Why do I experience Food Noise?

Food is needed to supply your body with energy. Even while you sleep! Energy isn't just needed for movement, but also to extract nutrients from food, pump your blood around, and much more.

If you don't eat enough, your body sends a signal that it needs energy to keep functioning normally. A hunger signal. This signal will keep getting stronger until you can no longer ignore it and end up eating. You can feel these signals physically, like a rumbling stomach. But the constant thoughts about needing to eat are part of it too.

So even though Food Noise seems to be all about thoughts, it actually comes from your body, which is increasingly crying out for food.

Why is Food Noise so strong when dieting?

When dieting, food is often divided into 2 categories: healthy and unhealthy. And diets often make us intensely aware of the unhealthy choices we make automatically. The coffee with rich frothed milk. The bowl of crisps. On a diet, you have to tell yourself again and again that you're NOT allowed to make those unhealthy choices. After all, you want to lose weight.

But the more you focus on what you're not allowed to have, the stronger the Food Noise becomes. Because whatever you try to ignore always seems to demand more attention.

Why does Food Noise seem to decrease with many appetite suppressants?

There are various appetite suppressants that you can use in consultation with a doctor. They each work in a slightly different way. Some mimic your natural satiety hormone, making you feel full sooner and therefore eat less. Others suppress your feeling of hunger, which also means you'll eat less.

Because these appetite suppressants influence how your body sends signals about its need for food and how your brain reads those signals, you may indeed experience less Food Noise.