Nutritionists explain why we crave pumpkins and ‘comfort foods’ as summer turns into fall

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By Bruno Cooke

2 September 2024

The times they are a-changin. Sorry, but its true. But this neednt be a lament. As summer transitions to fall and the leaves turn golden brown, our bodies make different demands of us. Understanding the science  and the art  that makes us crave certain foods can help us enter the new season equipped to weather mercurys drop.

The Focus spoke to two specialists in the fields of dietetics and nutrition to better understand why we need and desire different foods as the weather changes. Among other things, they highlighted the multifarious factors that dictate our behavior, be they evolutionary, environmental, or cultural. Put together, they go some way to explaining why we might find ourselves with a hankering for a Pumpkin Spice Latte, or even just the comforting sight of a particularly striking Connecticutian gourd.

1. Eat foods that deliver a greater thermic response

Registered dietitian nutritionist and mental health counselor (at Wise Heart Nutrition) Aleta Storchs first piece of advice is to recognize changes in our bodies metabolic requirements, as the weather gets colder and the nights get longer.

Eating provides warmth. This is called the thermic effect.

In the book Fat And Thin: A Natural History of Obesity, Anne Scott Beller writes that the temperature difference between a fed animal and an unfed one in the same cage, in the same room, at the same time can vary as much as one full degree Fahrenheit.

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Different foods prompt different levels of thermic response in our bodies, and this is one of the reasons we crave certain food types as the seasons change. 

In the summer, says Aleta Storch, we eat foods that are served cold and have high water content, because they help your body in down-regulating your temperature in the heat and providing the extra hydration you need when sweating.

In the winter, on the other hand, calorie-dense foods come in handy by providing your body with the additional energy (often via fat) it needs to function and stay alive.

Some of the foods that have the highest thermic effect include:

• Protein-rich foods: Tofu, lentils, beans, Greek yogurt, eggs, fish, and lean meats
• Dark green leafy vegetables like spinach and kale
• Whole grains: Oats, quinoa, and brown rice
• Spicy foods: Cayenne pepper, chili peppers, Sichuan and Kampot peppercorns
• Green tea, because it contains catechins, which are dietary polyphenolic compounds with all sorts of therapeutic properties.

2. ‘Tis the season

She also points to the seasonality of certain foods. In developed countries, we have the buying power to import foods from all over the world, but this privilege is not universal. And once upon a time, Aleta says, [everyones] meals would have been primarily driven by seasonal harvests and availability of food.

Seasonal food consumption basically came down to what grew at different times during the year. As a result  because the availability of everything, everywhere, all at once is a relatively recent phenomenon  our bodies are still hardwired to gravitate towards foods that we associate with warmth and comfort, which are often those foods that can survive cooling temperatures or harsher conditions.

Jabe Brown, founder of Melbourne Functional Medicine, puts it this way: in the bygone days of food scarcity, the drive to consume more fats and carbohydrates was, simply said, a survival mechanism. In other words, our evolutionary wiring hasnt quite caught up, and the instinct to stock up remains.

He adds that the desire to eat comfort foods in colder months can be linked to seasonal mood changes, especially in regions with less natural light. People living in the northern reaches of Europe, Asia, and North America have to contend with very short days, which can have severe effects on peoples mental health. Adequate nourishment helps protect people against psychological, as well as physical, deterioration.

3. Cravings are normal

Jabe has another interesting observation about seasonal eating habits. He says cultural habits and marketing strategies are also involved when we feel certain cravings at certain times of the year. 

The association of winter with festive, hearty meals is reinforced by years of tradition and clever marketing, which might explain why we continue to crave these foods even when theyre not a nutritional necessity.

Why do we want to drink pumpkin-flavored coffee? Because Starbucks. Why did Starbucks run with a pumpkin-flavored coffee drink? Because people carve pumpkins on Halloween and eat pumpkin pie on Thanksgiving.�

Why do people carve pumpkins on Halloween and eat pumpkin pie on Thanksgiving? Because the British imperialists brought Scottish and Irish pagan customs when they colonized the Americas.

So while our basic needs have evolved, Jabe concludes, and we now have year-round access to a variety of all foods, these ingrained behaviors persist. Understanding this interplay between biology, environment, and culture can help us make more informed choices about what we eat during the colder months.

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