The Easter bunny's gifts of chocolate maytaste sweet, but they leave your attitude sour. Because a study finds that if you're in a crummy mood to begin with,unhealthy eating can leave you feeling even worse.

Researchers had 131 women record theirmoods and eating habits each day for a week. The researchers wanted to limitthe study to the effect of bad eating on the otherwise healthy, so although thesubjects admitted to having unhealthy eating habits, no one had a diagnosedeating disorders¹. An analysis² of the food and mood diaries resulting from theweek of the study found that if women were feeling low, anxious, sad or angry,eating too much or too little made that mood even worse. Interestingly, if thewomen were in a good mood, there was no change in their mood after eating toomuch or too little.

The researchers note that we often eat tocomfort ourselves or try to remedy³ a bad mood—but this study shows that sucheating for consolation⁴ may make us feel even worse. Something to keep in mindwhen you find yourself reaching for the second ear of the chocolate bunny..