Interest in food noise has increased exponentially over the past few years. Food noise is often experienced as persistent or intrusive thoughts about food that often cause distress or make it difficult to engage in life.
In fact, it’s an “on-trend” topic at the moment. Yet for its popularity, one must ask: Has the concept of food noise been handled sensitively? Have its nuances been acknowledged?
Food noise can feel distressing, even debilitating, for many people. Blame and judgment may have been thrown into the mix. I hope to challenge that in what follows so that you feel less isolated and less burdened as a result. For this article, I want to focus on the experience of food noise from the perspective of someone who has been struggling with disordered eating or an eating disorder.
As a dietitian practising in the area of eating disorders, I have heard countless times the anguish people endure as they experience food noise. I wonder if this has been your experience too? Have you noticed constant thoughts about food disrupting your concentration, pulling you away from what’s most important to you? Maybe they impact your mood, raising your stress levels or making you anxious. Perhaps they drain your energy, as you endlessly scrutinise every food choice throughout the day. There are various ways people experience food noise, and while its effects may be mild, they can also be a little short of paralysing.
What is food noise?
There is no formal or universal definition for food noise. However, recent research has described the phenomenon as “persistent or obsessive or intrusive thoughts about food and eating that are difficult to ignore or suppress.” The research goes on to say that “individuals [experiencing food noise] may feel like their lives revolve around food.”
Food noise can manifest itself in a variety of ways. For example:
- A preoccupation with food. For some, this preoccupation might be about eating healthy while avoiding “unhealthy” food.
- Persistent noise around what a person has eaten. This may mean emerging judgments or internal criticism over a person’s food choices, leaving them feeling guilty or ashamed.
- Planning the day around food or constantly planning the next meal. This may also be associated with anxiety or distress as a person becomes bogged down in making the “right” decision about what and how much they eat.
- Constant, repetitive analysis about what to eat, how much to eat, and when to stop eating.
- An overwhelming intensity of food-related thoughts makes it difficult to focus on other tasks.
- Constantly thinking about the next enjoyable food to eat and when they can have this food.
Is there a level of food noise that is normal?
It hardly needs pointing out that we need a regular supply of food to survive. It’s necessary, then, to dedicate a certain amount of time and energy to the process of nourishing our bodies. One way our bodies communicate hunger is through thoughts about food. We should therefore expect to have a certain number of thoughts about food in our day. This is entirely natural.
When nourishing our bodies is straightforward, and food isn’t complicated by moral judgments or rules, thoughts about food will arise,but won’t dominate our lives. They take their rightful place as signals to communicate the need for food, as moments of joy as we savour a delicious meal, or as prompts to plan meals. Such thoughts are fleeting moments that come and go as our needs arise and subside. They are balanced and helpful, enabling us to care for our bodies and appreciate the nourishment process.
Why do some people experience food noise?
On the other hand, food thoughts can turn into food noise: constant, overbearing, negative, and highly distressing. A variety of factors contribute to this phenomenon. Diet culture, weight stigma and starvation are three of the most significant.
Diet culture promotes rules and moral judgments concerning food as a sure pathway to health. It distorts the role of nutrition in health, leading people to believe they need to maintain impeccable diets to attain health and social acceptance. This may encourage a hyper-focused attitude towards food. The result is a relentless mental tug-of-war between diet culture’s strictures and a person’s desire for a satisfying, pleasurable relationship with food. It’s in that context that food noise often starts to sound.
Weight stigma (discrimination towards people due to their body size and weight) and internalised weight bias may also trigger increased food noise. Internalised weight bias may lead some people to frequently struggle with judgmental thoughts about their food choices, whether from themselves or others. They may find it difficult to eat in front of others for fear of criticism. Distress, pressure, or doubts around food choices can often burden such people with feelings of guilt or shame.
Then there’s the role of starvation or a restrictive approach to food. The body’s natural response to inadequate food intake is to increase the frequency and intensity of thoughts about food. This is the way our bodies ensure our survival. Those who try to go long periods without food – perhaps as a way of “controlling” their intake – will likely experience increased food preoccupation. When those kinds of thoughts start to monopolise a person’s attention, food noise is the result.
Other factors that may also contribute to an increase in food noise for people include:
- Deprivation from food rules and judgments, or avoiding foods that one enjoys.
- Distress around food that may arise from deeper body image concerns.
- Neurodivergence, which may cause some people to have heightened or more intense sensory experiences when eating, or interoceptive differences (particularly in regards to appetite).
- Food insecurity, which may arise in settings characterised by economic lack or the relative inaccessibility of food. The distress of not having enough food or not knowing how to access it can exacerbate food noise.
What are some ways you can reduce food noise?
Eat enough food regularly
As I noted earlier, our bodies communicate hunger through thoughts about food. If we aren’t eating enough or our meals aren’t balanced, our thoughts about food are likely to increase. Even if you eat regularly but avoid certain food groups or eat less than your body needs, growing food preoccupation is inevitable. Skipping meals or depriving oneself of food for prolonged periods of time will also intensify thoughts about food.
We’ve known these facts for some time, thanks to the Minnesota Starvation Study (MSS). Conducted in the 1940s, the MSS was a landmark investigation into the impact of starvation on the human body. When the body does not receive sufficient nutrition, it responds in various ways that can compromise a person’s physical and psychological health. One of those responses is, of course, intensifying thoughts about food. Participants in the MSS, all of whom underwent significant periods of deprivation, experienced food noise: a relentless preoccupation with food, which was so persistent that participants even dreamt about it. I describe it as the body shouting its needs, raising the alarm until those needs are met. After all, the body’s survival instincts are strong,indeed we are wired for survival.
In today’s world, it can be confusing to know how much food is enough, particularly if we rely on food rules or are influenced by diet culture. That is where seeking support from a dietitian can be beneficial and clarifying. Once the foundation of eating enough is established, it can be easier to discover what else might be contributing to food noise.
Eating satisfying meals
Meal satisfaction is another key to reducing food noise. If you possess a dieting mindset, you may find your eating patterns guided by strict (and often unrealistic) food rules. This could look like one or more of the following scenarios:
- Finishing a meal but not truly enjoying it. Instead, you’re left thinking about something else you would rather eat, but it’s off the menu.
- Trying to subsist on low-calorie alternatives that simply doesn’t provide your body with adequate nutrition – to say nothing of the lack of satisfaction.
- Avoiding foods you enjoy for fear they are “unhealthy” or might cause weight gain. This leaves you feeling deprived, triggering your preoccupation with so-called “forbidden” foods.
- “Rebelling” against your diet regimen. This could mean avoiding certain foods for periods of time until you finally “break”. As you rebel against the rule, you may find yourself eating certain foods chaotically or shamefully. But this just robs you of genuine enjoyment while leaving you vulnerable to persistent food noise.
If you’re burdened with a dieting or restrictive mindset, the idea of providing your body with adequate nutrition and delicious meals could seem foreign, even terrifying. You may worry that eating in this way could plunge you into a spiral of uncontrolled eating – consuming whatever you want without care or discipline. And yet, when we move away from depriving our bodies in favour of true nourishment with enjoyable food, both food noise and chaotic eating patterns are likely to subside.
Making food enjoyable doesn’t mean “letting yourself go” or adopting a thoughtless attitude towards nutrition. Rather, it can mean honouring your health through genuinely satisfying food.
Drop the food rules and judgments
Drop the food rules and judgments. Ahh, if only it were that easy! I get it: most of us have grown up with food rules and are probably thoroughly used to them. They have been handed down to us in a variety of ways: through nutrition education in schools, our parents’ expectations at the dinner table, and the way food is framed and discussed at social gatherings. And sure, food rules feel familiar and comforting, offering a kind of anchor as we seek to lead healthy lifestyles. The very idea that they might be unhelpful – that they may even be detrimental to one’s health – can leave people feeling confused or uneasy.
But why are such rules unhelpful? For starters, they can encourage a rigid, black-and-white approach to food. This might make us feel good and healthy when we abide by our rules, yet guilt and shame are always lurking in the background when we eat “forbidden” food. This simply increases pressure around one’s food choices, leaving many people in a state of unrelieved tension – caught between what they truly want to eat and what they think they should eat. Hence, a rise in food noise.
Understanding that food rules and judgments are harmful is merely the first step. Becoming curious about diet culture’s unfounded rules while learning nutrition facts can help introduce freedom and flexibility with food. Supporting a move towards a more expansive approach to nutrition can also help reduce a person’s preoccupation with food. They can then enjoy a wide range of foods without judgment or guilt, “right-sizing” the roles such foods can play in a more satisfying life.
When to seek professional help
You may be wondering if your struggle is valid, or whether you are ready to seek help for the food noise you experience. It’s important to know that there is no “right” time to reach out for support; similarly, many people may start receiving nutrition therapy even if they don’t feel entirely “ready”. Wanting more freedom and peace around food is a sign that seeking help could be useful. Several other signs support that a trained dietitian might be needed:
- If food noise is causing anxiety.
- If food noise is restricting your social life, preventing you from maintaining healthy relationships with others.
- If food noise is making it hard for you to concentrate on daily tasks, like work or study.
- If you are consistently confused about how much you should be eating.
- If you are constantly bombarded with thoughts about food, what you’ve eaten, and what you will eat.
- If you want to make peace with food, rather than being stuck in a battle of “should” and “shouldn’t”.
Of course, your experience of food noise will be unique to you. This is where becoming curious about your own relationship with food noise – perhaps with a credentialed eating disorder dietitian – could be helpful. It would allow you to dilute the power of those internal narratives with someone trained to offer safe and therapeutic support. There is freedom in voicing one’s experiences in such an environment.
If you would like to connect with me to explore the possibility of nutrition support, please don’t hesitate to email me or book a free discovery call.
References
- Dhurandhar, E. J., Maki, K. C., Dhurandhar, N. V., Kyle, T. K., Yurkow, S., Hawkins, M. A. W., . . . Allison, D. B. (2025). Food noise: Definition, measurement, and future research directions. Nutrition & Diabetes, 15(1), 30. doi:https://doi.org/10.1038/s41387-025-00382-x
- Garner, D.M. (1997), ‘Starvation symptoms. The effects of starvation on behaviour: Implications for eating disorders, in Garner, D. & Garfinkel P. (eds), Handbook for Treatment of Eating disorders, Guilford Press, New York, NY, 145 – 177.
- Hayashi, D., Edwards, C., Emond, J. A., Gilbert-Diamond, D., Butt, M., Rigby, A., & Masterson, T. D. (2023). What is food noise? A conceptual model of food cue reactivity. Nutrients, 15(22), 4809. doi:https://doi.org/10.3390/nu15224809
