If you’re like most people, you jumped into 2011 resolved to rev up your career, rekindle important relationships, right wrongs … and of course, remake your appearance.

So three weeks into the new year, how are those resolutions working for you?

 Uh-huh … me, too. Nothing—myself included—is moving along with quite the zip I expected, and it’s a bit of a downer. But if you’re already humming the Resolution Letdown Blues, here’s a suggestion:

Put down the cupcake!

Yes, yes, comfort food … except that’s not quite true, according to a five-year study of British civil servants conducted by a team at the University College London. The researchers found that our favorite so-called “comfort foods”—sugary desserts, fried foods, refined grain products such as breads and cakes, processed meat, and high-fat dairy products—significantly increase our chances of developing depression. In fact, after accounting for other factors such as age, gender, physical activity, chronic diseases, and smoking habits, the researchers found that test subjects who ate diets high in those processed comfort foods had a 58 percent higher risk of depression than counterparts who ate a less comforting diet.

On the other hand, those who ate the most whole foods had a 26 percent less chance of experiencing depression. So apparently, if you want to cut your risk for depression, the real comfort foods are fruits, vegetables … and fish.