Episodic Future Thinking

We all want to look and feel better and there are so many well-publicised adverse outcomes from being overweight or obese. However many of us still choose to overindulge in high calorie and unhealthy foods that results in us piling on the pounds or even worse- eat unhealthy foods, get over weight that may make us ill in the future.

A major factor for this is the excess intake of high energy-dense foods and the instant gratification we get from eating them.

EFT- we are confronted with 2 choices

1- Think of our present selves and the instant gratification we get from eating them
​or
2- Think of our future selves. We want to be healthy, look and feel good.​

We know that overindulging too often on cakes, biscuits, chocolate etc will lead us to pile on the pounds...

We don’t want to get fat or sick, we want to look and feel good but we often discount the larger future rewards in favour of smaller immediate rewards we get from instant gratification from those high calorie foods.

​The inability to delay gratification is associated with obesity and maladaptive eating behaviours.​

Episodic Future Thinking (EFT)- This is the psychological process of vividly imagining a future event. This process has been shown to reduce overeating and overindulging on tempting, calorie dense foods. It is a simple process-

🤔Before you make a decision imagine yourself in the future.

💪Think of yourself now, then think of your future self.

👍 Before you are about to eat that cake, imagine yourself in the future feeling positive about yourself-

💃 Could be your wedding day, at the party, the holiday or meeting up with people you have not seen in a while, feeling fit and healthy-

👌 Imagine feeling good and enjoying the future moment- The more vivid you imagine it the better.

Now think do you really need to eat all that cake?

Is the small reward for instant gratification of eating that cake going to outweigh the larger delayed reward of how you want to look and feel in the future?

One study assessed the efficacy of EFT in the natural environment.

Twenty-nine overweight or obese women who wanted to improve their eating habits were randomly assigned to one of two interventions – EFT or control, while they ate dinner in a public food court.

Results showed

✔️ a reduction in consumption of total calories

✔️ a reduction in percent calories from fat,

✔️ and an increase in percent calories from protein

From the EFT group.

These data from this study suggest EFT may be used to modify eating habits in natural eating environments, and may show potential as a component of behavioural obesity interventions.

Results in another study showed that EFT led to
​
✔️ less delay discounting***
✔️ lowered energy intake
✔️ and EFT had the greatest effect on reducing energy intake in children with a higher desire to restrict food intake.

This suggests that EFT may be useful in paediatric obesity treatment programs to help children regulate energy intake.
​
***Discounting of larger future rewards in favour of smaller immediate rewards is known as delay discounting*

EFT-Before you make a decision imagine yourself in the future.

💪Think of yourself now, then think of your future self.

👍 Before you are about to eat that cake, imagine yourself in the future feeling positive about yourself-

💃 Could be your wedding day, at the party, the holiday or meeting up with people you have not seen in a while, feeling fit and healthy-

👌 Imagine feeling good and enjoying the future moment- The more vivid you imagine it the better.

References

• O’Neil et al. Eat Behav. (2016). Episodic future thinking reduces eating in a food court. 20:9-13. doi: 10.1016/j.eatbeh.2015.10.002.
• Daniel et al. (2015) Episodic future thinking reduces delay discounting and energy intake in children. Eat Behav. 18:20-4. doi: 10.1016/j.eatbeh.
• Daniel et al. (2013). The future is now: Comparing the effect of episodic future thinking on impulsivity in lean and obese individuals.

Jamie Miller- Personal Trainer
UK Fitness Personal Training
Aberdeen

FITNESS, NUTRITION & PERSONAL TRAINING