If you’re overwhelmed by constant thoughts of eating, you’re not alone. For many, the ‘food noise’ is deafening – a relentless inner chatter that can be exhausting to silence.
Everywhere you look, there’s another headline about weight loss injections, restrictive diets or the latest ‘quick fix’.
Ozempic, Wegovy, Mounjaro – and now pills on the horizon too – all offering hope (and hype) for people struggling with their weight.
As a nutritionist, I hear a recurring plea in my practice: ‘I don’t even care about the weight anymore. I just want the thoughts about food to stop.’
Whether you are considering GLP-1 agonists, already using them, thinking about coming off them, or determined to avoid them altogether, the underlying question remains the same:
How do you build a relationship with food that works in real life, not just while something is artificially suppressing your appetite?
To answer that, we need to talk honestly about what food noise actually is, why it takes over, and why so many intelligent, disciplined people feel powerless against it.
What food noise really is
Nutritionist Faye James (pictured) says she often sees people in her clinic who aren’t that concerned about weight loss – they just want their ‘food noise’ to stop
Food noise is not hunger. Hunger is physical, clear and resolved by eating. Food noise is the constant mental chatter about food that runs quietly, or sometimes very loudly, in the background of your day.
Thinking about your next meal while you are still full from the last one. Mentally negotiating snacks. Feeling calm after eating and then suddenly anxious again an hour later. Planning to be ‘good’ tomorrow while feeling out of control today.
For many people, food noise is the most exhausting part of weight struggles, because it never switches off. It follows you into meetings, into social situations, into the supermarket, and often peaks at night when you are already depleted.
When medications like Ozempic silence food noise, the relief can feel extraordinary – not because they have fixed a character flaw, but because they are altering appetite and satiety signalling in the brain and gut.
For the first time in years, people experience quiet. That feeling alone explains why these drugs are so appealing.
The problem is that silence achieved pharmacologically does not automatically translate into a sustainable way of living with food once the medication is reduced or removed.
Why food noise hijacks your choices
From a biological perspective, food noise is often your body asking for safety. Years of dieting, restriction, skipping meals or trying to ‘out-discipline’ your appetite teach your nervous system that food is unreliable.
The brain responds by amplifying thoughts about eating to ensure survival. This is not weakness – it is physiology doing its job.
‘The most effective way to reduce food noise is to give your body consistent signals that it will be fed well and fed regularly. That begins with protein,’ says nutritionist Faye James
Blood sugar instability plays a huge role. Meals that are low in protein or fibre digest quickly, leading to glucose spikes and crashes that drive urgency, cravings and a sense of being out of control.
Add chronic stress and elevated cortisol, which increases appetite and fat storage, particularly around the abdomen, and you have a perfect storm where food becomes mentally loud all day long.
In this context, food noise is not something to be crushed. It is something to be understood and regulated.
The psychology behind constant cravings
Cravings are often framed as indulgence, but in practice they are far more likely to be the consequence of deprivation.
When foods are labelled ‘bad’, ‘off-limits’ or ‘earned’, they take on power. The brain fixates on what it is not allowed to have, particularly when energy is low or stress is high.
This is how the restriction-rebellion cycle forms. Control during the day, collapse at night. Promises in the morning, guilt by evening. Over time, this cycle erodes trust in your body and your ability to eat normally, which only amplifies food noise further.
Quieting cravings is rarely about removing foods. It is about removing fear, moral judgement and chronic under-fuelling.
Why midlife changes everything
Food noise often intensifies in midlife, particularly for women, just as the strategies that once worked stop delivering results. Declining oestrogen affects insulin sensitivity, appetite regulation and fat distribution.
Muscle mass naturally declines, slowing metabolism. Sleep becomes lighter and more fragmented, which raises cortisol and hunger hormones while reducing impulse control.
This is why so many women in their 40s and 50s tell me they feel blindsided. They are eating well, exercising regularly and doing all the ‘right’ things, yet gaining weight and feeling increasingly out of control around food.
I recently wrote about my own struggles with weight gain over 50.
The answer is not eating less – it is eating differently and supporting a changing hormonal landscape.
How to quiet food noise naturally
The most effective way to reduce food noise is to give your body consistent signals that it will be fed well and fed regularly. That begins with protein. I recommend at least 30 grams of lean protein at each main meal, evenly spaced across the day.
And that doesn’t mean protein bars masquerading as health food, but real meals built around eggs, yoghurt, fish, chicken, legumes or tofu.
Protein stabilises blood sugar, supports muscle mass and increases satiety hormones, and it is astonishing how often food noise softens once this single change is made consistently.
I would urge anyone considering Ozempic, Mounjaro or similar drugs to at least try a protein-first diet for a month before they seek out that prescription.
Fibre is the second anchor. I aim for about 25 grams a day from vegetables, legumes, whole grains, nuts and seeds. Fibre slows digestion, feeds the gut microbiome and reduces the urgency around eating.
A high-protein, high-fibre pattern of eating is one of the most powerful non-pharmacological tools we have for appetite regulation.
Resistance training can also help to quiet food noise (stock image)
While nutritional choices, exercise and sleep can help with food noise, so much of the issue is psychological, writes nutritionist Faye James (pictured)
Intermittent fasting can also help some people, particularly a gentle overnight fast of 12 to 14 hours, but only when layered on to a foundation of adequate intake. Fasting on top of restriction will amplify food noise, not quiet it. Context matters.
Sleep is my non-negotiable. Poor sleep raises hunger, cravings and emotional eating while reducing decision-making capacity. I see food noise drop dramatically when clients protect a consistent bedtime, reduce evening screen exposure and stop pushing through exhaustion as if it were a virtue.
Stress management is equally important, even though it is often the least glamorous advice. Chronic stress keeps cortisol elevated, which drives appetite and fat storage.
Walking, strength training, breathwork and boundaries around work and device notifications are not lifestyle perks. They are metabolic life-savers.
Regular resistance training deserves a special mention, too.
Building and maintaining lean muscle improves insulin sensitivity, raises resting metabolic rate and makes weight regulation quieter.
Endless cardio often does the opposite in midlife, increasing hunger without building the tissue that keeps metabolism resilient.
Coming off medication
For some people, GLP-1 agonist medications can be a useful tool, particularly in the context of metabolic disease – although personally I am cautious about the idea that appetite suppression alone is a solution.
If you are using these drugs, the most important work is still happening underneath, building habits that support appetite regulation so that food does not become frightening the moment the medication changes.
For those coming off injections, the return of food noise can feel overwhelming, which is why foundational nutrition, sleep and stress support are essential during that transition.
Breaking the cycle for good
The final step in quieting food noise is rebuilding psychological safety around eating.
That means allowing all foods while prioritising nourishment, having enough to eat during the day so that evenings are not a battleground, and letting go of the belief that you must be perfect to be healthy.
When people stop swinging between control and collapse, food noise does not disappear overnight, but it does soften. Eating becomes predictable, adequate and emotionally neutral. Food loses its charge.
The bigger picture
Remember, food noise is not the enemy – it is a signal that something is out of balance. Weight-loss injections may mute that signal, but they do not answer the question underneath it.
Silencing food noise naturally is slower and far less marketable, but it leads to something far more valuable than appetite suppression.
It leads to autonomy, trust and a way of eating that works when life is busy, stressful and imperfect. For most people, that is not just weight loss – it’s peace.
Faye James is a Sydney-based accredited nutritionist and the author of The Perimenopause Plan, The Menopause Diet and The Long Life Plan.
If food noise has been running your life and you want to learn more, Faye will be exploring these ideas in depth at Silence the Food Noise: An Informed Lunch with Faye James.
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