Food and emotion

What I like most about life is the way it smells. The sweet odor of decaying leaves void of chlorophyll as a soft wind sends the outdoors through my open bedroom window makes me smile. Garlic and onions sauteed in hot olive oil fill my olfactory nerve with the pleasant smell of what these scents might become - spaghetti sauce, clam Linguine con le Vongole, Coq au vin or possibly Irish cottage pie.

Smell has psychological and emotional meaning in our gray matter. Our brains become charged with endorphins and racked with serotonin as we smell pleasing odors which make us unsuspectingly emotionally high for the food we are about to consume while unpleasant odors cause us to become repulsed and depressed as we smell them.

Think for a second of a childhood memory of a teacher, grandparent, friend or friend's parent who has bad breath, wears stinky perfume, smells of stinky food or smokes and reeks of cigarettes. Now envision how you feel for that person. I suggest your feelings are not strongly positive.

Now envision the boy or girl in middle or high school who has beautifully smelling hair, whom you go to their home for a delicious meal and can still, to this day remember what you ate for dinner. Think of the perfume your first-, third- or fifth-grade teacher wore and how you might still smell that smell today. Why is smell so important?

Think of smell as a prehistoric survival necessity. We smell to survive. Imagine that you are a young Paleolithic child attempting to survive in a basic world without language or technology. You taste a berry, enjoy the flavor but become sick in a few hours and pass the berry by vomiting. You now make a prehistoric memory. You taste the berry as you consume it, taste it as you expel it and have memory of repulsion.

Every time you smell, taste or see that berry again you feel nauseated and know not to consume the fruit - ensuring your survival. Imagine now that you celebrate your 21st birthday in the modern world with shots of tequila with salt and lime. Too much alcohol causes nausea and vomiting resulting in a long-term negative relationship with Jose Cuervo, lime and salt.

Seeing a commercial on television advertising Jose's origin and taste creates an uneasy feeling in your belly without the liquor present. Why is this? How might one become sick simply by mentioning a once appealing product which created an unwanted effect? Again, the reason is the need to survive.

As we smell, consume, ingest, enjoy or reject the food we eat, we create an association. The association can be positive, neutral or negative. A positive relationship with the food we eat creates cravings and the desire to consume more of what we enjoy eating. A neutral experience with the smell and food we consume creates a dispassionate relationship with the food we eat creating a neutral relationship which allows one to eat safe food to merely survival.

A negative emotional experience with the food we eat allows one to avoid food which might cause lifelong detriment to one's health. In other words; if you don't like it, don't eat it. If you enjoy it, eat it - in moderation.

Send comments or other suggestions to Bill Rutherford at [email protected] or visit pensiveparenting.com.