Meditation and healthy food alternatives to reduce indulgent eating: A case study previewing stimuli-control and substitution

Overweight and unhealthy eating are rapidly increasing in Australia, with serious health consequences. Stimuli-control and substitution have well supported efficacy in facilitating health behaviour change. A case study of a twenty-year-old Australian student aimed to decrease unhealthy eating through these behavioural principles, which were identified using an Antecedent-Behaviour-Consequence approach and interview. The intervention utilised meditation (stimuli-control) and healthy food alternatives (substitution). The results demonstrated a dramatic decrease in indulgent eating from the baseline week (averaging four items per day) to the post-intervention period (0.86 items daily). Application of the principles supported the efficacy of these modes of behaviour change. Meditation has wide literature support for de-autotomising eating, which was replicated in the current study, used to replace a maladaptive stimuli-response link. Similarly, substituting healthy food permitted eating as a reinforcer, while removing negative health outcomes. The case-study is limited in its generalisability, especially considering the unique analysis required to produce a specific behavioural intervention. Nevertheless, the success of the intervention leads the way for further studies exploring the combination of these behavioural-approaches.