If you are wondering why you aren't thinking too clearly right now, your last high-saturated-fat extravaganza- which you ate to soothe your soul- may have fuzzied your brain.
We all know how satisfying a high-fat meal can be. Especially when nerves are strung tight and everything around us seems so unsure. Comfort food got its name for a reason.
We are comforted by a high fat meal.
That seems a given, right?
And we can all understand why. When we were fighting for our lives every day out in the wild, if we suddenly fell upon a platter of bar food, we'd definitely have the stores to run from the tiger and to kill our own next meal.
We know that we do not live in that kind of environment any more. But we still have stress. Real stress- it is not imagined. But it requires thinking, usually, not running. And we know that too many high fat meals can do some bad things to our heart and our waistline. But still...soooo tempting!
So, if we do not need that kind of caloric overload to survive into the next week, and if it isn't good for us to begin with, wouldn't you think that we would stop craving such things?
It turns out, we use the actual belly fat created from these meals to help us cope with our chronic stress (the stress that comes from day in, day out worry-about rent, the office, the kids, what have you).
"Our studies suggest that comfort food applies the brakes on a key element of chronic stress," Norman Pecoraro, Ph.D. (1).
Scientists studying chronic stress and the effects on the body have observed in the lab that 24 hours after a stressful occurrence, animals are drawn to sugar and fat. If exposed to the stress consistently, and allowed to eat the food that is subsequently craved, the animals develop a tubby belly. Seems logical. But, the scientists observed that, with the emergence of the fat, the bio-markers of the chronic stress decreased. AND they surmised that the response was coming from the fat, itself, in what scientists call metabolic feedback. This feedback is how how the body can stop, or regulate, reactions. In this case, the body wants to stop the reactions that are cascading into motion from the chronic stress. Chronic stress is REALLY not good for us. So, creating a regulatory system is our bodies' solution. And that solution is a tubby belly.
Which is great! Sort of...
This solution is not the healthiest way to cope with stress. We can train our minds and bodies in better ways to stop the stress reactions, through yoga, meditation, exercise, nature therapy, etc. Which might not seem as fun as a fried splurge. But, it does avoid a host of other problems that are linked to obesity. So- pretty worth it.
But, a healthy body can handle an unhealthy meal now and again. As long as you are doing other things to control your weight and functional health, a bout with stress and some subsequent unhealthy splurges can be dealt with over a period of time with the return to your usual healthy routine. That's the beauty of getting your body tuned up. It can handle some speed bumps along the way. And some delightful fried pickles and cheese fries.
Though, that brings us to the harmful immediate response of eating a high fat meal- you get a sluggish brain!
Not a problem if all you want to do is enjoy your meal, then collapse and read or do something mindless to relax and put yourself in a better mindset. Just don't try to take a test or figure out a solution to your problem right after the high fat gorge. Your brain won't be firing on all cylinders. You may just make your situation worse...(2)
1.University Of California - San Francisco. "Comfort-food Cravings May Be Body’s Attempt To Put Brake On Chronic Stress." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 11 September 2003. <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2003/09/030911072109.htm>.
2. Ohio State University. "Our ability to focus may falter after eating one meal high in saturated fat: Study also looks at effect of leaky gut on concentration." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 12 May 2020. <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/05/200512134433.htm>.
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