An individual’s capacity to remain healthy in times of stress is exceedingly difficult, and there is sufficient support that stress contributes to poorer eating habits such as consumption of high-sugar and high-calorie foods. The impact of stress, and anxiety in particular, can be mitigated by engaging in healthy adaptive cognitive processes such as metacognition. A limited amount of research has investigated the impact(s) of adaptive metacognition on participants’ food choices specifically. However, some previous studies show that guiding metacognitive processes may improve food choice. The goal of the present study is to determine if metacognition can moderate stress and help participants navigate everyday health choices. Participants were recruited at the University of Washington Tacoma to complete the study online. Food choice was measured by a pretest-posttest design providing the participants with a forced-choice computerized simulation of various drinks i.e., sugar-sweetened beverages (SSB) and water. Metacognitive guidance was given to participants in the form of knowledge-based information about SSB and reflection on metacognitive monitoring and control. Participant stress was measured using the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS), eating habits with the Intuitive Eating Scale-2, and participants completed a demographic questionnaire. It is expected that metacognition guidance through knowledge, monitoring, and control may positively moderate the impact of stress on food choice. Specifically, students will opt for beverages with fewer sugar grams after the metacognitive guidance, and perceived stress will be correlated with the change in food choice before and after the guidance. Metacognitive guidance may prove to be another tool in helping individuals reduce their sugar intake and thus decrease likelihood of developing sugar-related health conditions such as diabetes and overnutrition.

Stress associated with financial instability can manifest as poor decision-making or self-indulgence when making choices that impact health. However, practicing self-compassion can buffer against the influences of stress. Whether self-compassion can reverse previously made unhealthy food choices is unexplored; thus, we are investigating the buffering effects of self-compassion on food choices during times of financial stress to determine if participants will improve their food choices. Additionally, are investigating the underlying role that self-compassion has on compensatory health behaviors. We hypothesize that after we have induced financial stress, participants will have greater preferences for foods with greater health risks (e.i. heavily processed) but after an intervention of a self-compassion exercise, participants will alter their food choices to reflect healthier eating habits, specifically, foods with lesser health risks. Finally, we hypothesize that after the self-compassion exercise, those with higher compensatory health behaviors will prefer foods with greater health risks. Participants will be recruited from an undergraduate psychology pool at the University of Washington Tacoma campus to complete the study online. First, stress will be induced through a writing prompt, recalling a recent state of financial stress. Participants will then be asked to complete a food choice task by using vouchers to choose foods from a list of 20 items. After completing a self-compassion exercise, participants will be then asked if they would like to revise or maintain their decisions from the previous food choice exercise. Finally, participants will complete the compensatory health belief scale and a demographics questionnaire.The hypothesis will be tested using a paired samples t-test and correlation, which indicates a desired sample of 34 (based on a power analysis using p = 0.05, and a power of 0.80). Data collection has begun and sample size will be achieved by March 2023.