What causes 'food noise'?

[ThingsToDoWithStickyStars]

I have noticed more and more chat online about weight loss injections this past year, and after having a nosey around, became interested in learning more about it.
In doing so I have naturally become familiar with the term 'food noise', and how this impacts people's relationship with food and satiation. I also am aware that the GLP 1's dramatically reduce this.
So I understand what it is, but not quite how it comes about in the first place.

It seems like a good thing that we have more awareness of this now, and how it may help people who experience it to discuss and understand it (as well as those who don't), as opposed to previous attitudes which emphasised only dieting.

What I am still a bit puzzled by is why food noise affects people in the first place, and is there something which triggers that? Or is it something some of us are genetically linked to from birth? Like what is essentially different for someone who can't stop the sensation of hunger compared to someone who has never had to think about it?

I think it's the compulsions of an addict, its like other addictions.the brain experiences unpleasantnesd,brain tells you to do what it knows will uplift you which is sugary starchy foods or grease you know you shouldnt, the element of defying orders of dr, society or whatever to be slim and eat or not eat this or that or in that quantity, it gives the brain a hit.

Now that makes sense.
And perhaps many people feel that bread is an issue because it is so accessible, easy to prepare and can be aused as a vehicle to parcel almost anything down the throat.
I recall a comment someone made years ago, that they never ate potatoes because for them, potatoes were 'a scaffolding for fat'.
That did make me laugh, but I suppose it is true for many. I think potatoes are marvellous and healthy, but it depends how you consume them.

As for UPF, I also saw the xmas lecture (?) where the Van Tulleken chap presented the graph, showing obesity cases jumping up in the mid70's/80's. He too mentioned how this was very unlikely to have been a sudden, unprecedented 'moral failing'. Something cultural most definitely changed, which I doubt can be blamed on the individual.

I agree that it is a condition that responds to medication. I couldn't believe the first day I took ADHD medication, I was walking past a shop and thought 'Get some chocolate!' and then almost immediately thought, 'No. Not really hungry. I'll be fine until I get home.' That second thought simply wouldn't have arrived if I hadn't been on the medication. The first thought would have been on a loop until I had bought chocolate, eaten it, then eaten crisps to take away the sweet taste, then bought a drink to stop my mouth feeling salty etc etc. 600 calories later, and nothing resembling real food, so still feeling hungry for dinner.

I know people say it is the arrival of UPF that caused obesity. But in 1970s, people ate Vesta curries and tinned beans and spaghetti hoops, Angel Delight and sliced bread. Yet everyone was stick thin, if you look at photographs.

I think it was a combination of two cultural shifts.

Portion control vanished. I remember in 1970s, a tiny 2 oz glass of orange juice, or half a grapefruit with a cherry on top was a normal starter in restaurants or at smart dinner parties. That's about 20-60 calories. Then suddenly starters became deep fried camembert or slabs of pate with butter and crusty bread.

The other thing I think made a massive difference is sedentary lifestyle. We used to walk to school twice a day, or four times if we were coming home for lunch, then back out to play all evening - running up and down the back lanes or the parks. In teen years we walked to youth clubs, friends' houses, into town to look around record shops, back from parties and night clubs. We just walked everywhere. These days pupils get the bus to school if it is more than 10-15 mins away, or get lifts. They are taxied around to after school clubs, or sit home gaming and chat to friends on phones, not in person.

Even daily life is less active. You used to have to run up or downstairs to answer the phone in the hall, get up to change TV channels or volume. That's so many more squats and step counts, day in day out than we have now. And people had physical jobs in factories and boatyards, on farms. Bus conductors used to walk an average of 10 miles a day apparently, up and down double deckers, selling tickets. These days we are all cooped up hunched over screens, often in our own homes, so we don't even have to walk to a bus stop to start work. On busy work days my step count can be way less than 1000. I just make breakfast, work at my desk, make lunch, work at my desk, make tea, work at my desk then watch TV.

The obesity crisis started in the 70's, reaching its peak in the 80's and 90's. I do agree that a shift in working style, tech, and activity levels has compounded it, but I think the loss of portion control is linked to the rise in UPFs.

It is a lot easier to consume an excess of calories when you're eating Angel Delight and Spaghetti Hoops than it is when you're eating chicken and broccoli.

There was a study, I can't remember who by, but it is Googleable, where people in a residential setting were split into groups given 2 alternative diets, one of entirely whole foods and one high in UPF. The whole food diet included high-calorie treats like fresh cream desserts, and both diets were prepared by professional chefs to ensure they were equally palatable. Each group was offered the same number of calories per day, which I seem to remember was a ridiculously high number.

The UPF group gained weight, and the whole foods group lost weight, even with the option of unlimited fresh cream-based desserts prepared by a professional chef. All other variables, including activities offered and rest time, were the same.

I was asking chat gpt about food noise a couple of days ago (I’m on mounjaro but starting to titrate down and food noise is my biggest challenge in terms of controlling my diet. I’m very nervous about the return of food noise so have been looking into whether there’s a natural way to reduce it). This is it’s explanation and suggestions -

What food noise actually is (mechanistically)

Food noise is not just hunger. It’s a mix of:

1. Homeostatic drive

– glucose dips, insulin swings, gut hormone signals

1. Hedonic drive

dopamine, novelty seeking, reward sensitivity

1. Cognitive load

constant decision-making about food

Mounjaro reduces food noise by:

Smoothing glucose (fewer “emergency eat” signals)
Increasing satiety hormones
Reducing dopamine spikes from food cues
Slowing gastric emptying (prolonged fullness)

That’s why it feels quiet, not just “less hungry”.

Can you reduce food noise in the
same way
without Mounjaro?
Not completely — but you can target each pathway it acts on.

The key is: stack partial effects instead of hunting for one replacement.

1. Reducing glucose-driven food noise (closest match)
This is the most replicable part.

High-protein breakfast
This alone reduces food thoughts for many people all day

Carbs never alone
Always paired with protein/fat/fibre

Walking after meals
Reduces glucose swings → fewer cravings

Optional supports

Psyllium before meals
Berberine or inositol (if appropriate)

This reduces the biological urgency component of food noise.

2. Reducing dopamine-driven food salience (underrated)
This is where many people miss the mark.
Reduce ultra-processed novelty

Not restriction — predictability
Same breakfasts/lunches on rotation

Why it works:

Dopamine spikes on novelty, not calories
Less novelty → quieter reward system

Eat “boring enough” meals
Still tasty, just not constantly hyper-rewarding

This mimics the way GLP-1 dampens reward response.

3. Cognitive food noise: decision fatigue
Mounjaro reduces food thoughts partly because you stop negotiating with yourself.

You can recreate this via:
Meal templates (“protein + veg + carb”)
Fixed snack options
Eating at roughly the same times

Structure = fewer food thoughts.

4. Appetite regulation through body composition
Resistance training:
Improves leptin sensitivity
Reduces appetite dysregulation long-term

This is slower, but protective.

Mine is linked to ADHD. It's the same as the background noise I get whenever I'm hyperfocusing on something I'm unable to be doing. A little chittering in the background that constantly wonders about what I'm going to do next, how it's going to go, what the end result will be. A little bit of daydreaming about the best case scenarios.

It just translates over to food.

Interestingly I suspect I have adhd and think food noise is linked to that, perhaps due to dopamine (and chat gpt gave information about the link to adhd)

I think some peoples brains just proces certain things differently or more sensitively than others, which is why some people develop certain addictions but not others

I could have written your post and absolutely agree.

For me, food noise is a result of a bad relationship with food as a child and teen. I hated my mother's cooking and it wasn't until I left home to go to university that I realised food could be enjoyable. This lead to a severe eating disorder for a decade as I was terrified of gaining weight; I recovered but since I discovered a love of food and cooking (combined with a slow metabolism and inability to have just one chocolate/piece of cheese etc) I have to be very careful with my diet.

Food noise is always there, imagining and planning nice meals but in reality restricting carbs and going all out on lean protein, fibre and veg. Walking around the supermarket and telling myself to make 'good choices' and not buying the big bar of chocolate as I know I'd end up eating it in one go.

It sucks really 🙄

I don't know but I think it's linked to having addictive tendancies.

I think it's a really good descriptive term. It's not so much proper gnawing hunger, but that constant thing where you think about food and are hanging for it

I wonder if being the person who prepares and cooks all the food makes it worse, as I do have to think about what to eat and how much to buy etc. When I was on holiday last year in Thailand and only eating out I thought I would have eaten loads but I only thought about food when I was in a restaurant.

What causes it is different for everyone.

for me, it was tiredness, blood sugar and insulin poor control /resistance, forcing me to want to eat to physically resolve the issue.

for others it is mental health related, not physical. So eating your feelings, happiness, sadness etc, the dopamine hit.

for others again. It can be boredom related,

for others greed, and poor self control. Like someone who spends what they don’t have, they want it so they have it.

for others it’s medication driven.

some of these are linked. But there is no one cause, it is either physiological or physcological but underneath rhese two banners, are multiple subsets.

There was a program on just last week where a TV presenter followed the standard 1970s diet, she didn't loose weight, but her overall stats were healthier. I was born in 1950, still had ration books. Portions and plates were much smaller, mine and DH are still the same size.. we didn't snack, walked pretty much everywhere. I can only remember one overweight child. No one mentioned "food noise". Why does it only seem to exist now?

I never understood it until I was very ill and given high doses of a steroid called dexamethasone. I found myself thinking about food all the time, planning my next meal and fantasising about food. I normally don't think about food unless my stomach rumbles so it was an eye opener. If I took that drug long term I would definitely gain a lot of weight. People often say steroids make you gain weight. They don't, but they make you want to eat more.

I have terrible food noise, and it’s only been the last few years I’ve been able to put a name to it, for which I’m grateful. I’m not hugely overweight, about 10kg, and most of that is post child but I’ve always been a huge eater - known to my parents as a bottomless pit, I think in my 30s my metabolism finally caught up with me.
I’ve don’t have an off switch, but it’s not really hunger based, I think it’s purely dopamine. I get a hit from eating. Without going all Freudian I think the oral sensation of chewing and swallowing is hugely gratifying to me.
my old jobs were very physical, on my feet all day, so it countered it a little. Now I work at a desk and it’s been a killer for me. I can’t take packed lunches to work because they’re gone by 9.30am. Sometimes on the car ride in! If I know they’re there, it just calls for me. Eat me, eat me. Carbs are the worst. I used to eat dry bagels, once or twice a whole bag. Completely plain, just bit into them like a cake, and I’d say oh I’ll just have one, and then another and then I’m 5 bagels down. I feel yucky and miserable, but I’d still eat a sixth if someone left it on the side.
I think about what I’m making for dinner at breakfast, think about breakfast whilst I’m in bed. I’m planning meals for friends visits other 3 months away, imaging the meals on a holiday in the summer. I remember events by the food I ate….
im currently trying to lose the excess 10kg and its torture because I just think about eating and chewing and the sensation on my tongue.. I can be completely sold in my conviction and the next thing I know I’ve justified to myself a McDonald’s drive through breakfast, having eaten my packed lunch on my 40minute drive to work. Complete and utter addiction - I’m lucky to only be 10kg over weight!

I agree with a PP, food noise and hunger are not the same thing.

Hunger is the physical symptoms we get when our bodies need fuel/sustenance. Eg rumbly stomach, light headedness if ignored too long. It can be explained by hard science.

Food noise is emotional and there will be many MANY complex factors as to why some people are more or less susceptible than others.

It’s just a phrase that’s cropped up about a year ago in my circle of friends. It’s nothing new but I think we used to say food obsessed or similar. It’s just like wrap around care when we used to say after school club or breakfast club. It’s just fad words

I have pretty constant food noise. It is nothing to do with hunger. It is a constant either eating or thinking about food. It's a sensation of thirst but not for a drink. It's different to the feeling of hunger which is from your stomach. It kind of feels primeval - how at one stage we would have always been on the lookout for food and grazing whenever it was available.

I think years of dieting causes it. All that slimming world abd weight watchers: calorie counting, food diaries, working out points, planning each meal

The other factor is years of upf. These foods have been designed to trigger the brain override those full signals

I used to have it. I have in fact had it many times during different periods of my life. I don't have it now and I'm grateful (intermittent fasting solved it for me a couple of years ago). It was always thinking about food, going to the cupboard, the fridge, the shop, needing something satisfying but not knowing quite what... never feeling satiated etc etc. Switching to whole, non UPF foods, quitting alcohol and intermittent fasting helped my relationship with food massively. Now I rarely eat for emotional reasons and I have a great off switch. I don't always make the best choices but live by the 80/20 rule. Food noise is torture, I can confirm

Totally agree. SW / WW ext make you OBSESSED with food.