Abstract
Aims: This study’s objective was to verify the level of food cravings and cognitive restraint in women who reported having followed a low-carb diet. Methods: The volunteers filled out the binge eating scale, the cognitive restraint subscale, the food cravings trait and state questionnaires, and the food frequency questionnaire. This study has also compared participants according to the self-reported practice of a low-carb diet. Parametric tests were used to compare the groups and Pearson’s correlations between some variables of interest (p > 0.05 adopted). Results: According to the question regarding the practice of the low-carb diet, 39 participants had tried a low-carb diet in the last six months (46.2% of these with binge eating) and 48 did not (16.7% with binge eating). Dieters showed higher levels of binge eating, cognitive restriction, and food cravings (trait and state). Dieters consumed less rice and bread but did not present lower consumption of sweets. Correlations showed that for dieters who ‘Consciously hold back at meals in order not to gain weight’, it was negatively associated with ‘Intention and plans to eat’, ‘positive reinforcement’ and ‘relieving negative states’ and food cravings scores. Conclusions: Despite the higher levels of cognitive restriction in dieters, they are negatively correlated with food craving factors and negatively associated with the consumption of sweets.
Highlights
Caloric restriction is associated with decreased levels of food cravings (FC) in several studies [1]
The present study is a quantitative cross-sectional and exploratory survey conducted with Brazilian community members recruited from social media (Instagram®) who followed a profile about eating behavior, food, and eating disorders
The report regarding a previous diagnosis for eating disorder was four participants for binge eating disorder, BED (4.6%), three for bulimia nervosa (3.4%) and one for the diagnosis of anorexia nervosa
Summary
Caloric restriction is associated with decreased levels of food cravings (FC) in several studies [1]. The American College of Cardiology and the American Heart Association reviewed evidence on restrictive diets and their nutritional content. Low-carb diets comprise a range of 30 to 130 carbohydrates/day. This type of modification in the diet has been widely used, regardless of professional monitoring, in order to lose weight and change the appearance [4], which depends on dietary changes, and on cognitions and strategies to consume less food [5]. The first reason for prevalence was to improve appearance (in 71.4% of studies) [6] This behavior is prevalent in women, who have more factors associated with body dissatisfaction, and are consumers of content on the internet through social media [6]
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