Research into the complexities of addictive eating behaviours continues to develop, as a deeper understanding of this construct beyond self-report diagnostic tools emerges. In this study, we undertook structured interviews with 40 participants engaged in a personality-based management program for addictive eating, to gain insight into what situations lead people with addictive eating behaviours to overeat, and how they believe their lives would be different if they had control over their eating. A phenomenological analysis to explore compulsion and control in the context of food experiences for participants was used to construct two main themes of the addictive eating paradox and striving to transition from ‘other’ to ‘normal’. The addictive eating paradox identified multiple contradictory experiences of a situation, e.g., ‘loving food’ but ‘hating food’. Striving to transition from ‘other’ to ‘normal’ encompassed the idea that participants envisaged that by gaining control over their eating they could become ‘normal’. This study emphasises the need to provide support and strategies to help people navigate paradoxical thoughts and presents new ideas to increase the effectiveness of interventions for individuals struggling with the complex self-beliefs held by those with addictive eating behaviours.

Background: Few interventions for food addiction (FA) report on dietary intake variables. The present study comprised a three‐arm randomised controlled trial in adults with symptoms of FA. The aim was to evaluate dietary intake, sleep and physical activity resulting from a dietitian‐led telehealth intervention at 3 months.Methods: Adults with ≥3 symptoms of FA and a body mass index > 18.5 kg/m² were recruited. Dietary intake including energy, nutrients and diet quality were assessed by a validated food frequency questionnaire in addition to sleep quality and physical activity (total min) and compared between groups and over time. Personalised dietary goals set by participants were examined to determine whether improvements in percent energy from core and non‐core foods were reported.Results: The active intervention group was superior compared to the passive intervention and control groups for improvements in percent energy from core (6.4%/day [95% confidence interval (CI) −0.0 to 12.9], p = 0.049), non‐core foods (−6.4%/day [95% CI −12.9 to 0.0], p = 0.049), sweetened drinks (−1.7%/day [95% CI −2.9 to −0.4], p = 0.013), takeaway foods (−2.3%/day [95% CI −4.5 to −0.1], p = 0.045) and sodium (−478 mg/day [95% CI −765 to −191 mg], p = 0.001).Conclusions: A dietitian‐led telehealth intervention for Australian adults with FA found significant improvements in dietary intake variables. Setting personalised goals around nutrition and eating behaviours was beneficial for lifestyle change.

Introduction: No Money No Time is a culinary nutrition website focused on diet quality improvement. The aim was to compare participant retention in a 6‐week eHealth challenge, with and without use of financial incentives and to compare demographic characteristic, diet quality and engagement outcomes between them. Methods: The single‐arm, pre‐post studies [Spring Eatz (30 August to 17 September, 2023) and RE$ET (20th February to March, 2024)] recruited adults ≥ 18 years from Australia into a 6‐week nutrition challenge delivered via weekly emails that directed participants to the No Money No Time (NMNT) purpose‐built culinary and nutrition‐related health website from after completing the embedded Healthy Eating Quiz (HEQ) and consenting to data use for research purposes. At the start of each challenge week participants received an email with links to targeted NMNT content, relevant recipes, plus specific time and cost‐efficient advice to help improve dietary patterns. Weeks 2–5 included a prize draw of 4 × AUD$25 eGift cards randomly drawn from participants actively engaging with challenge materials and a week 6 final draw of 4 × AUD$100 eGift cards from participants completing the HEQ and feedback survey post‐challenge. Data was collected on diet quality (HEQ score), demographics (gender, age, vegetarian status, number of people/weekly household grocery expenditure, expenditure on food purchased away from the home, weight and height). NMNT website analytics were collected via Active Campaign software. Results: The incentivised challenge recruited significantly more males (22% vs. 15%) and a younger demographic (mean age 45 y vs. 50 y) compared to unincentivized ( p < 0.01). There was a significantly greater 6‐week retention in the incentivised challenge compared to no incentivisation (21% vs. 16%, z ‐score = 2.14, p < 0.05), with significant increases in diet quality (HEQ score) in adjusted models ( + 4.5 points, p < 0.05), which was not significantly different to the unincentivized challenge p = 0.09. Conclusions: The 6‐week eHealth nutrition challenge using financial incentives improved diet quality and led to significantly greater retention compared to an unincentivized challenge, with overall retention still relatively low. Engagement with weekly emails exceeds global email marketing campaigns. Future iterations should incorporate strategies to increase participant engagement. An email campaign represents a low‐cost approach to achieve short‐term improvement in diet quality.

No Money No Time (NMNT) is a culinary nutrition website designed to optimize diet quality. The primary aim was to evaluate the impact of an online targeted nutrition challenge email campaign that encouraged engagement with NMNT and goal setting to improve diet quality and weekly food expenditure. A secondary aim was to assess NMNT engagement. Australian adults ≥18 years were recruited to the eHealth nutrition challenge delivered via weekly emails. Diet quality was assessed using the Healthy Eating Quiz (HEQ) diet quality tool. Engagement was assessed using email open and click-through rates. Intention-to-treat (ITT) analysis was conducted using mixed effects linear regression. Of 481 adults (49.7 ± 13.9 years, 84% female) who enrolled 79 (16%) completed the challenge. ITT results indicated statistically significant 6-week increases in diet quality score (+3.8 points p ≤ 0.001, d = 0.58) with sub-scale improvements in vegetables (+0.9 points, p = 0.01, d = 0.32), fruit (+1.2 points, p ≤ 0.001, d = 0.55), and dairy (+0.9 points, p ≤ 0.001, d = 0.58). There were significant post-challenge reductions in household spending on takeaway/snacks/coffee of AUD 8.9 per week (p = 0.01, d = 0.29), body weight reduction (−0.6 kg, p = 0.03, d = 0.26), and BMI (−0.2 kg/m²p = 0.02, d = 0.28). The email open rate remained constant at around 67% (56% to 75%), with an average click-through rate of 18% (7.1% to 37.9%). The eHealth nutrition challenge significantly improved diet quality while reducing BMI and money spent on discretionary foods. Strategies to scale the challenge should be tested as an innovative population strategy for improving diet quality, health indicators, and managing household food budgets.