Food Noise: Inborn Trait or Learned Habit?

Mine, I'm pretty sure, began in childhood. Our house was basically an ingredients-only kind of place. Every now and then we'd get a McDonald's or chicken dippers and chips, but apart from those rare occasions, I spent my childhood envious of what other kids had in their packed lunches — and that feeling carried right on into high school, where I was jealous of anyone with canteen money. Other children and their "fun" foods were a constant source of envy for me.

Then at 16 I got my first job and suddenly had money of my own. Being able to buy whatever food I fancied meant I overate, put on weight, and that's when the restricting kicked in — and it went on for many, many years.

So yes, I do believe the environment plays a role in the relationship you end up having with food.
 
For me, it began around my late 30s — right at the start of perimenopause. Hormones are my best guess for what set it off.

I began HRT and Tirz at the same time, and that combination seemed especially effective. Still, the way Tirz quieted food noise in roughly 8 hours really surprised me.

It's now been almost 2.5 years since I started, including a year of maintenance. On dose day the food noise does return somewhat, though I can manage it. These days it sounds more like, "I should eat something, what do I want?" rather than waking up and building my whole day around food. Honestly, what I have now is likely what "normal" really is…
 
YoYoFat said:

For me, it began around my late 30s — right at the start of perimenopause. Hormones are my best guess for what set it off.

I began HRT and Tirz at the same time, and that combination seemed especially effective. Still, the way Tirz quieted food noise in roughly 8 hours really surprised me.

It's now been almost 2.5 years since I started, including a year of maintenance. On dose day the food noise does return somewhat, though I can manage it. These days it sounds more like, "I should eat something, what do I want?" rather than waking up and building my whole day around food. Honestly, what I have now is likely what "normal" really is…
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food noise appearing right on dose day as if it checked the calendar. still, controllable counts as the win
 
bada bing said:

My father and both of my grandfathers stayed tall, lean and wiry right up until they passed away, each of them in their early 90's. I was the same way—tall, thin and wiry—until roughly age 45, when I got fat. For me, I lean toward environmental causes. My view is that hyper palatable, processed foods wreck your metabolism, and that after you've put on weight and scrambled your metabolic signals, a semi-permanent adaptation sets in. I figure food noise is part of that adaptation, since a single shot of GLP1 makes it vanish and I never had it before I was heavy. I hope it can be reversed eventually, but whether the food noise goes away or not, I'll be on some form of GLP1 for the rest of my life.

In my high school class of 250 kids in 1977, there were hardly any fat kids. Maybe 3. Those few were likely born with something. The rest of us must have had something happen to trigger it.

Just my uneducated opinion.
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Honestly, I'd call that a well-informed take. Sure, genetics carry a lot of the weight here — but there's also the matter of all that processed junk that turns real food into something closer to garbage. The stuff our ancestors ate looked nothing like what we put away today. If they'd eaten the way we do, they wouldn't have lasted much longer as a species.
 
SoCalGirl said:


So, what do you think? Those of us that have (or HAD) that constant nagging never ending food noise - born that way (genetic modification so we live long and prosper during interplanetary travel) OR was it something we learned and just can't quit like heroin and we'll ALWAYS have it??

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Picture a world where processed options simply don't exist — where the only things you eat are foods in their natural form. Nearly every diet shares one starting step: clearing your pantry of sugary snacks and junk food.
 
Bhappy$ said:

Picture a world where processed options simply don't exist — where the only things you eat are foods in their natural form. Nearly every diet shares one starting step: clearing your pantry of sugary snacks and junk food.
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A lot of my eating struggles, I believe, trace back to my parents' deep devotion to Nathan Pritikin. That's how we were raised, and it was AWFUL! Vegetables made up most of it. Penny dreadful. Thanks to the pins, I can enjoy a little of the sugary stuff without devouring it endlessly. And a world containing nothing but whole foods? I refuse to even picture it. No!!! That's the stuff my nightmares are made of! 😁
 
My own view is that it's something I picked up or trained myself into. Food noise only shows up for me when I've got nothing to do. If I'm caught up in something I like, food doesn't even cross my mind. The biggest slip I've made is keeping snacks where I can grab them while I'm driving. These days, the moment I get behind the wheel, I feel like nibbling on snacks. That's a habit I've got to kick.
 
My appetite is off the charts by nature. I'm capable of putting away 10.000 calories in a single day, and that's a real issue.

The only thing that has kept me from blowing up is that once I hit roughly 100kg, I get so disgusted with myself that I start dieting and shed weight down to 75-80kg again.

Then I put every bit of it back on within two three months.

It's a loop that never ends.

These days I'm taking tizepatide, and it makes things far more manageable.

The appetite and the food noise have been with me for as long as I can remember, going back to when I was a small child.
 
SoCalGirl said:

A lot of my eating struggles, I believe, trace back to my parents' deep devotion to Nathan Pritikin. That's how we were raised, and it was AWFUL! Vegetables made up most of it. Penny dreadful. Thanks to the pins, I can enjoy a little of the sugary stuff without devouring it endlessly. And a world containing nothing but whole foods? I refuse to even picture it. No!!! That's the stuff my nightmares are made of! 😁
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I feel the same way. This isn't the reality we're living in. Life is meant to be enjoyed, and we should let ourselves do that. GLP-1 medications are an excellent tool, and having them available is a real stroke of luck.
 
I recently watched a talk given by an obesity researcher named Giles Yeo. His explanation was that it comes down to genetics and environment overlapping — in other words, genes that make a person prone to obesity running into today's obesogenic environment.
 
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