The Mindful Path to More

Giving in to food cravings, emotional eating, and mindless snacking are very common experiences, especially during periods of stress, boredom, loneliness, or emotional challenges. You might sometimes eat more than you intended, find yourself reaching for snacks without hunger, or feel frustrated about losing control around certain foods. These moments can also happen almost automatically , for example, when food is easily available, when others around you are eating, or during busy days when you are tired or distracted.

Over time, you may start to wonder whether your current eating patterns and lifestyle truly feel healthy or supportive. Perhaps you notice moments of regret after eating, or a sense that you would like to feel more in control, more connected to your body, and more confident in your choices. You may also find it difficult to know how to respond to cravings, emotions, thoughts without feeling overwhelmed.

We are a research team from the Behavioural Science Institute (BSI) at Radboud University, and we warmly invite you to participate in a free mindfulness-based intervention as part of our scientific research. This study is embedded within the Substance use, Addiction & Food (SAF) group at the BSI and is part of the PhD project “Unhealthy Eating Among Young adults: Downregulating Automatic Processes.”

In this research study, we aim to explore whether an 8-week mindfulness-based program can help you develop a healthier relationship with food cravings and stress-related thoughts. We are interested in whether the program may help reduce cravings for unhealthy foods, feel more in control of your eating choices and support more healthy eating patterns. We also aim to examine whether participating in this mindfulness program can improve emotional regulation skills, which refer to your ability to understand, manage, and respond to negative emotions more effectively, particularly when facing stressful situations or challenging life events.

The group intervention will be delivered by two master’s-level researchers trained by Eric Garland, the developer of MORE.