Food noise. How often do we hear the term these days? Although it’s not generally 

accompanied by a definition, we instinctively sense what it means—the whirlwind of thoughts about food that plague our minds seemingly 24/7. They’re like a bad headache, sometimes dull and sometimes pounding, but never quite gone. 

According to “Food noise: definition, measurement, and future research directions,” food noise is “persistent thoughts about food that are perceived by the individual as being unwanted and/or dysphoric and may cause harm to the individual, including social, mental, or physical problems. Food noise is distinguished from routine food-related thoughts by its intensity and intrusiveness, resembling rumination.”

Food noise isn’t the same for everyone but is commonly experienced as unpleasant and unwanted. It generally involves self-judgment about what, when and how much to eat, pressure to make “the right” decisions, intrusiveness into and distraction from other thoughts, feelings and activities, focusing on food in the past, present and future, missing out on the current moment (whatever that may entail) because our mind is so food-centered, with the urgency of saying yes or no to food having such a tight grip on us that we believe it will never let go. 

“Food noise has several key features that also resonate with clinical experiences. Food noise does cause a significant cognitive burden, similar to preoccupation with food, but also has features, such as dysphoria, that are unique. Food noise exists to varying degrees and may not always be present at levels or contexts that cause dysphoria. Food noise also appears to cause anguish and self-recrimination that individuals feel towards themselves, and it therefore may cause self-stigma, and may be unwanted. There also seems to be an inability to control the frequency and intensity of food noise, and it is described as ‘incessant’.”

Sound familiar? We’re hearing a good deal about food noise these days, since glucagon-like peptide 1 (GLP-1) receptor agonists have burst onto the market and become known as weight-loss drugs. The noise also has increased over the past few decades as the push to eat healthfully has moved into the forefront of culture and conversation, due to increased research into this area, and the expansion of food labeling and marketing of high-nutrition versus low-nutrition foods.

I encourage you to read the articles cited above to learn more about food noise and what to do with it. The more you know about it, the more you can do about it.

Best,

Karen