Comfort food

Comfort food is food that provides a nostalgic or sentimental value to someone. In many cases, it is characterized by its high caloric nature and high carbohydrate level.

Comfort food, unhealthy emotions, self-medicating, and unhealthy food

According to the article Ultra-processed foods – like cookies, chips, frozen meals and fast food – may contribute to cognitive decline published on University of Florida's Center for Aging and Memory website, the consumption of ultra-processed/processed/junk food may cause brain impairment/cognitive decline.

See also: Consumption of processed foods and brain impairment

According to the Henry Ford Health website:

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"The foods we tend to lean toward for comfort are often high in fat and sugar," says Sayde Beeler, MSW, RDN, a registered dietitian at Henry Ford Health. "Those types of foods stimulate the brain's reward system, the same pleasure center that gets activated when you take drugs." A variety of factors converge to signal your brain to crave specific foods. Some people gravitate toward sweet foods. Others lean toward warm and hearty foods, particularly when the weather is cold. In each case, a combination of psychological and physiological factors drives the craving. "Food can be a sort of antidote to messy, painful emotions," Beeler says. "People turn to food when they're feeling lonely, depressed or guilty, and to celebrate success and achievements. During the pandemic, people may be eating to self-medicate. You want foods that help you feel safe, comfortable and warm." And sometimes, food just provides us with a hit of nostalgia. The drawback, of course, is that food doesn't address the emotion that triggered the craving. "If you're feeling guilt, sadness or grief, food may help numb those emotions in the moment, but then the feeling returns," Beeler says. "And if you're overconsuming foods that are high in fat and sugar, that can lead to increases in blood pressure, cholesterol and triglycerides over time."

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Steven A. Witherly, a food scientist and the author of “Why Humans Like Junk Food,” has explained to the New York Times that nacho cheese Doritos are the archetype of addictive processed foods. In order to maximize the pleasure, half of the calories in Doritos come from fat.

Picture of an ice cream sundae.

According the website Fast Food Nutrition, a Dairy Queen strawberry sundae contains between 240-480 calories.

See also

• Rational Media Board of Director and RationalWiki Moderater User: Spud and ultra-processed/unhealthy/junk food
• Food science