Bringing Awareness Into Eating

Mindful Eating - Bringing Awareness Into Eating

The purpose of this study is to test an app-based mindful eating intervention to decrease the reward value of unhealthy food.

Eating healthily is highly beneficial. However, changing eating habits is notoriously difficult. Individuals often believe that they simply need to "restrain" their eating impulses in order to eat more healthily. However, such an approach has not only been shown to be quite ineffective over long time spans, it is also associated with aversive feelings: It simply does not feel good to struggle with one's own impulses.

Investigators are testing a new approach to overcoming unhealthy eating habits, which utilizes mindful eating to change the reward value of unhealthy food. The hypothesis is that if people pay attention to how unhealthy food (e.g. "junk" food) makes them feel in their bodies, their liking it and desire to eat it will decrease naturally. Participants might become aware, for example, that eating a whole bag of chips leads to nausea, while eating a salad makes them feel fresh and energetic.

Investigators will assess whether and how the anticipated and actual satisfaction associated with unhealthy food will decrease the more often participants use this intervention.

Inclusion Criteria:

1. Craves & overeats a food at least 4 times/week (can be a specific food or food category - i.e. salty or sweet)
2. Desire to change eating habits
3. Owns a smartphone
4. Fluency in English

Exclusion Criteria:

1. Current eating disorder
2. Current strict diet (e.g. paleo, keto, vegan, calorie restriction)
3. Pregnancy
4. Current insulin use
5. Previous use of the EatRightNow application