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I don’t know about you, but we have struggled with some illness in my family over the past month. Four of the seven kids had influenza B and although I didn’t get sick, I was tired.
I’ve noticed that when my kids are sick, or my husband is sick, or I am sick, I often crave junky foods. (Unless of course someone has a stomach bug and nobody wants food of any kind!)
Why Is That?
My theory is that when we are sick, our bodies and our minds are stressed, and for many of us, that stressful feeling often translates into the desire for comfort or junk foods. Unfortunately for most of us that have battled our weight, our long time comfort foods are not broccoli or salad. Our comfort foods are often those foods that we associated with feeling taken care of by our parents or the foods we used to satiate stress before we started to get control of our eating habits.
Childhood Comfort Foods
Your childhood comfort foods are probably different than mine, but I remember loving Sprite, salty soup, oatmeal chocolate chip cookies, macaroni and cheese, and chocolate cake. I have friends who tell me that their childhood comfort foods were biscuits, chicken and dumplings, apple fritters, ice cream, and spaghetti and meatballs. Feeling sick often brings back those memories of what foods made you feel good as a child, and so it is pretty natural to think about those foods when you or someone in your family is sick.
Stress “Reducing” Foods
These foods never reduced stress for me, but when I was obese these foods were the ones I often turned to when I was stressed. The truth is these foods added to my stress because I almost always felt guilty after I ate large quantities of Oreos, chocolate candy, ice cream, desserts, or bags of chips. When I am sick, I do think about these foods. The difference between now and then is that I never eat large quantities of these foods and rarely have them whether I am sick or not.
Managing The Comfort Food Craving
Can you turn off the comfort food craving when you are feeling under the weather? Well, I don’t think you can turn it off but you can manage it.
When I’m under stress, either from illness or other things going on in my life, I have to make a conscious choice not to give in to my cravings for junky foods. It takes a deliberate effort sometimes for me to acknowledge that I’m feeling stressed, acknowledge that I want junk food because of the stress, and reaffirm that no matter how I’m feeling,junk food is not going to help.
Now of course if you are sick and craving some salty soup, that’s different. If you are sick and craving peanut M&M’s, they are not going to help you feel better. When we are sick we need to nourish our bodies with nutrient-dense foods that will help us heal, not foods that are full of sugar and unhealthy fats that will do nothing for our body.
It comes down to managing the emotions when you are sick just as you have to manage your emotions when you are well. It is definitely hard to manage our emotions when we are sick because we are not as physically strong as we usually are. The good news is that you can do it.
Do you crave comfort or junk foods when you are sick? What to you do with those cravings? Diane
Thanks to my my good Internet friend, Nancy Kennedy who suggested this topic through Facebook.
I crave junk food but do not eat or get some for myself. I know that it’s bad for my weight and those foods don’t have any nutrients in helping me recover from my virus.
This is an interesting topic. While I could easily reach for junk food when I am stressed, I don’t crave it when I am sick. I (almost) always have homemade chicken stock in the freezer, and our “sick food” is chicken soup with lots of veggies. It’s what I expect when I am sick. My mom never made any special foods when I was sick, but I think what we crave may have a lot to do with food memories from when we were little… Our older son, who is at college, still eats chicken soup now when he is sick…
I would catch the flu every year in school (and most years even now) and have to be sent home. My mom worked so she would get me from school and bring me to my grandmother’s house until she got off work. Each time, my grandma would make a big pot of homemade chicken and dumplings. So even now, as an adult, when I am down the the flu I really want chicken and dumplings.
I usually know I am getting sick when I start craving salty soup… I don’t normally eat it. So when my throat gets scratchy, I feel unusually tired and I think… “Oh I really want soup right now” then my next thought is “Oh no…”
When I am getting over a stomach bug the first thing I crave are granny smith apples… weird I know but it’s usually the only think I can tolerate!
The timing of this post is incredible. My daughter phoned and woke my wife and I this morning at about 6:45 a.m. Our oldest granddaughter was feeling sick and neither my daughter or her husband could afford to take any more sick leave. So my 10 year old granddaughter got dropped off early this morning. I gave her some sprite with a dash of ginger sprinkled into it. Ginger is supposed to settle the stomach. Well apparently it worked. Within an hour she had her appetite and can really go to school. I guess today will just be a stay at Grandpa’s and enjoy the Disney Channel day.
When I’m stressed or sick, I do think of comforting things to eat. I haven’t had macaroni and cheese in years but it will come to mind along with my favorite ice cream. My girls say I ruined ginger ale for them because I would give it to them when they were sick at their stomachs. Oh well.
I definitely crave certain foods when I’m sick or getting sick, particularly with a cold. I think I am trying to find something that will make me feels better. Mashed potatoes or pasta is usually high on my list.
Sorry for the type in my comment. I meant to write “will make me feel better.”
I very rarely get sick, but if it happens – always a sore throat, so I crave soft carb foods like cream of wheat or frosting LOL! I usually end up having some, but most times my appetite will also be decreased so it is not as bad as a PMS craving
I agree, junk foods and carbs sound great when I am sick. It’s certainly harder to stay focused when you feel terrible.
I TOTALLY crave Spaghetti-O’s when I am sick. This year I did not have any when I was sick. Fought the urge, but it was hard!
I wouldn’t say I crave junk, it’s more like I crave things like soup, jello and gatorade. My body is probably trying to tell me something when I’m sick because any other time I never eat these foods.
Still fighting a raging sore throat and a fuzzy head, but my husband brought me some leek and spinach soup for lunch. It’s soothing my throat without all the damage I’ve been wanting to do with
donuts, ice cream and soda! And I agree with you, E. Jane… mashed potatoes with butter always sounds good when I’m sick. Fortunately, they’re too complicated to make when you’re feeling woozy!
Definitely comfort foods like soup, mac n’ cheese, orange juice and ice cream!
For me it depends on what I am sick with.. the flu – I could not even eat. Cold & other stuff – often the carbs – my love! I just have to talk to myself constantly – the ole wait 15 minutes & pep talk thing!
Both mum and dad worked so I don’t really remember what we ate when we were little or sick. When I am sick now I usually want minestrone. I can’t stand chicken soup, but minestrone is delish! And orange juice. But I normally don’t like orange juice so I don’t let myself drink it.
I struggle more when I am tired than when I am sick. When I am tired I want sugary foods like chocolate and hot chocolates. Sometimes I cave and sometimes I don’t. It’s a work in progress!
Nice post Dianne, I had been thinking about this the other day.
I always lose my appetite when I’m sick regardless if it’s a cold or the flu. It’s after I’m sick that I start thinking I could have this and that (sugary carby foods usually) because I haven’t eaten in a couple of days.
My appetite is usually decrease when i’m sick and if I haven’t lost my appetite completely then i am definitely guilty of craving sugary junk food such as donuts and cookies. I don’t know if it is that I’m too lazy to make something healthy or that i think since I’m not eating as much, that I can have the sugar.
I definitely crave something comforting. More and more that comforting does not involve anything unhealthy, but it’s often still on the healthiest option so I usually don’t give in, but it is tough!
I do crave all sorts of food when I am not well. It really depends on my illness> When I have a cold, i desire very salty food and preferably fried. I just go for it if is available. Fortunately, it is not available more frequently and I just treat myself if I am not well.
If I am sick, I have to force myself to eat. I don’t crave anything except getting well!
I find this very interesting – when I am ill I always crave Coca Cola. Partly I think because it is easy to drink, but mainly because some years ago when I had food poisoning for some weeks the only thing I could keep inside me was coke (half flat).
I am sure that this is pure association.
Being sick often the taste for food changes due to the pills more often. I remember craving for spicy foods during illness in my childhood.
Yes, I do tend to crave comfort foods when I’m sick and mainly because they bring good memories of mom taking care of me when I was younger. However, I also crave junkier foods simply because they are easy and when I am sick I don’t feel up to cutting up veggies or cooking much.
Thankfully, I’m rarely sick so it’s not an issue I have to deal with often.
Hi Diane, surprisingly I don’t crave junk food when I’m sick..I usually want soup and more soup
maybe some dark chocolate but that’s it, it’s a completely different story when I’m stressed..that’s when I want bread or anything baked (I love them…) but I think over time I have learnt to manage my stress by making new plans, or talking about it basically doing something else other than reaching out for the unhealthy stuff.. (I usually don’t keep them around either)
Macaroni and canned tomatoes every time!
That is so true. I know whenever I get sick I always crave the comfort foods that I loved when I was a child
I do eat junk food when I’m stressed but only because a) I like the taste and b) if you’re busy, normally associated with stress, then time is a premium and there is not enough of it to go get something healthy.
Interestingly when I feel ill I don’t crave anything but rather eat either what I think I can stomach, good or bad, or don’t eat.
Soup all the way!
There is no doubt that being sick can increase your desire for certain types of foods. The thing is is that when you are sick, you’re certainly not likely to overeat very much because you feel so poorly.
Being sick means that you deserve a break and eating comfort food during that short time of feeling bad is a forgivable offense. You can always catch up when you get better.
Chicken soup! Not so bad and so comforting!
When I’m feeling sick (or even blue) I always crave potato soup…with cheese…..and bacon bits! I never really gave much thought to why.
I was just COMFORTED that EATING IT made me feel better.
Hmmm….
Much of our craving is triggered when our blood glucose levels drops. This make us feel tired and blue. As it drops our will power goes with it.
Comfort food does make me feel better no matter what others tell me, I always seem to be on a diet but when i am sick my diet jumps out the window ha ha.
i loved reading this. I tell so many people that your taste buds can change or do for me when we are ill. They all said i was crazy – i will send them all your sites details.