What is Food Noise? And 4 Ways to Manage It
Written by Isabel Vasquez RD, LDN
Food noise has become a hot topic since GLP-1s exploded on the wellness scene. Yet, it’s not a new concept. Persistent thoughts about food have concerned dieters and weight-conscious folks for many years.
Non-diet, weight-inclusive healthcare providers (like our team of dietitians here at Your Latina Nutrition) have long touted eating enough and allowing yourself permission to eat your favorite foods as effective ways of reducing food noise.
However, diet culture abounds. One of many potential benefits of the newly popular weight loss drugs—wegovy, mounjaro, zepbound, etc—is reducing food noise. People taking these medications report relief that relentless food thoughts aren’t taking up so much mental real estate anymore, and research is emerging about this purported benefit.
In this blog, learn what food noise is, what causes it, and ways to silence it (with or without medication).
What is Food Noise?
Food noise is when you have persistent, unwanted thoughts about food. Like static on a radio, it’s a fuzzy annoying sound, sometimes in the background and sometimes so loud you can’t concentrate on anything else.
In other words, food noise often means you’re thinking about food way more than you’d like to. You may feel a continuous underlying hunger or have relentless food cravings. You may not feel full or satisfied even after eating.
Examples of Food Noise
Some specific examples of how food noise may feel include:
Thinking about a specific food for hours
Constantly thinking about your next meal or snack, even after you just ate
Persistent feelings of hunger
Background thoughts about food all day
Excessive worrying about what you’ve eaten
Inability to concentrate on work or other tasks because of food-related thoughts
Repeatedly thinking about calories, macros, carbs, etc. that you’ve eaten or will eat
What Causes Food Noise?
Internal vs External Cues
Researchers in a 2023 study in Nutrients divided food noise triggers into two categories: internal and external. Internal cues include things like hunger signals and your own thoughts about food and eating.
External cues can be sensorial, environmental, or social. They include things like smelling a tray of fresh cookies or seeing delicious food on social media.
Restricting Food or Dieting
Before exploring any other potential causes of food noise, it’s important to ensure you aren’t restricting food.
Skipping meals, cutting out food groups or certain types of food (other than if you’re allergic or have a concrete medical reason), or otherwise restricting food can undoubtedly lead to food noise.
Note that this can be intentional or unintentional restriction. You may intentionally skip meals to lose weight or you may simply forget to eat lunch due to a busy work day. Either way, it can lead to food noise.
In fact, restricting is one of the most common causes of binge eating or food obsession. When your body feels deprived, it will keep you focused on food until its needs are met. For more on that, read our blog post on the binge restrict cycle.
Given how prevalent diet culture is, many people aren’t eating enough and they don’t even realize it. It’s important to eat regular, well-rounded meals throughout the day with snacks as needed. For individualized support on this, consider working with one of our dietitians.
Hyperpalatable Foods
Ultraprocessed food is another controversial and hot topic in the wellness space. Here at Your Latina Nutrition, we don’t believe any food should be demonized. Shame does not deserve a place at the table, and the reality is that our food systems need to improve in order for more people to have access to nutrient-dense foods.
That said, some research suggests that ultraprocessed foods (things like potato chips or soft drinks) may contribute to food noise since they don’t promote fullness or satiety like more nutrient-dense foods do. They tend to be higher in sugar and refined carbs, which our bodies absorb quickly and therefore, don’t leave us feeling full for long at all.
Still, we don’t believe that these foods need to be eliminated entirely. To have a healthy relationship with food, it’s important to not demonize any foods and to allow yourself to enjoy food and move on with your day.
Eating a variety of food groups is most important for health and minimizing food noise, so as long as you’re also eating plenty of whole grains, fruits, vegetables, lean protein, and heart-healthy fat, you can still meet your nutritional needs and stave off food noise.
Of course, this requires the resources (finances, transportation, etc) to have access to these types of foods, which many Americans do not have.
Genetic Differences in Appetite Regulation
Some researchers believe that individual differences in appetite regulation and reactivity to food cues may explain why not everyone experiences food noise, even if they live in a similar environment.
While this may be true, there are certainly other factors at play that often aren’t accounted for. Things like weight stigma, socioeconomic status, and access to food.
Emotional Dysregulation
Some people may turn to food to cope with unpleasant emotions or unresolved trauma. Thinking about food constantly may be a subconscious or conscious means of distracting from or soothing yourself in the face of sadness, overwhelm, stress, or even boredom.
Certain Medical Conditions
Some medical conditions—like PCOS, diabetes, sleep issues, or depression—can lead to persistent thoughts about food or unrelenting hunger. In this case, the food noise typically happens because of hormonal imbalances, insulin resistance, or low energy.
How to Stop Food Noise
Eat Regular, Well-Rounded Meals
Eating regular, well-rounded meals can go a long way when it comes to reducing food noise. Our bodies need a steady combination of carbs, protein, fat, and fiber to stay healthy and energized.
So make sure you’re including all of these food groups in most of your meals and that you’re eating about every 3 to 5 hours.
Related: What is Gentle Nutrition? Plus 3 Tips to Get Started
Allow Pleasure in Your Eating Experience
While it’s common to get hyper focused on and even obsessive about “clean eating” in today’s day and age, there’s nothing wrong with finding pleasure from food.
Labeling certain foods as “bad” or cutting them out entirely can fan the flames of food noise. After all, when you restrict something, it tends to become more and more tempting.
So, let yourself eat foods you enjoy and try not to label certain foods as “bad” or “unhealthy”. When you allow yourself to eat foods you enjoy without guilt, it’s often easier to find satisfaction and move on with your day without persistent thoughts about the food.
Tend to Your Emotional Health
Since emotional dysregulation can contribute to food noise, tending to your emotional health may help quiet unwanted thoughts about food.
Rather than turning to food for comfort, you can learn to adopt other, adaptive coping mechanisms. This is often best done with the support of a licensed therapist.
That said, it’s normal to have an emotional connection to food, especially our cultural foods. We just don’t want food to be the main thing you turn to to cope with emotions.
Do GLP-1s Help Silence Food Noise?
GLP-1s promote satiety between meals by slowing digestion and absorption of glucose. They also promote the release of insulin, which is why they help manage diabetes. This is also how they help regulate appetite.
Many people on these drugs report a decrease in appetite, which can lead to malnutrition if you’re not intentional about eating enough throughout the day.
These drugs have also been shown to affect the brain, specifically the part that regulates appetite and reward-seeking behaviors, per a 2023 study in Nutrients.
People taking GLP-1s have reported less food noise, potentially because of those effects of the drugs, or potentially for other reasons that remain unknown. So, these drugs may be a means of reducing food noise, but they’re definitely not the only way to do so.
In fact, if a poor relationship with food is the issue, these drugs will act more like a band-aid than a true cure. However, if poor blood sugar control is the issue, then these drugs can certainly help.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is food noise just hunger?
Food noise can definitely be a sign of hunger. In fact, thinking about food is one subtle hunger cue. However, food noise can persist even if you aren’t physically hungry. Food noise can also be a sign of inadequate dietary variety, emotional dysregulation, or even a medical issue like diabetes or a sleep issue.
Why does ozempic stop food noise?
Ozempic may quiet food noise by decreasing appetite, improving insulin production to regulate blood sugars, and slowing digestion. There may be other reasons as well that researchers have yet to discover.
How do you silence food noise?
Some ways to silence food noise include ensuring you are eating enough food throughout the day, making peace with foods you have previously forbidden, and learning coping skills to regulate your emotions. Emerging research suggests GLP-1s may also help through decreasing appetite and slowing digestion, but we suggest ensuring you are eating enough food as a first approach to silencing food noise.
What does food noise feel like?
Food noise feels like persistent, unrelenting thoughts about food throughout the day. You may constantly feel hungry even after you just ate and regularly think about what you’ll eat next. Sometimes it may feel like a dull static in the background of your mind and sometimes it may be strong, loud thoughts.
Final Thoughts
While GLP1’s promise to silence food noise (amongst a plethora of other benefits), taking these drugs isn’t the only way to get rid of persistent thoughts about food. In fact, as dietitians, we’d argue that the most effective way for most people to silence food noise is to eat enough food.
It can also help to tend to your emotional health if you’re using food as a primary means of coping with your emotions.
That said, if an underlying medical issue like diabetes is the cause of food noise, GLP-1’s can be an effective way to not just reduce food noise but promote blood sugar management.
For education on how to ADD nutrition to your favorite Latine cultural dishes, make peace with food, and focus on your health without dieting, join our nutrition library for just $27/month.
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