Craving and Lifestyle Management Through Mindfulness Study
Craving and Lifestyle Management Through Mindfulness Study
The purpose of this study is to determine whether a mindfulness-based stress reduction and
 mindful eating program will lead to reductions in abdominal fat and total weight and improve
 cell aging in overweight and obese women compared to a waitlist control group.
Obesity is the largest growing epidemic, with about 65% of Americans overweight (Flegal,
 Carroll et al. 2002). Obesity, in particular, abdominal obesity, confers increased risk for a
 host of diseases, including hypertension, Type 2 diabetes, and coronary heart disease,
 resulting in shortened life span (Fontaine, Redden et al. 2003). Psychological stress is
 widely cited anecdotally as a factor that causes people to engage in overeating, and studies
 provide strong evidence that stress can promote obesity. Stress induces selective preference
 of sweet, high-fat food and increases visceral fat depots. The telomere maintenance system
 (telomerase activity and telomere length)are markers of cellular aging and predict mortality
 (Cawthon et al, 2003)and have been linked to both psychological stress and components of the
 metabolic syndrome. The proposed study adapts a program called Mindfulness-Based Stress
 Reduction (MBSR) that has been shown to be effective in a variety of other stress-related
 conditions. Fifty overweight, pre-menopausal women at risk for the Metabolic Syndrome will be
 randomized in a 1:1 distribution to either a 3-month intervention to reduce stress and
 overeating [Craving and Lifestyle Management with Mindfulness (CALMM)] or wait list control
 group. The primary outcome measures include amounts of abdominal fat, weight, and telomerase
 activity. Data from this study are intended to provide pilot data for use in planning a
 larger randomized, controlled trial that will investigate the effects of the CALMM
 intervention on the metabolic and psychological processes assessed in this pilot study.
Inclusion Criteria:

 -  Pre-menopausal

 -  BMI (25 - 40)

 -  Weight < 300 lbs.

 -  Negative urine glucose test

 Exclusion Criteria:

 -  Inability to provide informed consent

 -  Age < 21 or menopausal as determined by self-report

 -  DSM-IV diagnosis of an eating disorder

 -  Any substance abuse, mental health, or medical condition that, in the opinion of
 investigators, will make it difficult for the potential participant to participate in
 the intervention

 -  Factors that confound relations between stress and eating, including, drug abuse and
 use of medications containing corticosteroids.

 -  Diabetes

 -  Polycystic Ovary Syndrome

 -  CHD

 -  Breastfeeding (due to interference with stress hormone measurement)

 -  Non English speaker

 -  Pregnant as determined by pregnancy test at screening visit or planning to get
 pregnant in the next 6 months

 -  Previous MBSR training and/or current meditation, yoga, or other mind-body practice

 -  Initiation of new class of psychiatric medications in past 2 months.

 -  Currently on a weight loss diet