When did thinking about food become something we decided needed to be fixed?

The term food noise has helped put a name to thoughts and feelings that many people have experienced around food for years. That can be incredibly useful. Having language for an experience can help us recognize it, talk about it, and better understand what is happening.

But there is another side of the conversation worth exploring.

In this episode, I talk about what happens when something that finally has a name also starts being marketed as a problem that everyone needs to solve.

Not every thought about food automatically means something is wrong.

For some people, thoughts and feelings around food may genuinely feel overwhelming, exhausting, or disruptive. For someone else, hearing the term food noise may be the first time they started questioning thoughts that previously did not bother them at all.

And there is a lot of space between those two experiences.

I also dig into how health, fitness, weight loss, and weight loss medications can influence the way food noise is discussed, and why I am cautious anytime an incredibly individual experience gets reduced to an absolute.

Instead of immediately asking, “How do I fix my food noise?” it might be worth asking a different question.

When did I decide this needed to be fixed in the first place?

Your experience matters. Your preferences matter. Your history with food matters. And ultimately, you are the person who gets to decide what a healthier and more peaceful relationship with food looks like for you.

The goal is not to eliminate every thought or feeling. It is to build something that does not feel like a constant mental tug of war.

Continue the conversation around food noise by joining the Your Level Fitness live streams.

https://yourlevelfitness.com/stream

How much should you actually be thinking about food?

The conversation around food noise can make it seem like thinking about food at all is something we need to eliminate. But food is constantly around us. We see advertising, hear conversations about it, plan meals, eat socially, celebrate with food, and sometimes simply enjoy eating something because it tastes good.

In this episode, I explore why the goal may not be to reach some universal definition of the "right" amount of food thoughts.

What matters more might be understanding how those thoughts and feelings affect you personally.

Are they creating anxiety?

Are they bringing up guilt or shame?

Are they consuming a large amount of your mental energy?

Or are they simply part of having a normal relationship with something that plays a practical, social, cultural, and emotional role in our lives?

I also talk about why food noise is so individualized, especially for people navigating weight loss, weight management, or weight loss medications. Instead of automatically labeling thoughts about food as good or bad, we can start observing what those thoughts are telling us and how we respond to them.

The goal is not perfection. It is developing a relationship with food that feels more manageable, less consuming, and more aligned with your own life.

Be patient, compassionate, and curious with yourself as you figure out what that looks like for you.

Continue the conversation around food noise by joining the Your Level Fitness live streams.

https://yourlevelfitness.com/stream

What if the thoughts and feelings you have around food are not automatically a problem that needs to be eliminated?

In this episode, I’m taking a deeper look at food noise and why I think the conversation needs more nuance than simply trying to silence every thought about food.

Yes, the food and weight loss industries have learned how to use our natural cues, emotions, cravings, and eating behaviors against us. Foods are intentionally developed and marketed to make us want more, and we are surrounded by messaging about food all day long. That matters.

But that does not mean having thoughts and feelings about food makes you weak, undisciplined, or out of control.

Those thoughts can also give you useful information. They can tell you when you are hungry or full. They can help you recognize whether you are actually enjoying what you are eating. They can also give you an opportunity to notice guilt, shame, anxiety, stress, habits, and other patterns that may be influencing your choices.

The answer does not have to be letting food noise run wild or trying to shut it off completely.

I believe your answer is probably somewhere in the middle.

We’ll talk about learning to navigate food without turning it into a game of willpower, recognizing how much more experience you have now than you did earlier in your journey, and rebuilding trust in your ability to make decisions around food.

I also share why kindness and compassion toward yourself matter, why guilt and shame do not need to be part of your eating plan, and why learning to trust yourself may be one of the most important skills you develop for your long term health and fitness.

You have more tools, experience, and awareness than you probably give yourself credit for.

You are capable of figuring out what works for you.

Continue the conversation around food noise by joining the Your Level Fitness live streams:

yourlevelfitness.com/stream

Can food noise actually be helpful information?

I think the thoughts, feelings, emotions, and physical cues we experience around food can tell us quite a bit.

Sometimes that information is practical. Are you hungry? Are you full? What are you hungry for? Are you enjoying what you're eating? Those signals can help you figure out when, what, and how you want to eat.

There are also positive thoughts and emotions around food. Food can be enjoyable. It can create anticipation. It can be connected to experiences, memories, and moments that simply make life better.

That is why I think it may be helpful to remove the label of food noise for a moment and look at what is underneath it.

Instead of immediately deciding that a thought about food is bad, what happens if you look at it as information?

That can get complicated.

Your history with food, weight, body image, fitness, dieting, and everything you've been told about how you should eat can influence how you interpret those thoughts and feelings.

For someone who has spent years starting, stopping, losing weight, regaining weight, or struggling with what they see in the mirror, taking away the simple label of food noise can actually feel scary.

Now you're left figuring out what those thoughts and emotions mean to you.

I also talk about why I believe guilt, shame, and anxiousness have no place around food choices, and how many of those emotions have been reinforced by years of fitness and weight loss messaging.

The answer probably isn't found at either extreme.

It's somewhere in between, and that middle is going to look different for each of us.

Take your time figuring out what your thoughts and feelings around food are telling you. Be patient with yourself. Trust yourself enough to explore them rather than automatically assuming they need to disappear.

And if sorting through your relationship with food, weight, or body image feels overwhelming, having a productive working relationship with a therapist can be an incredibly valuable part of the process.

Join the Your Level Fitness live streams to continue the conversation around food noise.

https://yourlevelfitness.com/stream

s food noise different for everyone?

I think there are plenty of similarities in the thoughts, feelings, and emotions we experience around food. But the frequency, intensity, and combination of those experiences are going to look different for each of us.

That is why I do not think we should paint food noise in absolutes.

There has been a growing idea that having thoughts or feelings around food automatically means something is wrong. I do not agree with that. Food is emotional. It can be tied to anticipation, enjoyment, memories, special occasions, routines, and even simple moments by yourself.

The bigger question is whether those thoughts and feelings are taking up more of your life than you are comfortable with.

In this episode, I talk about why food noise is an individualized experience, why completely eliminating thoughts around food may not need to be the long term goal, and why I completely understand wanting relief when food has been emotionally exhausting for years or even decades.

I also get into the conversation around GLP 1 medications and food noise. For many people, having the volume turned down can provide an incredible break from anxiety, guilt, shame, and constant thoughts about food. But I think we also have to be careful about reaching a point where any thought or feeling around food starts being viewed as something bad.

One question I think can help bring some clarity is this.

Would you be comfortable experiencing your current level of thoughts and emotions around food for the rest of your life?

That includes the difficult days and the really enjoyable ones.

If the answer is yes, you may not have a food noise problem at all.

If the answer is no, the next question becomes what level would feel acceptable to you?

The answer does not necessarily have to be zero.

Food can still be enjoyable. You can eat something simply because you want it. You can have positive experiences around food without needing to compensate for them, feel guilty about them, or search for proof that you did something wrong.

The goal is not to build the perfectly optimized relationship with food. It is to build something that works within your life, your preferences, and what you are actually willing and able to sustain.

Be patient with yourself as you figure that out.

Join the Your Level Fitness live streams to continue the conversation around food noise.

https://yourlevelfitness.com/stream

Who gets to define food noise for you?

In this episode, I want to look at the nuance behind a term that has become incredibly common in conversations around fitness, weight loss, and GLP 1 medications.

I think food noise can be a useful term. It gives us language for thoughts, feelings, and experiences around food that many people have dealt with for years, sometimes without knowing exactly how to describe them.

But I also think we need to be careful about letting marketing define those experiences for us.

Marketing works by identifying a problem and connecting that problem to a solution. As food noise has become more closely associated with weight loss medications, we have also started hearing much clearer definitions of what food noise supposedly is and why it needs to be addressed.

That does not necessarily mean every thought you have about food is a problem.

Your relationship with food is personal. Your history with fitness and weight loss is personal. The thoughts and feelings that affect you may look completely different from what someone else experiences.

You should get to decide what food noise means in your own life.

I want us to keep having conversations about our thoughts and feelings around food because I think there is a lot more underneath the surface than we have traditionally talked about.

At the same time, I do not want people creating new problems for themselves simply because marketing tells them something they experience should be considered a problem.

You have more experience navigating your own life than anyone else.

Keep observing. Keep asking questions. Keep figuring out what actually affects you.

Want to continue the conversation on food noise?

Join the Your Level Fitness live streams:

https://yourlevelfitness.com/stream

Is it normal to think about food?

Of course it is. But if you've spent years dealing with thoughts about food that brought anxiousness, guilt, shame, or other difficult emotions with them, simply having those thoughts can carry a lot more weight.

And that's where I think we need more nuance in the conversation around food noise.

Having a thought about food doesn't automatically mean something is wrong.

If you're taking a GLP-1 and your food noise has gotten quieter, you may be afraid of those thoughts eventually coming back. And if you've spent years or decades struggling with your relationship with food, I understand why you wouldn't want them back.

But I don't want us to replace one source of guilt and shame with another.

If you previously felt guilty about what you were thinking about food, I don't want you to reach a point where you feel guilty simply because you're thinking about food at all.

In this episode, I share some of my own history with food, body image, weight, and growing up with cerebral palsy. I also talk about the work I've done over the years to untangle some of those thoughts and feelings and why I don't believe this is as simple as telling someone to stop thinking a certain way.

Food, body image, exercise, and the way we see ourselves as people can become deeply intertwined.

That's why I want you to give yourself room to figure out what your thoughts around food actually mean to you.

A thought can show up without you needing to focus on it. You can redirect it. You can sit with it. You can explore where it came from. And sometimes you might get pulled into it.

None of those experiences mean you've failed.

Ultimately, I want you to build a relationship with food, exercise, your body, and yourself that supports a forever active lifestyle you actually enjoy.

And please don't be too hard on yourself while you're figuring this out. This stuff can be challenging, and you don't need to navigate it perfectly.

If you want to share your experience, email me at [email protected].

If you want to continue the conversation around food noise, join the Your Level Fitness live streams:

yourlevelfitness.com/stream

Does every thought or feeling you have about food need to be considered food noise?

I don't think it does.

One of the themes I keep coming back to in these conversations is that you need to decide what food noise means to you. What thoughts and feelings are actually disruptive? Which ones cause anxiousness, guilt, or shame? And which thoughts about food are simply part of being a person who eats, enjoys food, sees food constantly, and lives in a culture where food messaging is everywhere?

The term food noise has done something valuable. It's given people language to describe thoughts and feelings around food that they may have experienced for years without having a name for them.

But there's another side to that.

Once we give something a label, it's very easy to start treating everything underneath that label as inherently bad.

We've seen similar all-or-nothing conversations happen throughout the history of weight loss and fitness. Eventually, two opposing sides develop, while most people's actual experiences probably exist somewhere in between.

That's where I want you to find your answer.

In this episode, I talk about why thinking about food doesn't automatically mean you lack willpower or need more structure. We're surrounded by food messaging. It's in advertising, entertainment, travel, social media, and the phones we carry around all day. Of course we're going to think about food sometimes.

And some thoughts and feelings around food can be enjoyable and useful.

If you're taking a GLP-1 and you've finally experienced relief from years of overwhelming thoughts around food, enjoy that relief for as long as you need it. You don't have to rush yourself into the next stage.

But when you're ready, remember that you get to create your own rules for what food noise means in your life.

Not every thought about food has to become something you're afraid of.

If you want to share your experience or perspective, email me at [email protected].

If you want to continue the conversation around food noise, join the Your Level Fitness live streams:

yourlevelfitness.com/stream

Is all food noise bad?

I think we've reached a point where almost any thought or feeling around food can get labeled as food noise, and once it receives that label, there's an assumption that it needs to go away.

I think there's more nuance to it than that.

If you've spent years or even decades dealing with thoughts about food that came with anxiousness, guilt, shame, or a constant mental tug of war, finally experiencing some quiet can be an enormous relief.

If you're taking a GLP-1 and you're experiencing that relief right now, I think you should give yourself permission to enjoy it. You don't immediately have to turn that quiet into another self-improvement project. Take the time you need.

But eventually, I think there's another question worth considering.

Do you actually want to have no thoughts or feelings around food forever?

Thinking about food isn't inherently a problem. Hunger cues, wanting something to eat, enjoying food, remembering to eat and drink, and recognizing what your body needs can all involve thoughts and feelings around food. Current expert discussions similarly distinguish normal food thoughts from persistent, unwanted or disruptive thoughts.

In this episode, I talk about why I think the Food Noise conversation needs more nuance, especially as it has become closely connected to GLP-1 medications.

You don't have to be afraid of every thought about food. And you don't have to rush yourself into rebuilding habits simply because the noise has gotten quieter.

The bigger goal is figuring out what relationship with food works for you while building a lifestyle you can enjoy for the long run.

If you want to continue the conversation around food noise, join the Your Level Fitness live streams:

yourlevelfitness.com/stream

What is food noise?

More importantly, what is food noise to you?

There are a lot of definitions, explanations, and opinions about food noise right now. But before deciding whether your food noise is good, bad, something you need to eliminate, or something you never want to experience again, I think it's important to understand exactly what you're describing.

In this episode, I talk about getting away from the absolutes and adding more nuance to the conversation. Not every thought or feeling about food necessarily needs to carry the same label or meaning.

Start by describing your own experience. What thoughts are you having? What feelings come with them? How often are they showing up? How are they impacting your life? Then keep asking questions. Why does this bother me? What does this mean to me? How do I feel when this happens?

The clearer you are about what food noise means to you, the easier it becomes to put those thoughts and feelings into the context of your own life.

You do not need somebody else to hand you an absolute definition. Start with your experience, stay curious, and figure out what this means for you.

If you want to share your definition of food noise with me, email me at [email protected].

Want to continue the conversation around food noise? Join the Your Level Fitness live streams:

yourlevelfitness.com/stream