Episodic future thinking reduces eating in a food court

Jessica O'Neill, Tinuke Oluyomi Daniel, Leonard H Epstein, Jessica O'Neill, Tinuke Oluyomi Daniel, Leonard H Epstein

Abstract

Episodic future thinking (EFT) is the psychological process of vividly imagining a future event, and this process has been shown to reduce overeating in the laboratory. To assess the efficacy of EFT in the natural environment, twenty-nine overweight or obese women who wanted to improve their eating habits were randomly assigned to one of two smartphone-implemented interventions--EFT or control episodic recent thinking (ERT)--while they ate dinner in a public food court. Results showed a reduction in consumption of total calories, a reduction in percent calories from fat, and an increase in percent calories from protein for EFT versus ERT. These data suggest EFT may be used to modify eating habits in natural eating environments, and may show potential as a component of behavioral obesity interventions.

Keywords: Eating; Episodic future thinking.

Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of interest

Dr. Epstein is a consultant to and has equity in Kurbo. The other authors have no conflict of interest.

Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
CONSORT diagram displaying information about recruitment and retention.
Figure. 2.
Figure. 2.
Difference in energy intake between groups (mean ± SEM).
Figure. 3.
Figure. 3.
Between-group differences in percent of calories consumed from fat (3A), protein (3B) and carbohydrate (3C) (mean ± SEM).

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Source: PubMed

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