Behavioral Compensation Before and After Eating at the Minnesota State Fair

Abstract

People regulate their eating behavior in many ways. They may respond to overeating by compensating with healthy eating behavior or increased exercise (i.e., a sensible tradeoff), or by continuing to eat poorly (i.e., disinhibition). Conversely, people may respond to a healthy eating event by subsequently eating poorly (i.e., self-licensing) or by continuing to eat healthily (i.e., promotion spillover). We propose that people may also change their behaviors in anticipation of an unhealthy eating event, a phenomenon that we will refer to as pre-compensation. Using a survey of 430 attendees of the Minnesota State Fair over two years, we explored whether, when, and how people compensated before and after this tempting eating event. We found evidence that people use both pre-compensatory and post-compensatory strategies, with a preference for changing their eating (rather than exercise) behavior. There was no evidence that people who pre-compensated were more likely to self-license by indulging in a greater number of foods or calories at the fair than those who did not. Finally, people who pre-compensated were more likely to also post-compensate. These results suggest that changing eating or exercise behavior before exposure to a situation with many tempting foods may be a successful strategy for enjoying oneself without excessively overeating.

Teammate influences and relationship quality are associated with eating and exercise psychopathology in athletes

“…It is plausible to suggest that a focus on healthy eating behaviours within a team might serve to promote excessive weight pre-occupation and disordered avoidance of unhealthy foods (Dixey, 1996). Indeed, compensatory practices such as exercise are widely accepted as the appropriate behavioural response to the consumption of unhealthy food (Lenne et al, 2017). Given their often rigid diet and exercise habits (Bonci et al, 2008), athletes may have distorted notions of what it is to be healthy.…”