Agitated Eating.

This confession I'm about to make will come as no surprise to many of you. I'm pretty certain I'm not the only person who has this particular frailty. Over the years I've noticed something about myself. It seems that whenever my stress levels reach overload proportions, my solution is to reach out for something yummy to eat. And it's not exactly carrots I'm reaching for. No, my treat of choice during those stressed-out times is usually a doughnut, preferably from a Krispy Kreme store. Anyone out there nodding sympathetically? I thought so.

Well, the closest Krispy Kreme shop is 68 miles from my house. That makes it kind of difficult for me to reach out for a Krispy Kreme very often. (I suppose some of you find it interesting that I know just how far away that store is.)

But before you toss this magazine away because the editor eats an occasional doughnut, let me assure you I'm not exactly proud of this reflexive action. In fact, I do try to make myself reach for healthier treats more often these days. This past winter I enjoyed eating clementines, those little citrus fruits from Spain that are getting so popular. Have you tried them? Most of the time a clementine or two toned down my doughnut desires. And the past few months have been pretty stressful, so I've been eating a lot of clementines.

Even so, sometimes it has just got to be a glazed doughnut. And as my wife and I enjoyed sharing a couple doughnuts not too long ago, we wondered just what it was that made us crave stuff like that when we're at our most frazzled. Now comes a small study from England that offers an answer.

Researchers subjected one group of people to a stressful situation, while the others they left in a very relaxed state. Then they watched what members in each group ate for lunch. Guess what. The stressed-out group tended to choose more high-fat, sweet foods, such as cakes and chocolate biscuits, than the unstressed group.

The scientists speculate that carbohydrate-rich/protein-poor foods (like, say, a doughnut) may influence how chemicals in your brain affect your mood. And if you eat in response to your emotions, you may learn to choose those mood-altering foods without even realizing it.

So now when I'm trying to convince myself that 68 miles really won't take that long to drive, I also try to figure out just what's going on in my life that's making me "need" that doughnut. And as I try to deal with whatever is causing the stress, somehow a clementine just starts making more sense.