Prompts

Comfort Food and more  . . . Prompt #727

Excerpted from the May 2023 issue of the Sonoma County Gazette:

Research over the past 20 years shows the same result time and time again: when we’re stressed, we want what researchers call high energy and nutrient-dense foods—those snacks, treats and meals that are high in fat and sugar.

Comfort foods improve mood, reduce loneliness and connect us to cherished memories, often linked to childhood. A craving for comfort food typically stems from an extreme emotion, including happiness, meaning we reach for comfort foods even to celebrate.

Comfort foods often trigger our reward system by releasing dopamine, a hormone and neurotransmitter. When we take a bite of that comfort food, whether it’s a hot fudge sundae, peanut butter and apples, tikka masala or a double bacon cheeseburger, dopamine floods the brain and gives us a huge boost of pleasure feelings. Any negative feelings we may have been experiencing before—stress, anger, sadness or anything in between—is diminished thanks to that hit of dopamine.

For more info, you can read the entire article, “Why do comfort foods make us so happy?”  by writer and editor Amie Windsor.

Today’s Prompts

Write about food that brought you comfort as a child.

Write about food that brings you comfort now.

If you have replaced comfort food with an activity, write about that.

Stressed is desserts, backwards.

Have you backed into an activity that offers a hit of dopamine?

I discovered GROOVE dancing with Diane Dupuis (link to her Facebook Page) and love the endorphins that dancing produces.

Share your writing on my Writers Forum Facebook page. Note: There is no apostrophe on my Writers Forum Facebook page.

Posts on The Write Spot Blog about comfort food and activities that produce endorphins:

Comfort Food and the results of my informal poll.

Ideas for activities to get a dopamine fix:

Create a Hygge Calendar or List

Qi Gong To Calm The Mind

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