Reduction of unhealthy eating behaviour by diet priming

Background: In a food rich-environment, changing unhealthy behavior is quiet a difficult endeavor for most people. Goal priming is one of the approaches that activate goal pursuit unconsciously. The study examined the process of diet priming that reduced unhealthy eating with the temptation of food in daily situations. Methods: 400 people participated in the web-based experiment. The experiment measured motivational variables (diet intention, behavioral willingness), control variables (internal control, external control) and unhealthy snacking habit. Then, half of the participants were primed for a dieting goal by asking weight-related questions (body length, weight, satisfaction), i.e. priming condition, and the others were not primed, i.e. control condition. One week after the priming manipulation, consumption of snacks were measured. Findings: GLM analysis indicated that diet priming determined snack eating behavior. People primed with the dieting goal ate fewer snacks (M=3.05, SD=1.99) than people without priming (M=3.56, SD=2.34). And, diet intention, behavioral willingness, internal control, external control and habit had effect on snack eating behavior. Moreover, the effect of external control on snacking was qualified by the diet priming. External control in the priming condition (β=.27) had a weaker effect on snacking than in the control condition (β=.74). Discussion: The study showed that only subtle priming manipulation can reduce daily consumption of snacks, over and above the existing motivations and habits. The process of behavioral change was induced by shielding the influence of the external environment that promotes unhealthy eating. These findings suggested the possibility of diet priming approach in a food rich-environment.