to think “food noise” is becoming one of those phrases people hide behind rather than actually dealing with their eating habits?

[foodywoody]

I keep hearing people say they have “food noise” and that’s why they’re constantly thinking about food or snacking, but isn’t that just hunger, boredom, habit, or emotional eating dressed up in a nicer label? I’m not saying it’s not real for some people, especially where there are medical issues involved, but the way it’s thrown around now makes it sound like no one has any control over it at all.

It just feels like another way to remove any personal responsibility. Not everything needs a label. Sometimes it’s just about eating properly and getting enough protein and actually addressing emotional eating.

I've said multiple times I have food noise. I also have experience of WLI's going wrong (when my DH took them and had horrendous side effects) - is that okay with you?

People are allowed to talk about things that don't directly impact them, particularly on a forum that's deliberately designed for discussion. It's not like I'd go up to someone in the street and give my opinion, but if you choose to talk about your health on an open forum, people aren't always going to agree with your choics.

Thanks for the comprehensive answer.

I am wondering if the ‘craving food when not hungry’ is actually the crucial criterion.

I am menopausal and now prone to putting on weight. I have to torture myself during the week and eat very little in order to keep to my weight. Obviously because I am hungry I am obsessing about food 24/7. And yes, I do have lots of willpower. But at the weekend I’ll allow myself to eat what I want. And then When I am full after a meal in a Saturday or Sunday, I am no longer thinking about food. That may be the important difference?

Unfortunately too for the pp there is zero distinction of food noise vs cravings.

(This discussion started because a pp claimed that food noise and cravings had been scientifically proven to be different.)

Indeed one of the proposed definitions of food noise in the study could equally apply to cravings:

“heightened and/or persistent manifestations of food cue reactivity, often leading to food-related intrusive thoughts and maladaptive eating behaviors”

I’m sorry to hear about your DH - what side effects did he have?

@DrummondStick will power was all that stood between me and being so fat I couldn't wipe my own bum! It was an endless battle between the monkey voice and my vanity and self hatred. I have lost count of the number of diets I successfully completed only to pile it all back on again. I hit goal using WLI in Jan 2025 and I weigh a few pounds less than I did when I hit goal 15 months later. I use a small or micro dose of WLI to keep the monkey brain chatter at manageable levels, and it also helps with my IBS and my inflammatory arthritis. I still need will power and have to keep my calories at approx 1300-1500 per day, but I don't feel like I am at war with myself any more.

I didn’t say that study was definitive proof of food noise versus cravings, I said there’s studies about both, findings of which are definitely different.

That could be the difference because I’m not actually hungry but my brain is still suggesting food would be a marvellous idea and prodding away at me.

It sounds exhausting x

Yes. I definitely don’t get that. I might feel guilt if I have stuffed myself. But I def won’t want to eat more.

A constant upset stomach (to the point that he couldn't work as he was on the toilet every 20 minutes), nausea, headaches and just generally feeling awful. He's also T2 diabetic and the nurse said did say he was unlucky but that if he pushed through he could get really sick with his sugars, so he came off them - the relief was instant!

That’s awful I’m sorry to hear it.

Thank you - he hasn't touched it since and the side effects vanished almost immediately thankfully! He's self-employed so it wasn't the best few weeks!

I'm finding this aspect of it fascinating. Much more tempting than for weightloss tbh. (I have weight to loose but the quietening down
of my brain is more tempting!!)

I am tempted to stay on it for the sleeping benefit 🤷🏻

New words and phrases get introduced into language all the time; some of them get added to the dictionary. Did you not know this or did you just see this as an opportunity to have a bitch?

Yes. That is what food noise means. It's a single phrase to describe all those other complex things people are doing/feeling. You're not noticing anything here... it's like saying "isn't poor mental health just the same as saying you night have an emotional or psychological health problem like depression, anxiety or ocd, people just need to speak to their GP, get counselling or the required medication". Yes, that is it. Or "isn't fitness another way of describing someone working out, combining cardio and strength/muscle building exercises to ensure their body is in better physical shape" yes - that is what it is, it's a shorthand description for a longer more complicated set of ideas.

Yes, it also read like a magazine article. Full of anecdotal incidents and not particularly strong on science. To me, it didn't really say anything.

Absolutely OP. It's another excuse for no self control.

I do, thanks for asking. I’m just unsure why people who don’t need WLI have such rabid opinions about those who do. Baffling.
I don’t take anti depressants, manage my MH with exercise, and other methods, but would dream of starting posts slagging people who do need them or start telling them they just need to sleep more or exercise more or get a hobby etc instead.

Wouldn’t dream of that should be!

Just because you wouldn't dream of doing something, does not mean everyone else has to follow your way.

Doi you actually understand how forums work? People can start threads and have opinions about whatever they want.

The nature of forums is that it's open season on everything anyone writes.

WLIs are a medical matter that attract much greater interest and investment from otherwise uninvolved people than other medical matters do. The reasons for this are also a topic for discussion, and the entitlement to hold and express an opinion covers this just as much as it does anything else.

This thread is not even about WLIs it’s a discussion of “food noise”.

The rise in the use of the phrase "food noise" is directly related to the use of WLI and people noticing the absence of it and then discussing it as a phenomenon.

As has already been said on this thread, it's interesting how the rise of the phrase relates to people talking about its disappearance when taking a GLP1 and therefore losing weight. Whereas the OP and others connect it to a shirking of responsibility for weight gain/obesity/overeating, rather than connecting it to people who are no longer overeating and are losing weight.