Four studies were conducted to examine whether disinhibited eating among restrained eaters can be differentiated from simple overeating, which occurs among both restrained and unrestrained eaters. We propose that disinhibited eating is caused by the conscious relaxation of inhibitions on food intake. In contrast, simple overeating is an umbrella term encompassing all forms of inadvertent overeating. This includes overeating in response to cues that redefine acceptable intake, and thus allow people to eat more than usual without viewing their food intake as excessive. Disinhibited eating in dieters should result in continued overeating in the absence of factors causing reinhibition, whereas simple overeating does not undermine dietary inhibition and should not result in continued overeating, and may not even be experienced as overeating. Furthermore, unlike simple overeating, disinhibited eating should be accompanied by perceptions that one has eaten too much. Study 1 examines whether restrained eaters who become disinhibited continue to overeat after the disinhibitor is removed. Restrained eaters who were disinhibited by expecting their diets to be broken, and only those restrained eaters, continued to overeat when presented with a second eating opportunity. Studies 2 and 3 assess whether simple overeating in response to normative cues can be distinguished from disinhibited eating in response to cognitive cues related to thinking the diet is or will be broken. In Study 3, restrained eaters who became disinhibited by thinking that their diets would be broken viewed their food intake as excessive and continued to overeat after the disinhibitor was removed. In contrast, restrained eaters who ate a lot after being informed that other study participants had eaten a large amount did not view their food intake as excessive and did not go on to overeat during a second eating opportunity. Study 4 was designed to further examine the role of awareness of having overeaten in disinhibited eating, but no disinhibition effect was observed. Overall, the results suggest that disinhibited eating can be distinguished from simple overeating on the basis of whether restrained eaters view their intake as excessive and whether they continue to overeat during a second eating opportunity.

Four studies were conducted to examine whether disinhibited eating among restrained eaters can be differentiated from simple overeating, which occurs among both restrained and unrestrained eaters. We propose that disinhibited eating is caused by the conscious relaxation of inhibitions on food intake. In contrast, simple overeating is an umbrella term encompassing all forms of inadvertent overeating. This includes overeating in response to cues that redefine acceptable intake, and thus allow people to eat more than usual without viewing their food intake as excessive. Disinhibited eating in dieters should result in continued overeating in the absence of factors causing reinhibition, whereas simple overeating does not undermine dietary inhibition and should not result in continued overeating, and may not even be experienced as overeating. Furthermore, unlike simple overeating, disinhibited eating should be accompanied by perceptions that one has eaten too much. Study 1 examines whether restrained eaters who become disinhibited continue to overeat after the disinhibitor is removed. Restrained eaters who were disinhibited by expecting their diets to be broken, and only those restrained eaters, continued to overeat when presented with a second eating opportunity. Studies 2 and 3 assess whether simple overeating in response to normative cues can be distinguished from disinhibited eating in response to cognitive cues related to thinking the diet is or will be broken. In Study 3, restrained eaters who became disinhibited by thinking that their diets would be broken viewed their food intake as excessive and continued to overeat after the disinhibitor was removed. In contrast, restrained eaters who ate a lot after being informed that other study participants had eaten a large amount did not view their food intake as excessive and did not go on to overeat during a second eating opportunity. Study 4 was designed to further examine the role of awareness of having overeaten in disinhibited eating, but no disinhibition effect was observed. Overall, the results suggest that disinhibited eating can be distinguished from simple overeating on the basis of whether restrained eaters view their intake as excessive and whether they continue to overeat during a second eating opportunity.

Research evidence is suggestive of a strength model of self-control, also known as ego depletion, in social psychological literature. Engaging in an initial task of self-control depletes a limited resource, resulting in less self-control on a subsequent, unrelated task. The strength model of self-control has been applied to many practical, everyday situations, such as eating behaviors among dieters. Newer studies suggest that blood glucose is the resource consumed during acts of self-control. Consuming glucose seems to "replete" individuals who have been depleted, improving performance and self-control. The current study aimed to examine the effects of ego-depletion on restrained eaters. The hypothesis was that restrained eaters who were depleted by a task of self-control would exhibit more disinhibition on a taste-test task than would restrained eaters who were not depleted. However, if the participants were given glucose following the depletion task, then their self-control would be "repleted" and they would exhibit similar control to that of the non-depleted participants. Contrary to expectations there were no differences between the groups in terms of total amount of cookies consumed. These results are inconsistent with a glucose model of self-control. Suggestions for future research and implications of the findings are discussed.

Abstract Rates of smoking are elevated in eating-disordered populations, especially among females (Pomerleau & Snedecor, 2008; Klesges & Klesges, 1988). Restrained eaters ignore physiological cues of satiation and hunger, and instead attempt to employ cognitive control over decisions to eat. Additionally, they are prone to eat in a disinhibited manner after a salient emotional or food cue interrupts their restraint. This eating style is also associated with increased rates of smoking compared with the general population. Although there is a great deal of literature on the relationship between smoking and eating, the role of eating in momentary decisions regarding smoking remains to be explored. The current study tested whether a food prime, which has been found to elicit disinhibited eating in restrained eaters, could also motivate smoking as an alternative to eating. In a randomized two-arm (Prime/No-Prime) between-subjects design, it was hypothesized that smokers, particularly those high in eating restraint, receiving a food prime would be more likely to smoke than eat when given the option, compared to smokers who did not receive the food prime. Although main effects on smoking variables were not found, restraint status did moderate the effect of the food prime upon latency to first puff, number of puffs, and cigarette craving. Moreover, the moderation effect was reversed upon eating variables, suggesting that after a food prime, weight-control smokers appear to choose to smoke to prevent further food intake. This conclusion was bolstered by the finding that the moderation effect on smoking was further moderated by expectancies regarding the effect of smoking upon appetite and weight. In summary, this study identified psychological mechanisms that appear to underlie the population-based covariance between disordered eating and smoking.

Approximately one-third of U.S. adults are at increased risk for life-threatening diseases such as atherosclerosis and type 2 diabetes mellitus. Such individuals are considered healthy without any diagnosed cardiometabolic conditions but may have a constellation of cardiometabolic complications that include obesity, glucose intolerance, hyperinsulinemia, dyslipidemia, hypertension, insulin resistance, and hypertriglyceridemia. When most of these preclinical conditions comorbidly occur, the condition has been referred to as metabolic syndrome (MetS). MetS is considered to reflect one or more early pathophysiological processes in cardiometabolic disease; however, the extent to which these complications and their underlying pathophysiology interact with behavioral factors such as stress, diet, and physical activity have not been clearly established. For example, diet consisting of high total caloric intake and high fat composition is posited to contribute to obesity and other cardiometabolic risk factors, but research is inconsistent regarding the effect of psychological distress (i.e., anxiety, stress, depression, anger) on dietary intake and whether dietary intake mediates a relationship between distress and preclinical cardiometabolic disease risk. One factor that has been suggested to play a role in the distress – dietary intake relationship is eating style. Research on eating styles has identified four main types that may be related to distress and dietary intake: restrained, disinhibited, emotional, and external eating. Restrained eaters consciously restrict food intake to control body weight and body shape. Disinhibited eating refers to overeating that occurs following failure of restraint. Emotional eaters consume foods to reduce and alleviate negative emotions, such as anxiety. External eating occurs in response to immediate food-related external stimuli, regardless of internal physiological cues of hunger. Current evidence suggests each of these eating styles moderates the relationship between distress and dietary intake. There is also some research to suggest a relationship between eating styles and weight gain, body mass index (BMI), and development of obesity. However, no study has examined the interrelationships among psychological distress, eating style, and central obesity, and whether these relationships differ according to gender. Moreover, the extent to which distress and eating style may be associated with cardiometabolic risk beyond obesity is unknown. Thus, the main aim of the present study was to test a model of mediation and moderation to evaluate how psychological distress, eating styles, dietary intake, and gender are associated with measures of cardiometabolic risk in healthy individuals (Figure 1). Four hundred sixty-four participants contributed data from two different studies: Obesity, Metabolic Syndrome, and Meal-Related Glycemia (SUGAR) and Markers Assessing Risk for Cardiovascular Health (MARCH). All participants were aged 18-55 years, had no major systemic disease, were not using medications having a cardiovascular, carbohydrate, endocrine, or psychiatric effect, and had no history of substance or alcohol abuse or dependence. The study employed a structural equation modeling (SEM) approach to assess the following aims: 1) to develop composite, latent factors to reflect psychological distress, eating style, and dietary intake using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and to develop a hybrid model of cardiometabolic risk; and 2) to simultaneously test the interrelationships among factors in a comprehensive model so that the strength of direct and indirect effects can be evaluated while statistically controlling for the other factors and covariates in the model. Latent factor models of psychological distress and eating style fit the data and were statistically acceptable, and a hybrid model of cardiometabolic risk fit the data and its CFA components were acceptable. A latent factor model of dietary intake would have likely fit the data and been statistically acceptable given the high intercorrelations among dietary variables, but no such factor was created because dietary variables failed to confirm the hypothesized associations with other model components (e.g., waist girth, eating styles); thus, these measures were excluded from further SEM analyses. Final model results showed that psychological distress was positively related to restrained, emotional, and external eating styles, but only restrained eating was directly associated with greater waist girth. Distress was not directly related to cardiometabolic risk, but an indirect effect was found in which higher levels of distress led to greater waist girth via higher levels of restrained eating. Waist girth, in turn, served as a significant mediator between restrained eating and worse insulin sensitivity, higher blood pressure, diminished glucose tolerance, and greater dyslipidemia. These effects were significant when controlling for age, gender, education, and physical activity, and when analyzed in a comprehensive SEM model simultaneously including distress, eating style, and cardiometabolic risk variables. Of note, results suggest the possibility for a reversed effect such that waist girth leads to restrained eating. Findings also suggest that emotional eating may lead to distress. In contrast, the relationship between distress and the other two eating styles, restrained and external eating, appeared unidirectional such that distress leads to restrained and external eating but not the reverse. Future studies using longitudinal data are needed to better understand these relationships in regards to causality. Data from the MARCH subsample was excluded from the above final modeling analyses because eating style data were only available for the SUGAR subsample. Thus, the role of gender in how distress, eating styles, and cardiometabolic risk are interrelated could not be examined due to the small number of women in the SUGAR study (n = 38). It remains unknown whether the significant effect of distress on each of the eating styles found in the current study was driven primarily by men, women, or both equally. Similarly, the sample size would not permit the evaluation of whether gender moderated the effect of restrained eating on central obesity. Given that women in the current study reported more restrained, emotional, and external eating than men, future studies with larger samples should follow-up by assessing for potential moderating effects of gender. The present findings suggest that decreasing restrained eating style may lead to less central fat deposition and hence reduced cardiometabolic risk. Such “non-diet” interventions show potential for improved cardiometabolic health, but more research is needed. Particularly needed are studies examining prevention and intervention outcomes based on type of restrained eating – flexible versus rigid – to better understand how these different subtypes operate and how they can be altered effectively to improve health.

The concept of self-compassion has been gathering interest for researchers in recent years, as it appears to offer an array of benefits to wellbeing. This study investigated the potential role of self-compassion as a protective factor against disordered eating behaviors. It also examined the mediating roles of three potential variables: body dissatisfaction, perfectionism and contingent self-worth. Given modern representations of the female ideal, failure to achieve or adequately conform to such standards often poses psychological challenges for women and girls. Self-compassion encompasses kind, mindful self-treatment and may be an ideal protective factor against disordered eating. It has also been linked with lower body dissatisfaction, maladaptive perfectionism, and contingent self-worth. The present study found that dissatisfaction with one’s body, as well as a tendency to judge one’s personal worth based on appearance fully mediated the relationship between self-compassion and both restrained and emotional disordered eating respectively. Therefore, a self-compassionate attitude may serve as a protective factor against engaging in disordered eating vis-à-vis strengthening young women’s abilities to look at their bodies in a more compassionate and unconditionally accepting way. / text

Prevalence rates of many types of psychopathology are lower for men than they are for women, but the causes of these discrepancies are not known. This paper focuses on two such psychopathology groups – eating disorders and depressive disorders – and examines gender differences within a transactional theory of stress that takes into account levels of cognitive processing (an expanded transactional theory of stress). Both studies found that men are more physiologically reactive to disorder-relevant, stressful stimuli and stressful events. The study on depression also found that different cognitive processes may be depressogenic for men and women: deployment of attentional resources toward negative stimuli was associated with depression in men, while deployment of attentional resources away from positive stimuli was associated with depression in women. These findings have significant implications for choosing appropriate treatment options for men and women.

Prevalence rates of many types of psychopathology are lower for men than they are for women, but the causes of these discrepancies are not known. This paper focuses on two such psychopathology groups – eating disorders and depressive disorders – and examines gender differences within a transactional theory of stress that takes into account levels of cognitive processing (an expanded transactional theory of stress). Both studies found that men are more physiologically reactive to disorder-relevant, stressful stimuli and stressful events. The study on depression also found that different cognitive processes may be depressogenic for men and women: deployment of attentional resources toward negative stimuli was associated with depression in men, while deployment of attentional resources away from positive stimuli was associated with depression in women. These findings have significant implications for choosing appropriate treatment options for men and women.

This thesis is a qualitative investigation of the factors which maintain anorexia nervosa (AN) according to the transdiagnostic theory of eating disorders (Fairburn et al., 2003). AN is difficult to treat and continues to evade complete understanding. The present study aimed to promote further understanding of food restriction and physical activity in relation to the constructs of clinical perfectionism, core low self-esteem, mood intolerance, and interpersonal difficulties. Twenty females with self-reported AN were recruited from Guelph, Ontario and participated in semi-structured interviews. Thematic analysis revealed eight major themes for clinical perfectionism, five for core low self-esteem, five for mood intolerance, and six for interpersonal difficulties. The in-depth emotional accounts and details of food restriction and physical activity in relation to the four constructs examined in this study may contribute to further appreciation of AN, informing practitioners and family members, promoting empathy, and improving treatment options.