Are you tired of the food noise too?
What if the way to lessen the food noise is to not ignore it or shame it rather through it?
Do you have food noise? Those incessant thoughts about food and the compulsion to eat?
Having a complicated relationship with food is an exhausting experience. Food noise--aka food preoccupation--contributes by its constant presence and I know you want a break.
This week's podcast Mini-Session episode takes you through key areas of food noise to piece together ways to navigate the experience and get directions to a new way.
What if the way to lessen the food noise is to not ignore it or shame it rather through it?
Here are key areas I cover:
Understanding the root causes of food noise is essential for relief.
I believe the root cause is something most won’t name. I do.
Naming food noise can help reduce shame and isolation—which is key to relief!
There’s one food behavior that I see truly helping to make things easier.
Avoiding another behavior also does the trick!
Connecting with a non-diet community is beneficial.
Food noise is a protective mechanism, not a defect.
Repair requires patience and self-compassion.
Ready to listen? Get to it now on Spotify:
LMK what hits or misses I had when it comes to your food noise experiences in comments.
Below you will find transcripts. I hope they help!
Warmly,
Julie
p.s. The Find Your Food Voice book is here! Mom and book are doing great after the planned delivery via UPS driver. Want your copy? Click here to get yours.
Transcripts:
Julie Duffy Dillon (00:00)
Welcome to episode 409 of the Find Your Food Voice podcast. Today we're talking about how to stop the food noise. Let's get to it.
Julie Duffy Dillon (00:22)
Hey there, dear voice finder, Julie Duffy Dillon here, and I am your host of the Find Your Food Voice podcast.
Welcome, and today we are breaking down ways to move through the food noise. I am going to spend some time talking about why they're even there. I think it's really important for you to figure out why they're there and to really get to the root of it. if we attempt to move through the food noise with just the topics and the tools that are readily available in today's current conversation you're not gonna get to the root of it. And I'm here to help you move through it and to figure out why it's there in the first place. Because getting to the root of why food noise is there, you are going to see so much relief and figure out the best solution for you. Now, food noise and some of the roots of why it even comes about for some people, I know it's not something everyone experiences, but I know when you do, it is exhausting and it can really get in the way of you just living your life. It's something I talk a lot about in my Find Your Food Voice book, which is out now. So excited for you to read this. So let me know how it relates to your own food noise experience as you read it, how it helps, maybe what you wish I had more in, because I'm continuing the conversation of the Find Your Food Voice book in my sub stack. I'll put a link in the show notes for you, but I basically have so much more to say that I couldn't fit in the book. I was made to keep it under 275 pages and I went over a smidge, but I have so much more that just got chopped off in the editing chopping block. So you can get to it on my sub stack where I'll continue the conversation. But we are going to get to this episode and to the root of your food noise after a very quick sponsor break.
All right, welcome back. Let's get to this food noise. How do you stop it? I know it is something that feels exhausting. I appreciate how it gets in the way of you doing the things you need to take care of during the day, taking care of other people in your life, at your job, sleeping, just your mental health. Some people have described their food noise as this kind of gentle tap on their shoulder all day long.
Other people have described it as like a sweaty gym coach that's like barking in your face, blowing a whistle, feels a lot more into punishment than just that gentle tapping. However, your food noise is experienced in your body, in your mind. I hope this episode helps you. And I think it's important to just define it very, very quickly. And food noise is something that refers to the constant food thoughts with the compulsion to eat with the popularity of GLP ones like Ozempic, I've noticed the phrase gaining much more traction, especially on places like TikTok where I am. I'm sure it's on Instagram too when I'm not over there anymore, but I'm sure they're talking about it as well. And it's something that clients have shared with me many times throughout the years. It just wasn't always referred to as food noise. I think that's a phrase that's gained popularity and I think it's popular for a good reason. Like it really captures how this experience is for some folks. I think clinically, I would have always called it food preoccupation. Certainly, if you want to look into the research on food noise, you probably don't want to Google Scholar Search food noise, but instead Google Scholar Search food preoccupation, because then you'll get to really the meat of it. And then of course, in the early 2000s and 2010s, there was food addiction. That was probably the more often referred phrase to this kind of experience. And I also can appreciate there's some nuance in all of those. Like someone may say, I think I experienced food addiction, but not food noise and vice versa. But I think there's a lot of psychological relief. And when we have psychological relief, I think we also have physical relief too. When there's a naming of an experience, know, naming a problem is, it's really important.
It's part of feminist theory, in case you're wondering why is it psychologically such an important thing. Part of feminist theory is naming whatever outside entity or naming the issue, the concern, the problem. It just helps to take it off of your shoulders as the shame and blame, which I truly support. If you've listened to any of my podcast episodes, I hope you can, I don't know.
I'm sure if someone put them through AI, they would say, yeah, Julie talks about removing the shame and blame from your eating relationship. If there's anything that I want everyone to go home with, it's that. And putting the finger on a complicated emotion is so powerful. But then when you can bond with other people with this collective name, it's just so powerful. And so I love that because whenever we're in community, we get out of isolation. And when we get out of isolation, there's less shame. You're not as alone. So now that we've defined food noise, let's talk about why it's there. Certainly, this is something that I have been holding onto a lot of different people's experiences. I often refer to myself as a historian more than a dietician, like sitting with people for over 20 years, I've heard lots of different life experiences and stories. So as I've been holding them, many people have talked about their food thoughts when they get super intense and obsessive and constant, and it's like this noise that they can't quiet down. Oftentimes people will connect it to some kind of food they've eaten. So there may have been a food that you've been told you shouldn't eat. I think about all of my clients with PCOS who were told to never eat carbs and sugar, but we live in this world where certain foods have a connotation that they're horrible or they're bad or that they may cause this noise. And there also are health conditions that many people would associate with their food noise. I already mentioned one, polycystic ovary syndrome or PCOS. That's where I heard the term food noise first was working with people with PCOS. And same with food addiction. This is something that I've heard over and over again because of the high circulating insulin levels.
Now, I'm not going to get too much into the nuance of what provokes it in PCOS. You can certainly search my podcast archive of different episodes on PCOS and insulin that you'll be able to connect with some of the resources there, especially if you're curious on like, why does it happen so much with PCOS? I have lots there. And there's other health conditions like insulin resistance, diabetes.
Even folks who are in a place where they're trying to lose weight, they think their body weight's too high. That is another time where people have told me that they notice their food noise is even higher is when they're also trying to lose weight. And for many people, what they have told me is their goal with the food noise is to silence it. They just don't wanna have it anymore. And again, I think I can appreciate why.
This sounds exhausting, it's all consuming, and it also is pretty shameful because it's probably the very thing that you're trying to do differently, and this voice in your head is telling you to do it all the time.
One thing that you need to know about me is any kind of cue from your body, I think has a message. I think there's a reason it's there. You decide what you're gonna do with it, of course. And as you are getting data from your body, I always think it's important to ask, hey, why are you here right now? Say hello to it. Say hello to the food noise. I know it's annoying and I think it has valuable information.
If you are just trying to silence it and to remove it, to stop it, you're probably not gonna get to the root of why it's there. Not probably, you're not gonna get to the root of why it's there. Certainly there's lots of tools out there where people talk about certain diets, certain medications like Ozempic or other GLP ones are the solution to food noise. If you find those tools to be able to eliminate your food noise, I am thrilled for you that that has got to feel so great. And this episode probably isn't for you, you know, and also you may find that they work temporarily. So if you're finding this after you've used GLP-1s and maybe you're still on them, but the food noise came back that is happening a lot right now. Or you went on them, but you had to come off because insurance ran out. They got too expensive. They weren't accessible anymore or you just couldn't tolerate them, or they're just not something that you wanna do. If you want to really get to the root of the food noise, trying to just silence it is gonna block you from that information. So let's get to the root of it. Like, why is it there? Again, say hello to it.
You already know that I've been doing this work for a really long time. And I have become privy to some really important information about food noise. What I've learned about food noise is that it sounds the diet trauma alarm. Yes. Is that phrase new to you? Is diet trauma, is that a new phrase for you? It may be. I don't think a lot of people talk about it, but I certainly talk a lot about it. It's something that I devoted a whole chapter in the Find Your Food Voice book to because it is one of the biggest blocks that I see for folks who are trying to recover from their eating disorder or trying to not diet anymore. Maybe they tried intuitive eating and it just didn't work for them. And if you're experiencing food noise, then I think you have experienced diet trauma. And here's why.
First up, we need to talk about why dieting is actually traumatic. And I kind of am giggling a little bit because I'm appreciating the naysayers, what people have always said to me when they say I'm just being hysterical and overanalyzing food behavior. I mean, I've been called that for almost 50 years now, so that's not new. But I appreciate that many people will think that I'm just being dramatic when I say that dieting is traumatic.
How can it be traumatic when so many people are dieting? And what I know is as a human, we all need five basic needs met to stay alive. We need to be able to breathe, so we need oxygen, hydration, sleep, shelter, and food. Withholding any of them traumatizes the body. So let's take this a step further.
Imagine you were walking up to some big dark body of water and you see someone in the distance who is drowning. And also on the other side of the shore, you see someone dive in, thankfully pull this person to safety. And you can tell from far away that this person is having trouble breathing.
They may even have to get CPR administrated to them. And it takes a while. It's quite exciting in a sense, and not a good exciting, but it's probably very action oriented. There's a lot of people helping, and there's a lot of urgency. And then when the person is finally breathing on their own, they're probably not breathing like you and I are right now. They're probably gasping for air. They may even need a tube intubated if someone is getting pulled from the lake, they're starting to breathe on their own, maybe they need to go to the hospital, stay in an ICU for a couple of days, their brain literally needs time to heal and eventually maybe the tube is pulled, they're having to use like a nasal cannula to have some oxygen supplemented in and then maybe eventually a couple of weeks later they don't need that anymore and they can breathe on their own but they still sometimes gasp for air. And then here's the other thing, let's just say you happen to talk to that person a month after it happens, and you ask them how they're doing, and they say, it's been really hard. I have not been sleeping very well. I can't even go by big bodies of water. I can't drive over bridges. I can't go visit my friend at the lake. I am so scared to be near open water because I'm afraid it's gonna happen again. It's all I think about.
I just keep playing it over in a loop in my head over and over and over again. Now this person is not weak. This person is not over consuming oxygen. This person, their body and their mind has been traumatized. Of course, like that's so easy, right? That's so easy to say that. We need air to breathe, to stay alive. And her body needed time to recover.
And so did her brain. Something I know about these five basic needs as humans, whenever they're restricted, there's these predictable things that happen. And we can basically just like, without even experiencing it, we know that these things will happen. thinking about this person who almost drowned, after they were saved, they were experiencing these predictable cravings for oxygen. Like their thoughts were just flooding the brain with cravings to breathe and to really think about it and feeling really anxious about it. And then the brain just continues to fixate on it until that need is met. So when the person was first starting to be able to breathe because they were saved they were gasping for air. It wasn't like they were just breathing in and out normally. And they were gasping for air for a long time. It took time to repair. And there were physical symptoms associated with not getting that oxygen. Probably lethargic, irritable, emotional outbursts, lots of emotional changes. And food noise is that same predictable fixation to get enough food we need food just as much as we need oxygen. Like we will die without oxygen and we will die without food. That's why things like genocide is so horrible, why eating disorders are so horrible, and that's why dieting is so horrible. And while all three of those are different, Experiencing food insecurity because of poverty or genocide is different than experiencing a diet.
It's like many different traumas, basically, right? But what I need you to know about your food noise is like your brain and its food noise is a sign that you are a successfully evolved human. whether a trauma is real or threatened, whether it's chosen or not, it doesn't matter. Like our trauma centers in our body are not wrapped up into BMI charts and diet fads.
They can't distinguish between famine and self-imposed eating restrictions. It literally thinks you're drowning and the food noise is the rescuer. So that's why it's constantly there.
Your food noise is protective. It's an emotional strength, even though you've been trained to regard it as a defect. It's not a defect. And I know you don't want to have it anymore. I know you're exhausted. So what do you do about it? here are some things that I recommend to do to help you with the food noise. Number one, understand why it's there. Really appreciate your diet trauma history. Name it as a trauma. know, calling it a food noise, I think has been this really wonderful collective bonding experience, which helps remove shame. And I'm all for that. And it still puts the onus on you as the person who's doing it wrong. You're not doing it wrong. You are a product of the culture. This diet industry infused, supported culture.
So after you've named the diet trauma, the next thing I want you to do is to be sure you're eating enough, much the food noise recommendations encourage you to go on a medication or restrict. I want you to first and foremost make sure you're eating enough.
Don't go to another traumatizing diet. And I hope this goes without saying, but I need to say it. Your body size is not a way to determine if you are eating enough. Every human being needs to be breathing all the time. And every human being needs to eat three meals and sometimes snacks throughout the day. I don't care what your body size is. I don't care how much movement you're getting. You need to eat every day, many times throughout the day.
All right, my next tip is to stay satisfied with your meals. That means including all the food groups. I know this isn't sexy, but you know, sexy does, I guess, sells, but this is where recovery happens. This is where food noise starts to go away, is when you're eating enough and you're experiencing satisfaction when you're eating. Okay, number four. This is a hard sell but I really want you to protect yourself from diets and getting re-traumatized. Diets are seductive. They're also a fantasy. They're painting a reality that does not exist. Avoiding diets and that trauma in the future will help lessen this food noise. I promise. This is something that I have been seeing for decades now. Number five.
I want you to connect with as much non-diet community however you can. This may be real people in real life, and this also may be experiencing connection, groundedness, and anything that reminds you of your preciousness. I call this Nest Time. This is chapter nine, and the Find Your Food Voice book talks about Nest Time.
We need it every day. It's basically a time where we can connect with our innate knowing, the guide within us that helps us to know how to take care of ourselves. This goes outside of just like food choices. And I think food noise is more than just our eating relationship. I think it's incorporating so much more. And so giving yourself ample time, ample nest time to be able to connect with others and stay connected with yourself is something that will help the food noise lesson as well. All right, and the last one, if adding certain foods like salads or certain fruits or going to the gym appears to worsen your food noise, take note, that is a very direct diet trauma hit.
Again, it's another thing I talk about in the Find Your Food Voice book, but like if you eat a certain food or you maybe go to a gym class or think about buying a certain food that is related to your dieting days or think about going to some kind of exercise activity that's related to times where you have restricted, you may notice the food noise instantly. And again, that is a direct diet trauma hit. You may notice it.
really sharpening your food noise, making it a lot louder. It's okay to never include these behaviors ever again. You don't ever have to eat a salad again. You don't ever have to go to the gym again. It's okay. And I know that's a bold statement. There's gonna be people who disagree with me, but you know what? This is something that I have appreciated over the last 25 years. You can find a way to get enough fiber and micronutrients and all the things you need without eating a salad. You can also promote cardiovascular health and be able to have muscles that are stronger and bone health without going to the gym. There are ways to promote health outside of that. And in particular, if your food noise is very, very loud after doing a certain behavior or reaching for a certain food, it's probably a sign that you have an eating disorder history. If no one's ever told you you have an eating disorder history, well, I may be the one to tell you on a podcast. I mean, it's not the first time that I've told someone who never thought they had one, but it's much more common than it is actually diagnosed. an eating disorder is deadly. It is something that really will get in the way of you experiencing the wholeness of life. So yeah, I'm okay if you never eat kale again or never go to an aerobics class ever again. Are there still aerobics classes? I don't know, that may just show my age, but anyway. So those are my six tips on how to mend your food noise. And while this is a messy process, while this is really hard work, remember it's good work.
This is really good work moving forward to help you with your complicated relationship with food. All right, so this is the end of our mini session episode. Thank you for joining me. Again, the Find Your Food Voice book is ready to be purchased anywhere books are sold. And you can go on my website to find links to all the places, including my favorite local bookstore. And I wanna know what you think about it. I wanna know how you think it connects you with the why behind your food noise also would love to just hear your feedback period. Before I go, I wanna say thank you to everyone who helps the Find Your Food Voice podcast come alive. Of course, we have Rachel Popik who is behind the scenes right now. Hey, Rachel. She's the one that puts everything together like the show notes and uploads it. And we also have Coleen Bremner, another member of the Find Your Food Voice team, who is our hype woman extraordinaire, and behind our Diet Culture IRLs. Those are two mighty people on my team. I'm also the editor of the podcast, so hey, Julie, as you're editing. And just know every time you purchase the Find Your Food Voice book or you recommend it to someone else, you are helping the three of us to be able to have a sustainable way to continue to write into podcasts and spread the anti-diet message.
Before I sign off, be sure to look below at all the links. We have the Spotify playlist for the book and lots of other cool free tools for you. And I look forward to being in your ears next week. Next week's episode is a recording of our live episode that we recorded as a celebration where folks were able to ask a Q and A and we got to dish into different parts of the Find Your Food Voice book. So I'm excited to share that live experience with you. But until next time, take care.