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Self-compassion, Stress, and Eating Behaviour: Exploring the Effects of Self-compassion on Dietary Choice and Food Craving After Laboratory-Induced Stress

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Abstract

Background

Stress has been linked to high-fat and high-sugar food consumption. Self-compassion is associated with better emotional and physiological responses to stress. The current study explored whether trait self-compassion or induced state self-compassion could improve dietary choice and food craving after a stress induction.

Method

Fifty-three university students completed an online survey assessing self-compassion, eating restraint, and general perceived stress before attending a laboratory visit. In the laboratory, participants were randomised to a neutral writing control or a self-compassion letter writing condition before a stress induction. Measures of heart rate, heart rate variability, state self-compassion, dietary choice, and state food cravings were taken.

Results

The brief self-compassion intervention did not sufficiently increase state self-compassion in the intervention group compared to the neutral writing condition. There was no effect of the written self-compassion intervention on heart rate, heart rate variability, dietary choice, or food craving. However, higher trait self-compassion was associated with healthier dietary choices (F(1, 49) = 5.35, p = .025, R2 = .098).

Conclusion

Results suggest that higher trait self-compassion improved dietary choice after stress in a controlled environment in a university population. Further research is warranted to explore whether brief self-compassion interventions can improve state self-compassion and thereby influence dietary choices and food cravings after a stress induction.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychological Medicine, University of Auckland, 22-30 Park Avenue, Building 507, Auckland, New Zealand

    Jennifer Brenton-Peters, Nathan S. Consedine & Anna Serlachius

  2. Department of Nutrition and Dietetics, School of Medical Sciences, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand

    Rajshri Roy

  3. Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Population Health, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand

    Alana Cavadino

  4. Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand

    Jennifer Brenton-Peters, Nathan S. Consedine, Rajshri Roy, Alana Cavadino & Anna Serlachius

Authors
  1. Jennifer Brenton-Peters
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  2. Nathan S. Consedine
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  4. Alana Cavadino
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  5. Anna Serlachius
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Correspondence to Anna Serlachius.

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All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki Declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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Supplementary Table 1. Pearson’s correlations betweenstudy variables. (DOCX 15 KB)

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Brenton-Peters, J., Consedine, N.S., Roy, R. et al. Self-compassion, Stress, and Eating Behaviour: Exploring the Effects of Self-compassion on Dietary Choice and Food Craving After Laboratory-Induced Stress. Int.J. Behav. Med. 30, 438–447 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12529-022-10110-9

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