How the Term 'Food Noise' Became the New Wellness Buzzword
There’s a new phrase making the rounds in the wellness and weight loss world: food noise.
If you’ve been on social media lately, you’ve likely seen influencers and medical weight loss companies using this term to market everything from GLP-1 medications to gut health cleanses. But here’s the thing: food noise isn’t new. And the way it’s being used right now? It might be missing the point entirely.
Let’s unpack where the term came from, how it’s being co-opted, and why we need a more compassionate, root-cause approach.
What is food noise, really?
Food noise refers to the constant mental chatter around food: what to eat, when to eat, how much to eat, what you should or shouldn’t eat. It’s the soundtrack running in the background of your day, especially if you’ve ever been on a diet, restricted food, or felt like your hunger couldn’t be trusted.
It shows up as food guilt, obsessive label reading, meal anxiety, or feeling like you're never "doing it right."
In clinical spaces, food noise has long been a byproduct of disordered eating, chronic dieting, and inconsistent nourishment. It’s not a new diagnosis—it’s a lived experience many people have struggled with silently.
How it's being marketed now
Today, the term is popping up in marketing materials for weight loss drugs and supplements. One major talking point for GLP-1s like Ozempic and Mounjaro? They "quiet food noise." Influencers share reels about how they "finally have peace" now that they no longer think about food 24/7.
“But here’s the concern: these messages frame food noise as a pathology, and hunger as something to eliminate. The implication? If you think about food often, something is wrong with you—and only medication can fix it.”
Why that narrative is harmful
This framing reinforces the idea that hunger is dangerous, cravings are untrustworthy, and food preoccupation must be suppressed at all costs. It pathologizes a normal survival mechanism and ignores the very real ways restriction, stress, and shame drive food obsession.
Quieting food noise by eliminating appetite doesn’t address the root cause—it just silences the symptom.
What we need instead
Instead of treating food noise like an illness, we need to see it as communication. When your body is stuck in survival mode, constantly thinking about food is your brain’s way of keeping you alive.
The real fix?
Consistent nourishment
Challenging food rules
Nervous system regulation
And most importantly: learning to trust your body again
Food peace doesn’t come from shutting off hunger—it comes from responding to it.
