Successful Dieting in Tempting Environments: Mission Impossible?

One of the areas in which temptations often interfere with people’s self-control is the domain of eating and dieting behavior. In the present article, we review research on the psychological processes underlying the failures and successes of chronic dieters in resisting food temptations. A goal conflict model of eating as well as research testing this model is presented to understand the difficulties that dieters face in our Western food-rich environment. In addition, we discuss how we may boost self-control to prevent dieters from giving in to temptation.

Guido M. van Koningsbruggen is a postdoctoral researcher at Utrecht University. He received his PhD in 2009 from the VU University Amsterdam. In his dissertation research, he investigated how self-affirmation affects the processing and acceptance of threatening information under different levels of self-threat. As of November 2008, he is working at the department of Social Psychology at Utrecht University. His primary research interest concerns social cognition and (health) behavior change. His current work focuses on social cognitive determinants of successful self-regulation in the domain of eating and dieting behavior. This work involves both fundamental research on cognitive and motivational processes as well as applied studies on changing dieting behavior.

Watch a movie or study for an exam? Sleep late or go to the gym? Take this chocolate or not? We often have to choose between things we want to do and things we think we ought to do. Although tempting alternatives offer immediate satisfaction, such as the pleasure of eating a piece of chocolate, they often challenge our striving for higher-order goals that offer long-term benefits (e.g., a slim figure). The ability to overcome our impulses and to resolve such conflicts in favor of the long-term goal is called self-control (e.g., Baumeister & Heatherton, 1996; Metcalfe & Mischel, 1999). One of the areas in which temptations seem particularly likely to interfere with people’s self-control is the domain of eating and dieting behavior.

In most Western countries where overweight and obesity have been increasing dramatically, dieting has become a popular means of weight control (Kruger, Galuska, Serdula, & Jones, 2004). Efforts at controlling or reducing weight are recommendable as overweight and obesity are associated with serious health problems, such as increased risk of cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, and some cancers (Stroebe, 2008). Moreover, overweight and obese people are likely to experience bias, stigma, and discrimination (Puhl & Brownell, 2001) as well as increased body dissatisfaction (Schwartz & Brownell, 2004) and lower levels of self-esteem (Miller & Downey, 1999). Thus, dieting as a means of weight control may reduce the negative health, social, and psychological consequences of being overweight.

Whereas many dieters are successful in losing weight in the short run, most fail in maintaining weight loss over time (Jeffery et al., 2000). One group seems especially unsuccessful in controlling food intake: Chronic dieters(or restrained eaters; Herman & Polivy, 1980): highly motivated to restrict their calorie intake in order to control their body weight. However, they are rather unsuccessful dieters as they are not only known for their food restriction, but also for their repeated lapses of restraint." Why is it so difficult for chronic dieters (from now on simply referred to as “dieters”) to meet their dieting goals? It has been proposed that a “toxic environment” where palatable (calorically-dense) foods are highly visible and available is responsible for these difficulties in weight control and the increase in obesity (Wadden, Brownell, & Foster, 2002). Indeed, environmental cues such as the sight, smell, or taste of palatable food easily disrupt dieters’ self-control(Fedoroff, Polivy, & Herman, 1997, 2003; Harris, Bargh, & Brownell, 2009; Herman & Mack, 1975). For instance, Fedoroff and colleagues (1997) exposed participants to the smell of pizza prior to taking part in a pizza taste test. It was found that such a cue more strongly affected the eating behavior of dieters than of normal eaters: Dieters consumed more pizza after smelling it. However, not all dieters fail to resist temptations. There are dieters who are successful in controlling their food intake. In this article, we review research on the psychological processes underlying the failures and successes of dieters in resisting food temptations. Additionally, we discuss how we may boost self-control to prevent dieters from giving in to temptation.