‘If you really want to
make a friend, go to someone’s house and eat with him… the people who give you
their food give you their heart.' Cesar Chavez (Civil Rights Activist)
As we are
approaching the winter festive season, I thought that this would be a good time
to include a post on the many ways food contributes to our psychological
well-being. Of course, food plays a very central role in our lives- we spend a
lot of time shopping for food or even growing it ourselves, deciding what and
how much to eat, preparing the meals, serving and eating them, deciding on
where to eat and who we share our food with. Food therefore has complex
implications for our well-being through many variable ways. However, sometimes
food (or more precisely: our relationship to food) can also be a source of unhappiness.
Food as a pleasure
First
of all, eating is of course a physical need. But beyond that, we all know that
eating food is pleasurable. Eating food activates the reward center in our
brain, leading to a release of the neurotransmitter dopamine, which makes us
feel good.1
The interesting
thing about experiencing food is that it stimulates all of our senses: it is
not just its taste which contributes to our enjoyment, but also how it looks
and smells, its texture and consistency. Sometimes there are even typical
sounds associated with eating certain foods. It has been shown that there are
direct links between the stimulation of our nerve cells when eating food, and our
emotional reactions.2 These emotional reactions are predominantly
positive, like satisfaction or enjoyment, and it is thought that eating reduces
anxiety. It is therefore probably no surprise that we often use food as a
reward for ourselves and for the people around us.
Food as an opportunity to experience growth,
meaning, belonging and gratitude
It has been
shown that people who grow their own food are happier than people who do not,2
and there is evidence that creative cooking and gardening (which may include
growing our own food) directly increase our well-being in many different ways.3
And beyond being a simple culinary pleasure, food can also evoke more profound
positive feelings. These deeper beneficial effects include:
- Cooking and growing food offer an opportunity to experience accomplishment, mastery and the development of skills.3 For example, in order to grow our own food, we need to have a good understanding of the seasons and learn about different plants. Similarly, we apply different techniques and skills by trying out new recipes when cooking. These factors can give us a positive sense of control over our environment, self-efficacy and personal growth. Further beneficial effects include self-fulfillment, a stronger sense of identity, self-help, and mutual support. Additionally, self-grown food can taste better, giving us a further enhancement of pleasure when eating it.2
- Choosing and consuming specific types of food can also be source of positive emotions, if it is aligned with our values and ethical views. For example, consumers of organic food have reported a sensation of comfort, safety and tradition associated with their food choices. We may also feel better when we grow and produce food ourselves, or when buying locally produced foods, which not only helps the environment but also our local community.2
- Food also strongly contributes to our sense of identity;4 it gives us a sense of belonging and traditional continuity, as some foods and recipes are handed down over many generations in families, and local or religious communities. We tend to enjoy eating food that we have grown up with- which is why migrants (including myself) typically take their traditional foods and dishes with them. Food can also play an important role for social bonding and cultural exchange (see below).
- Meal times are opportunities for practicing gratitude, whether we are religious or not. Gratitude is a highly effective way of increasing well-being, because it counteracts the effects of hedonic adaptation (the fact that we quickly get used our outer living conditions), effects of social comparison (our tendency to compare our life with that of other people, who we feel are better off than we are), and the negativity bias (the tendency of most people to notice negative events more prominently than positive ones). The simple act of being grateful that we have something to eat can therefore give our life satisfaction a boost.
Opportunity for healthy living- not only for
the body!6-7
Paying
attention to what we eat and our relationship to food is not only immensely
important for our physical, but also for our mental health. What constitutes
‘healthy’ diet may vary somewhat from country to country. However, a diet high in fruit, vegetable, whole grains,
dietary fiber, and low in saturated
fats and refined carbohydrates (such as sugar and white flour), red and processed meats is generally
recommended. Over the last decades, many interesting and sometimes surprising
findings relating to diet and health have been revealed.
For
example, there is increasing and compelling evidence that nutrition plays a direct role for our mental well-being. For
example, diets high in vegetables, fish and whole grains have been associated
with a reduced likelihood of depression. Conversely, ‘unhealthy’ diets (foods
low in fiber but high in processed meats, sugar and fat) have been linked to a
poorer mental health. Although there may be sometimes an association with other
lifestyle factors (e.g. smoking, exercise etc.), the effects of diet seem to be
to a large degree independent.
One
reason why a high-quality diet supports healthy brain function is of course
because it contains essential nutrients. But there is also another suggested
way how food improves our well-being: namely via the microbes in our
intestines. All of us carry around 100 trillion microorganisms in our guts, and
it has been discovered that there appears to be a significant interaction
between these microbes and our central nervous system via nerve cells, hormones
and the immune system (so called gut-brain
axis).
Research
suggests, that the gut microbes can have
a significant influence on our mood and emotions, in addition to being
important for a healthy digestion and integrity of the intestinal wall. Importantly,
the balance of microbes in our intestines can be influenced by life-style
factors. As we learnt in last
week's post, spending time in nature can modify the gut microbiome in a
positive way. But our diet plays an even more important role for the balance of
microbes, accounting for approximately 50% of the observed variability. Particularly
consumption of complex carbohydrates,
fermented foods and plant-based diets (vegetable/fruit) appear to have a
beneficial influence on the gut microorganisms. Conversely, diets high in
fat, refined sugars and processed foods containing artificial emulsifiers and
sweeteners are suggested to have a negative impact.
Food as a connection to people and nature
Preparing
and eating food together provides a valuable opportunity to spend time with other
people. Cooking for somebody and sharing your food is a way of showing that you care. Joined meals may increase cohesion and bonding within families or between
friends, but food can also create bridges to people we do not know that well,
as noted by Cesar Chavez. It has been well documented that food can bring us together and strengthen social ties even across
cultural differences.2,4 Food acts as a reminder of our common
humanity (as we all have to eat, and have an emotional relationship to certain
types of food) and spending time with other people builds social resources, a
network that we can rely on when times get tough.
Food can
also be seen as a connection to nature
and food producers; even if we do not grow the food ourselves, we can
acknowledge the fact that it comes from nature and from farmers who we depend
on, which may foster a sense of connection.2
The difficult side of food1,2,9,10
Overconsumption
of food now poses a significant health
risk in many countries, while malnourishment sadly still constitutes a problem
in others. Regarding food overconsumption, particularly food high in saturated
fat and refined sugars has been found to be problematic, with intake of a large
number of ‘empty calories’ due to non-nutrient-containing, synthesized foods
and sugary drinks. Ironically, stress also specifically increases our appetite
for foods which are high in sugar and fat, which is why ‘comfort foods’ tend to
be unhealthy.
At
the same time, we tend to be preoccupied with our outward physical appearance,
with slim and toned bodies being suggested as the ideal. It has been proposed
that the discrepancy between the reality of a sedentary lifestyle and high
calorie intake leading to easy weight gain, and the mostly unreachable body ideal
is not only one of the reasons for the high prevalence of eating disorders, but also of depression,
particularly in women.
Our
food intake is regulated by a large
number of different factors: Not only our physiological needs and energy balance of our body, and hormonal
influence, but also by learned reward
behavior, habits, convenience, opportunity and social factors. For example,
instead of eating only when we are hungry and stopping to eat when we have
reached the point of satiety, we may have the unhealthy habit to eat out of
boredom, as a way of dealing with stress, or as a reward. Or we may start to
anxiously over-monitor our caloric intake.
The
danger with these eating habits is that eating
may become an automated behavior and/or eating may even become associated with negative feelings. We may either stop
paying close attention to what and how much we eat and become less sensitive to
the varied sensory pleasures; or we may become overly restrictive, not allowing
us any little pleasures as our relationship to food has become associated with a
degree of self-loathing.
These
problems are complex and there is no easy solution. Dieting for weight loss certainly
does not appear to be effective, as the vast majority of people simply put the
weight back on in the long run, or even gain more weight.
The main
trouble seems to be that if we try to go on a diet motivated by weight loss
(because we do not like ourselves as we are), we are likely to see it as ‘a
diet that we have to stick to’. And if our wish to change our diet is born out
of a degree of anxiety or preoccupation with the way we look, it is likely that
we are going to find it more difficult to stick to a certain regime. We are therefore more likely to be
successful, if we wish to change our long-term lifestyle in order to live a
healthier and better life. This is because rather than being motivated by
negative emotions, we use more positive and sustainable incentives. It can also be very helpful to simply pay more active attention to our food and eating: deliberately taking in all the different sensations that we notice when eating our meal and focusing on our experience. You can
also find more information about this in the post Learning
To Resist Tempations: Self-control And Balancing The Short And Long View. In this way, we can more easily find
the balance between allowing ourselves little extra pleasures and even
overindulging from time to time (including Christmas time or other holidays)
without feeling guilty, while mostly choosing a life-style which supports our
long-term health.
Conclusion:
There is a
Finnish proverb, which summarizes the relationship between food and well-being rather
well: ‘Happiness is a place between too much and too little.’ I hope that you
all have a good time during the next week, and that this post has helped to
raise a little more awareness of the pleasure and positive aspects that food
can bring to us. And if you feel that you could benefit from a long-term change
in your diet, you may have found some more motivation to do this after the
holidays.
References and further reading:
1. Alonso-Alonso M, Woods SC, Pelchat M, Grigson PS,
Stice E, Farooqi S, Khoo CS, Mattes RD, Beauchamp GK. Food reward system:
current perspectives and future research needs. Nutrition Reviews. 2015;
73(5):296-307.
2. Franco LS, Shanahan DF, Fuller
RA. A review of the benefits of nature experiences: More than meets the eye.
International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. 2017;14:864.
3. All-Party
Parliamentary Group on Arts, Health and Wellbeing Inquiry Report (2017). Creative
Health: The Arts for Health and Wellbeing. Retrieved from: http://www.artshealthandwellbeing.org.uk/appg-inquiry/
4. Schermuly
AC, Forbes-Mewett H. Food,
identity and belonging: a case study of South African-Australians. British Food
Journal. 2016;118(10):2434-2443.
5. 2. Lyubomirsky S. The
Myths of Happiness: What should make you happy but doesn’t, what shouldn’t make
you happy but does. Penguin Books; New York. 2013.
6. Jacka FN. Nutritional Psychiatry: Where to
Next? EBioMedicine. 2017;17:24-29.
7.
Franco LS, Shanahan DF, Fuller RA. A review of the benefits of nature
experiences: More than meets the eye. International Journal of Environmental
Research and Public Health. 2017;14:864.
8. Grenham
S, Clarke G, Cryan JF, Dinan TG. Brain–gut–microbe communication in health and disease. Frontiers in
Psychology. 2011;2:94
9. Seligman MEP. What you Can Change and What you Can’t:
The Complete Guide to Successful Self-Improvement. Nicholas Brealey Publishing;
London, UK. 2010.
10. Kabat-Zinn J: Full Catastrophe Living: How To Cope With Stress, Pain and Illness Using Mindfulness Meditation. Piatkus. 2013.
10. Kabat-Zinn J: Full Catastrophe Living: How To Cope With Stress, Pain and Illness Using Mindfulness Meditation. Piatkus. 2013.
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