Why Pleasure Is Important When Deciding What to Eat

 What is your favorite food? is a question that almost everyone can answer. It is simple to understand why because of how wired humans are to like food. In fact, for many people, eating is one of life’s greatest pleasures!

Taking pleasure in food offers important health advantages in addition to making mealtimes delightful. Among other benefits, savoring food can boost digestion, enhance your connection with food, and help you recover from disordered eating.

In certain circumstances, getting enough “vitamin P” (or even vitamin mmmm) is equally as crucial as the foods on your plate. Explore the delicious nuances of why pleasure matters for food by reading on.

The psychology of pleasure eating

The science of recreational eating has been extensively researched. Their results are fascinating and mostly positive. According to biology, people’s enjoyment of eating is physiologically processed in both their lips and their brains. “Pleasure of any kind, including pleasure from food, leads to a release of dopamine in the brain,” says therapist, nutritionist, and Certified Body Trust practitioner Aleta Storch, RDN, MHC, of Wise Heart Nutrition and Wellness. Dopamine, she explains, is sometimes referred to as the “feel good hormone” because it stimulates the brain’s reward circuits, which aid in promoting happiness, serenity, motivation, and attention.

In fact, according to some older 2011 researchTrusted Source, persons who are obese may have impaired dopamine sensitivity, which causes them to eat excessively in order to get enough pleasure from food. But when our brain chemistry is in order, the pleasure we get from eating can also have a positive impact on our bodies. We actually digest and metabolize food more efficiently when we love the food we are eating and boost dopamine, claims Storch. Our neurological system enters a rest and digest state when we’re calm as a result of enjoying our food, which enables us to thoroughly break down and absorb the nutrients from it.

The things we eat provide us with emotional nutrition.

If food were only a source of energy, meals would be quite dull. Eating has a significant impact on many aspects of the human experience, from strengthening relationships with family members to linking us to our cultural history.

In other words, eating provides both physical and emotional nutrition. Here are a few ways that eating can nourish your spirit.

Food satisfaction fosters interpersonal relationships

Without food, what good is a party or family reunion?

According to a 2015 studyTrusted Source on Thai social communities, sharing meals with others frequently results in people feeling happier.

A wonderful combination of nourishment and pleasure

Few things in life can compare to the delight of food on a daily basis. The food we eat satisfies our taste buds, nurtures our bodies, and lifts our moods.Try starting small to bring more pleasure to your table.Storch advises, “When you prepare a meal or snack, see if there is anything you could do to make it even 10% more enjoyable.” It’s possible to transform a meal from “meh” to “yeah” by heating up a brownie, adding goat cheese to a salad, or adding more milk to thin out a dish of oats.