The noise simultaneously chastised and controlled Tanya Pinto and her decisions about food. Sometimes, it was so loud, she’d eat just to shut it up.
Food noise led to years of self-sabotage, dysmorphia, comfort-eating and a susceptibility to every shiny new trick in the weight-loss industry book.
The volume was only turned down when the 50-year-old philanthropy manager started taking GLP-1s four years ago. The change was liberating.
Suddenly, Pinto could enjoy a chocolate biscuit and stop after one. She could eat carbohydrates without self-combusting from the guilt. And she didn’t start thinking about her next meal the minute she’d stopped eating.
Without this so-called food noise, she began to feel in control of her decisions around eating and what to put in her body.
What is food noise?
Thinking about food is a normal part of life. However, obsessively thinking about food and feeling anxious or distressed about it is a cognitive phenomenon called food noise.
In an environment awash with ultra-processed foods that hijack our brain’s reward system and weakening our capacity to say “no”, food noise has become amplified for many people.
About 60 per cent of people with obesity experience food noise. A recent survey found that proportion fell four-fold among people taking GLP-1s.
Researchers are still trying to understand why, but a 2026 review suggested that drugs such as Ozempic rewire the default mode network (DMN) in the brain which regulates mind-wandering and self-reflection and is also implicated in anxiety and rumination.
By influencing the DMN, it’s thought to lower the arousal in response to food cues and boost the pleasure of actually eating the food. That means less motivation to consume – or to consume compulsively – and more satiation from small amounts.
The use of GLP-1s is rapidly rising in Australia. According to previous estimates, about 2 per cent of Australian adults are taking the drugs for weight loss or medical reasons. And that doesn’t include those buying it on the black market.
But Ozempic is not the only way to turn down the volume.
Retraining the way the brain thinks about food
“In terms of reducing food noise naturally, evidence suggests that psychologically, mindfulness and paying attention to internal bodily cues can be effective,” says Ivanka Prichard, professor of body image and health at Flinders University.
Where Ozempic acts chemically to blunt the signal (there is emerging evidence it works on alcohol and cigarette cravings, too), practices such as mindfulness can change how the brain responds to the signal.
Mindfulness involves slowing down when we eat to notice the flavours, colours, textures and smells of the food.
It is also a practice of savouring each mouthful, becoming aware of our body’s cues – both hunger and fullness – and learning that food cravings are thoughts, not mandates.
Where the mechanism of Ozempic is biological, and mindfulness is psychological, the review’s author Geoff Cook writes: “Both lead to the same result: reduced activity in the brain’s reward centres and less food noise.”
Foods that turn the noise down (or up)
“The types of foods we eat can make a significant difference,” says Associate Professor Nick Fuller, an obesity expert at the University of Sydney.
Ultra-processed foods high in sugar, fat and salt can overstimulate the brain’s anticipatory reward pathway but diminish the eating reward pathway, meaning we’re aroused by the idea of the food but not that satisfied from eating it.
Not only does this reinforce compulsive consuming as we keep chasing the hit that never comes, Fuller says, but “this can amplify cravings and make thoughts about food more persistent”.
Natural foods rich in fibre or protein such as fruit, nuts and seeds can help as they support satiety and metabolic health.
Over time, they can also help to quiet the food noise, Fuller explains. “The brain begins responding to lower levels of sweetness and richness, reducing the constant drive to seek increasingly intense food rewards.”
Use barriers and distractions to your advantage
It’s all well and good to tell someone to “stop eating this food and start eating that food”. Because if it were that easy, it is unlikely that Ozempic would exist.
A strategy that can help is to remove the barriers to the helpful habits, and create more barriers to the unhelpful habits.
“One of the major contributors to food noise is having food around us, especially ultra-processed foods,” says dietitian Associate Professor Evangeline Mantzioris, from Adelaide University.
Notice what your trigger is and avoid it while you’re breaking the pattern. That might mean online grocery shopping so you don’t do the “sneaky” purchases at the checkouts, changing coffee shops if you’re used to buying cake every time you get your cappuccino, or not having ice cream in the house.
“People need to think of making the problematic food less accessible for themselves,” she says.
On the flipside, the reverse also works. So having fruit in the fruit bowl at home or work makes you eat more of it, as does having healthy snacks at eye-line in the fridge or cupboard.
People also need to consider their relationship with food, Mantzioris says.
If they are an emotional eater, distraction or replacement strategies can help: walking, reading, having a piece of fruit, listening to music or perhaps doing chores.
It’s advice that applies even for those taking GLP-1s.
But, for those who are, it can create a “valuable window of opportunity” to establish healthier eating patterns, improve sleep and increase physical activity, says Fuller.
Pinto has used the medication to change her relationship with food and with herself. She started eating breakfast for the first time in eight years; she exercises daily and aims to hit her protein targets.
“What it’s done for me is reset my headspace,” she says. “I’m finally starting to get confident.”
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Sarah Berry is a lifestyle and health writer at The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age.Connect via X or email.
