Do you eat when you're upset? Emotional eating is something that most people are familiar with. Now, though, researchers have taken a closer look at this type of eating. They've found that positive and negative moods may actually lead to preferences for different kinds of food and why that is.
"We were interested in the 'why,'" said Meryl Gardner, one of the researchers, in a news release. "Why when someone is in a bad mood will they choose to eat junk food and why when someone is in a good mood will they make healthier food choices?"
In order to find out why, the researchers examined how people react to food choices in different moods. In the first study, the scientists investigated the effect of a positive mood on evaluations of indulgent and health foods. They found that individuals in a positive mood evaluated healthy foods more favorably. In contrast, another study revealed that those in a negative mood preferred indulgent foods.
"It suggests that positive mood makes people think about the future, and thinking about the future makes us think more abstractly," said Gardner in a news release.
The findings don't just show that we sometimes make poor choices when we're stressed-only thinking of the immediate-but also reveal something else. The studies show the integral aspect of the time horizon, showing that individuals in positive moods who make healthier food choices are often thinking more about future health benefits.
"If people in a bad mood typically choose to eat foods that have an immediate, indulgent reward, it might be more effective to encourage what we call mood repair motivation, or calling their attention to more innocuous ways to enhance their mood," said Gardner in a news release.
Don't pick up a snack next time you're feeling down. Instead, cheer yourself up in other ways. Your body will thank you for it in the future.
