Vishen Lakhiani and a co-host explain why comfort foods like chocolate and ice cream backfire for anxiety, then suggest swapping them for healthier alternatives like pickles that trigger the same calming response without the crash.
What would be the sensory hacks for reducing anxiety using taste?
Okay, well, the warning about taste, because that is a thing where a lot of people will eat to calm themselves down.
I do that with chocolate.
Right?
Right.
It's a very common thing. So it's something that you want to be aware of, that if it's, if it works for you, that's fine. But for many people, they feel like they're not in control of it. Not really the healthy choice.
It can be dangerous.
Right. And so you want to think about not doing that. What might you do instead? You might turn to another sense. If I need to give myself that, that comfort, I'm going to have a pickle and not ice cream.
You know, you just made me realize, because I, when I have a stressful day, I love closing my day with a glass of red wine. But I just realized it may not be the alcohol, it may be the taste of red wine that I've developed this calming association with.
Right. So what you might try to do is substitute herbal tea or something like that, where you're like, okay, non alcoholic wine. Right. Or a non alcoholic wine, because. And again, it's like, have it not be some kind of afterthought, but build a ritual around it. Have it be special, have it be something that you really enjoy. Maybe you're sharing it with somebody else so that it's not a deprivation, it's an indulgence on its own. And it begins to have that association of like, it's the end of the day. Now I'm like transitioning into my leisure time and I'm really gonna have this positive association with this taste because you're right, it's the alcohol. But then it's just. That's the Pavlovian response. When I get this, then all the fun leisure time is coming. But you could do that with something else.
