Cued overeating

The cued overeating model that is presented in this chapter states that cues that reliably signal highly palatable food intake – such as the sight, smell, and taste of highly palatable foods – and also the context in which (over)eating takes place – like place and time and feelings and thoughts – may start to act as conditioned stimuli. This means that soon after, the cues alone can trigger food cue reactivity and food cravings. The learned cue reactivity increases the probability of (over)eating and might sabotage dieting. It is argued that for successful dieting it is necessary to extinguish learned cue reactivity. To reach that goal, the way of dieting is relevant: dieters who avoid highly palatable food cues and dieters who intermittently keep eating high-calorie high-fat palatable foods will remain cue reactive. Only dieters who expose themselves to highly palatable food cues without eating them are expected to show the desired extinction of cue reactivity. Extinction of cue reactivity can be accelerated by prolonged cue exposure with response prevention. During the exposure the overeater is exposed to the cues (e.g., smell and sight of tasty foods) that elicit appetite or craving. The exposure is long lasting and without eating. Whether cue exposure with response prevention is an effective intervention that promotes successful dieting remains to be studied.keywordsconditioned stimulusanorexia nervosaunconditioned stimulusbinge eatingbulimia nervosathese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.