Abstract
Individuals higher in eating restraint report feeling ambivalent (i.e., both positive and negative) about food, regardless of whether it is perceived to be unhealthy or healthy (Norris, Do, Close & Deswert, 2019). Given that ambivalence is thought to be a highly unpleasant, unstable, and arousing state, we sought in the current study to examine whether individuals higher in eating restraint show enhanced physiological arousal toward food (but not nonfood) images. Replicating our earlier findings (Norris et al., 2019), individuals higher in eating restraint exhibited more ambivalence towards both unhealthy and healthy food (but not nonfood) images than did those lower in eating restraint. Importantly, skin conductance reactivity (SCR) toward both unhealthy and healthy food images was greater for individuals higher in eating restraint than those lower in eating restraint; there were no group differences for nonfood images. Furthermore, eating restraint scores were positively correlated with SCR toward both unhealthy and healthy food images, suggesting that more extreme restraint is associated with stronger physiological arousal. Together, our results suggest that individuals higher in eating restraint experience more ambivalence and enhanced physiological arousal toward food images regardless of their perceived health value. Implications for treating individuals with eating disorders are discussed.
Highlights
In our weight- and body-focused culture, individuals are often exposed to conflicting information about proper diets, exercise routines, and lifestyles
Our previous work revealed that people generally feel ambivalent toward unhealthy food, and that the ambivalence toward healthy food observed by individuals higher in eating restraint is driven by increased http://jfr.ccsenet.org Journal of Food Research
For participants higher in Eating Restraint Scale (ERS)-concern for dieting (CD), unhealthy food images were rated lower in valence (M = 0.65, SE = 0.16) than both healthy food images (M = 0.98, SE = 0.16) and nonfood images (M = 0.93, SE = 0.16), ps < .05; healthy food and nonfood images did not differ in valence, p =
Summary
In our weight- and body-focused culture, individuals are often exposed to conflicting information about proper diets, exercise routines, and lifestyles. Vegetables and fruits are generally considered part of a healthy diet - the USDA Dietary Guidelines list both as important components for healthy eating (http://www.dietaryguidelines.gov/) - some popular diet plans (e.g., the Paleo diet, diets that limit nightshades, the ketogenic diet) greatly limit or even prohibit their consumption. This conflicting information may give rise to mixed positive and negative feelings (i.e., ambivalence) toward healthy food, especially for individuals prone to close monitoring of their dietary intake. Our previous work revealed that people generally feel ambivalent toward unhealthy food, and that the ambivalence toward healthy food observed by individuals higher in eating restraint is driven by increased http://jfr.ccsenet.org
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