Do you feel down in the cold season? It’s not only widespread, but natural and normal. In cultures with strong links to the rhythm of the seasons, people simply haven’t been expected to be as vibrant or productive during the winter. Our own culture insists that we keep things going year-round, and—whether we simply have a hard time with punching in and out of our jobs in the darkness, or consider ourselves clinically subject to Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)—it’s not surprising that many of us find the long Wisconsin winters emotionally challenging. One way we often try to cope with that challenge is through food.
There’s a lot of shame around coping, and eating habits are subjected to especially merciless treatment. Why should that be the case? We need food, and there’s no reason it shouldn’t bring comfort and enjoyment. Not only does much of what we crave when we engage in winter “emotional eating” make sense, in terms of a seasonal diet; science suggests that many of our favorite comfort foods actually can play important roles in supporting emotional resilience.
Maximizing the ways food can help us feel better might involve some tweaks in your snacks and meals. It shouldn’t, however, have to amount to a radical and rigorous diet of denial and displeasure. Ideally, it would involve an expansion of the palette of pleasure and relief available as you eat your way through the season. Whether time in the kitchen sounds like winter fun to you or makes you want to run for the snack cabinet, it’s easy to eat in ways that you can enjoy, and that provide much-needed comfort and relief.
THE BOWL OF MASHED POTATOES
Carbohydrates get a lot of bad press. As with many nutrients, though, the role they play is a matter of “how much,” “when,” and “how often.” Carbs are an essential macronutrient, after all, and they used to be precious before the advent of agriculture made them so readily available in our modern diet.
Why do we crave a big bowl of creamy mashed potatoes on a winter evening? Obviously, they’re warm, comforting, and filling, but there’s also a biochemical side of the story. The blood/brain barrier regulates what compounds can pass from our bloodstream into our brain, and thereby affect mental activity. Among those compounds are various amino acids derived from the food we eat, and they compete for the privilege of crossing the barrier. Carbohydrates trigger the production of insulin, which reduces the concentration of many such amino acids in our blood. It doesn’t, however, limit tryptophan, which the brain uses to produce serotonin, a neurotransmitter associated with feelings of calm and well-being, as well as a reduction in cravings of all kinds. The upshot is that carbohydrate-rich meals can actually result in a significant uptake in serotonin production and, therefore, an increased sense of ease.
There is a flip-side. Simple carbohydrates (as found in potatoes, white bread, and especially refined and processed sugars and sweeteners) get processed quickly by our bodies. When we eat lots of simple carbs on their own, a big spike in serotonin collapses quickly into an equally extreme dip. After short-term satisfaction, we can end up feeling more sluggish than we did before eating. That might not be a big deal if we have a lot of carbs shortly before bed; in fact, that’s a recommendation we hear from some sleep professionals—serotonin, after all, is also associated with improved quality of sleep. In general, though, we may want to minimize sugar and carb binges, and at least to eat in ways that slow that metabolic work.
That can be as simple as including more dietary fiber, which slows down processing of sugars, in our meals. Just leaving the skins on those potatoes already helps (though including sweet potatoes or sunchokes is even better). Having an orange for dessert following your mac and cheese provides not only fiber (as with most whole fruits), but also a variety of micronutrients and antioxidants—most famously vitamin C. If cookies are the carbohydrate source you’re reaching for in lieu of a lunch, oats are a good high-fiber ingredient. If you’re baking them yourself, go ahead and throw some dark chocolate chips in as well! Chocolate, at least when it contains 70% or more cacao, has been shown to produce helpful, mood-modulating endorphins.
THE TUNA NOODLE CASSEROLE
Once we start to mix up our meals, things get predictably more biochemically complicated. As soon as we toss in some high-fiber beans, we’ve also introduced protein, which immediately begins to interfere with the magic carb-tryptophan process. The solution isn’t to eat less protein, of course. It’s another crucial nutrient, and it, too, gets used by the brain to manufacture important neurotransmitters. While serotonin calms us, dopamine and norepinephrine increase concentration and alertness—valuable resources in a state of winter lassitude. Maximizing the feel-good aspects of food through brain chemistry is a matter of rhythm and balance. We might favor proteins early in the day and carbs later—or we might simply combine a variety of foods in fairly intuitive ways, letting the nutrient balances work themselves out.
Simple carbs don’t provide us with any tryptophan on their own; they simply help get it past our brain’s gatekeepers. For more diet-derived serotonin, we’ll want to eat more tryptophan-rich foods, and there are plenty to be had, with many present in classic comfort food combinations. Take the classic tuna-noodle casserole, clearly invented by busy home cooks to produce a nourishing meal by opening a few cans, mixing them together and tossing the whole thing in the oven. The tuna contains a lot of tryptophan, as well as other important nutrients, including plenty of protein and beneficial fats. Noodles provide satisfying carbs, while cream of mushroom soup gives you some vitamin D from the mushrooms and milk (D also plays a role in serotonin production).
We also find significant levels of tryptophan in soy (especially accessible in its fermented forms), and in many kinds of seeds and nuts—making the latter perfect for snacking. Maple-glazed nuts, readily available these days from sources like your Co-op’s Bulk department, can satisfy a craving wonderfully—and maple is unique among common sweeteners in that, according to some studies, it contains compounds that actually slow down the body’s processing of sugar! Bananas are another good sweet source (no harm in a toasted nut butter-and-banana sandwich). Grass-fed red meat and pork contain tryptophan, and turkey and other poultry are other famously good sources, as are their eggs.
CHEESY GRITS AND EGGS
Eggs definitely deserve a place in your comforting winter diet—especially their yolks, which provide vitamin D and incredibly important fats like Omega-3s. We need fats, and recent studies have shown that not only has their broad vilification been misguided, but that even some of the most prominent targets (like saturated fats) can be part of a healthy, nourishing diet. In any case, nearly everyone agrees that Omega-3s, one of the main types of essential fatty acids we get from food, are incredibly important for our bodies—and especially our brains.
A warming breakfast of corn grits, with some grated cheese mixed in and a fried egg on top, is a perfect comfort food with which to start the day. For a snack, sardines and crackers are hard to beat nutritionally. Fatty fish like sardines, salmon, trout and anchovies (as well as mussels, oysters and other shellfish) are by far the best Omega-3 source out there. They’re what we ate as staple foods during countless evolutionary generations of seaside habitation and gradually ballooning brains. Incidentally, only wild-caught (not farmed) seafood provides the right fats and D vitamins for our bodies. Plants don’t give us Omega-3s in forms we can utilize quite as fully, but flax seeds and walnuts do pretty well–and go great together as elements of a delicious trail mix to snack on, especially in familiar combinations with antioxidant-rich raisins and other dried berries.
BERRY CRISP, GREENS, AND MORE PLANT MEDICINE
Chronic inflammation, in which the body gets stuck in a mode of fighting off harmful intrusions, has been linked to a host of modern ailments, including depression, and berries—especially dark blue and purple ones, like blueberries, acai, and aronia—are packed with anti-inflammatory compounds. Fresh berries make a great, easy snack, and—if their winter price tag intimidates, they’re just as nutritious frozen and can be easily added to hot cereal or pancakes at breakfast. A dessert crisp with a topping of fiber-rich oats is another great vehicle.
Dark, leafy greens (especially kale, collards, and spinach, but also broccoli) also shine when it comes to antioxidants and other micronutrients. Many greens boast levels of vitamin C higher than that found in citrus. They’re packed with fiber, and also offer significant quantities of B vitamins—especially B12, yet another micronutrient linked to healthy brain function. These days you can get fresh greens year-round, and a spinach salad with a rich ranch or blue cheese dressing, or some nuts and dried cranberries, makes for a satisfying side or snack—but frozen greens aren’t much less nutritious, and are easy to add to a variety of comforting foods. Throw some greens in with a big batch of rice and beans, and, beyond adding color and texture, you’ll have the basis for a series of meals that provide many of the best, most balanced nutrients for fighting seasonal doldrums—especially if you use them as the basis for any satisfying toppings and seasonings you love: cheese and sour cream, the warming spice of ginger or hot sauce, peanut butter and soy sauce, you name it.
Speaking of plant medicines, what of caffeine? Its mood-elevating properties can be helpful. Nutritionally, traditional caffeine-containing beverages aren’t bad either. Coffee contains potent antioxidants. Tea (especially green tea—and matcha is particularly wonderful in this respect) contains L-theanine, an important amino acid in dopamine production that can also induce feelings of calm. Caffeine is only problematic when overconsumption brings on increased nervousness and anxiety, and leads to crashes that require larger, and decreasingly effective, doses to try to combat the energetic troughs. In moderation, the comforts of a cup of tea and the bracing punch of a good coffee balance not only the nutrition, but the sensory experience, of our winter eating.
“HEDONIC RATING”
Sensory experience: flavor, texture, color and aroma are every bit as important to feel-good eating as the pure nutritional content of what we put in our mouths and bellies. Just as saltiness balances sugar and makes it more delectable, so bright colors make the whites and browns of many comfort food plates more satisfying, while the tang of citrus and vinegar add liveliness to the experience of being filled up. Complex pleasures tend to be more lasting, and there’s no need for eating to become a drudgery. Nutritional science has even humbly allowed pleasure into its vocabulary by measuring it by “hedonic rating” —a tacit acknowledgment that real, good food nourishes us in ways we can never experience via nutritional supplements. In other words, don’t let guilt drive you to substitute pills for food!
Of course, food doesn’t stand on its own. Nutrition, and even the pleasure of eating, are intertwined with other aspects of our lives. How we exercise, rest, deal with stress, and find enrichment in any areas of life affect our responses to what we eat. It’s a whole-life deal, in which mindful practices support better eating, exercise leads to better sleep, and engaging activity, in solitude or with others, gives meaning to what we do.
If we’re falling short in some area, however, that doesn’t mean we don’t deserve the pleasures of another. Though eating in ways that truly support well-being may take some willpower, guilt and self-denial aren’t the best foundations for any healthy diet. The winter is a fine time to let oneself be embraced by the comforts and enjoyments life provides, saving radical renewal for the spring, if we so desire. In a culture that encourages us to be either highly indulgent with our desires or to be very hard on ourselves, it’s worth tuning out, at least to some extent, what experts might say, finding out for ourselves what ways of eating bring us happiness, and not stressing out too much about the ways in which we might fall short.
