Food Noise Part 1

This week is part 1 of our 2 part episode on food noise. In part 1 we specifically focus on what causes it biologically. Food noise is real, but it's also a buzz term right now. Listen in while we break it down for you!

If you have questions, or topics that you want to hear about, head over to our Instagrams https://www.instagram.com/bayleethedietitian/ or https://www.instagram.com/brianna.dietitian/ and send us a DM! You can also follow the podcast https://www.instagram.com/mocktailminutes/

Featured Mocktails: 

Just Ingredients 

Drink Wholesome

Arih 

Click play, sip back, and be empowered.

Transcript

Baylee 0:21

Hello, everyone. Welcome back to this week's episode of Mocktail Minutes. This is Bailey.

Brianna 0:26

And this is Brianna.

Baylee 0:28

This week, I am drinking... What all did we put in here? Oh, the lemon lime collagen from Just Ingredients, vanilla drink wholesome protein. I did, like, half servings of each. And then creatine from Just Ingredients. So it's like a key lime pie

Brianna 0:45

Such a

Baylee 0:46

snack.

Brianna 0:47

I never mix protein powder with electrolytes.

Baylee 0:50

So it's the collagen. They do have a lemon lime electrolytes, but I have mixed it with electrolytes before, and then I realized after I mixed it, the, it was expired. So we're still drinking it'cause I'm not wasting it, the other protein and creatine. But so far I'm fine, so.

Brianna 1:07

probably fine, you

Baylee 1:08

I feel like expiration dates, they, they have leeway, unless it's, like, molding bread. But it smells fine and it looked fine, so we're gonna drink it today.

Brianna 1:18

It's probably just, like, for optimal freshness, you know?

Baylee 1:21

Yeah.

Brianna 1:22

I'm doing these dual biotic sodas. Ar-Ari? It's A-R-I-H. Arih?

Baylee 1:30

All right. I don't know. I've never seen those. Hmm. I'll

Brianna 1:34

I got it at Walmart. It was random. I had to run into Walmart yesterday, and then Walmart got fancy, apparently, and there was, like, a whole, like, drink section. I was like,"Ooh, I'll grab one." But

Baylee 1:44

have

Brianna 1:45

How much grams of fiber? Like, three grams of fiber, pineapple drift, prebiotic, postbiotics. It's pretty good.

Baylee 1:52

see if our Walmart has that. Well, this week we're gonna do a two-part series, and it's gonna be a two-part series on food noise. So this first part, we are going to talk about what food noise does to us, like, biologically what is happening within our body there. Because honestly, I think this is coming to be almost, like, a buzzword where everyone's like,"Oh my gosh, it's the food noise. I have food noise." And we d- we've never realized, like, what does that actually mean? What's actually happening? So we're gonna break it down a little bit for you to help you understand: what is food noise? Where is it coming from? Because it's been a huge conversation lately, especially with GLP-1s becoming popular and everyone's kinda talking about, like,"The food noise got quiet," or,"Food thoughts finally got quiet. I'm no longer thinking about food." And for some people, that was the first time they realized that, like, not everyone thinks about food constantly. Not everyone battles cravings all day. Not everyone feels mentally pulled towards food 24/7. But food noise is about way more than medication, so we're gonna dive into that.

Brianna 3:05

Yes. And I've been getting asked this question a lot, like, is food noise real? Like, i- is food noise a thing? Like I've had... You know, like someone was like,"Oh, my doctor said like that's not real," blah, blah, blah. It's real, and I think there's maybe different degrees of it, or kinda like you said, people refer to certain things as food noise when maybe it's not actually food noise, it's just like an imbalanced diet, that sort of thing. But food noise is real, and it's driven by a combination of things. There's an actual like biological reason why some people have more, quote-unquote,"food noise" or more like,"I'm always thinking about food," or,"I'm never really full."

Baylee 3:43

I would say it's like, it's rarely just about willpower, which is what we think, Noise and the cravings, it all goes back to willpower. Where yeah, a lot of times it's more biological, emotional, or even just, like, environmental factors. And this is where we can kind of get into the weeds of, like, take the cookies off the grocery list for a time, to clean out the pantry, to say no to dessert every night. If you are really wanting to lose weight and you're really focused on wanting to make some changes, we can do that in a healthy way. Again, I think sometimes we just get to this point of it's like either we can't, aren't allowed to have it or we just go full-fledge, or, like, when we say no to those things, it's like,

Brianna 4:31

Yeah,

Baylee 4:31

what am I try- not like it's a bad thing, But if we say no, it's like, it just becomes a thing. Or if you say no, it's

Brianna 4:40

not

Baylee 4:40

yes.

Brianna 4:41

want it more. Yeah.

Baylee 4:42

There's a word I'm trying to think of for it, though. Like like, w- I'm trying to... Why isn't my brain working?

Brianna 4:50

Let me think.

Baylee 4:51

Like, if we say...

Brianna 4:53

talking about. Hold on.

Baylee 4:55

Can someone read our mind, please?

Brianna 4:58

Literally. I'm like, you guys, it's been a long week. This has been a really

Baylee 5:04

Yes. It's like as soon as we say, like, no to something that we wanna enjoy, we just g- we're, we're getting weird about it. We'll, we'll just say that, and then we get, like, all intense, and we get, like, it's too serious, and balls to the wall or nothing happens type of thing happens.

Brianna 5:20

Yeah

Baylee 5:21

And we can find that balance of, like, sometimes we say no because- Yeah, maybe we do wanna lose a few pounds, but it, it doesn't have to be a weird thing that we never have ice cream. You could be more in control about it.

Brianna 5:39

It's almost like spending money, okay?

Baylee 5:42

Hmm.

Brianna 5:42

I need to save up money for something. We need to buy something expensive, so this month I'm not gonna buy extras on Amazon or go out to eat. Does that mean I'm never gonna buy Amazon or go out to eat again? No, but this month I can't'cause I'm trying to save, that sort of thing. But we make it a little bit weird, and think our... like, the diet culture and our environments food noise louder, you know? So, Thoughts about food preoccupation constant cravings repetitive thoughts Also it's all over social media right And then right now the big thing with the GLP-1s is Oh there's no food noise And I think people start thinking like That's what it is I have food noise And some people yes and other people it's just I don't like saying no to

Baylee 6:26

Yeah. Yeah.

Brianna 6:28

gonna want Oreos Like Gonna taste good you know You're n like I think people think if they enjoy food cause that's the other thing like I just enjoy food That's the problem Like yeah you should Like

Baylee 6:38

I

Brianna 6:39

times a day I would hope you enjoy it But you're not looking for that to go away You're looking to have more balance and not like you said not make it weird

Baylee 6:49

think, too, we're kind of, we're taught that almost food is bad, and it's bad to eat, and you almost get praised if you're like,"I didn't even eat breakfast." I think that was definitely kind of a fad throughout the years, is like being able to skip meals, you get a trophy for that. And so what, what I want you to think about, too, is your body is not broken if you're thinking about food. Your brain evolves to keep you alive, and historically, food scarcity was a major threat. Your brain's job is literally to seek food, remember rewarding foods, conserve energy, prevent starvation. Those are some of its job. Now, the problem is our biology was built for scarcity, but we live in an environment now of constant abundance. We have Very palatable foods. We have food delivery apps. We have snacks everywhere. We have giant portions. There's food advertising everywhere. Stress is higher. I mean, there's so many more exposures, and I think we've done a really bad job at learning how to cope with the stressors that come up as well, where it's like, yeah, we have anti-anxiety medications and different things like that, but it's not r- really fixing the problem. Like, we still have to do things to Regulate our nervous system better. If you're skipping a meal, that's not regulating your nervous system. If you're scrolling on your phone an hour before bed, that's not regulating your nervous system. If you're anxious because it, work just feels so chaotic because you're not managing your time, you're not planning out your day, that's not something that just having a drink after work or taking anti-anxiety pills are going to help. You have to actually fix the problem. So, I mean, stress is a contributor to sleep deprivation. Your brain is receiving stimulation it was never designed to handle. We are constantly being stimulated in this world.

Brianna 8:56

Yes you bring up a good point Of your body like it's created to survive It's very good at adapting needs food to survive So if you're skipping meals or you're undereating Course you're gonna be constantly thinking about food That's literally how your body was created That's not food noise that's you need to eat you know But the other thing

Baylee 9:16

See, it's kind of like your phone. You know, when your phone starts to die, it'll be like,"Hey, 20%. Hey, 10%."

Brianna 9:22

reminds you

Baylee 9:23

And then it's like 5%, everything is going slow, and it's like glitching. I'm like,"What's wrong with my phone?" I'm like,"Oh, it's on 1% battery."

Brianna 9:32

Exactly

Baylee 9:33

a little bit.

Brianna 9:34

That's exact we're glitching and we're trying to live in a world 100 miles an hour glitching you know

Baylee 9:42

Mm-hmm. It's very hard to do.

Brianna 9:44

yeah the dopamine connection Okay So a huge driver of food noise is dopamine And I again I don't know what I've talked about food noise so much and I think it's cause of the GLP-1s But I have had people come to me and be like Oh like emotional eating isn't real Or like I was told emotional eating isn't real And I'm like I don't know who told you that but eating makes you feel good There We it's science okay We're doing something for survival It helps We do have you know hormones that make us feel good when we eat So then that's another thing We have more food noise because it is a way that we feel good like we're stressed out We're not regulating We're not nourishing ourself properly We're stressed What do We're gonna wanna emotionally eat because it's your brain's giving you like that red flag of like I just wanna feel good I know if I eat I'm gonna feel good Unfortunately You don't feel good after you emotionally eat It's like that one thing that you're like Oh dang why did I do that Same with like probably like online shopping and alcohol and all the stuff But it does make you feel good So dopamine is not just a pleasure chemical it's also heavily tied to like motivation anticipation reward-seeking and highly processed foods are engineered to hit the brain hard you know And I know it's been said like Oh an Oreo is like cocaine Okay that's a bit much

Baylee 11:07

It's a little exaggerated. It's a similar processes.

Brianna 11:11

Yeah exactly You're not like gonna go kill someone over like cheese Okay whatever But maybe I don't know you know sugar salt the crunch the texture highly palatable it feels good fast digestion This combination creates a really powerful reward response and your brain learns like this food equals fast energy and reward Let's remember that You know It's the same reason why I think a lot of foods are like nostalgic for people It's because you felt really good in that environment when you were having that food It probably really wasn't that food it was the environment So again your brain remembers It's your comfort food You

Baylee 11:52

and I mean, like, your comfort foods are usually something that you had when you were younger. It wasn't, like, something you started cooking in your 30s, and you were like,"Man, this is really nice." Like, Foods that we had when we were younger. Someone was taking care of us. Maybe it's, like, when you were sick, our mom made pancakes, whatever it is. So, a lot of times, a lot of it does just stem from we need some comfort.

Brianna 12:14

Yeah

Baylee 12:15

where I said earlier, like, thinking about we're just scared... Not scared.

Brianna 12:20

We

Baylee 12:20

We're just told that,

Brianna 12:22

body

Baylee 12:22

yeah.

Brianna 12:23

You wanna feel good and you wanna feel safe I think maybe that's the word we're looking for

Baylee 12:27

But just talking about, like, when it comes to calories, we are so nervous about calories. Like, calories seem bad almost, where it's like we need those calories to survive, and restriction actually is going to make that food noise worse. This is one of the biggest misconceptions, and Brianna and I were talking before we started about, like, how often we see people undereating carbs now. And everyone's like,"If I just eat less and less, I'll just stop thinking about food. I'm overeating." But often, the opposite happens when... So, like, when you're chronically undereating, your hunger hormones rise, food becomes more rewarding, cravings are gonna be more intense, and your brain becomes really hyper-focused on food. This is survival. Now- One of the most famous examples that comes from a Minnesota starvation experiment, researchers actually put, like, healthy men into prolonged calorie restriction. And they, they did become obsessed with food. They were more, like, emotional around food. They fixated on recipes, and they just were constantly thinking about meals to where the point, like, food became mentally overwhelming, not because they lacked discipline, but because their brains are trying to protect them. And I think it's really interesting, like, how it would be to compare that to women,'cause women's hormones are way more sensitive than men. So, like, if that happened to the men, imagine what it would do to the women.

Brianna 13:55

It's funny because I actually took a deep dive into Saw How much of a calorie deficit were they in or how much were they under-eating And I was like this is every female And this is like what It's like everyone who goes to school for nutrition learns about this Like we learned a lot about like mentally what happens physically Like the other thing too is like what happens like after they're like refeeding back up to a normal amount Like is it harder for them to gain muscle or lose weight or have like weight maintenance the things But literally they like lost their minds And I was like this is women Like women who are eating 800 calories less than they're supposed to Wow That's every

Baylee 14:37

yeah.

Brianna 14:38

dieting it's like less is better

Baylee 14:40

Mm-hmm.

Brianna 14:41

your body is just like wigging out

Baylee 14:44

Yeah.

Brianna 14:45

It

Baylee 14:45

And even, like not maybe, it is. And even, like, the, the blood sugar swings, so that's another huge factor is just we're having unstable blood sugars because meals where we get so nervous around carbs, we're like we're scared to have a potato, but then we're, like, eating bowls of cereal at night. Or we don't wanna eat,

Brianna 15:07

this

Baylee 15:08

I don't know, fruit, but then it's like, okay, we're gonna have a bowl of ice cream. And so

Brianna 15:13

I see

Baylee 15:13

sometimes I do see we unintentionally we're just doing more processed carbs, and we're not getting a lot of fiber, we're not getting a lot of protein, so you get a rapid spike and a rapid crash, which triggers

Brianna 15:22

be

Baylee 15:23

more cravings, more irritability, shakiness, fatigue, urgent hunger. And this is why it feels like I just ate, and I'm hungry an hour later, like we can't quit snacking. So that blood sugar rollercoaster really plays a part in that food noise as well.

Brianna 15:36

what I about I need something sweet

Baylee 15:42

Yeah.

Brianna 15:43

yeah there's people that really enjoy the taste of certain things Cool Like I want a sweet treat whatever Nine times out of 10 when I get someone to start balancing their blood sugar better they're like Holy crap I didn't even realize like I didn't even want chocolate this whole week Like it didn't even dawn on me or I wasn't like wanting ice cream after my kids went to bed Does it mean the ice cream doesn't taste good anymore No It just means your blood sugar was more balanced and again you're not having that biological response of oh my God low energy we need it feed me now and your main energy source is simple Like it's gonna be the carbs You're never gonna crave broccoli You're never gonna be like My God I'm so snacky I could just go for like a chicken tender right now No You're gonna want like chips chocolate candy pretzels crackers all that So is it food

Baylee 16:30

Sometimes I make really good broccoli in my air fryer though, so...

Brianna 16:34

I mean I like broccoli but I'm like I

Baylee 16:37

have to,

Brianna 16:38

don't

Baylee 16:38

you gotta know how to cook things. And,

Brianna 16:40

yeah

Baylee 16:41

like, when you start enjoying your food, you do honestly start to crave things like that, and I think that makes it be okay where it's like,"Oh, I can eat broccoli, not because to lose weight, but because it's actually good, and we got some flavor," all those things.

Brianna 16:58

it I had I don't Cause I take we both take people through Nourish and a lot of the men that I work with are just through Nourish I don't really and all our other avenues are women And I can't tell you how many times I've had to tell men like Why aren't you seasoning your meal prep

Baylee 17:15

So weird.

Brianna 17:16

Like you Garlic powder is fine Did you know that Like you can enjoy what you're eating You're like I'm just so burnt down I'm like eating this I'm like Yeah that's

Baylee 17:24

Give it some flavor.

Brianna 17:26

Yeah put some flavor You could Broccoli is still broccoli whether you have plain or seasoning Like season your food Enjoy it cause that's gonna make it better But the other thing is sleep deprivation makes food noise louder So we actually did we did like an episode on hunger hormones and we talked about this but sleep changes hunger hormones significantly So when sleep drops ghrelin which is your hunger hormone it tends to rise for a multitude of reasons and then leptin the fullness tends to get So you have you feel more hungry and you have a harder time feeling full So research shows that sleep deprivation increases reward-driven eating and cravings for highly palatable foods Like think about like you're just exhausted ugh I'm tired What do I want

Baylee 18:14

that goes along with stress and emotional food noise as well because- A lot of times sleep gets affected because we're stressed. We stop sleeping so good, and then it's like that never-ending circle. But stress ju- does change your eating behaviors dramatically. When stress stays elevated, appetite can increase. We have cravings for quick energy foods, and emotional regulation gets harder. This is where, for me, I'm actually someone who I have a hard time eating when I'm stressed. I especially don't want to eat, like veggies and protein, but I know not doing that's gonna make me feel worse. So that's where I have to do more informed rather than intuitive eating because I know I need to eat. I know right now bowl of ice cream sounds good for lunch. We're gonna make it a little bit more nutritious. We're gonna plan a little bit better than that'cause I know it's just my stress coming into play. My body's gonna react better to actually balancing a meal. So food can become more of than nutrition when it comes to stress and emotion because it becomes a source of comfort and distraction and stimulation and reward and relief. And so this is why it's like emotional overload plus that biology. And then we have to also think about the environment. We are surrounded by engineered con- convenience foods, the endless novelty flavors, social media talking about food all the time, giant portions at places, and just, like, constant cues to eat. So we have fighting our biology, fighting our emotions, and also the environment. So imagine trying to stop thinking about shopping while there's ads for this great shirt that you really want. It's like, I mean, the algorithm, as soon as you start looking at new tennis shoes, now it's, like, everywhere you go,

Brianna 20:06

Everywhere

Baylee 20:07

tennis shoes because I just wanted a new pair. Now everything I open has tennis shoes. But, like, it's like, how do I resist not buying it when there's ads? And then there's online stores open 24/7. There's influencers popping up telling me how great these shoes are, and then they're like,"Oh, discount." You got me. That's essentially our food environment.

Brianna 20:29

Yes

Baylee 20:30

there's a lot of factors. And now we just have to decide, okay, we are aware that these factors in- are in place. Here's what I can do to reduce it.

Brianna 20:41

this part is important and it's not gonna feel great and I think people are waiting to one day wake up and have all this just be like second nature and so easy not right have to undo those neural pathways You have to create new habits You ha it's gonna take a little bit of work okay And if you're waiting for I just can't I just I'm waiting until I stop craving chips you're gonna set yourself up for failure So we're not wanting to eliminate foods like that but we wanna reduce it right Bailey said in the beginning if you're just like I literally will eat a whole bag of chips if it's in my house for a second stop bringing chips into the house for now okay

Baylee 21:19

Mm-hmm.

Brianna 21:19

to set yourself up with a solid foundation It's like you wouldn't take someone one day out of rehab and be like Go sit in a bar and see what happens You know We're gonna baby step it We maybe never go back to the bar but wanna eliminate not reduce cause it is one of those things you'll just want it more So and also to know some food thoughts are normal It is okay to not always have every single thing you eat be for like fuel or whatever It's normal You just have to find that balance So you're gonna wanna be able to make sure that you're eating enough consistently prioritizing protein increasing fiber choosing fiber-rich carbs stabilizing your blood sugar improving sleep extreme restriction manage your stress build balanced meals and allow satisfaction instead of constant deprivation Was deprivation the word you were looking for

Baylee 22:13

Yeah.

Brianna 22:13

No Was it

Baylee 22:15

Yeah.

Brianna 22:16

Like you wanna make sure cause then you'll always have that Last Supper mentality right Ironically many people experience less food noise when they stop trying to aggressively control food all the time Like baby step it you know What happens if I go and I really do want that sweet treat it's my kid's birthday and I get the chocolate cake and I really enjoy what I have and I stop when I'm satisfied and I just move on instead of being like my God there's chocolate cake on the table Why am I even doing this Let me just eat the whole thing before I can think about what I'm doing Like Like we make it weird So set yourself up while also knowing there are gonna be some people that set this whole foundation up and still maybe struggle because of certain hormonal imbalances and that's where you can really start to work with someone maybe help that. But even if you get on a GLP-1 or you get on medications to help those hormone imbalances, if you don't have your environment set up for success, it won't be successful long term.

Baylee 23:19

Mm-hmm. That's where in part two, we're gonna dive more into the behavioral and environmental side of food noise. And so if you're constantly thinking about food, it does not automatically mean you're just addicted or lacking discipline. Your biology, environment, stress, sleep, and habits all shape those thoughts. So understanding food noise can remove a lot of shame and a lot of guilt and help you finally work towards your body instead of just feeling like you're constantly fighting it.

Brianna 23:46

Yep, and that's

Baylee 23:47

Yes. right, everyone. We will be back next week with part two, and we'll talk to you soon. Bye.