Health
Can’t stop thinking about food? Experts point to an unexpected cause
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Amid conflicting guidance, GLP-1 weight-loss trends and recent updates to dietary guidelines, navigating nutrition advice can feel overwhelming.
As weight-loss conversations increasingly focus on medications, some Americans may be looking for more natural ways to quiet what’s often called “food noise.”
Here are some tips to help tune it out.
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What is food noise?
Food noise can be described as frequent thoughts about food that can sometimes be mistaken as hunger, experts say.
Food noise can be described as frequent thoughts about food that can sometimes be mistaken as hunger, experts say. (iStock)
Northwell Health’s The Well describes it as a “steady background loop of food-related thoughts” that can interfere with daily life and decision-making about eating.
This can lead someone to eat excess calories, causing weight gain, obesity and other medical problems like high blood pressure, high cholesterol and sleep apnea, according to the Cleveland Clinic.
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“It’s a lot of unnecessary, excessive thoughts around food that can be exhausting,” Kat Garcia-Benson, registered dietitian-nutritionist at VNutrition, a wellness brand that offers plant-based dishes and expert nutrition tips, told Fox News Digital.
“You might have thoughts like: ‘I’m craving this,’ ‘When is my next meal?’, ‘What should I eat to be healthier?’, ‘I should eat this,’ or ‘I shouldn’t eat that,’” added the Texas-based expert.
Certain behaviors — such as skipping meals, ignoring hunger clues, relying on rigid food rules and cutting out entire food groups — can worsen food noise. (iStock)
Certain behaviors can worsen food noise. These may include skipping meals, ignoring hunger clues, relying on rigid food rules and cutting out entire food groups, according to Garcia-Benson.
Studies have shown that some medical conditions, like polycystic ovarian syndrome and depression, can also increase food noise, as can stress and inadequate sleep. Certain medications, such as antidepressants, can also exacerbate it.
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“It’s also important to note that food noise is not a personal failure or [due to] having a lack of willpower,” Garcia-Benson added. “For many people, it’s a response from years of dieting/food restriction, stress or inconsistent nourishment.”
Drivers of hunger
“The impulse to eat is driven by three core aspects: hunger, satiety, and pleasure or reward,” Dr. Vinita Tandon, chief medical officer of Medi-Weightloss, a physician-supervised weight-loss program based in Tampa, told Fox News Digital.
The body naturally makes a hormone called glucagon-like peptide-1, or GLP-1, which helps to regulate appetite and food intake.
“It’s a lot of unnecessary, excessive thoughts around food that can be exhausting.”
In people with obesity, however, the body’s natural GLP-1 response may be less effective at signaling fullness, Tandon noted.
GLP-1 medications, including Ozempic, can fast-track weight loss by mimicking a natural hormone that suppresses appetite and helps people feel full sooner, the expert said.
In people with obesity, the body’s natural GLP-1 response may be less effective at signaling fullness. (iStock)
They also offer an additional benefit by acting on the brain’s rewards pathway.
When someone eats a brownie, for example, they experience a surge in a “pleasure hormone” known as dopamine, Tandon said. GLP-1 medications blunt this response, so the person feels no differently eating a brownie than when eating a spinach salad.
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“We no longer crave those unhealthy, sugary foods because we don’t derive pleasure from them anymore,” she added.
6 tips to tune out food noise
Some triggers of food noise may be internal – like certain hunger hormones that can make us eat more — while others are external, like seeing a favorite snack or getting a whiff of a freshly baked pie.
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“[Some] people find that peeling back the layers and building a healthier relationship with food can quiet the food noise, especially when it comes from a lifetime of diet cycling – like moving between restrictive diets and periods of overconsumption,” Garcia-Benson said.
Experts shared the following natural techniques that can help reduce food noise.
No. 1: Keep a “hunger record”
Writing down when your food cravings are loudest — such as when scrolling on your phone — can help you identify any triggers.
Health experts recommend that adults get 25 to 38 grams of fiber per day and at least 0.8 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight, with higher protein intakes often advised for appetite control. (iStock)
No. 2: Increase fiber and protein intake
Research shows that these nutrients help you stay full longer, stimulating natural GLP-1 hormones to send signals to the brain that lessen cravings.
Health experts recommend that adults get 25 to 38 grams of fiber per day and at least 0.8 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight, with higher protein intakes often advised for appetite control.
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No. 3: Slow down and be more present when eating
Focusing solely on food and eating mindfully can help to curb appetite, experts say.
Harvard experts recommend eating more slowly and paying attention to each bite — without distractions like phones or TV — to better recognize fullness cues and avoid overeating.
No. 4: Get enough sleep
People who don’t sleep well may have a difficult time being disciplined about food intake the next day. They often crave highly processed and carb-heavy foods to increase their energy, multiple studies have shown.
Health authorities recommend that adults get between seven and nine hours of sleep each night.
Focusing solely on food and eating mindfully can help to curb the appetite, experts say. (iStock)
No. 5: Manage stress
Chronic stress lowers the production of natural GLP-1 and leads to high cortisol levels, which can lead to weight gain, according to Tandon.
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Experts recommend managing chronic stress with mindfulness, meditation and consistent physical activity to help lower cortisol levels and support healthier metabolic function and weight regulation, per Cleveland Clinic.
No. 6: Exercise regularly
Physical activity has been shown to boost GLP-1 levels. Most health authorities recommend that adults aim for at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic activity per week and at least two days per week of muscle-strengthening activities.
Health
Filtered water at specific ages could add months to your lifespan decades later, new study finds
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Drinking filtered water may extend a person’s life by several months, according to a new study.
The research, published in the American Journal of Health Economics, reveals that being exposed to water filtration systems early in life can significantly increase longevity. By analyzing public health infrastructure shifts from the early 20th century, researchers found that city water filtration alone increased the lifespan of older American men by an average of 3.2 months.
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“While water quality has improved in many areas, this study shows the real impacts to communities without access to safe water, both in the U.S. and globally,” co-author Jason Fletcher, a professor at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, said in a press release.
“The consequences on human health are significant.”
“This study shows the real impacts to communities without access to safe water,” the study’s author said in a press release. (iStock)
The team analyzed data from the Social Security Administration’s Death Master Files. They tracked death records for American men born between 1975 and 2005, mapping each individual’s year and city of birth to historical water filtration records.
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By connecting early-life environments to late-life outcomes, the researchers isolated the lifelong impact of clean water.
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Beyond adding months to a person’s life, the study suggests that clean water in childhood sets off a positive chain reaction for socioeconomic and physical development.
The paper is part of a broader research initiative examining how environmental conditions earlier in life shape the modern American lifespan. (iStock)
Additional data from mid-20th-century censuses showed that early exposure to filtered water was linked to increased height, higher education and income levels later in life.
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The paper is part of a broader research initiative called the American Mortality Project, which examines how early-life conditions shape the modern American lifespan.
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The researchers exclusively analyzed historical data from American men, meaning the findings may not fully capture how early-life water filtration impacted the long-term longevity, physical growth, or cognitive scores of women from the same era.
Due to analysis of a limited dataset of American cities, this may not apply to other nations or rural communities. (iStock)
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The data is limited to public health infrastructure changes across U.S. cities during a specific window in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Because of this, the exact timeline and magnitude of the lifespan extension (3.2 months) may not directly translate to modern developing nations, rural communities, or areas with different environments.
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Researchers have found that changing your diet — even later in life — may slow the aging process in as little as one month.
Researchers from the University of Sydney assigned 104 participants aged 65-75 to one of four diets. Two of the diets were omnivorous and included protein from both animals and plants. Two included 70% of protein from plant sources.
One omnivorous diet was high in fat, while the other emphasized carbohydrates. The two semi-vegetarian diets were distinguished in the same way. All four diets derived 14% of energy from protein.
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“Biological age” essentially means how old the body appears based on health indicators, called biomarkers, rather than how many years a person has been alive.
University of Sydney researchers found that diet changes had an effect on people’s biological ages after four weeks. (iStock/Getty Images)
The scientists measured 20 varied biomarkers, including cholesterol and insulin levels, in participants to determine how short-term diet changes affect biological aging.
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“While chronological age increases uniformly, biological aging varies between individuals, reflecting differences in health status and the body’s resilience,” a University of Sydney report on the study’s findings said.
Biomarker profiles “are often considered a better indicator of overall health and potential longevity than chronological age,” according to the report.
Older adults who ate diets rich in complex carbohydrates and plant-based food reduced their biological age, scientists found. (iStock/Getty Images)
The scientists found that, after four weeks, participants’ biological ages in three of the four diet groups dropped. Only the high-fat omnivorous dieters’ biological ages “showed no meaningful change.”
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The study, “Short-Term Dietary Intervention Alters Physiological Profiles Relevant to Ageing,” published in Aging Cell, concluded that the most pronounced improvements came from “diets rich in complex carbohydrates and plant-based components.”
Participants who consumed an omnivorous diet high in fat did not see changes in their biological ages, though all other types of diets reduced theirs in a University of Sydney study. (iStock/Getty Images)
The research team cautioned that these results are preliminary and may represent only short-term effects.
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“It’s too soon to say definitively that specific changes to diet will extend your life,” said Caitlin Andrews, who led the study. “But this research offers an early indication of the potential benefits of dietary changes later in life.”
Fox News Digital reached out to the researchers for comment.
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