title: Training response inhibition to food is associated with weight loss and reduced energy intake Effects of hunger and visuo-spatial interference on imagery-induced food cravings Comparison of acceptance-based and standard cognitive-based coping strategies for craving sweets in overweight and obese women. A comparison of acceptance- and control-based strategies for coping with food cravings: an analog study. The Mind Your Health Project: A Randomized Controlled Trial of an Innovative Behavioral Treatment for Obesity Acute effects of brisk walking on urges to eat chocolate, affect, and responses to a stressor and chocolate cue. An experimental study The Future Is Now Effects of mindful eating training on delay and probability discounting for food and money in obese and healthy-weight individuals. Non-food odorants reduce chocolate cravings Wake up and smell the cookies. Effects of olfactory food-cue exposure in restrained and unrestrained eaters Making a good decision: value from fit. The effect of learning climate on snack consumption and ego depletion among undergraduate students A brisk walk, compared with being sedentary, reduces attentional bias and chocolate cravings among regular chocolate eaters with different body mass Brisk walking reduces ad libitum snacking in regular chocolate eaters during a workplace simulation
abstract: The majority of adults in the UK and US are overweight or obese due to multiple factors including excess energy intake . Training people to inhibit simple motor responses ( key presses ) to high-energy density food pictures reduces intake in laboratory studies . We examined whether online response inhibition training reduced real-world food consumption and weight in a community sample of adults who were predominantly overweight or obese ( N = 83 ) . Participants were allocated in a r and omised , double-blind design to receive four 10-min sessions of either active or control go/no-go training in which either high-energy density snack foods ( active ) or non-food stimuli ( control ) were associated with no-go signals . Participants ' weight , energy intake ( calculated from 24-h food diaries ) , daily snacking frequency and subjective food evaluations were measured for one week pre- and post-intervention . Participants also provided self-reported weight and monthly snacking frequency at pre-intervention screening , and one month and six months after completing the study . Participants in the active relative to control condition showed significant weight loss , reductions in daily energy intake and a reduction in rated liking of high-energy density ( no-go ) foods from the pre-to post-intervention week . There were no changes in self-reported daily snacking frequency . At longer-term follow-up , the active group showed significant reductions in self-reported weight at six months , whilst both groups reported significantly less snacking at one- and six-months . Excellent rates of adherence ( 97 % ) and positive feedback about the training suggest that this intervention is acceptable and has the potential to improve public health by reducing energy intake and overweight The present study investigated the effects of hunger and visuo-spatial interference on imagery-induced food cravings .  Forty-two women were r and omly assigned to a hungry ( no food for prior 4h ) or not hungry condition . Participants were asked to form and maintain images of desired foods while looking at a blank computer screen ( control condition ) or performing a task design ed to load the visuo-spatial sketchpad of working memory ( dynamic visual noise ) . They then rated the vividness of their images and their craving intensity . Although hungry participants reported stronger food cravings , dynamic visual noise made images less vivid and cravings less intense , irrespective of participant hunger status . Thus concurrent visuo-spatial processing may offer a useful technique for treating problematic food cravings that are predominantly psychological in origin , as well as those that are hunger-driven Existing strategies for coping with food cravings are of unknown efficacy and rely on principles that have been shown to have paradoxical effects . The present study evaluated novel , acceptance-based strategies for coping with craving by r and omly assigning 48 overweight women to either an experimental psychological acceptance-oriented intervention or a st and ard cognitive re appraisal /distraction intervention . Participants were required to carry a box of sweets on their person for 72 h while abstaining from any consumption of sweets . Results suggested that the acceptance-based coping strategies result ed in lower cravings and reduced consumption , particularly for those who demonstrate greater susceptibility to the presence of food and report a tendency to engage in emotional eating The present study utilized an analog paradigm to investigate the effectiveness of two strategies for coping with food cravings , which was theorized to be critical to the maintenance of weight loss . Ninety-eight undergraduate students were given transparent boxes of chocolate Hershey 's Kisses and instructed to keep the chocolates with them , but not to eat them , for 48 h. Before receiving the Kisses , participants were r and omized to receive either ( a ) no intervention , ( b ) instruction in control-based coping strategies such as distraction and cognitive restructuring , or ( c ) instruction in acceptance-based strategies such as experiential acceptance and defusion techniques . Measures included the Power of Food Scale ( PFS ; a measure of psychological sensitivity to the food environment ) , self-report ratings of chocolate cravings and surreptitiously recorded chocolate consumption . Results suggested that the effect of the intervention depended on baseline PFS levels , such that acceptance-based strategies were associated with better outcomes ( cravings , consumption ) among those reporting the highest susceptibility to the presence of food , but greater cravings among those who scored lowest on the PFS . It was observed that craving self-report measures predicted chocolate consumption , and baseline PFS levels predicted both cravings and consumption . Results are discussed in terms of the implication s for weight loss maintenance strategies Objective To determine whether acceptance-based behavioral treatment ( ABT ) would result in greater weight loss than st and ard behavioral treatment ( SBT ) , and whether treatment effects were moderated by interventionist expertise or participants ’ susceptibility to eating cues . Recent research suggests that poor long-term weight control outcomes are due to lapses in adherence to weight control behaviors , and that adherence might be improved by enhancing SBT with acceptance-based behavioral strategies . Design and Methods Overweight participants ( n = 128 ) were r and omly assigned to 40 weeks of SBT or ABT . Results Both groups produced significant weight loss and , when administered by experts , weight loss was significantly higher in ABT than SBT at post-treatment ( 13.17 % v. 7.54 % ) and 6-month follow-up ( 10.98 % v. 4.83 % ) . Moreover , 64 % of those receiving ABT from experts ( v. 46 % for SBT ) maintained at least a 10 % weight loss by follow-up . Moderation analyses revealed a powerful advantage , at follow-up , of ABT over SBT in those potentially more susceptible to eating cues . For participants with greater baseline depression symptomology , weight loss at follow-up was 11.18 % in ABT vs. 4.63 % in SBT ; other comparisons were 10.51 % vs. 6.00 % ( emotional eating ) , 8.29 % v. 6.35 % ( disinhibition ) and 9.70 % v. 4.46 % ( responsivity to food cues ) . Mediation analyses produced partial support for theorized food-related psychological acceptance as a mechanism of action . Conclusions Results offer strong support for the incorporation of acceptance-based skills into behavioral weight loss treatments , particularly among those with greater levels of depression , responsivity to the food environment , disinhibition and emotional eating , and especially when interventions are provided by weight control experts . Trial Registration clinical trials.gov identifier : The study aim ed to investigate the effects of an acute exercise bout on urges to eat chocolate , affect , and psychological and physiological responses to stress and a chocolate cue . Following 3 days of chocolate abstinence , 25 regular chocolate eaters , took part , on separate days , in two r and omly ordered conditions , in a within-subject design : a 15-min brisk semi-self-paced brisk walk or a passive control . Following each , participants completed two tasks : the Stroop colour-word interference task , and unwrapping and h and ling a chocolate bar .  Chocolate urges [ State Food Cravings Question naire ( FCQ-S ) ; Rodríguez , S. , Fernández , M. C. , Cepeda-Benito , A. , & Vila , J. ( 2005 ) . Subjective and physiological reactivity to chocolate images in high and low chocolate cravers . Biological Psychology , 70 , 9 - 18 ] , affective activation [ Felt Arousal Scale ; Svebak , S. , & Murgatroyd , S. ( 1985 ) . Metamotivational dominance : a multi method validation of reversal theory constructs . Journal of Perception and Social Psychology , 48 , 107 - 116 ] , affective pleasure/valence [ Feelings Scale ; Hardy , C. J. , & Rejeski , W. J. ( 1989 ) . Not what , but how one feels : the measurement of affect during exercise . Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology , 11 , 304 - 317 ] , and systolic/diastolic blood pressure ( SBP/DBP ) were assessed throughout . Exercise  reduced chocolate urges and there was a trend towards attenuated urges in response to the chocolate cue . Exercise also attenuated SBP/DBP increases in response to the stressor and chocolate cue . The effects on urges varied across the dimensions of the Humans have the ability to engage in prospect i ve imagery to anticipate the future consequences of present behaviors ( Suddendorf & Busby , 2005 ) , but we often let our desire for immediate gratification lead us to devalue larger future consequences in favor of smaller immediate rewards . Discounting large future rewards in favor of smaller immediate rewards is known as delay discounting and increases with greater temporal distance between the rewards ( Bickel & Marsch , 2001 ) . One approach to reducing delay discounting is episodic future thinking ( Atance & O'Neill , 2001 ) . Episodic future thinking engages the episodic memory in prospect ively experiencing future events ( Atance & O'Neill , 2001 ; Schacter , Addis , & Buckner , 2007 ) and activates brain regions involved in prospect i ve thinking ( Benoit , Gilbert , & Burgess , 2011 ; Schacter et al. , 2007 ) . Episodic future thinking during intertemporal decision making reduces delay discounting , with the vividness of prospect i ve imagery predicting the degree of the reduction ( Peters & Buchel , 2010 ) . The inability to delay gratification is related to obesity ( Davis , Patte , Curtis , & Reid , 2010 ; Francis & Susman , 2009 ; Weller , Cook , Avsar , & Cox , 2008 ) .  Delay discounting  predicts intake of energy-dense convenience foods in obese women ( Appelhans et al. , 2012 ) , and poor impulse control predicts a lack of success in weight loss ( Best et al. , 2012 ) . To determine episodic future thinking 's effect on impulsive behavior , we assessed whether episodic future thinking , compared with engagement in a control imagery task , reduced impulsivity and energy intake in overweight and obese individuals Obese individuals tend to behave more impulsively than healthy weight individuals across a variety of measures , but it is unclear whether this pattern can be altered . The present study examined the effects of a mindful eating behavioral strategy on impulsive and risky choice patterns for hypothetical food and money . In Experiment 1 , 304 participants completed computerized delay and probability discounting tasks  for food-related and monetary outcomes . High percent body fat ( PBF ) predicted more impulsive choice for food , but not small-value money , replicating previous work . In Experiment 2 , 102 r and omly selected participants from Experiment 1 were assigned to participate in a 50-min workshop on mindful eating or to watch an educational video . They then completed the discounting tasks again . Participants who completed the mindful eating session showed more self-controlled and less risk-averse discounting patterns for food compared to baseline ; those in the control condition discounted similarly to baseline rates . There were no changes in discounting for money for either group , suggesting stimulus specificity for food for the mindful eating condition The present study compared the relative effectiveness of simple , commercially available food and non-food olfactory tasks on  chocolate craving reduction .  Chocolate cravings were induced by a series of coloured photographs and 67 undergraduate women were asked to smell one of three odours ( green apple , jasmine , or water ) . The non-food odorant ( jasmine ) significantly reduced chocolate cravings relative to both the food and control odorants . Thus simple non-food odorants offer potential scope as a technique for curbing unwanted food cravings Few factors have been identified that bolster self-control processes and prevent  overeating in restrained eaters ; however , research on counteractive-control theory suggests that exposure to food cues may represent such a protective factor . To further investigate the effects of food-cue exposure , restrained and unrestrained eaters were r and omly assigned to either a food-cue or no-cue condition , and their intake was measured . The results indicated that food-cue-exposed restrained eaters ate less than did non-exposed restrained eaters . The possible role of incidental food-cue exposure as a means for inhibiting intake in restrained eaters is explored The classic answer to what makes a decision good concerns outcomes . A good decision has high outcome benefits ( it is worthwhile ) and low outcome costs ( it is worth it ) . I propose that , independent of outcomes or value from worth , people experience a regulatory fit when they use goal pursuit means that fit their regulatory orientation , and this regulatory fit increases the value of what they are doing . The following postulates of this value from fit proposal are examined : ( a ) People will be more inclined toward goal means that have higher regulatory fit , ( b ) people 's motivation during goal pursuit will be stronger when regulatory fit is higher , ( c ) people 's ( prospect i ve ) feelings about a choice they might make will be more positive for a desirable choice and more negative for an undesirable choice when regulatory fit is higher , ( d ) people 's ( retrospective ) evaluations of past decisions or goal pursuits will be more positive when regulatory fit was higher , and ( e ) people will assign higher value to an object that was chosen with higher regulatory fit . Studies testing each of these postulates support the value-from-fit proposal . How value from fit can enhance or diminish the value of goal pursuits and the quality of life itself is discussed We explored the effect of controlled and autonomous learning choices on the consumption of a high-energy snack food , and also examined whether snack consumption during a controlled choice learning activity could ' up-regulate ' subsequent performance on a self-regulation task .  Participants were r and omly assigned to a controlled choice learning condition in which food was provided , a controlled choice learning condition in which food was not provided , or an autonomous choice learning condition in which food was provided . Results indicated that the autonomous choice group consumed significantly less snack food than the controlled-choice- and -food group . Participants in the autonomous choice condition also performed better on the subsequent self-regulation task than the controlled-choice- and -food group , even after controlling for the amount of food consumed . Furthermore , within the controlled-choice- and -food condition , there was no association between food consumption and subsequent self-regulation task performance . Discussion focuses on the potential impact of a controlled learning climate on snack food consumption and on the degradation of self-regulation capacities Poor self-regulation of high energy snacking has been linked to weight gain . Physical activity can acutely reduce chocolate consumption and cravings but the effects on attentional bias ( AB ) are unknown . The study aim ed to test the effects of exercise among normal and overweight/obese individuals during temporary and longer abstinence . Participants were 20 normal and 21 overweight regular female chocolate eaters ( after 24 h abstinence ) , and 17 females ( after ≥1 week abstinence during Lent ) . They were r and omly assigned to engage in 15 min brisk walking or rest , on separate days . AB  was assessed using an adapted dot probe task pre and post-treatment at each session , with chocolate/neutral paired images presented for 200 ms ( initial AB ; IAB ) or 1000 ms ( maintained AB ; MAB ) . Chocolate craving was assessed pre , during , immediately after , and 5 min and 10 min after treatment , using a 0 - 100 visual analogue score . Three-way mixed ANOVAs revealed that there was no significant interaction effect between group ( i.e. , BMI status , or abstinence status ) and condition × time for craving and AB to chocolate cues . Fully repeated 2-way ANOVAS revealed a significant condition × time interaction for IAB ( F(1,57)=6.39 ) and chocolate craving ( F(2.34,133.19)=14.44 ) . After  exercise IAB ( t(57)=2.78 , p<0.01 ) was significantly lower than after the rest condition . Craving was significantly lower than the rest condition at all assessment s post-baseline . A short bout of physical activity reduces cravings and AB to chocolate cues , relative to control , irrespective of BMI or abstinence period Workplace snacking can contribute to obesity .  Exercise reduces chocolate cravings but effects on chocolate consumption are unknown . This study investigated the effect of brief exercise on ad libitum consumption during breaks in a computerised task . Seventy-eight regular chocolate eaters , age : 24.90±8.15 years , BMI : 23.56±3.78 kg/m(2 ) abstained for 2 days . They were r and omly assigned to one of four conditions , in a 2 × 2 factorial design , involving either a 15 min brisk walk or quiet rest , and then computerised Stroop tasks with low or high dem and ing conditions , in three 180 s blocks with a 90 s interval . Throughout , a pre-weighed bowl of chocolates was available for ad libitum eating . A two-way ANOVA revealed no interaction effect of exercise and stress on total chocolate consumption , or main effect of stress , but a main effect of exercise  [ F(1 , 74)=7.12 , p<.01 ] . Mean ( SD ) chocolate consumption was less ( t(73.5)=2.69 , 95 % CI for difference 3.4 - 22.9 , ES=0.61 ) for the  exercise ( 15.6 g ) than control ( 28.8 g ) group . Exercise  also increased affective activation , but there was no mediating effect of change in affect on chocolate consumption . A brief walk may help to reduce ad libitum snacking in regular chocolate eaters
target: A wide range of techniques have been evaluated and some show promise for use in weight management interventions .
background: OBJECTIVE This systematic review aim ed to ( a ) identify and categorize techniques used to modify or manage impulsive processes associated with unhealthy eating behavior , ( b ) describe the mechanisms targeted by such techniques , and ( c ) summarize available evidence on the effectiveness of these techniques .