New Study: Mindfulness Reduces Sugar Cravings

Amy Taylor September 06, 2013

Want to get rid of that sweet tooth? Using a purposeful way of paying attention to the present moment, it is possible to resist your sugar cravings, according to a new study.

Do you always crave for a daily dose of sugar? Many of us have what they call a ‘sweet tooth’. Whether it’s a pack of chocolate cookies, an extra scoop of ice cream, a large cup of fizzy drink, or a packet of jelly beans – we often look for something sweet and pleasurable to eat. Unfortunately, high sugar intake has been linked to many health problems, including diabetes, brain damage, heart disease, obesity and cancer.

Even though it appears that most of us are hardwired to consume calorie-dense, nutritionally empty foods, it is possible to retrain our brain to become more ‘conscious eaters’ using a natural, harmless approach – mindfulness. Appearing in the British Journal of Health Psychology, a new study by Swansea University and City University London found that practising mindfulness or the purposeful way of paying attention to the present moment could help people resist their sugar temptations.

‘Mindful’ participants experienced less sugar cravings

In this study, researchers recruited participants who are looking to reduce their sugar consumption. Prior the experiment, participants were randomly assigned into three strategy groups – the cognitive ‘defusion’, the ‘acceptance’, and the control.

Individuals in the cognitive defusion group were instructed to view one’s self as different from one’s thoughts using a strategy that is commonly used by mindfulness practitioners – the ‘mindbus’ metaphor’. In this technique, an individual can be seen as the ‘driver of the bus’ and his thoughts as the ‘passengers’. Then, they were given a bag of chocolates to carry around with them all the time for five days, and instructed to think of the mindbus metaphor whenever they are tempted to eat the sweet treat.

Meanwhile, individuals in the ‘acceptance’ group were told that an effective way of dealing with food cravings is to accept that such cravings are uncomfortable feelings, rather than giving effort trying to control them. They were instructed to use the ‘urge surfing’ technique in which participants would have to acknowledge and ride out their sugar cravings instead of controlling or giving in to them.

The third group was told that a good way to resist sugar temptation was to relax. They used a relaxation technique which involves allowing certain muscles to rest whenever they feel like eating chocolate.

All participants from the three groups were also given a ‘chocolate diary’ in addition to the bag of chocolate, to track any other sweet treat consumption.

Among the three groups, those who practised the mindbus metaphor technique had the least consumption of chocolates from the bag than would be expected by chance. They also consumed less of other sweets.

Mindfulness has been known to help us build positive habits and get rid of the bad ones. If you’re looking to reduce your sugar consumption, you may want to try this technique. Not only will it help you get rid of your sweet tooth, but it can also help you develop healthier food choices.

Source of this article:

Mindfulness Could Help Tame Your Sugar Temptations, Study Suggests