When temperatures keep dropping outside, it’s time for some winter comfort foods to warm you up. There’s something in a big cup of soup or homemade stew to warm your body and soul when it’s cold and sad outside. What is it about these winter comfort foods that instantly make us feel better?
Most comfort foods and especially those we enjoy in the winter contain a good amount of carbohydrates. Take Mac & Cheese, for example, which is a popular comfort food year-round. It has a lot of starchy pasta. Many other foods like lasagna or a large pile of spaghetti also have a lot of pasta. Other comfort foods for winter include rice (think chicken and congee) or potatoes (think beef stew or potato soup).
In addition to the carbohydrates in winter comfort food, we often serve it with some type of bread. If you’re making a pot of soup or stew, you usually have a batch of cookies, a cornbread, or a loaf of homemade bread ready to serve along with it. This hot bread is a big part of what makes these dishes comfort food and also adds more carbohydrates to the dish.
These carbohydrates can cause the human body to release a hormone called serotonin that is known to make you feel happy (in addition to preventing depression).
Stews and especially soups have more liquid than other foods. In winter, with the heat everywhere, it is quite easy to become dehydrated. Dehydration can cause headaches and I don’t know about you, but I tend to get pretty grumpy when my head hurts. Getting that extra liquid from soups may be enough to prevent this from happening. Not drinking enough fluids also tends to make you feel tired and sluggish. Of course, you should also try to drink a little extra water to make sure your body has all the fluid it needs to function properly. But that may be easier said than done. While I’m drinking cold water when it’s hot outside, I have a hard time drinking it in the cold winter months. In addition to eating a lot of soup, try drinking some hot herbal teas to get the eight to ten eight-ounce glasses of water you need.
Last but not least, these winter foods make us feel more comfortable simply because they are warm. Eating soups and stews warms us up on the inside, which is just what the doctor ordered after spending time in the cold elements outside. Soups and stews are comforting to eat and will quickly bring your core body temperature back up. As a bonus, you can warm your cold hands in the bowl. That is what I call comfort.