Food Noise

Greetings blog people! I’ve missed you! Since my last blog I’ve been to Milwaukee and Washington DC and have been just trying to catch my breath with the state of things since the end of May. The world — or at least this country — has been an ever-changing kaleidoscope of events and upheavals and several times as I was poised to pen my perspective, events shifted again, leaving my viewpoint obsolete in a matter of a few hours. So I took a little break. Until I learned about something that is absolutely fascinating to me: Food noise.

How many of you are familiar with this term? No, it’s not the sound of a package of Ding Dongs being unwrapped or a Fritos bag being opened. It refers to the “constant thoughts or recurring ruminations about food which could contribute to overeating and thus living with overweight and obesity,” said Priya Jaisinghani, MD, an obesity medicine specialist at NYU Langone told Health magazine. According to Marcio Griebler, MD, director of the Obesity Center at Cleveland Clinic’s Endocrinology and Metabolism Institute told Health that intrusive “food noise” among some people with overweight or obesity may make it “harder for people to lose weight.” 

I stumbled upon this concept when looking up some information about tirzepatide, a medication that is used to treat type 2 diabetes and for weight loss. It mimics hormones that intestines secrete after a meal, and triggers insulin secretion. Plus, it reduces appetite by slowing down the time it takes the stomach to empty and helps signal satiety in the brain. This medication branded as Zepbound and Mounjaro has also been found to impact blood pressure. 

Ever the researcher, I have interest in this medication and its effects because my sweetheart, John, is in his 3rd week of using a compounded form of tirzepatide to promote weight loss. John deals with high blood pressure, and medications to combat that have known side effects of muscle and joint pain, which is exacerbated by his weight. Successful attempts to lower his weight — and subsequent pain — have been short lived and his body pain has increased. Doctors advising him to simply “eat less” have been less than helpful, and societal attitudes of overweight being a “moral failing” have evoked feelings of shame.  He was ready to try something new, something different and something medical.

He became aware of Ozempic through an article online and started researching weight-loss drugs like Wegovy, Mounjaro and Zepbound. He does not have type 2 diabetes so these injectable medications that would help him and support weight loss would not be covered by his insurance, thank you, U.S. healthcare system. And they are costly — about $1,400 a month without insurance.

Through a friend and online sources, he learned about compounded tirzepatide and resources to obtain it affordably. My friend started his journey on this medication in March, since his familial history was one of serious high blood pressure and stroke, and early death due to these factors. Since using tirzepatide, his blood pressure has plummeted (in a good way), cholesterol has dropped, allergies and even snoring has improved. His doctor is thrilled. And he has dropped over 30 lbs. Encouraged by his research and the experience of others he communicated with online, John began this treatment almost 4 weeks ago.

Back to food noise. This is a fascinating concept and one that needs to be part of a medical professional’s lexicon. We need a certain level of food noise to signal that we are hungry and need to eat. But sometimes food noise goes haywire and people experience near constant ruminations about food — when they will eat next, what they will eat and agonizing over how can they be hungry when they just ate while focusing on what they can eat to quell that feeling —  quite simply an obsession with food. 

One  Reddit writer told how astounded he was when talking to a friend who ate fast food and pastries yet managed to remain slim. When asked about it, the friend responded that she ate several bites of the burger and a few fries and stopped when she was FULL. The idea of “full” was a completely new concept to the writer, who was constantly thinking about food, and planning next meals, or snacks and NEVER felt full. Some Reddit writers talked about being aware that they “shouldn’t” be hungry because they had just eaten, and yet hungry they were — at the mercy of “endless brain chatter” about food that is a constant, exhausting background noise about healthy food, junk food, it doesn’t matter — just continual repetitive urges to EAT. 

This makes clear to me that for some  - maybe many - people dealing with weight issues, eating isn’t a willpower or discipline issue at all. It’s like someone constantly yelling at you about food and eating every waking hour, hounding you, even when you’ve JUST eaten. And your BODY continuing to feel hungry.

I asked John about this. He’d never heard the term “food noise” before. But when I described it, he said yes, that is my life. “I’m planning dinner when I am eating breakfast.” 

It turns out that semaglutide medications like Ozempic and  Wegovy, as well as glucagon-like peptide (GLP1)/gastric inhibitory peptide (GIP) tirzepatide medications like Mounjaro and Zepbound and their compounded forms reduce or eliminate food noise. They quiet that insistent monkey mind telling people to eat all the time or obsess over meals or snacks.

This is a key insight. People with high levels of food noise are wired differently. We are all on the spectrum of food noise, but some people are food noise divergent and their experiences are not well understood by those of us who simply eat a few times a day when hungry and aren’t beset by a running commentary on what we are going to put into our mouths from one minute to the next. 

So this blog is a call for awareness and compassion — and power. Weight struggles may stem from a complex system of roots that develop over years or have been hardwired into brains from the get-go. But understanding the idea of “food noise” and that some people experience a sort of food tinnitus of a persistent litany of messages about food and body feelings of hunger needs to be part of the training of every primary care physician who will deal with a range of conditions in their patients — including overweight and obesity. It needs to be understood by anyone who has cast a judgmental eye at someone with a large body size. And it needs to be part of a body of research into other ways to quiet it. Currently the semaglutide drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy and GLP-1/GIP tirzepatide medications like Zepbound and Mounjaro hold promise for those trying to manage their weight. Are there other methods or techniques that can result in a similar effect? Is there another approach beyond  - or in addition to - the current medications that might be implemented?

What are your experiences with food noise? How have you tackled this overbearing taskmaster of hunger? Inquiring minds want to know!