

             Food became comforting because of our experience. Even though we have were born in different food environment, studies have shown that women are feeling relieved from stress by eating sweets which reminds them a happy memories such as holidays while salty food reminds men the food served by their mothers. Furthermore, there comfort food preference increases as time pass. 


B. Comfort food works because of its fatty acid

             “Why Comfort Foods Works” is an article written by Malgret Aldrich which tackled a research regarding the effects of these comfort food and discovered that fatty acid  activates the brain region that regulate the emotions at the same time reduces the feeling of sadness

             Aldrich stated that: "Certain foods can have a particularly strong effect on emotions, according to researchers in Belgium. So what comfort food works best to bolster our moods? Mashed potatoes? Macaroni and cheese? Mainlined ice cream sundaes? Any of these can work, as long as they contain one key ingredient: fat” (http://www.utne.com/mind-and-body/gastrointelligence-why-comfort-food-works.aspx#axzz3Q1eAoUax).


             This was a scientific explanation regarding comfort food, this article cleared out that foods containing fats can change someone’s emotion, and this emphasize that not only sweet and salty food are considered comforting but also those food that contains fat. 

C. Comfort food define personality


             One factor why comfort food works is because it defines personality, in an article entitled “The Taste of Comfort: Food for thought on how Americans eat to feel better” written by  Brian Wansink, brian tackled different reasons why comfort food works, and one of these is that he explained that comfort food gives identity to the eaters.  Eating such food can define who they are, He mentioned an these eaters focus on aspects of the product that they see consistent with their personality. For example American male eats t-bone steak because it symbolizes manliness and strength and a traditional food of macho American men. 

             Brian said “To get into the comfort food line-up, what's a soy product to do? Because comfort foods are often based on apocryphal memories, tapping into these associations can tap into a deep well of emotions. The key lies in finding the right iconic trigger points for a specific market segment. Similarly, encouraging product identification can occur through packaging, advertising, and product development” (http://adage.com/article/american-demographics/taste-comfort-food-thought-americans-eat-feel/43135/).


             The quotation explains that people tend to eat these comfort food because of what they see to others, if men ate a food that was advertised or identified as a manly product they tend to eat more because they have this thinking that when they eat this food they will be defined as the definition that food has. People eat these foods because for them it is their personality od characteristic, that food symbolizes them.  

III. Comfort food is just myth

             People believe that food gives comforts, but then most of them are not aware that comfort food has a hidden reality; the fact that reciprocate the beliefs of these people when it comes to comfort food. 

             The article entitled, "Comfort Food Myth: Ice Cream May not Boost you Mood" written by Rachael Rettner. In this article stated the research made by Heather Scherschel Wagner, a research showed that there is no specific comfort food that eases someone’s downfall emotion. The study implemented a survey and let the respondents watched some tormenting movie for about 20 minutes, after the movie all  respondents felt depressed and emotional. To start the examination, the researchers gave the specific comfort food to some respondents, others got any kind of food and the rest got nothing. After the survey, the researchers found out that all the respondents are fine, and even though some did not get their specific comfort food or did not get at all, they are still fine.

             Stated by Rachel, "But the new findings suggest that, "whether it's your comfort food, or it’s a granola bar, or if you eat nothing at all, you will eventually feel better. Basically, comfort food can't speed up that healing process," Wagner said. It makes sense that people would attribute an improvement in mood to something they ate, without realizing that the food wasn't necessarily responsible for the mood change. "[People] like to find explanations for things," Wagner said" (http://www.livescience.com/45880-comfort-food-myth.html.).

             It showed the reality that reciprocate the significance of comfort food, that even without eating the person’s specific comfort food, that person will still coupe up with his emotional feeling and explains that eating “comfort food” does not uplift one person’s burden. The reality that comfort food does not solve everything people thought of.


             "Comfort Food Is a Myth," an article by Tom Jacobs is another author that mentioned a research regarding comfort food, with the same result as Wagner had. He strengthened in his article that people's bad feeling will not be removed by food. Even though most of the respondents from the research strongly believe that their comfort food can make them feel better.

             Jacob mentioned, "Participants' moods improved over time," the researchers report. However, they add, "this happened to the same extent regardless of which type of food they ate, or whether they at any food at all" (http://www.psmag.com/health-and-behavior/comfort-food-myth-improve-mood-study-research-90564).


             This explains that whether a person eat or not, the bad feeling they’re having improves when time passes by. Food has nothing to do in improving you mood it is just people's excuse to eat more.



Conclusion

             Based on the information gathered, the researcher concludes significance of comfort food. People believe in comfort food because of the reinforcements connected to the food they eat, some people tend to make food as a rewards especially to kids, as soon as the aged, instilled in their mind that whenever they did a great job they look for something good to eat. Same thing with eating delightful food whenever people are feeling stress or emotional, food is their reliever and for  them whenever they eat, it uplifts their mood that is why people tend to crave something more to eat to get away from the uneasiness they are having.

             The researcher also found out that Comfort food reminds people about their good memories and happy occasions happened to them, that is why whenever they are emotional and stressed they eat what reminds them of those moments and this lessen their burden and the heaviness they are feeling. However, people do eat comfort food because of the fatty acid these foods have that make them, crave more and want to eat more of these foods. Also, one factor why people think that comfort food works is because it defines their personality, they have the assumption that if they eat the food that symbolizes something it will have an effect to them and it will define them the same with the food they eat.


             Nevertheless, there were data that reciprocated the significance of comfort food. That comfort food has nothing to do in comforting people, that even though a person does not eat whenever he or she is stressed, food will not solve her emotional instability faster. That comfort food is just a myth that people believe in. Food has nothing to do in solving different problems people have and I therefore conclude, comfort is just people's excuse to eat more and tell others that food helps them to surpass the emotional feeling they have. 

Chapter III

A. Summary

             This is a research paper that discussed the explanation behind the notion of comfort food. The end of the this study, the readers will have additional knowledge regarding the facts of comfort food, how does comfort food works and the hidden reality behind it.

             The researcher used an observational method in this study gathered from different online articles to answer the question asked. The research findings are as follows:

1. Giving food as positive and negative reinforcement to people has the effect to human brain and seek these foods as their comfort food.

2. People who are feeling stressed and down seeks comfort food for the thought that it will help lessen the negative feelings or lighten their mood.

3. People's comfort food are the food that gives them great and happy memories, it is a psychological effect to humans because these foods reminds them some of their enthusiastic events happened to them which results to lessening the emotional feelings they have.

4. Also, food has different elements that may change ones mood and change their physical body.

5.  Food become comforting because of life experiences, wherein sweets are comforting to men because it reminds them sweet and happy memories, while men loves salty food because it reminds them the homemade dishes their mother or wife made.

6. Food containing fats are comforting, that is why a lot of people seeks for foods that have fats such as burgers and chocolates.

7. Comfort food defines personality. people tend to eat foods that symbolizes things that they want to be perceived. Men loves rib steak because it symbolizes strong men. They want to be perceive as strong men that's why they are eating  this kind of food.

8. Reality speaking, comfort food is just a myth. Comfort food doesn't effect ones mood.

B. Conclusion

The conclusions made from the research findings are:

1. Food that are created as a rewards to people became their comfort food.

2. People believes that food can enlighten their mood.

3. Food have psychological effect to humans, where in food that made them happy became their comfort food.

4. Elements that food have change ones mood.

5. Comfort food became comforting because of the experiences people experienced with the food they eat.

6. Fats have the power to change ones mood, that is why food that has fats become comforting to people.

7. Food can also define ones personality, because of the symbolism and the perception the food have.

8. The concept of comfort food is only in the mind of the person believing in comfort food.

C. Recommendation

After the conclusion of the study, here are some recommendation from the researcher:

1. It depends to people how to define comfort food,either it works or not, it is up to that person what to believe in. This study only shows some of the different aspect of comfort food. Either the reader agrees on what is written or not.


3. Either food are comforting or not, we should know our limitations, if we depend on too much comfort food, maybe the result will not be not comforting after  at all.

D. References

Electronic Media

Brockenbrough, Martha (2011) Why We Love Food Retrieved on: March 10, 2015 from http://www.womenshealthmag.com/nutrition/relationship-with-food?page=1

Curtin, Janice (2011) Why We Crave Retrieved on: March 10, 2015 http://www.westonaprice.org/health-topics/why-we-crave/

Chang, Ryan (2014) The Psychology Behind Comfort Food Retrieved on: March 10, 2015 http://cal.spoonuniversity.com/2014/11/07/psychology-behind-comfort-food/

Serani, Deborah (2011) Comfort Food Improve Moods Retrieved on: March 17, 2015 https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/two-takes-depression/201104/comfort-foods-improve-moods

Alice (2005) Why do people find fatty or sugary food comforting? Retrieved on: March 17, 2015 http://goaskalice.columbia.edu/why-do-people-find-fatty-or-sugary-foods-comforting

Aldrich Marget (2011) Why Comfort Food Works Retrieved on: March 17, 2015 http://www.utne.com/mind-and-body/gastrointelligence-why-comfort-food-works.aspx#axzz3Q1eAoUax

Wansink, Brian (2000) The Taste of Comfort: Food for thought on how Americans eat to feel better Retrieved on: March 17, 2015 http://adage.com/article/american-demographics/taste-comfort-food-thought-americans-eat-feel/43135/

Rettner, Rachael (2014) Comfort Food Myth: Ice Cream May Not Boost Your Mood Retrieved on: March 17, 2015 http://www.livescience.com/45880-comfort-food-myth.html

Jacobs, Tom (2014) Comfort Food Is a Myth Retrieved on: March 17, 2015 http://www.psmag.com/health-and-behavior/comfort-food-myth-improve-mood-study-research-90564

Blogpost 8: Healthy Comfort food

Since I mentioned in my last blogspot the comfort fod that we must 'avoid', I'll be discussion some healthy comfort food that we can gladly eat without being guilty afterwards. Even though people has their own preference on choosing what food comforts them (which in fact all food can comfort them or better to say that foood doesn't literally comforts them, lol) having this topic is very much important for them to know the food that will become their best friend and never to regret having them.

But then, I found articles that contradict the statements of my previous blogs, just for example  this article entitled "Why comfort food is healthy" by Naomi Coleman, according to her people have wrong perceptions to about comfort food being unhealthy, but for her these are okay food to comfort oneself. Chocolates, mashed potatoes, baked beans these are some of the food we thought that isn't healthy (specially chocolates) but she stated different good facts that makes us want more of these.

"Sounds too good to be true but finding comfort in chocolate is not all bad. Unlike most saturates, chocolate contains a saturate known as stearic acid which does not raise cholesterol levels. In addition, chocolate is a rich source of iron needed to make red blood cells and magnesium - essential for bone health," said Naomi.

Shiz! what the hell are these scientific words, nevertheless, this quote above just proved that our lovely chocolates isn't that bad to eat. There are different minerals that we can get from these sweets. and well in fact, chocolates does help prevent blood clotting, something that could be helpful to patients who are prone to heart attacks, strokes or deep vein thrombosis. GREAT NEWS FOR CHOCOLATE LOVERS!

The article "Comfort food has a place in a healthy diet" By Laura Parr speaks about comfort food is not bad at all, it can also be in the line of food we can eat while we're on a diet. 

"The key to a healthy diet is to be aware and conscious of what, when and why we eat what we do.  Jamie and I have always felt that no food should be banned or excluded from the diet, because this only fuels the craving more. We just have to be mindful of the portion size and frequency of consumption. Keeping a food diary for a few days every so often can be a useful way of keeping track of what you’re eating and drinking, which will help stop you from falling into a trap of eating mindlessly and letting emotions control your eating habits,"

And, YES! I agree to this statement, the more we resist ourselves on eating the food we crave the more we want them to eat, and big possibility to consume more once we have it.  Like what I always believe, TOO MUCH OF  SOMETHING IS NO GOOD, we should know that eating too much even though we said that its a low calorie food but we eat a lot, it will have just the same result.

It's true that you must be mindful, people should know that we can eat everything we want or we grave, this is okay, we should not regret or fell guilty after eating ice cream, chocolates or burgers because as long as we know are limitations and know when to stop, we can eat everything we like to eat.

Final words: BE MINDFUL AND KNOW YOUR LIMITATIONS!

Blogpost 7: What to avoid?

Wow, for more than a month I'm researching information about comfort food. I am very glad that I chose this topic, I again learned something new. Yet, even though it broke my faith that my  moodiness and being emotional BOREDOM or even because we're sick are the reasons why I'm eating a lot.. which is really not the reason. LOL.. However, with these information, I still haven't discuss these actual food.  there are food that we must AVOID! Oh my god,  avoiding food is the hardest thing to do! And I agree on that, that's why prepare yourself before knowing what really are these favorites you must avoid.

After reading numerous articles, I have found articles discussing about what comfort food we must avoid.  "Comfort Foods to Avoid When You're Sick" By Maryann Tomovich Jacobsen, from the title itself, this articles tackled about comfort foods we must avoid when we are sick. Comfort food such as alcohol and sugary beverages (which most of us really love), fried & spicy foods, dairy products (for some), sweets like cake, cookies, candy, etc.

Mentioned here that we should stay hydrated whenever we're sick, we  must stay hydrated and stay away to alcohols because these cause dehydration, same with spicy food, it's one of the "must avoid food" because eating spicy food is really heard to digest whenever we're stressed out or sick.

 "It might be tempting to run to your comfort foods to make you feel better, but that may not be the best thing for your body as it’s fighting off an infection," said Maryann.

This is so true, food temptation is one of the hardest to resist, we seek comfort to the food we eat, yet the truth is that it's not good for our own physical and mental being.


"Avoid the Comfort Food Trap" by K. Aleisha Fetters, this article talks about the habits people do when it comes to eating comfort food and she also mentioned on how to fix and change these habits. She mentioned the habits of eating too much carbohydrates which cause us to gain pounds, she said that instead of eating rice and oatmeals, change it to eating sweet potatoes which according to research, it helps depressions. She even mention about the microwaved and pre-heated food, instead of eating that we should just eat steamed veggies that will give us more nutrients than other kind of food.

"The term comfort food is a bit of a misnomer. We indulge in stuff like milkshakes and cheeseburgers to soothe ourselves, but they can actually have the opposite effect once they pass our lips—and it's not just because our clothes feel distressingly tighter," said Fetters.

The quote above was the first paragraph of Fetter's article, this means that eating fatty foods such as mentioned above gives us something  more than just getting heavier and heavier and there are a lot of negative aspects of these foods  that we can get. But still in the latter part of her articles, she fortunately tackled food that are good for us.

Blogpost 6: Cultural Comfort food

I'm done! I'm done explaining why comfort food is so comforting or what's behind comfort food why people keeps on eating them, and I am done explaining the side effects of these food. Well, in this blog post I'll discuss one interesting topic about comfort food.

Even though I explained to the people around me that comfort food is just a psychological matter, they still believe that their comfort food really does comforts them. And to get more perceptions about comfort food, I asked my classmates things what they want to know about comfort food, and one ask a question that really interests me, he asked if different countries have different type or set of food that is comforting for them. Is comfort food of the western countries different from the eastern countries? or Does comfort food depends on the nationalities of each person? I research on this and surprised to things I found..

I found a short article entitled "Bonnie Stern: Shepherd’s pie and other Canadian comfort food to hold close" by Bonnie Stern. The first time I saw the title of the article, my first thought was, "FOR REAL?! There's a CANADIAN COMFORT FOOD?" well yes, there is. Even though Bonnie only mentioned three Canadian comfort food, she explained why these food are considered comforting. According to him the foods she mentioned were connected to Canadian heroes, those people who protected their countries.

The first part of Bonnie's statement was "Remembrance Day is a serious time when we have the chance to truly consider what our freedom means — and to be grateful to the people who protect our country, both past and present. Although food has never been a large part of the day, cooking meals associated with the times, the places or the people you are remembering makes a thoughtful tribute."\

The quote above was to express her gratefulness to her ancestors, she said that shepherd's pie which made of beef is a timeless comfort food for them. And also the wacky cake which was also called as war cake, during the years of war dairy products were rationed to other countries and this cake was very cheap with low-fat ingredients.

The article "International Comfort Foods" by Peter Jon Lindberg talks about the different comfort food of different places, he  mentioned the example of British comfort food like bangers-and-mash and beef stew and is called as the "nursery food" because it is used to make the kids fall asleep with the amount of fat and carbs. He includes Los Angeles, USA, which was a kid-city and the most comforting food for them are the sweet foods such as cookies, chocolates, cotton candies and some salty such as fries and burgers.

And of course,  Asian food!! The heart warming and soul-nourishing comfort of Asian treats, such as the famous bimbap from Korea, the Dodas of India and the Vietnamese summer rolls. These comfort food are convenient because its easy-finger food.

And according to Peter, "And the national comfort trend shows no sign of slowing."

The quote above is true, people around the world seeks for comfort foods, even if there's a variation or different preference of comfort food, still their main point on eating comfort food is to enlighten their feeling and lift up their mood.
 

Blogpost 5: Food Guilt

What is GUILTY PLEASURE? Hmm.. it is when you enjoy doing something and you felt guilty because you enjoyed it too much. Just for example in eating your comfort food, you enjoy eating a lot because it lifted your mood, yet, afterwards  you are regretting it because you ate TOO MUCH. 

I must admit, eating is my guilty pleasure; After I eat  rice (which I'm refraining to eat), I have this feeling of regret,  I shouldn't have eat it, or shouldn't eat at all. We could say that comfort food is the TOP guilty pleasure of every human kind, meaning, It is a big YES, food comforted you but after that it will only adds up to your moodiness and emotions because you're not too happy on how much you just ate. But there's this question appeared in my mind, is being guilty on eating is part of an eating disorder?

With this, I found an article about having guilt for eating, the article entitled, "The New Eating Disorder You Might Not Realize You Have: Food Guilt" of Kesley Damassa. She mentioned in her article that  the meaning of food guilt, which says that food guilt is an eating disorder yet having this is normal, it was originated from people who were influenced by televisions, magazines and all which shows people that there are good food to eat and bad food to refrained to. With these, people have the thinking that eating bad food will have the negative effect on you that you will not like and you'll be no near from being the girl in the movie. 
The point is, having food guilt is a again a psychological disorder that makes you regret for the food you ate.

According to Sheila Tucker, "Food choices don’t make you a bad person – but that is how many people, especially women, talk to themselves."

The quote above was a quote mentioned in the article which was stated by a dietitian from Boston. This quote had an effect on me because a lot of people specially around me (or more like me) are like this. Yes, they think that they made the worst things by just eating. Some of my friends even say sorry for eating to much, because for them eating 'bad' food is a mistake.

The article, Comfort Food: Guilty Pleasure? by Annette Kornblum, talks about the comfort food is a guilty pleasure, where in in their country the fast food offers super-sized meals such as fries, sodas, and burgers which are some of the comfort food a person looks for. 

She also discussed the what comfort food does just like my previous blog post, but what attracts me most in her article was when her friend mentioned that quote. "Even if you eat the most decadent dessert, if you control the portions, you can feel good about it and about yourself and move on."

The quote above was very different to the first article I have discussed where in people are guilty to what they eat, in this quote, it is a positive reinforcement to those who are guilty because it give enlightenment and lifting the feeling of the guilty ones. They have to learn to control the portion they eat, eating great and tasty food will make you feel good but a person must know the limitation of eating these savory food. Just enjoy the food you eat and move on, yes easier said than done, but if you really don't want beautiful things turn into ugly things you should really know what you'll do before you act.

Blogpost 4: Explanations

Well, according to wikipedia, comfort food maybe consumed to positively emotions, to relieve negative psychological effects or to increase positive feelings. Hmm,  in my previous blog posts, I did mentioned different aspects why comfort food are comforting, or why people seek for these sweet fattening food every time their feeling happy or depress. But, just like other things, does comfort food has side effects?

Now, I'll be discussing the different side effects of comfort food, both negative and positive.

After reading articles about comfort food, I found these articles tackling the mental side effects of comfort food to humans. One article entitled "COMFORT FOOD FOR YOUR BRAIN" by Mark Hyman, his article was about the different diseases or illnesses a brain could have, he mentioned that body and mind are connected system and with the imbalances it may cause brain disorders. He did mention that eating nutritious food may help someone to become mentally healthy.

"In fact, when it comes to dealing with anxiety, moodiness, depression and memory problems, certain healthy foods — including a wide array of fats, proteins, carbs and special nutrients — help heal and comfort your brain in ways that no drug or other intervention can. And chances are good that you could benefit from eating a whole lot more of these foods more often," Mark said.

The quotation above simply means that comfort food is good for our brain. With food that have essential fats such as the omega-3 fats, which helps the brain and cells healthy (low omega-3 fats results to depression to anxiety or worst dementia); food with protein and amino acid that helps our brain to work properly and  away from being unfocused and tired; Carbohydrates, food such as vegetables, beans whole grain and more, prevents high blood sugar and insulin, which are toxic to the brain; and lastly, of course food must have vitamins for strong healthy mind.

Nevertheless, I read an article "New Research in Comfort Eating" by Susan Albers, saying that it is true that comfort food gives different positive outcome to people. She mentioned that it is possible that the cause of food being comforting was because of the memories and experiences (which was also mentioned in my previous blog). Yet, she tackled about a research where a saturated fat solution (in exchage of real food)  was being injected to the   respondents, the result was just the same with respondents who really did eat actual food.

According to Susan, "Why does this study matter?  Perhaps it suggests that at the moment your brain is locked into this equation:  Feel Bad + Comfort Food=Feel Better.  If you continually pair feeling bad with food over and over again, it is likely that you will strengthen this connection in your brain.  Also, eating for comfort on a very stressful day begins generalizing to sort of stressful days to any minor bits of stress etc."

The quotation above means that we are locked up with the thinking of comfort food will make us better, and lessen stress. Yet, if this thinking will be used a lot of time, to the point that eating these kinds of food become your habit will make you stress, for the reasons that you are guilty because you ate a lot, or regretting mindless eating and gained weight.

This article reminds me the saying that i always remember, too much of something is not good.

Blogpost 3: It's NOT really the comfort food! Say what?!

Every people who have problems look for something to do to release the bad feelings they have, one of these is eating their comfort food. They say eating that is one of the best thing to do to surpass the heavy feeling you're having, that you will only going to be satisfied once you tasted great and delicious comfort food of yours. Eating your favorite strawberry cake or cheesy burger will uplift these heaviness? But, are these really true? Is only your chosen comfort food can help you? Wherein an specific food can't make you feel better.

I mentioned in my previous blog that comfort food resembles the happy memories that is why it can change your mood, nevertheless, I have read an article entitled, "Comfort Food Myth: Ice Cream May not Boost you Mood" by a senior write, Rachael Rettner and according to the article, Heather Scherschel Wagner, a researcher had an study showing that not only one person's specific comfort food will ease the pain he's feeling. After the respondents in the study watched a sad tormenting movie  for 20 minutes long, all of them were depressed and in pain. The searchers gave some of the respondents their specific comfort food, some got any kind of food and some got nothing. In the end, these respondents were fine after awhile, even though some did not got their specific comfort food and others did not get anything at all.

Rachael mentioned,"But the new findings suggest that, "whether it's your comfort food, or it’s a granola bar, or if you eat nothing at all, you will eventually feel better. Basically, comfort food can't speed up that healing process," Wagner said. It makes sense that people would attribute an improvement in mood to something they ate, without realizing that the food wasn't necessarily responsible for the mood change. "[People] like to find explanations for things," Wagner said."

The quotation above means that even without eating you comfort food, can still make your feeling better and it does not uplift you  faster. It's just our nature to find reasons of everything that happens to us, that we even thought that food solves everything.

The article "Comfort Food Is a Myth" by Tom Jacobs strengthened the believe of the article above. In Jacobs article, he also mentioned a study like Wanger did, and in the end they have the same result. That people's bad feeling will not be removed by food. Even though most of the respondents from the research strongly believe that their comfort food can make them feel better.

Jacob mentioned, "Participants' moods improved over time," the researchers report. However, they add, "this happened to the same extent regardless of which type of food they ate, or whether they at any food at all." 

Meaning you eat or not, the bad feeling you have improves when time passes by. Food has nothing to do in improving you mood. It is just people's excuse to eat more and more and more! Haha these article enlighten me and adds up my learning and yet I just lost my reason why I eat every time I'm feeling sad. Hmm this articles sucks!