That's men for you Padraig O'Morain's guide to men's healthI suppose a column on men's health should take a stern attitude towards comfort eating.
Yet there is some reason to believe that comfort eating performs different functions for men and women and that perhaps men do not have too much to feel guilty about.
The general attitude towards comfort eating is that we should suffer our emotional pain stoically and not be running off and trying to dull it with food.
Actually, women are more likely than men to reach for the chocolates when they are feeling low. We men, it seems, tend to engage in comfort eating when we are feeling good.
The women go for the chocolate and the ice cream and the other snack foods which are good at boosting negative feelings.
Then, poor dears, they feel guilty. This, of course, puts them into a bad mood again and no doubt the temptation to reach for even more chocolate or ice cream quickly rears its tempting head.
When men eat for comfort they are more likely to have a steak or some other food which is rich in protein.
Altogether more laudable I think you will agree. And, as I mentioned above, the man is more likely to do his comfort eating because he is in a good mood and he would like to stay that way. And, let's face it, there is nothing like a steak dinner to keep a chap in a good humour.
It gets better: while comfort food makes women feel guilty afterwards, men feel good after they've tucked into their protein.
There is, however, a silver lining for women. That is that as they get older they are more likely to enjoy their comfort food and to dispense with the guilt.
How do I know all this? I have to admit that I am drawing mainly on research by Jordan Le Bel, a Cornell University professor whose speciality is the study of hedonics.
Hedonics is the study of the marketing of pleasure.
Yes, I know you'd like that job and that you could do it and so could I, but unfortunately it is already taken.
What his work suggests is that men and women have a somewhat different relationship to sensory pleasure.
Women like detail as we have noted before in this column. For instance, an advertisement for wine which talks about its sophistication, its quality and its elegance is more likely to appeal to men than to women. But an advertisement which talks about the blackberry flavours with a hint of cinnamon and so on is more likely to appeal to women than to men.
The finding that men use comfort food to prolong good feelings is interesting in another sense. Men with drink problems tend to be drawn to drinking not only when something has gone wrong but also when something has gone well. This may be part of the same impulse and it is something that people grappling with alcohol problems need to bear in mind.
Anyway, the good news seems to be that we men eat fairly healthy foods when we are looking for a bit of comfort. At least we get our protein in.
It is the women who eat the guilt-inducing sugar and fat, a practice which leads, sooner or later, to a series of penitential trips to the gym.
Is there no alternative you ask? Well, yes, there is.
You could join us guys for the 14 ounce steak with chips and pepper sauce and get in some protein and feel good about it. Wash it all down - while the health police gnash their teeth - with a few glasses of quality, stylish, elegant wine, blackberries or no blackberries, and maybe you will feel better.
And when you have done that you may find to your surprise that you can have the chocolate ice cream in chocolate sauce for dessert and not feel the least bit guilty about it. You may still end up in the gym - but at least you'll have enjoyed getting there.
pomorain@irish-times.ie
Padraig O'Morain is a journalist and counsellor accredited by the Irish Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy.