Adiponectin is an adipose-derived protein that negatively correlates with increasing adiposity, insulin resistance, inflammatory mediators and cardiovascular disease. 31-33, 45 Recently, a significant increase in adiponectin levels was seen in obese women following gastric bypass surgery, resulting in improvements in insulin sensitivity.33 A thorough literature search has revealed that the effects of mindfulness practice on adipocytokine levels have not yet been investigated. The MEAL study hypothesizes that mindfulness practice will be associated with an increase in adiponectin related to predicted weight loss. While the MEAL intervention is different from the diet and surgical interventions currently cited in the literature, we predict that our sample size of 40 will be adequate to identify a statistically significant increase in adiponectin of approximately 50%, given the medium to large effect size seen in the literature.33,40