Food Noise

Lots of people think overeating is a willpower problem, but its much more complicated than that.

There’s a concept gaining real traction in healthcare called ‘food noise’.

It’s the relentless, intrusive mental ‘noise’ about food. The constant thoughts about what you just ate, what you’re going to eat next, the craving that won’t leave you alone, even when you’re not actually hungry.

For some people, this is a quiet background hum. For others, it’s almost deafening.

There are broadly 3 groups of people, and you’ll see this when you walk past the smell of food. For some it has no impact at all, for others it can make them feel a little sick, and yet others have a near insatiable desire to eat.

This is food noise. You might see this in a friend or partner.

For those with high food noise, its driven by dopamine reward pathways, appetite hormones, and brain circuitry that evolved to help us survive scarcity but has now been now hijacked by ultra-processed foods, chronic stress, disrupted sleep, and blood sugar spikes.

Clinically, food noise becomes significant when it:

🔴 Consumes mental energy and disrupts concentration

🔴 Creates anxiety, shame, and self-recrimination

🔴 Drives binge/restrict cycles and emotional eating

🔴 Interferes with relationships, work, and quality of life

We saw this concept surface more clearly when patients on GLP-1 medications (the commonly named ‘weight loss jabs’) reported that, for the first time in their lives, the noise just stopped. They could walk past food without thinking about it relentlessly.

But there are things that help without GLP-1s:

✅ Eating protein and fibre at every meal

✅ Reduce ultra-processed food exposure

✅ Protect sleep as poor sleep amplifies food noise significantly

✅ Regular meal timing to stabilise blood sugar

✅ Reduce stress as cortisol fuels the cycle

I find the food noise concept fascinating.

From a personal level I love ‘grazing’ and almost always have to stop to pick up snacks when I’m at Food Markets. I've always thought I “live to eat; not eat to live’ but maybe there is more to it.