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

Oh no that’s not what i meant. Of course I have been miserable at times I just mean I haven’t been consistently miserable since childhood. Also, your theory falls apart because at no point did I say I eat whenever there is any sign of being miserable.

"Do some people not have food noise at all so they don’t need to battle it?"

This is true for me.

I just have to look at my sons to see how different they are in their relationship to food. DS 15 y old Asd will use food when stressed (he says it's when he's bored) so I have to hide all snacks from him. He loves eating in general and can eat even though he's full. DS 11 y old is very "reasonable" to a point that makes me impressed because I'm not. He likes to eat but he's more in sync with his physiological needs so never eats when he's not hungry/ have more cake just because it's good. He has a friend with Arfid who has no joy at all eating. He can eat a piece of bread and then say he's not hungry anymore. Definitely zero food noice and never takes pleasure in eating, it's just something that unfortunately needs to be done sometimes to fuel up.

So judging by these 3 children's attitude to food I would say we're all wired differently when it comes to food and we shouldn't shame anyone who can't resist the food noise because with Mounjaro they can so it's physical not just psychological.

Most chefs are obsessed with food, I am I love it, I love recipes and trying new things and flavours and textures. Putting combinations together that havent been done before, different cuisines. To be honest its the main reason I go on holiday thinking about it! I dont think theres anything wrong that as such.

It’s torture. I’m dieting for for an event in 6 months and I can’t stop obsessing over food. I watch cooking shows, mukhbangs, restaurant reviews etc. It’s hell. So much so that even though the weight is falling off I looked into going on to weight loss jabs. I would too but I’d rather pocket the money for a holiday

The food we have available to us in this country is part of the problem. Very small section of fruit and veg and fresh stuff, tomatoes are crap, everything uniform and tasteless. No wonder people seek out other foods. Everytime I go to the supermarket my heart sinks.

It's funny how I had never even heard of "food noises" before! Not sure if I had missed something but I had been reading quite a lot about diets, and I learned about nutrition, and had never come across this term before the injections came out.
I always thought I was just hungrier than the norm, but being on the weight loss injection made me realise the problem is food noises.

Before I needed to be really really full to keep them under control. I did manage to lose/maintain weight but I had to restrict carbs a lot (the more you eat them, the more you want them!), and eat a lot of proteins (meat, shakes etc) and veg to fell really full all the time, and I was weightlifting/running 3-4 times a week. Even then it was still hard to ignore food noises, but easier to make better decisions.

The feeling of not hearing those food noises with the injection is so good... I can just move on after a meal, and get that headspace back.

The fact you “haven’t been miserable since childhood” supports my theory. You eat whenever there is any sign of being miserable.

I struggle due to having one of my children having a disability. Im always rushing about to do school runs (with one of the schools being further away as specialist) work, cleaning and when children at home it’s very full on as one of my children needing a lot more supervision than a neurotypical child.
I ended up snacking and drinking fizzy drinks just to get through the constant stress. I have now given up any drinks apart from water and am trying really hard not to snack. I tend to be constantly tiered but a lot of the time I’m in survival mode as there is no break. I am actively trying to break the habit as I need to be healthy for my children, especially as my youngest will need care as an adult. I think life has a huge impact on if you can ignore food noise. Sometimes it easier to pick up the rubbish

Food noise is not about a feel good boost though. I haven’t been miserable since childhood, I have been struggling with disorder eating, whilst also achieving happiness.

I really struggle with food noise. I have ADHD which I think contributes.

Since last Monday I have eaten no UPF as I read an article and it became my hyperfocus. I haven’t calorie controlled or purposefully eaten less or ‘healthy’ just my normal food but substituting ingredients. Weirdly the food noise is now a whisper. I’m still having crisps (only ones that are potatoes, oil and salt) and chocolate (dark chocolate with decent ingredients). It’s making me question what on earth is in food as I feel better. I’m not sure how sustainable it is because it’s hard work and expensive but very interesting if you can give it a go.

I reckon it’s to do with happiness levels. If someone is happy they don’t need a feel good boost from food. Miserable people eat their feelings.

Its the way people are built OP, not a personal failing. Like some people enjoy driving, some people dont, some people are colour blind, some people arent, some people enjoy running some people dont.

The very hard trick is to try to overcome it if its causing weight issues. The medication is a game changer for that. Its also ok to be a bit hungry from time to time.

I think the rise in food noise, obesity and. compulsive eating is in no small part due to the rise in use of long term medications, particularly antidepressants. Weight gain is a side effect of so many drugs. At least it feels that way when you read the common side effects on the leaflets.

You describe using energy to counteract Food noise.

If you have elderly parents, a sick kid, a stressful job, and you don’t quite make enough money to cover bills, the energy needed to resist food noise is just a little more energy than you have.

If you have a loving family, good friends, and active support network and a partner that meets your needs emotionally and practically, you probably don’t need to comfort eat quite as much as someone who handles life alone.

I’m the supporter, facilitator, in my world. I get everyone’s needs met, cook food everyone else likes, organise the house around people’s work etc. I check in on how everyone is feeling, I keep an eye out for stressed friends, I ring my mum and do various chores for her.

I can’t remember the last time someone went out of their way to be nice to/ask after/check in with me.

So I get my good feels from chocolate. I work hard at looking after myself, do various health focused activities, but when the shit hits the fan, chocolate or crisps are what stands between me and a meltdown. Frankly.

Lockdown was amazing for me. Stress stopped. No one could expect much from me at all. I was able to do slimming world and lost loads of weight. I could ignore the food noise because I had energy available to do that.

I’m reading an amazing book at the moment called ‘Women, Food and God’ by Geneen Roth at the moment. I’m having to read it in small chunks because it’s so rich. It really gets to the heart of what’s going on underneath food struggles for me - not the food but the emotional pain underneath that I eat away. I reckon food noise is the brain’s attempt to distract from feeling difficult feelings, for me anyway - I think this is a very complicated subject for people, hence the amount of almost conflicting advice out there.

As someone who would have considered herself to have quite strong 'food noise' at one point in my life, i do slightly worry about some people going 'it's food noise' and not looking at the varying factors that can make up food noise.
You get lots of comments like 'overweight people know what's healthy, don't be patronising' but I've lurked diet threads for bloody years and yes, some people do but some people don't - and thats not a bloody moral judgement, it's me saying you don't know what you don't know!

From my own experience, my 'food noise' was made up of 3 parts:

• low level dehydration
• a raging sugar addiction
• habit habit habit. I would have sworn on my life i had raging food noise, but I had to relearn my hunger cues and after years of trying (and failing) I broke the habit. It's horrible and hard. Some people can't. But I think it's really unhelpful to say 'overweight people know where they are going wrong' when sometimes they don't!! I didn't know!! I thought i was just destined to be perpetually starving forever!! It's not just 'eat healthy' some of us are battling with individual and multiple addictive behaviours, deficiencies and habits and we need to help people more aware of what these look like and crucially how to tackle them individually! I worked with a lady who asked me how I lost weight and I told her about my realisation that my eating was a habit and I might not actually be hungry, so I had to re-learn actual hunger and it was a bloody light bulb moment for her and she's since herself lost weight. For some people, it might be other things! But we need help to uncover what these are. And it's not bloody helpful to go 'don't you think an overweight person's tried everything' do you think a random person off the street would know all the individualised treatment and recovery paths for anorexia? No! It's not helpful! But i totally understand why some people do get defensive - and much love to those people as no voice is bigger than our own, but we're not all the same and pretending that that EVERY person knows and has tried EVERYTHING and is COMPLETELY POWERLESS is just as damaging as saying 'this is just a matter of willpower' no it's bloody not!

I guess I am weak if you are able to ignore it and I can’t. Does it matter to you though?

For Me, when I think of food noise - the only thing I can explain it as that saying ‘money burns a hole in your pocket’ except it’s food. The noise just means that I can’t quite stop thinking about the food if it’s there.

I am on Mounjaro right now and never quite realised until last week just how much those intrusive thoughts aren’t there.

I think there is a genetic element but it's hard to separate nature Vs nurture.

I grew up with an extremely healthy diet but because my mother's family has a long family history of obesity (I literally have seen family photos going back to the 1900s with my ancestors and seen the obesity!) I also I think am genetically prone to having more compulsive attitudes to food.

But it is hard to separate from the fact that my mother had very disordered eating and in many ways controlled my food because she couldn't control her own but the example she put in front of me was her starving herself during the day and stuffing herself with rubbish secretly at night. An example that I followed for a while - was that nature or nurture or a bit of both? So hard to know

Oh and i grew up in a healthy home. Home cooked food, treats in moderation but not restricted to the point of becoming forbidden/desirable.

Even now I eat a "good" diet, plenty of veg & protein, healthy fats, fish, but I love all food and just struggle badly to cut out carbs the way I would have to to be slim.

My 'food noise' I find is a comfort to my very overwrought mind. It gives me something to focus on. I like to work out something that I'm really desperate for,like build up a craving for something, and then get the satisfaction of finally getting it and eating it.

Without that I feel like I'd starve to death. I really love thinking about food all the time. Like it's there in the middle of my brain.

When I was hospitalised for anorexia all the joy was removed from food and eating. Even though it saved my life, I feel like I really need food to be a pleasure and something emotional. As opposed to simply functional.

Why are some people prone to anxiety, depression, addiction, low self confidence, etc etc. Everyone is an Individual.

I don't have food noise, or very little. Maybe once a month or if I am on a flight.
My mum deserves all the credit for feeding me an incredibly healthy diet with almost zero UPF. Treats were allowed but in moderation. 2 biscuits at a time, not the whole packet.