Lattimore, P (2019) Mindfulness based emotional eating awareness training: taking the emotional out of eating. Eating and Weight Disorders - Studies on Anorexia, Bulimia and Obesity. ISSN 1590-1262

Preview

Text Lattimore2019_Article_Mindfulness-basedEmotionalEati.pdf - Published Version Download (661kB) | Preview

Abstract

Purpose: Emotional eating is important to study and address because it predicts poor outcome in weight loss interventions. Interventions have only touched the surface in terms of addressing emotional eating. Mindfulness approaches can address emotional eating by modification of emotion regulation and appetitive traits. The current study involved development of an emotional eating specific mindfulness intervention and assessment of its effect on appetitive traits associated with emotional eating. Methods: Participants (n = 14; Age M = 29yr; 90% female) completed baseline and end-of intervention self-report measures of emotional eating, food-cue reactivity, mindfulness, intuitive eating, emotional impulse regulation, stress, and a behavioural measure of inhibitory control. During the 6- week intervention, mindfulness meditation skills were taught weekly embedded in a psychoeducational curriculum about emotional eating. Results: Paired t-tests, controlled for type 1 error, revealed significant improvements in food-cue reactivity, intuitive eating, emotional impulse regulation, inhibitory control and stress (ps < .05; d: .58 to 1.54). Changes in emotional eating approached significance (p = .075, d = .66). Conclusion: The intervention purposefully did not focus on weight loss and recruited participants who had self-declared difficulties with emotional eating. The positive outcomes suggest that intervening with mindfulness training before weight loss is attempted has the potential to change psychological factors that underpin overeating and undermine weight loss efforts. The study provides proof of principle as a basis to design a randomized control trial to assess rigorously the effectiveness the intervention as a precursor to a weight loss intervention. Level of Evidence: Level IV, uncontrolled trial.

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	1701 Psychology, 1103 Clinical Sciences
Subjects:	B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BF Psychology
Divisions:	Natural Sciences & Psychology (closed 31 Aug 19)
Publisher:	Springer Verlag
Date Deposited:	01 Mar 2019 09:11
Last Modified:	04 Sep 2021 01:57
URI:	https://researchonline.ljmu.ac.uk/id/eprint/10229

View Item