Mary Dallman, PhD, professor of physiology at UCSF, discovered that “comfort eating” is scientifically proven.
In fact, we have all discovered the truth that food comforts us. Hunger is stressful and eating food responds to this problem by relieving stress. I’m not talking about eating out of hunger, but rather eating to self-medicate. A little self-medication never hurt anyone, and when my husband Walt is at a meeting or out to dinner with his friends, I enjoy trying a delicious “Chinese chicken salad” from a local restaurant that happens to be called “Comforts.” Worse still: Judging by the standards of the food police, I like to combine it with some cheap television. You want to enjoy life!
But with 74 percent of Americans overweight or obese, perhaps it’s time to take a new look at comfort through the lens of neurophysiology.
Comfort redefined
Before we knew that anyone age six and older could use their brain’s resilience pathways to joyfully reach Brain State 1 (EBT was discovered in 2007), we had to settle for the “Medium Medium” brain states.
These are brain states 2 to 4, each with impaired biochemistry, emotions, thoughts, behavior, productivity, spiritual connection and health. But that is the norm in America. Basically, we have a habit of being numb, addicted, absent, anxious, depressed or irritable and this is also reinforced by society. It only seems sensible to give ourselves an external source of comfort chemicals through food.
Am I at one? If not, activate a 5 circuit and rewire it
When we live in the mediocre midbrain state, we settle. You feel uninspired, disconnected and rather worthwhile, so we don’t expect much from life. Boosting our physiological brain state from a 4 to a 3 or 2 with a few chips or a cookie or two sounds pretty sensible.
The problem is that when we do this, we bypass rewiring our brain to be in brain state 1. The line that activates the stress-chemical and inflammatory cascade smiles and says, “Don’t worry!” It is happy because it can return to its daily task of spontaneous activation and, according to the rules of neuroplasticity, becomes more dominant and more inclined to trigger an eating attack.
The New Comfort: Be Emotionally Radical
Since the discovery of EBT, all that comfort eating has started to look like a dysfunction – not a “pathology,” just a little outdated.
Neuroscience gives us the EBT 5-point system so that we are always just a few clicks on our app away from deactivating the stress response, activating reward chemicals and satisfying our true hunger: to be in brain state 1.
At EBT we propose that each of us become emotionally radicalized. We will not settle for the mediocre middle states that invite us to find all the temptations of modern life extremely tempting. They are so tempting because we lack joy in these mediocre states. The chemicals of spiritual connection, falling in love with nature and being out of control with the realization that we are ALIVE disappear.
What makes sense, even if it seems unlikely, until you try to live that way? Demand that you make Brain State 1 your norm. Why wouldn’t you? With EBT it is quite achievable. Of course, we can prepare for a protracted brain state 2 that is still homeostatic, rather than the dreaded allostasis of brain states 3, 4 and 5 with their biochemical toxicity. However, if our goal is pleasure, even Brain State 2 has a background biochemical field of endorphins and dopamine that almost qualifies it as a 1.5.
Increasing our emotional wealth as a daily practice
However, the policy we have set is to be one-sided and, if not, throw a small fit. It’s a neuroscientific adjustment and only takes a minute or two. This strategy involves using EBT whenever we notice that we are not one, doing our best to activate a 5-circle, and then thoroughly destroying it. Demolition!
Our emotional poverty disappears as we find ourselves outside the mediocre center. This comfort food. . . Well, we know we can always have it because deprivation blocks joy. . . But the food looks like food, an object, and our dopamine and endorphins flow freely from Brain State 1. Eating comfort food seems more like… . . uncomfortable.
We prefer to hang out at Brain State 1 and get these delicious chemicals anytime, anywhere and satisfy our deeper need to connect with nature, collect more meaningful moments and live a natural and natural life. . . extremely good.
