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 find it very surprising just how many women on mumsnet seem to spend rheir time focusing on what other women eat, their diets, how they lose weight, weight loss injections etc, and then wish to advise them or give judgement. Or proclaim it’s all about concern.

it’s utterly bizarre.

I've been on a maintenance dose for a few months now after having lost about 20% of my body weight, and intend to continue indefinitely. If I stopped, I expect the food noise would return as it was previously, and I've never really been an emotional eater so there was no work to be done elsewhere that might make me want to eat less.

Imho it's sensible of you to think about the long term before making a decision.

I think it is another word for addiction OP.

HPF are very addictive.

The additives in them create dreadful situations in the body.

The people who suffer from thins have a form of addiction and don't even know it really.

Big companies like Nestle and the like want to keep the focus on the individual as an issue rather than the system as an issue. (by system, I mean the HPF producers).

Surely everyone has food noise?! Are there really any people out there who can’t stop thinking about food?

Not having 'bad' food in the cupboard is amateur hour. That has never stopped me from getting some chocolate, ever. I have a car, I have feet, and garages are open 24/7

Because we don’t live in a bubble - my husband and kids are entitled to want to eat bread or crisps or a cereal bar - the fact I could merrily put 4 slices of bread away of an evening doesn’t mean they should have to go without.

😆 I can see a corner shop from my front door - not having anything in the cupboard is rarely a barrier! Their takings must be well down since I gave up my meal deal habit.

I’m 8.5 stone but I think I have food noise. Food is always high in my priorities but I know I don’t need to snack even if I want to. Being slim is part of my identify. I just control myself if I hit 9 stone but.

👏🏻 well said🌷

Yes. And its even stronger food noise if you can hear the chanting when the fridge door is shut and you're sitting in another room.

Food noise is basically thinking about wanting to eat something, outside of mealtimes. It covers a variety of reasons: emotional eating; boredom; sugar craving; feeling slightly hungry and repeatedly picking at snacks in a futile attempt to stave the hunger.

I completely agree; giving up smoking is really easy compared with not obsessing about food. Just thinking about a piece of cake that you really want to eat and nothing else will do is actually painful.

It’s absolutely a thing and if you’ve never had it to comment about then maybe bore off
its like a man explaining to you how a contraction “feels “

Another one that has never had if, so insists it doesn't exist & it's just a matter of will power, like them 🙇🏻‍♀️🙇🏻‍♀️

🙇🏻‍♀️🙇🏻‍♀️🙇🏻‍♀️

I think it’s true, when I’m pregnant I have to remember to eat and drink. I can easily go all day without eating and drinking. It has nothing to do with my will power. There is no drive in my brain.

When I’m not pregnant I think about food a lot, I crave foods, I imagine what I might eat at a restaurant in a weeks time. I have to consciously think about what I’ve eaten and if it’s sensible to eat a brownie. If I eat a big meal I can eat a big meal the next day.

Where as my husband if he eats a big meal he’s not as hungry for a few days. His body naturally adjusts and he will eat less and balance it out without too much conscious effort.

I'd be interested in whether any of the people who don't believe in food noise actually have diagnosed ADHD. Because there is such an enormous similiarity between the conditions that I've heard from people on WLI that the jabs are helping with their ADHD symptoms.

And, like food noise, explaining ADHD to someone who doesn't have it is very hard. 'Just relax' doesn't cut it, and neither does 'it's just an excuse for talking too much and not doing housework'.

I had never heard of it until I started Mounjaro - I just thought I had little self control. it going because of the injections has been transformative - you still have to make healthy choices and exercise but it just seemed to make that achievable. I didn't even know it was a thing until it stopped and maybe more people or aware of and that's why the phrase is used more frequently.

@tryingtonotrage - Thank you for that insight into your personal food noise. It's made me realise that I rarely look forward with anticipation to meals (other than I know what I'm having for dinner tonight, in the same way that I need to remember to put the bins out) and for me it's preoccupation with grazing between meals.

Obviously if you want to lose weight you need to deal with food noise, but I would say it is not like being hungry or bored in the usual way. If you're hungry, eat, and are satisfied, you're not experiencing food noise, which is more like this constant low level hum that you can't switch off, itching at your brain to be satisfied.

Are you bored op? 😂

Because it’s not as easy as that. Even if I don’t have tempting foods at home they’re still in the garage when I stop for petrol, in the kitchen at work, in twenty outlets or shops I pass on my way home, being offered in meetings etc.

plus, I have a family, and cooking and baking for them is a very real and genuine source of joy and nurture and connection. The difference is they can eat a slice of cake, enjoy it, and get on with their day. Without WLI I can’t do that. But now I can, and I’m on an even footing with people for whom this comes naturally. And it’s amazing, and if people who haven’t suffered with food noise like I have think I’m cheating, or lacking willpower, or morally inferior to them - well I just don’t give one shiny shit.

I always love reading hot takes from people who have never experienced it. Amazing insight.

Yeah I know that one - I have a peanut butter kitkat out in my cupboard begging for me to it eat it and driving me mad every time I have to go near the cupboard. I know that feeling in my stomach, makes it hard to settle knowing it’s there, but you know what? If I gave in to that noise, no matter how loud, annoying and uncomfortable, I would put on so much weight and be pushing myself into metabolic disease before I knew it, so as hard as it is, I have to apply some restraint and willpower.

It helps with my ADHD too! I’ve heard other people say the same.

It's like people don't even try to understand that it's part of a compulsion, no matter how many times it's explained. Give it a couple of days and the same people will have the same takes as if nobody has ever responded to them to try and explain.