Implementation intentions and diet

Abstract

Implementation intentions are detailed plans, which include specifying when, where, and how one will act in order to achieve an intended goal (“I intend to do X in situation Y”) [1]. An important feature of implementation intentions is that the situation is specified in which a certain behavior will be performed. By forming an implementation intention individuals commit themselves to acting as soon as the specified situation is encountered [1]. An example of an implementation intention would be “I will drink skimmed milk instead of whole milk with my lunch at the worksite cafeteria.” Implementation intention interventions have shown to be effective in changing a range of health behaviors, e.g., diet, physical activity, and cancer screening [2–4]. The paper by Luszczynska et al. [5] in this issue is a valuable contribution to the study of implementation intentions for diet. Luszczynska et al. tested an implementation intention training aimed at reducing fat intake among 130 patients rehabilitating from myocardial infarction. Aside from demonstrating that implementation intentions might instigate a reduction in a complex behavior such as saturated fat intake, the study also demonstrated that such a simple intervention may produce changes lasting for at least 6 months after rehabilitation. With this commentary I aim to outline four intricacies to the study of Luszczynska et al. [5] that may have profound effect on efficacy of implementation intention interventions and deserve further attention in future studies on implementation intentions and diet. First, implementation intention interventions to date use different intervention formats. Usually, implementation intention interventions consist of writing down on a prestructured form when, where, and how one will act to achieve an intended goal (e.g., I will walk for 30 min every working day during lunch break). As Luszczynska et al. also