Grocery shopping shapes the home food environment, which can contribute to the development of obesity. Episodic future thinking (EFT) helps adults make healthier decisions by initiating prospective thinking, which guides one to forego smaller immediate rewards in favor of larger delayed rewards. EFT could help parents improve grocery purchases thereby improving the home food environment and family eating behaviors. The effect of EFT on food shopping was evaluated in two studies with mothers who were overweight/obese and primary household shoppers. In Study 1, 24 mothers were randomized to goal-directed process EFT versus a money saving control. In Study 2, 33 mothers were randomized to goal-directed process EFT, general EFT, or an episodic recent thinking (ERT) control. Following cue generation, participants completed a task where they purchased one week of groceries from an online store. Food purchases were analyzed for calories purchased per family member. In Study 1 the goal-directed process EFT group purchased fewer calories per person (F(1, 23) = 25.16, p < .001; η p 2 = .522). In Study 2 the goaldirected process EFT purchased fewer calories (F(1, 30) = 5.98, p = 0.02; η p 2 = .166) than the ERT control as did the EFT general group (F(1, 30) = 4.61, p = 0.04; η p 2 = .133). The two EFT groups did not differ from each other (F(1, 30) = 0.16, p = 0.69; η p 2 = .005). EFT may be an effective intervention when grocery shopping to reduce energy intake of foods purchased and could be a helpful component to a behavioral family-based obesity treatment program.Two in three adults and one in three children were obese in America in 2016 and that rate has been steadily increasing since 1999 (Skinner, Ravanbakht, Skelton, Perrin, & Armstrong, 2018). A major cause of obesity is a high intake of calorie-dense, nutrient-poor foods in tandem with a low intake of nutrient-rich foods (Dehghan, Akhtar-Danesh, & Merchant, 2005). Families that include children consume a majority of their calories from food that is purchased by parents, and mothers in particular tend to have greater control and influence over what their families consume when compared to other influences (Gibson et al.

Objective Delay discounting (DD) is the choice of a smaller immediate reward over a larger delayed reward, which has been associated with a number of maladaptive behaviors. Episodic future thinking (EFT), the ability to project oneself into the future, is an intervention designed to reduce DD. EFT has reliable effects on DD, but the size of the effect varies, which could be due in part to the use of different control groups. Episodic recent thinking (ERT) serves as a common control for many EFT studies, but the temporal window of “recent” cues ranges from 24 hours ago to 12 days past. Since prior research has shown that retrospection can lead to prospection, it may be important to ensure that EFT controls do not inadvertently lead to prospection for some participants thereby increasing the variability of the control condition. The present study sought to develop a comparison group that standardizes the time frame and experiences that are the basis for the recent thinking control. Methods Participants (n = 53, 18–45) were randomized to one of three conditions: EFT, ERT, or standardized episodic thinking (SET). Participants attended a laboratory appointment where they played mobile application games, created cues, and completed a DD task. Results There was a significant difference between groups ( p <0.05), with EFT reducing discounting more than either control (p<0.05), and no differences between ERT and SET (p>0.05). Conclusion This study established that SET provides an alternative control in EFT studies and provides the advantage of standardizing the participant’s recent experience without changing the relationship between EFT and recent thinking controls.

Introducing mobile produce markets and farmers’ markets increased fruit and vegetable consumption in lower-income communities, while opening larger retailers (e.g. grocery stores) did not improve fruit and vegetable intake.

Background: Imagining one’s own future (episodic future thinking, EFT) has helped mothers with overweight purchase healthier groceries during an online shopping task in the laboratory. The present study explored whether delivering an EFT intervention to participants’ devices via an ecological momentary intervention (EMI) tool would help mothers purchase healthier food at brick-and-mortar stores. Method: Participants (N = 43, mothers 31–52 years of age, BMI ≥ 24.9 kg/m2) were randomized to EFT or standardized episodic thinking (SET). EFT cues include a positive and vivid description of future events while SET cues focus on the recent experience of playing games in the laboratory. Cues were uploaded to participant profiles on an EMI site. Participants were trained on how to read and listen to cues as well as how to detail purchases. Participants received text reminders to listen to cues before shopping and returned with receipts the following day. Receipt data was analyzed to derive dependent variables, calories, and nutrients purchased per person. Correlations were used to analyze associations between study variables of interest, and ANOVAs were conducted to compare dietary variables by group. Results: Participants in the EFT group purchased fewer calories, fewer grams of fat, fewer grams of saturated fat, and fewer miligrams of sodium than participants in the SET control group. Conclusion: Delivering EFT cues to participant devices may be a promising way to improve the calorie and nutrient content of food purchases. Future research should include a longer follow-up and analyze calorie changes over time.

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