Eating your feelings: is there a silver lining?

Image: Wix

“Good food is good mood”. You’ve heard this dozens of times. I also use it as one of my hashtags. If eating good food makes us feel better, could that possibly mean the opposite is also true? Could positive emotions and good mental state make us want healthy food? Well…not really and not always. And here's why!

It's easier to think about applying healthy habits being in a good mood. When we're full of energy and motivation, changes don't seem that scary anymore. And the other way around, when feeling low, healthy meals and all that “sticking to the plan” stuff could be an impossible task. Now, try to remember the time you felt very very happy, full of excitement and even euphoria. What was happening with your diet then? I doubt it was really healthy either.

In both cases we are reaching to our favourite foods. And the moment our favourite food is consumed, the body is producing dopamine - neurotrotransmitter, responsible for the feeling of happiness, that is hard to deny. So why should we!

A healthy diet have to include foods that are not only good for your body and mind, but also make you feel better. The key is moderation. Getting the dopamine dose from a bowl of ice cream is completely okay, getting the dopamine dose from a pint of ice cream… erm….not really.

Sometimes, it's okay to eat in order to regulate emotions. But it's possible for comfort eating to turn into an unhealthy mechanism. Food never should be the only option for dealing with problems. It's always better to discuss whatever difficult emotions you experience, than eat family-size chips on your own.