Abstract
Foods high in fat and sugar can often act as emotional regulators during negative emotional states, and regularly engaging in such behaviour can contribute towards weight gain. The present study investigated whether using mindful construal diaries (MCD) adapted with the element of self-distancing could improve state mindfulness, attenuate negative affect, and reduce chocolate intake. One hundred twenty participants were randomly assigned to one of three conditions, self-immersed, self-distanced, and control, and after evoking a negative state affect through a film excerpt, participants were served chocolate. The findings suggested there were no significant differences in improving state mindfulness or state negative affect across the three conditions. However, participants in the control condition did consume significantly more chocolate than those in the self-immersed and self-distanced conditions. Whilst there were no significant differences in chocolate intake between the two experimental conditions, those in the self-distanced condition did consume the least amount of chocolate. The concept of self-distancing may be beneficial in improving emotional eating behaviours further in mindful and attentive eating interventions. Limitations and recommendations for future research are discussed.
Highlights
Foods high in fat and sugar can often act as emotional regulators during negative emotional states, and regularly engaging in such behaviour can contribute towards weight gain
The present study investigated whether a self-distanced mindful construal diaries (MCD) could improve state mindfulness and state negative affect, and lead to a reduced intake of calorie-dense foods
There was a significant difference in age (F(2, 119) = 6.01, p = .01, ηp2 = .09), whereby age was lower amongst participants in the selfimmersed condition than those in the control condition (p = .01)
Summary
Foods high in fat and sugar can often act as emotional regulators during negative emotional states, and regularly engaging in such behaviour can contribute towards weight gain. Research suggests that emotion regulation can derive from some foods, which are often high in fat and sugar and may be understood as “comfort foods” (Macht and Mueller 2007), temporarily diminishing negative mood and evoking a state of pleasure Herman et al 1987; Yeomans and Coughlan 2009) Such findings suggest emotional and restrained eating behaviours may not necessarily lead to overconsumption, but rather the experimental induction in replicating natural states of negative emotion may promote increased energy intake. There has been an extensive amount of research associating mindfulness with healthier eating behaviours, such as, promoting healthier food choices, reducing fat and sugar consumption, as well as susceptibility to hunger cues (Dutt et al 2019; Marchiori and Papies 2014). Mindfulness may enhance pleasure, and enable people to regulate their consumption of calorie-dense foods whilst self-regulating mood (Meier et al 2017)
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