Food noise, often linked to involuntary mental imagery, can be stressful and affect your health. But you don’t need to stay stuck! In this article, I’ll explore some common questions. What is food noise? Why do I struggle with it? And importantly how can I calm it naturally?
What is food noise?
There’s no official definition for food noise yet. However, it does capture some important factors that can cause you to struggle in your relationship with food:
- Distracting:
- Food noise can occur on an ongoing basis or at specific times of the day. It can involve eating in general or a craving for specific types of food. While the frequency and intensity of the food noise may vary, it is distracting because it occurs regularly and outside of meal times.
- Disruptive:
- These automatic thoughts disrupt normal eating, leading to patterns of overeating, indulging in snacks or avoiding regular meals. This disruption can interfere with other aspects of your life, such as taking breaks at work or shopping sprees.
- Intrusive:
- While we often work hard to control the noise, there is an intrusive nature to the thoughts, inner dialogue and mental images that arise. Compared to the voluntary nature of positively visualizing hot apple pie or fresh homemade bread, food noise is involuntary.
Why do I struggle with food noise?
We’re human. We all have automatic thoughts and sensations about food and eating. From a very young age, our food experiences create memories and beliefs that influence our relationship with food. Relaxed family meals can relate to safety and comfort. Stressful meal times may lead to memories. Being rewarded with sweets as a child can create mental imagery that associates sweets with pleasant memories, so it can feel good when we eat sweets as an adult. Think of your mother’s favourite cake or your grandmother’s fudge.
We are also raised with a lot of instruction around food. My mom was a child in the Netherlands during World War II. One of her instructions was “Eat for the hunger that comes.” Good for survival in times of scarcity, but if food is plentiful, it can contribute to overeating.
How can I calm food noise naturally?
New medications and treatments can have an important and immediate impact on calming the physiological responses to food noise. However, the underlying memories remain frozen and can become active again when the medication stops. Some ideas to help calm food noise naturally include:
Out of sight, out of mind:
You may be familiar with the advice to not buy potato chips because if you know they are in the cupboard, the chatter to have “just a few” be more persistent. When the food isn’t present to trigger the memory or mental imagery, you are less likely to experience the food noise.
Create new habits:
While food noise can be triggered at any time by activating memories, doing things differently can lead to preferred behaviours is beneficial to calm the noise. If you normally snack after work, taking a short walk or connecting with someone can help shift the habit loop.
Shift the underlying mental imagery:
Recent research in the area of intrusive mental imagery is highlighting the role of memories in emotions, addictions and more. These studies are calling for new approaches to shift involuntary mental imagery. Logosynthesis® offers a fast and easy way to both identify and shift the energy frozen in mental imagery. And when you shift the memory, the constant chatter and physical sensations fall away. By paying attention to the specifics of what, when and where, you can routinely use this technique to make meaningful shifts.
Many aspects to healthy living.
Logosynthesis® offers one approach to calm food noise. It is used along with other treatments and healthy lifestyle practices to empower you in everyday life. Stress is normal but you don’t need to stay stuck in stressful patterns. If this resonates and you’d like to explore a new way forward, I’d love to connect.