Chapter 10 eat to relieve worries

Oscar Wilde said in his famous play "Not to be Played", through the mouth of the protagonist, said a famous saying: "When I am in trouble, eating is my only comfort." If we all agree that hunger and weight should not be included in our respective "trouble lists", then in addition to the basic function of maintaining life, diet actually has another function, which is to relieve worries and eliminate our mental stress with short-term sensual pleasures. A long melancholy that can never be cleared away. Diet to relieve worries has its own origin.It's a pity that "how to relieve worries, only Du Kang" has never really overcome the eternal sorrow of "cutting off water with a knife".I believe that most people who have the habit of using alcohol to relieve their worries will believe that anesthesia is the essence of alcohol, and its effect in relieving worries is obvious, but what they have to do is a hard landing method, which is not the same as that in the surgical operating room. The normal procedure is no different.The way of overeating, the principle is exactly the same.

In fact, the expulsion of depression by diet is not only a process of biochemical reaction, but also a psychological level.Diane Ekman made a perhaps unconvincing but at least touching note on this in the book "Journey of the Senses": "Our first experience of happiness is from the mother's milk, accompanied by love. , a sense of security, caress, and happiness came into our mouths together, and then my mother would feed them with her own hands, or even chew them in her own mouth, and then feed the food into our mouths. This strong memory has never faded in my heart."

Of course, we cannot infer from this that all those who were not breastfed in infancy may become alcoholics when they grow up. In fact, apart from this Freudian explanation, the taste, sight, hearing and other senses have the potential to become alcoholics. At the level of common feelings and eating behaviors, the sensory pleasure brought by food itself and eating activities, the hypnosis of rituals and the joy of games are also important means to relieve worries.When in a bad mood, many Americans will unconsciously eat a bag of potato chips. According to the research of the author of "The Secret House" (The Secret House), Bodinis found that the world's potato chips The reason why they all have similar packaging and are designed to be slightly larger than the mouth is to let you get the early pleasure from the harmless act of destruction of tearing the packaging, and then you have to open your mouth as wide as possible to bite out Crisp sound - is it fun?Is it fun?Remember your depression?

"Sugar is sweet, sugar is fragrant, Eat, eat, play, be joyful, Reading is hard, reading is tiring, What is the use of reading? " This nursery rhyme appeared in a children's magazine in Shanghai during the middle of the "Cultural Revolution". Elementary school students of different levels came to spread the poison of "the theory that reading is useless".Although this happened more than 30 years ago, I think this "old sugar seller" is still a reactionary in the minds of today's school children and parents, because the modern version of the decent nursery rhyme is: "Enhance the ability of learning and memory." , eliminate brain fatigue, and give your child Naoqing!"

Since sugar can relieve stress and improve mood by increasing serotonin, and has a neurological stabilizing and comforting effect, sugar and sugar foods are considered to be worry-relieving foods with low investment and quick results.Popping a piece of candy in the mouth of a crying preschooler can kill him because children's brains are not yet developed enough to properly process the depression and stress they feel Sugar chemical reaction. Sugars are further divided into monosaccharides and polysaccharides. The former includes white sugar, glucose, fructose, etc. Representative foods include chocolate, jam, ice cream, etc.; polysaccharide foods include whole grains, barley, wheat, oats, and melons. And high-fiber polysaccharide vegetables and fruits.Monosaccharides are absorbed quickly and go away quickly, which sometimes increases the body's stress. Digestions of polysaccharides are slower to digest, and the process of increasing serotonin is relatively smooth.

A British study shows that in response to different levels of stress, the human body will make a natural selection of sugar.According to reports, the researchers randomly divided sixty-eight men and women into two groups. One group listened to some brief innocuous introductions before lunch, while the other group was told to spend ten minutes after lunch preparing a long A four-minute speech.As a result, people in the stressful group preferred to choose chocolate and cake instead of healthy food.Jane Wardle, a professor of clinical psychology at the University of London, said this may have to do with the biochemical stimuli of carbohydrates, which increase the availability of serotonin in the brain, which in turn affects mood.

Sugar is the main source of heat and happiness. About 70% of the human body's daily heat energy is converted from sugar, which provides energy for the activities of various tissues and organs. In addition to being called "coal for the human body" in medicine, sugar also plays the following important roles in the human body: Sugar is the only source of heat energy for the brain nervous system. If the brain lacks sugar, people will suffer from coma and convulsions; sugar is an indispensable component of bones, cartilage, nerves, cornea, vitreous body, etc.; Do not drink sugar; lack of sugar in the heart will stop beating; lack of sugar in the blood will cause hypotension; lack of sugar in the liver will reduce the detoxification ability;If a person completely quits sugar, it will lead to ketosis (KETOSIS), the clinical manifestation is depression and lack of vitality, that is to say, depression.

Sammi Cheng’s hell-like weight loss story of losing 33 pounds in four years may be familiar, but Sammi, who has become famous and claims to have practiced the magical skill of “elastic belly”, is crazily devouring desserts today, which is appalling.According to her self-confession, in the past she could not even eat a piece of chocolate, but now she eats ice cream every day when she wakes up, and she can eat a frozen crab, half a papaya and a glass of skimmed milk alone for supper. It set a record of eating Yihe family-sized ice cream and six meringue tarts in one sitting.She said: "If you want to eat, you have to eat as much as you want. For example, when eating ice cream, I will eat it with a spoon, so that I will never know how many cups I have eaten. It is really enjoyable!"

Regarding this method of "releasing the belly, but also releasing myself", Zheng Xiuwen explained: "In life, do you have to weigh yourself on the scale every day? That is really painful!" Whether Zheng Xiuwen's crazy sweetness is due to depression, she does not say, of course outsiders have no way of judging.However, since the human body can automatically choose sugar in response to stress, wouldn't it take revenge for the "not eating a single chocolate" that lasted for four full years? Think of our body as a computer, whatever commands are input, the information will be reflected.Eating the food in the stomach is like entering various instructions into the computer, which not only affects our health, but also affects our emotions.

Besides sugar, there are many foods that can bring us happiness.Whole wheat bread or soda crackers are also rich in carbohydrates, and this "thing" like sugar, also helps to increase serotonin, and the trace mineral selenium rich in it can also boost mood.Along with whole grains, chicken is also a rich source of selenium.Of course, the chewiness of whole wheat bread, the crispness of soda crackers and the game in the mouth bring pleasure to eaters, which cannot be ignored. The lack of folic acid leads to a decrease in serotonin in the brain, which can also induce depression, early-onset dementia and even mental illness.Research by McGill University found that those who were controlled for not getting enough folic acid usually experienced symptoms such as insomnia, forgetfulness and anxiety five months later.What are folate-rich foods?Spinach is the most, and almost all green vegetables and fruits are also available.

Many protein amino acids that are directly related to emotional stability are raw materials for the production of emotional hormones, such as tryptophan (which can form serotonin and melatonin), leucine (which can produce growth hormone and thyroxine), etc. Indispensable ingredient for a happy mood.Bananas, dairy products, and turkey are all foods containing tryptophan. When it comes to bananas, scientists believe that because bananas also have a substance called alkaloid, it can boost your spirits and improve your confidence.I give this one a thumbs up, because bananas look like a delightful thing, regardless of shape or colour.Besides, monkeys who love to eat bananas are usually happier than other animals. Deep-sea fish oil is a fashionable anti-depressant and anti-aging substance, because omega-3 fatty acids in fish oil can block nerve conduction pathways and increase the secretion of serotonin.Advocates of this theory also cite, for example, that people all over the world who live by the sea are happier, not only because the sea is refreshing, but also because they eat fish as a staple food.I think this statement is somewhat arbitrary, at least the Japanese who live by the sea and often eat fish are more depressed.The only thing that is certain is that those who have made a lot of money by selling deep-sea fish oil to the Chinese have no reason not to feel sincerely happy. Ryu Murakami wrote in his "Cooking Fiction Collection": "Good soup is terrible...I think about him for a long time, but when I came home, I drank the soup made by my mother...At that time In winter, the soup is so warm and delicious, I forgot about my friend, his pain, his worries, and everything, just drinking my soup.” What's depressing is that, except for this "so warm and delicious" Wangyou soup, most worry-relieving foods, including sugar, protein foods, and fatty foods, are identified as "healthy food" by the popular concept of healthy eating. unhealthy food.Take the dreaded cholesterol as an example. Excessive cholesterol is a risk factor for cardiovascular disease and stroke, but excessively low cholesterol concentration is also one of the causes of depression, chronic fatigue syndrome, and even mental disorders. Ask yourself: To eat, or not to eat?A little annoying, a little hungry.Perhaps, this is the crux of most people's unhappiness. In fact, health-related dietary restrictions are themselves a ubiquitous stress that is evolving into the latest breed of depression.Does saying this lead to the conclusion that "unhealthy equals happiness, the more depraved the merrier"?I don't want to delve into this question, which is always morally involved.The taste of indulgence, the root of the problem may be that the happiness that morality and aesthetics can bring us has become increasingly rare, and the removal of depression is increasingly dependent on technology and the wear and tear of daily life.Fashion magazines are trying to replace "have you eaten" with "are you happy?" This makes us believe that happiness is actually a very "chemical" thing. Depression, stress, and hunger are the same, they have their own origins, but the so-called process of eating to relieve worry or decompression is unconscious, and it is not as intuitive as the speed of opening a compressed file with WinZip.In fact, what I have been holding back in my heart is that there may not be any food in the world that guarantees to make you happy. If there is, there is only one source of happiness: challenging taboos and breaking taboos.If you are not allowed to eat, you will eat it; if you cannot drink it, drink it, no matter who your mother marries!