After my retina-detachment surgery I was the last 2 month not able to do anything but sitting around and doing nothing. All is well again and I will come back on track. Sitting around, not quiet good, a bit reading, watching TV and enjoying good food, that’s it !!

Recently I read an  comprehensive scientific investigation about health and happiness combined with food. Written by a German nutritionist, Maike Ehrlichmann. I sized it down to this short article and added some thoughts about French eating.

Why eating makes you happy – and also can be dangerous.

Food can really please. Especially hormones and certain processes in the brain play a role here. But – it can also be dangerous if you try to eat happily.

A good soup, a delicious casserole or a piece of home-baked apple pie. Food can not only fill you up, but also make you happy.

„There is an area in the brain that is responsible for happiness,“ says the trained nutritionist Maike Ehrlichmann in an interview.

It is a reward system. This area consists of a number of areas and nerve connections. The most important messenger here is the dopamine.

Happiness through eating with friends.

„This system reacts to triggers from the outside, for example to food,“ says Ehrlichmann. It could be the sight or smell of a tasty pizza.

The brain spills messenger substances. This creates an urge that captures the cerebral cortex as a conscious desire. She then gives the body the instruction to satisfy this desire – and to eat something.

It makes you happy to enjoy the food as a sensory experience.

The information comes together in the hippocampus in the brain. This area is especially important for memory and learning. There, the experiences with food are stored.

For example, the scent of cocoa in grandmother home is associated with the sense of well-being and the memory of that moment.

Be happy while enjoying a good meal. Hello Evi and Rolf, thanks for the beautiful photo.

The expert says, „Fragrances can literally make us travel to another time or place, so they can make us happy.“

It is also satisfying to enjoy the meal as a sensory experience. „With the sight of an appetizing meal, a nicely laid table and a moment of rest, a meal is always a little break“. This interrupts the hustle and bustle of every day’s life.

„It is sensual experiences for us as humans to smell the food, taste it and feel its beneficial effects,“ says the expert. „It’s almost a bit like cuddling or having sex.“

Lack of nutrients, one feels dissatisfied.

The social aspect of food is also important: it makes you happy to cook together and spend time eating together. „Cooking is already a sensory experience, even before it goes to the food,“ says Ehrlichmann.

Happiness through eating in all ages.

Even the scent of the food makes you happy – and a bit full. „After you have smelled a meal for a while, you eat less of it. One is already a bit pre-satisfied.“

Eating can also make you happy through biochemical effects. If the body lacks nutrients, it will affect the mood. If you balance them with the food, it improves your mood.

„This is very noticeable in the B vitamins that are needed for strong nerves,“ says the expert. Omega-3 fats also play a role. They are important to the brain.

„They became famous in research, among other things, for helping with depression and schizophrenia,“ says the nutritionist.

Happy eating – Happy Thanksgiving – Happy Family, all comes together.

There are indications that these fatty acids can also raise a balanced mood in healthy people. „Investigations show, already two teaspoons of linseed oil daily helped.“

Hunger can make a bad mood, feeling full happy.

Hunger can also make you dissatisfied and aggressive. Whoever eats then feels balanced and happy again.

The hormones leptin and ghrelin are responsible for the satiety and hunger. „They also play an important role in the emotional balance,“ says Ehrlichmann.

The results from relevant studies are not yet clear. „But it turns out that ghrelin, the starvation hormone, plays a role in depression.“

This seems to have something to do with the fact that ghrelin ensures that stress hormones are released when hungry – and these then cause a bad mood.

Some foods can be addictive.

In addition, some people tend to aggression and impulsiveness rather than others. „It is also this Impulsive what makes us shopping on an empty stomach, and throwing the biggest nonsense in the trolley,“ says Ehrlichmann.

…throwing the biggest nonsense in the trolley.

In such individuals, the so-called neuropeptide Y is often elevated in the blood, another hormone that is released when hungry.

The solution to starvation and the risk of spontaneous purchases: „I advise you to always have something good in your purse,“ says Ehrlichmann. For example, a nut fruit mix or bitter chocolate is suitable for this.

Now, everyone wants to be happy. But it can also be dangerous if you want to achieve this feeling exclusively through the food. Again and again it is discussed whether food can even addict.

This is indicated inter alia animal experiments with rats. Recent human studies indicate that food cravings could be particularly associated with foods that contain an extremely dense combination of carbohydrates and fats, such as chocolate bars or fast foods.

Eating happily can be an indication of an eating disorder.

Those who are constantly looking for good food, especially food, may even be suffering from an eating disorder, such as the phenomenon of binge eating.

Those affected get real fits and overeat. Unlike bulimia, however, they do not induce vomiting and do not try to get rid of the calories in any other way. That’s why they are often overweight.

Overweight through uncontrolled counter-regulation.

„The overeating results from the unrestrained irritation of the reward system,“ says the nutritionist. „The counter-regulation lacks the feeling that you are full – or lacking the ability to perceive your fullness.“ This is often due to a low perception of the body.

However, those who eat mindfully (intelligent) often feel when it is enough – and what they actually want to eat. „The question when eating is: When does the urge stop?“ .

The third or fourth piece of cake is not as satisfying as the first or maybe the second.

„There is one point to which food makes us happier,“ says the expert. „And then comes the moment when a bite more simply brings nothing more and in the end even leads to discomfort or nausea.“

The important thing is that what you eat actually makes you full. „If you do not eat, the mood will be bad,“ says Ehrlichmann. Snacks from the sweets machine or from the gas station lead rather to no happiness.

                      Some people already get hungry just by looking at the above picture and need a „refill“.

In addition, the hunger for consumption returns quickly, as such sweets blood sugar levels skyrocket until he drops again later – and you feel again dissatisfied and the need to refill with a candy bar.

Some rules of enjoying food should be taken from the French.

We can learn a lot from the French, especially when it comes to food. Which rules we should necessarily look away from our neighbors.

French eating happiness, the right surrounding – friends – delicious fondue – good wine – candles and time.

Good food and savoir-vivre, meaning „to understand life“, is part of the French way of life. In France, only good products come on the dining table. And not just at home, but also in the restaurant. French cuisine is one of Europe’s most influential dishes. Haute cuisine, which developed into French national cuisine, was created in the 19th century. Just as in Germany, there are several regional kitchens in France based on different ingredients, combinations and types of preparation.

                              This is French Haute Cuisine par excellence. Notice the decoration of the “ carpaccio de loup“ (left) and the „croque tartine parisienne“ (right). Also notice the cutlery, the plates, the serving on plates – all together it makes happy !

France – the country of cheese and wine.

It is said that French cuisine was born with the French Revolution. Good food was until then only withheld from the French nobility and monarchs. The common people, however, were starving. With the beheading of Louis XVI. and his wife Marie Antoinette changed that abruptly. The cooks of the royal court lost their jobs and had to reorient themselves. The meal was celebrated at the French court. Menu sequences of five, seven, nine or even more courses were not uncommon. When the former cooks of the nobility settled in restaurants, the people finally had the opportunity to enjoy the fine French cuisine. You could also for the first time order „a la carte“.

       Left, a „small“ plate we received at a Bordeaux wine tasting. Right, during a French cheese and wine tour.

France is considered a land of wine and cheese. More than 400 cheeses are in France. The sauces are also famous: bechamel sauce, hollandaise sauce, mayonnaise and remoulade were originally made in France and found their place all over the world. In a foreign sense, the baguette is considered a national symbol of the French. But it does not stay in the French kitchen. Everybody should try classics like tartare, moules fries or creme brulee. See the 3 pictures down here. Getting appetite – having a delicious meal – enjoying life ???

That means :    Intelligent Eating Will Make You Happy.