Food Noise

Firstly, let's start by getting on the same page... 

What exactly do we mean when we say "Food Noise"?

Food noise refers to the persistent and intrusive thoughts about food. You might experience those thoughts as "cravings" or a feeling of "an obsessive preoccupation with eating".

It's a concept closely related to "food cue reactivity". 

Food cue reactivity is a fancy way of describing how our brains respond to different cue's or triggers.

What kind of triggers cause "Food noise"?

To make things simple, let's agree there are two types of cue's (or triggers); internal (in the body) and external (outside of the body). 

Internal triggers, like increased appetite, are typically hormonal triggers. Some examples of hormonal triggers are an increase in hormones like ghrelin (a hunger hormone) or a decrease of fullness hormones like GLP-1 (a fullness hormone).

External triggers, like seeing or smelling foods, are typically triggered by very appetising foods like crisps, sweets, chocolate (no surprise here that appetising foods tend to be high in sugar, salt and fat as we know the human brain seeks out foods like this). It is rarely we will see a head of broccoli and salivate to this, if you know what I mean ;) 

Why does it matter whether food noise is caused by an internal or external trigger?

If you are experiencing increased food noise, it's worth having a quick scan of a few factors to better understand what might be causing it. Some of these triggers you are in control of, like the types of food you eat or the amount of water your drink, whereas some of these triggers are less within your control, like how your brain responds to internal hormone triggers like ghrelin, leptin, GLP-1 and more.

What can I do to control food noise?

Firstly, there is no "one-size" fits all way to guarantee you will be able to control food noise. But there are a few things you can try below:

Dietary ways to decrease food noise are:

• Increase protein (this makes you feel fuller by releasing more fullness hormones)
• Increase water intake (so you are not dehydrated which can trigger a false sense of hunger in some of us)
• Increase fibre (to stimulate a feeling of fullness in the stomach and bowels)

Environmental ways to decrease food noise are:

• Reduce (where possible) ultra-processed foods - UPF's are highly altered ingredients that have been through a lot of processing and are typically high in fat, sugar and salt
  • THIS is arguably one of the hardest things as ultra-processed foods are everywhere. 
  • You can however, try to remove them from your house or if you live with others (family/friends) and can't do this, then you should try to have them out of direct sight
  • If you can't remove them, it helps to make it difficult to access (i.e. instead of having crisps/sweets in a jar on the kitchen table, put them in the garage in a cupboard so you have to walk outside and open a cupboard- introducing any kind of barrier is a good idea)
• Reduce stress - we know that stress hormones like cortisol correlate with increased hunger. Increased cortisol can also be caused by poor sleep, psychological stress among others and therefore anything you can do to reduce stress can impact food noise. Practices such as mindfulness or deep breathing (i.e. taking a short 2 min break from your desk/space to breath through a difficult situation can reduce stress)

How can I reduce food noise caused by internal triggers like a change in the level of, or my brains response to, hunger and fullness hormones?

Medical ways to decrease food noise are:

• Increase the dose of fullness hormone (GLP-1)
• The anti-obesity medication, semaglutide (brand name - Ozempic or Wegovy) is essentially just a synthetic version of the naturally occurring fullness hormone in our body called GLP-1
• GLP-1 makes us feel fuller for longer thus, in many people, they describe reductions in food noise

What do you think I should do then, Doctor?

Each case is different and needs to be assessed on a case by case basis, but it is never a bad idea to have a quick scan of your diet, lifestyle and environment to see if there are any quick wins. For example, even small things like going to bed with a book 30 mins earlier instead of screen time can improve sleep hygiene and hence can have a really positive knock-on effect by reducing food noise from poor sleep. It is worth trying these things for a week and monitoring whether you notice a reduction in food noise as a result. 

Increasing your dose of anti-obesity medication, with the support of your medical team, can also help and this is an option available to you. In fact, many of you are doing all the "right" things with your diet and lifestyle but still experiencing food noise so this is no less, or no more, valid an option. Remember, obesity is complex, multi-factorial and it's never as simple as eat less and move more. The best option is the one that best treats the disease of obesity and improves your overall health.