Mindfulness moderates daily stress and comfort food snacking linkages: a multilevel examination

Stress is often associated with poor diet in young adulthood. However, very few studies have examined whether snacking on non-nutritious sweet or salty “comfort food” is directly linked with daily stress, a common intervention target. Further, trait mindfulness, a psychological resource that may be enhanced by psychological training and regular practice, has yet to be tested as a moderator of daily stress-eating linkages. This 11-day daily diary study examined multilevel linkages between daily stress appraisals and comfort food eating in undergraduates. Daily stress appraisals positively predicted comfort food eating at the between-, but not within-person, level. Mindfulness moderated these effects, such that only more mindful participants demonstrated a negative association between within-person stress and comfort food eating. Results illustrate that chronic stress exposure and acute stress reactivity relate differently to eating behavior. Mindfulness and chronic stress may be key intervention targets for non-clinical groups at risk for unhealthy eating.