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Experts: Comfort Food Won't Help Your Mood

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- If you love comfort food and you think it makes you feel better when you're stressed, think again.

As CBS 2's Cindy Hsu reported Friday, a new study may put the kibosh on your cravings for comfort food.

Of course, we all have our favorite comfort foods and love talking about them.

"Ice cream, chocolate, whipped cream and chocolate syrup," one woman said.

"Bacon, mac and cheese with extra cheese," another said.

And Elze-Mari Roux and Michael Thorne said doughnuts make them feel "warm and happy."

But according to a new study out of the University of Minnesota, comfort foods do not lift our moods any more than any other food.

Researchers said we may be giving comfort food undue credit for making us feel better. Dietitian Willow Jarosh said the usual favorites often make our blood sugar spike and then crash -- leaving us tired and grumpy.

She said snacks that can actually boost the mood are proteins combined with certain carbs.

"Something like a pear -- which gives you high-fiber carbohydrate -- with cheese, or a piece of fruit with almonds or walnuts; you could do something like avocado toast with an egg," Jarosh said.

The reality, according to Jarosh, is that oftentimes, we don't eat often enough. Jarosh said no one should go more than three or four hours without eating a healthy meal or snack, and if they feel one of those comfort food cravings coming on, they should try to hold-off by setting an alarm.

"Set your phone timer for 15 minutes," Jarosh said. "Do anything that doesn't involve food for 15 minutes, and then when you come back, you'll usually have a much more rational point of view for what you want."

And some people seem to be catching on to the idea of healthy comfort foods at a young age. Eliza Kiers, 8, was eating hot dogs with her family Friday afternoon, but said her favorite comfort foods are chicken and broccoli.

Experts said the best way you can avoid the unhealthy comfort foods is to figure out the real reason you're having the cravings -- whether it's stress or boredom -- and work on getting that under control.

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