Gratitude and healthy eating – can one lead to the other?

Recently, I found an article published in the Journal of Experimental Psychology entitled Gratitude facilitates healthy eating behaviour in adolescents and young adults.  The article, published in March 2019, reports on two studies looking at the link between gratitude and healthy eating.  And the results are really interesting.

It is already relatively well-established in social psychology circles that feelings of positivity can help us make healthier food choices.  Anyone who has hit the vending machine at work after a stressful meeting would support that hypothesis.

What is less established is the impact that gratitude specifically has on our eating habits.  Something these studies were looking to change.

Gratitude and Healthy Eating Study 1

The first study involved university students spending eight minutes writing a letter of gratitude. The control group instead wrote a list of activities they had done in the previous seven days.  The gratitude letters were written either to a third party who had significantly supported them or to the participant themselves.  Each participant was also asked to spend 30 minutes a week working towards a self-chosen healthy goal.  

The results showed that those students who felt more grateful after writing the letter had healthier eating habits.  However, whether the participant had written a gratitude letter or a list of activities had no impact on their gratitude levels.  Although the study showed that higher levels of feelings of gratitude can promote healthy eating habits, it did not show whether the writing activity increased those feelings.

So, it was not possible to determine whether actively increasing your level of gratitude through carrying out gratitude-inducing activities leads to healthier eating choices.  This led to the second study, which was a variation of the first study.

Gratitude and Healthy Eating Study 2

The aim of the second study was to manipulate gratitude levels to gauge the impact on healthy eating. This was done by asking by high school students to spend five minutes a week for four weeks writing a letter of gratitude to one of the following recipients:

1. someone who helped them with their health;
2. someone who helped them with their academics; and
3. someone who has done something kind for them.

They were also asked to spend some time carrying out other gratitude-boosting activities, such as reading testimonials from others who have felt humbled or elevated after expressing gratitude.

The control group were instead asked to list their daily activities and write about how the exercise helped them to be more organised.

Participants were then asked to spend 30 minutes a week trying to improve themselves in either health, academics, kindness or organisation – to correspond with their writing topic.

The results of the study showed that those in the gratitude groups made healthier eating choices than those in the control group. This was most noticeable upon completion of the four-week experiment.  However, there was still some evidence of this three months later, albeit less so.

Why does Gratitude lead to Healthy Eating?

That’s something that is still the subject of some debate.  One theory though is that practising gratitude increases positive feelings and reduces negative ones.  As mentioned above, it’s when we are feeling more negative about life that we tend to turn to less healthy food for comfort.  Any Bridget Jones fans can attest to this.  So it may be that it’s just the increase in feelings of positivity that results from practising gratitude that leads to better food choices.

However, practicing gratitude does provide other health benefits.  These include reducing feelings of stress, boosting the immune system, lowering blood pressure and improving sleep.  Some of these benefits may be why gratitude can also help reduce unhealthy eating habits.  We are in a much better position to make healthy food choices when we are not feeling stressed, are in good health and not tired.  My worst time for raiding the fridge is a Friday afternoon after a long and stressful week at work.

Is gratitude better than other positivity-boosting activities?

There needs to be more research to understand whether, for example spending ten minutes practising gratitude has the same impact on health eating as, say, ten minutes’ yoga practice.  It is clear from the research that anything you can do to increase your positivity will help improve your wellbeing, including making good food choices.  So probably the best advice is to try out lots of different wellbeing activities and see what works for you.  The key is to find something that you enjoy and find beneficial to your life.

How do I practise gratitude?

There are several ways to introduce gratitude into your life.  The main thing is to spend some time recognising the things in life that you are grateful for.  The studies above used letter-writing which can be a powerful way to express gratitude to specific people, or to yourself.  But building it into your everyday routine is a great way to ensure a continued higher level of gratitude.  I try to start the day thinking of five things I am a grateful for, which is a great way to start the day on a positive note. Others prefer to do the same exercise in the evening, allowing them to reflect on the day.

For more ideas on how to practise gratitude, check out my blog post 10 ways to practise gratitude.