Impact of a 6-week dietary and lifestyle modification intervention on food cravings and eating behaviors in women

Abstract

Introduction: the multifaceted nature of food craving mirrors the complexity underlying the development of eating disorders. Objectives: the study aimed to investigate the impact of a 6-week dietary and lifestyle intervention on food cravings, eating behaviors, and changes in physical and biochemical measures among women. Methods: this study constitutes a behavior modification investigation involving a cohort of 35 female participants who sought consultation at a private nutrition counseling facility. At first, anthropometric and biochemical data were recorded; Information Form, Food Craving Questionnaire-Trait Scale (FCQ-T), Three-Factor Eating Scale (TFEQ-R21) were applied and 3-Day Food Consumption Records were taken. After 6 weeks of dietitian follow-up, the data collection tools were repeated and the individuals were compared with the baseline. Results: after 6-week follow-up, according to the examination of the food consumption records, differences in daily energy, fat, monounsaturated fatty acid, fiber, vitamin E, potassium, magnesium, iron intake levels were found significant (p < 0.05 ). Differences in body weight, body mass index (BMI), waist/height ratio, fat mass, fat ratio and fasting glucose, HbA1c, total cholesterol, triglyceride, LDL, AST, TSH, free T3, free T4 levels were found significant (p < 0.05). According to the FCQ-T evaluation; Differences in total and nine sub-dimension scores of the scale were found significant (p < 0.001). According to the TFEQ-R21 evaluation; Differences in cognitive restraint, emotional eating and uncontrolled eating scores were found significant (p < 0.05). Conclusions: a successful 6-week dietary and lifestyle intervention with improvement in anthropometric measurements and biochemical parameters is effective in reducing food cravings and regulating eating behaviors.