Food noise. Why can some overcome it and others can’t?

Based on my experience, I don't think its a matter of some people have food noise and others don't. I think it depends on a bunch of stuff, some of which is in your control and some things out of it. For example, when breastfeeding, I think of food A LOT. If I increase my weekly running milage - volume goes up too (I can never lose weight by running because I always eat more than I burn off!) When the days get shorter, the noise goes up (probably a mix of boredom, comfort). On the flip side, when the sun comes out, or I'm on holiday etc. No food noise at all. Have an essay to write, all I can think about is snacks! I've never been overweight, but my weight fluctuates. I'll put on a few kg over winter, lose it naturally during the summer, put it on during a stressful period etc. I don't fight the food noise but I don't ignore it either.

What you eat (and drink) also makes a massive difference. Artificial sweeteners are addictive!! If I have one protein bar, I need one every day until my Monzo screams at me and I have to stop spending all my money in Sainsbury's local.

If I give in to food noise during the day, I have a bowl of vegetables for dinner.

Also, anorexia complicates things. If that is or was you, even if you have recovered, food noise is always going to be a bit off. You can't expect to stand next to a massive fuck off speaker for the whole duration of a rock concert and not come out a little bit deaf, or with a strange rining in your ears.

Thats just my experience, interested to know if people agree or disagree.

I went through a period in my 20s of 'food noise' and I think I was a bit bored and also felt rootless as a renter.

Since buying our first flat and having the stability of home ownership (age 25) and getting a dog, I've not had it.

I'm actually currently on medication that makes you hungry and most people do take it seem to gain stones in a short space of time. I've not gained an ounce. I can feel really hungry, with my stomach rumbling like crazy, and it doesn't bother me.

I eat real food (no processed shit, and actually have also recently given up seed oils too), eat sensible portions and don't really give it a thought beyond that.

I definitely have 'food noise', I'm not obese but definitely heavier than I'd like (have gained a couple of stone so nothing fits and I'm starting to look overweight).

For me, food is a hobby, an obsession. Other people buy too many clothes, or beauty products. For me it's food. I will actually go to the supermarket or markets to browse and buy things that look nice even if we don't need it. I want to eat and try everything. I am baffled by people who 'can't think what to cook' because I have dozens of cookbooks and hundreds of recipes I want to try.

But I think a lot of the difficulty for people is the obesegenic environment. Food is everywhere but a lot of it is utter crap and in too large portions.

So it's hard to get the right amount of healthy food and easy to get a lot of calories often for less money.

I don't think "typically" and "often" are very helpful here, to describe a problem affecting millions of people with perfectly normal childhoods and no traumatic events in their life.

My bad. “People who experience misery” then.

I think it comes down to a person's coping mechanisms and how stressed they are. If your life is really hard and/or busy and your go-to stress buster is biscuits then I can see how it happens. If this is a pattern that starts in childhood then it can become really intrenched and difficult to change.

Add that to the amount of shite food manufacturers put in food to literally make us crave it and you've got a recipe for a stressed, fat Nation.

This is true but I havent found cravings go away completely when eating a low carb diet. I just crave fat and protein, its my go to anyway, Im not really a sugar fiend.

I think people are keen to say that this is a total solution but although it helps its not a complete cure.

This is why I have found weight loss injections so helpful. I used to have a constant clamour in my head about food,now it's barely noticeable. I'm really not bothered about food the way I used to be.

This. The more sugar you eat, the more you want. You can never get enough!

If you can manage a few weeks off, then go back it all tastes overly sweet and fake.

I’m genuinely hungry almost all the time. I feel satiated for a couple of hours after a meal then peckish, hungry then famished. It’s hard to concentrate on anything other than the hunger pangs.
I don’t think that everyone feels this.

On the other hand, I have no anxiety about irrational things (only normal totally manageable nerves about exams etc). I have no depressive thoughts. I have never had any urge to gamble (not even the lottery) or take drugs and no problem drinking moderately.

People are all different.

What makes some people able to ignore their food noise and others not?

At the risk of sounding smug, I just don't get it. I'm quite baffled by the concept to be honest. If I fancy something I have it. I stop when I feel satisfied and don't really think about food in between meals. When I'm busy or during times of stress I'm likely to forget about food altogether until I start to feel unwell or lightheaded.

'food noise' sounds hard work and you have my sympathy. Like an addiction or something. But it sounds like it's something that people can't really help one way or another, not that the people who don't experience it are superior in some way.

I agree with this completely. You don't get cravings if you've eaten enough protein, it sends a message to your brain saying you've had what you need and all is well.

I agree with this, when I'm eating enough protein the food noise is barely there and I'm able to tell it to shut up!

I have spent my life battling food noise. I was very overweight in my late teens/early 20s, then lost a lot of weight and have managed to keep it off, but it’s a constant struggle. I would love to not spend all my time thinking about (and counting down to) my next meal! I think there are a lot of factors involved, from biochemical to behavioural to psychological to genetic, as to why some people don’t seem to have food noise and why some do and can keep on top of it while others can’t. I know I find it harder than ever when I am premenstrual. That is usually when I lose control and eat way more than I should.

The term is new, the situation it describes isn’t.

Surely that depends on the food. Maltesers would last me a long time too. Cheese on the other hand.....

Took me nearly a year to get through a box of chocolates someone gave me for last xmas. I have all my christmas chocs from this year currently unwrapped.

Cheese on the other hand....

Is this a new term - food noise? I've only ever seen it on here in relation to weight loss jabs.

When I was in 6th form I had a friend who was naturally slim. I remember her opening a small bag of Maltesers and putting them on her desk in her bedroom. She would occasionally have one while studying , but only now and then. She didn’t even think about it. A bag of Maltesers would last several days. It blew my mind. No way could I sit at my desk studying, with an open bag of Maltesers in front of me, and not eat them! I honestly don’t think that it was down to her upbringing, or her mental strength, or powers of resistance. She just wasn’t fussed. Her brain was wired completely differently to mine.

Food noise is typically related to emotional eating.
It’s often related to childhood/trauma.

As @TeenLifeMum says, it’s the same reason why people get addicted to drugs and alcohol whilst others can have it in moderation.

I think these injections sound fantastic as a temporary measure but I really think some sort of therapy for anyone with addictions/self harm should be available to get to the underlying issues.

One of the best weight loss advice I got was to stay busy and be social.

When I am busy at work then I can easily ignore my food noise but as soon as I get home it hits me even harder.
I try not to get over hungry and keep as busy as possible.

I know I am quite lucky to have very little food noise. The whole “giving into temptation” thing doesn’t really apply to me because I’ve just never been very food driven. I lost my sense of smell a few years ago and now feel even less tempted to eat because everything tastes bland. When people talk about the joy of food I don’t quite understand it. However, I have a real love of good music, and find it amazing that people don’t have the same drive for that… I guess we’re all different.

@LavenderFields7 almost. But I’m not a fan of the ‘miserable people’ label. I’m (on the whole) a can-do, look on the bright side type of person, but people close to me have been unbelievably shit to me from very early on in life. So it’s not that I am a miserable person - it’s that I have a lot of painful, scary grief to work through and food helps me cope. It’s low-level addiction. Language matters.

Honestly it a willpower thing. The same people who can drag themselves out of bed at 6am to go for a run in the depths of winter are probably the ones who can ignore food noise. You don't see a many high achieving, morbidly obese women.

I'm a greedy person with a big appetite. The only reason I'm not the size of a house is tonnes of exercise and finding big meals I like, which aren't too high calorie to eat during the week. I did a month of mounjaro, lowest dose and lost 10 pounds (from a 25 BMI). I think about food from the moment I wake up to the moment I go to sleep and it was the strangest thing for me to not be able to finish a meal when I had the injections and when I talked to some very slim friends they feel like that all the time, like they can take or leave food. I don't have the willpower to be actually slim, but I am militant about not getting big (over 10 stone 2 for me).

For me weight loss injections only stopped food noise for the first 3 weeks of injections and then my body became used to the medication and the food noise came back. Still on the injections but to be honest, I'm now unsure if my slow weight loss is due to controlling what I eat and exercising a whole lot more or due to the injections