1/7(Tue)Comfort food ( Host: Liwen Chen)

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liwen
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文章: 57
註冊時間: 週日 10月 04, 2009 10:20 am

1/7(Tue)Comfort food ( Host: Liwen Chen)

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1/7(Tue)Comfort food ( Host: Liwen Chen)

Happy new year, dear Yoyos! I am Liwen Chen. I will be the host for the meeting on Tuesday night of January 7. This time, I pick a food topic to comfort your mind in the new year beginning.
Comfort foods are typically energy-dense, high-fat, and sweet, such as chocolate, ice cream, and French fries. They provide pleasure or temporarily make us feel better.


Comfort food
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comfort_food

Definition
The term comfort food has been traced back at least to 1966, when the Palm Beach Post used it in a story: "Adults, when under severe emotional stress, turn to what could be called 'comfort food'—food associated with the security of childhood, like mother's poached egg or famous chicken soup." They are believed to be a great coping mechanism for rapidly soothing negative feelings.

Psychological studies
Consuming energy-dense, high calorie, high fat, salt or sugar foods, such as ice cream, chocolate or French fries, may trigger the reward system in the human brain, which gives a distinctive pleasure or temporarily sense of emotional elevation and relaxation. When psychological conditions are present, people often use comfort food to treat themselves. Those with negative emotions tend to eat unhealthy food in an effort to experience the instant gratification that comes with it, even if only short-lived.

One study divided college-students' comfort-food identifications into four categories (nostalgic foods, indulgence foods, convenience foods, and physical comfort foods) with a special emphasis on the deliberate selection of particular foods to modify mood or effect, and indications that the medical-therapeutic use of particular foods may ultimately be a matter of mood-alteration.

The identification of particular items as comfort food may be idiosyncratic, though patterns are detectable. In one study of American preferences, "males preferred warm, hearty, meal-related comfort foods (such as steak, casseroles, and soup) while females instead preferred comfort foods that were more snack related (such as chocolate and ice cream). In addition, younger people preferred more snack-related comfort foods compared to those over 55 years of age." The study also revealed strong connections between consumption of comfort foods and feelings of guilt. An article, "The Myth of Comfort Food" asserted that men tend to choose these types of savory comfort foods because they remind them of being "pampered" or spoiled, while women choose snack-related foods because they are associated with low amounts of work and less "cleanup." It also suggested that women are more likely to reach for unhealthier foods in times of stress due to more weight-conscious mindsets.

Comfort food consumption is seen as a response to emotional stress and, consequently, as a key contributor to the epidemic of obesity in the United States. The provocation of specific hormonal responses leading selectively to increases in abdominal fat is seen as a form of self-medication.

Further studies suggest that consumption of comfort food is triggered in men by positive emotions, and by negative ones in women. The stress effect is particularly pronounced among college-aged women, with only 33% reporting healthy eating choices during times of emotional stress. For women specifically, these psychological patterns may be maladaptive.

A therapeutic use of these findings includes offering comfort foods or "happy hour" beverages to anorectic geriatric patients whose health and quality of life otherwise decreases with reduced oral intake.


More articles about comfort food

5 Reasons Why We Crave Comfort Foods
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog ... fort-foods

Comfort food doesn’t have to be a guilty pleasure
https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyl ... story.html

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Questions:
Session1

Q1. What are your comfort foods? When, and why, do you consume comfort foods?

Q2. What food do you crave when you feel homesick? Please share your homesick foods memories?

Q3. Do you have a favorite alone-food, something you eat when no one’s watching? And what about the opposite: a go-to food that you like for celebration?

Session2

Q4. In one study of American preferences, "males preferred warm, hearty, meal-related comfort foods (such as steak, casseroles, and soup) while females instead preferred comfort foods that were more snack related (such as chocolate and ice cream).” Do you think what are the reasons make different gender choose different comfort foods?

Q5. How often do you eat comfort foods, once a week or more? Did you feel guilty after you eat them? Why or why not?

Q6. Comfort food has never been so healthy, but no doubt we need it. Can you find any healthy or non-food ways to substitute for comfort eating?

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Agenda:
6:45 ~ 7:00pm Greetings & Free Talk / Ordering Beverage or Meal / Getting Newcomer’s Information
7:00 ~ 7:10pm Opening Remarks / Newcomer’s Self-introduction / Grouping
(Session I)
7:10 ~ 7:50pm Discussion Session (40 mins)
7:50 ~ 8:10pm Summarization (20 mins)
8:10 ~ 8:25pm Regrouping / Instruction Giving / Taking a 10 Minutes Break (Intermission)
(Session II)
8:25 ~ 9:05pm Discussion Session (40 mins)
9:05 ~ 9:25pm Summarization (20 mins)
9:25 ~ 9:30pm Concluding Remarks / Announcements

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聚會日期:列於該貼文主題內
聚會時間:當天請準時於 6:45 pm 到達 ~ 約 9:30 pm 左右結束
星期三聚會地點:丹堤濟南店
地址、電話:台北市濟南路三段25號 地圖 (02) 2740-2350
捷運站:板南線 忠孝新生站 3 號出口
走法:出忠孝新生站 3 號出口後,沿著巷子(忠孝東路三段10巷)走約 2 分鐘,到了濟南路口,左轉走約 2 分鐘即可看到。
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注意事項:
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2. 與會者請先閱讀過文章,並仔細想過所有的問題,謝謝合作!

給新朋友的話:
1. 請事先準備 2~3 分鐘的英語自我介紹;會議結束前可能會請你發表 1~2 分鐘的感想。
2. 請事先閱讀文章以及主持人所提的討論問題,並事先寫下自己所欲發表意見的英文。
3. 全程以英語進行,參加者應具備中等英語會話能力,對任一討論問題,能夠以 5 到 10 句英文表達個人見解。
4. 在正式加入之前,可以先來觀摩三次,觀摩者亦須參與討論。正式加入需繳交終身會費 NT$1,000。
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liwen
YOYO member
文章: 57
註冊時間: 週日 10月 04, 2009 10:20 am

Re: 1/7(Tue)Comfort food ( Host: Liwen Chen)

文章 liwen »

Thanks for joining the meeting last night, we really had fun discussions.

Attendees: Shirley, Amy, James, Sabrina , Miller, Alice, Ruu (new comer), Anne, Liwen(host), Steve, Tashi, Iris, Jeff, Chris, Lewis, Julian, Georgia, Daphne and Christine .
Session 1 speakers: Tashi, Lewis, Ruu
Session 2 speakers: Shirley, Alice, Sabrina, Christine
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