"Grits, eggs, bacon, sausage, bologna and fat back." Steven Meadows says he believes a good meal like that can lighten his mood.
Experts say that's true especially now. When we are dealing with a troubled economy, you may just be looking for some comfort and that can come in the form of food.
Meadows says for him comfort food is "all I can eat (laughs)."
According to dietician Carole Mabry with Spartanburg Regional Medical Center, our health suffers in tough times.
She says, "We tend to turn to those kinds of foods that make us feel better which are often high in sugar high in fat. So we tend to eat a little less healthy when the economy is bad."
However, it may not just be a bad habit that we reach for bad foods. According to Mabry, its chemical and when we get stressed out our body releases a chemical called Cortisol and we crave those mood foods. Unfortunately, she says the worse a food is for us many times the better it makes us feel.
She says, "Sugar and chocolate do tend to give us a temporary feeling of feeling better ."
But that feeling is only temporary, as Ben Smith points out, after the meal you still have to deal with the stress.
Smith says the gas prices have him stressed out. "I am in the grating business and my machines are shut down right now because I can't find any diesel."
Some experts worry this could raise the rates of obesity if the economy stays in the dumps.
As for Meadows, he says he'll still eat the food that makes him feel good but he will try to stress less by being economical about it.
He says, "I like to hit buffets so I can eat more for a cheaper price."
If you think you are overeating because of stress, Mabry says the best way to stop is to recognize you are doing it. Also keep healthy foods around so you'll grab that instead of going to the vending machine. If you want to reduce the amount of the chemical in your body that makes you want mood foods then you need to exercise.
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