If you’re someone who feels better with a delicious, mouthwatering smell of saucy goodness filling up the kitchen, you’re not alone. On a dull day, a big generous serving of your favourite pasta in a creamy sauce with a drizzle of butter and whole lot of cheese could very well be the answer to your prayers. But did you know that pasta actually ranks very highly among the comfort foods of the world? And we don't need any references or links to validate these claims because it's a fact that when you think comfort food you think pizza, burgers and pasta… and of course cakes and ice creams follow. but a lot of these lists in fact give so much respect to pasta that Mac and cheese and spaghetti and meatballs actually
So How does comfort food really work?
What we think of as “comfort foods” are usually dishes that give us a feeling of well-being and are often associated with a positive memory. Psychologically, we even crave some of these foods because we have certain memories, associations or nostalgia tied to them.
For someone, Dadi’s chhole bhature might be the ultimate comfort food because they’d relish it hot during their visit to their grandparents’ the winter vacations while someone else might crave the Mac’n’Cheese their mum used to send them for lunch at school!
Either way, food and mood go hand in hand. The right comfort food, can instantly uplift your mood.
These can range from chicken soup to pasta to processed snacks high in added sugar, sodium and saturated fat. You might hear two camps talking about eating comfort foods — especially those with little nutritional value like cupcakes and pastries.
Comfort Food and Cravings
Biologically, comfort foods help you deal with stress. They not only taste amazing and help break away from the monotony of your everyday roti sabzi, dal rice etc. but also help reduce the effects of stress hormones on the body. Ever since we’ve been hit by the Covid-19 pandemic, sales and consumption of comfort foods has sky rocketed! Not surprisingly, considering a lot of comfort foods like Mac n’ Cheese first got popular in the United States during the great depression! But in today’s uncertain times, fear, depression, anxiety and lack of movement has definitely affected people’s eating habits and made them fall back on their favourite comfort foods. But why do our body’s crave it?
Biologically:
When you’re stressed, your body releases cortisol (a stress hormone), which breaks down fat and carbohydrates for a quick boost of energy. That leaves you feeling hungry and craving sweet or high-fat foods. When we eat sweet and starchy food, it helps our bodies make serotonin – a hormone that makes us feel calmer, and reduces the cortisol levels in the body. However this is where the slope gets slippery and with the wrong choice of comfort foods, excess binging can lead to a downward spiral of addiction, depression, weight gain, lethargy and a whole lot of problems that come with cholesterol and highly processed foods. But don’t worry, we know that you gotta indulge when you gotta indulge and that’s why WickedGüd marries the perfect comfort food with unbelievable ingredients.
Psychologically:
Imagine a delicious bowl of spaghetti with big chunks of your favourite meatballs glistening in the light of the candle on your dinner table, with a glass of wine right beside it. Are you feeling relaxed already? Taste buds salivating already? Well, that’s what comfort food can do in a nutshell. These responses are all part of our natural response to the “prize” offered by food – and it all starts even before the first bite. These sources of pleasure, starting out in the body as well as the brain, can be almost as satisfying as consuming the meal itself. But, let’s be honest here, not quite as satisfying and that is because the mind is primed to seek fulfilling meals through a combination of responses that are stimulated by all the senses, plus memory, not just by the experience provided by the mouth’s taste centers. Foods like pasta, that triggers the reward system in your brain has been shown to elevate mood and release stress, in the short term of course.
Now we’re no one to judge and you should definitely be kind to yourself – especially during the pandemic, and eat foods that you enjoy. But, this whole period has just highlighted the importance of proper nutrition to keep your immune system functioning well and protect your heart health.
So what should you do?
Love pasta but can’t eat it every day because ‘oh comfort foods feel great but there’s a crash afterwards and is it really okay to have all that maida so often..blah blah blah’?
Well that’s where this gets really interesting. What if we told you that you can in fact give your body and mind all the uplifting they need, as often as you please? That you can be in a good mood every damn day because you’re indulging in something that’s absolutely delicious and much more creative than boring every day food…without the negative impact on your health?
At WickedGüd we believe in no compromises, not in taste. Not in health. That’s why, our plant based 100% vegan pastas are so popular because they’re not only easy to digest but also a great source of energy. The complex carbs keep releasing energy for sustained periods, uplifting your mood while the 18gms of plant based protein per 100gms (50% more than your average pasta) make this a great space for exploring endless pastabilities with comfort food!
Whether it’s a cold fusilli pasta salad for your mid-week pick-me-up or a decadent bowl of Mac and extra cheese for movie night with the fam, with WickedGüd you’re Güd to go!
