What does “food noise” mean in English?

In English, “noise” usually means sound. But “food noise” means something different: constant, unwanted thoughts about food that some people experience. These thoughts keep asking things like: “What should I eat? Should I eat that? Was that too much?” It is not about hunger. It is about thoughts that keep coming back, even when you are not hungry.

In the clip, a woman called Lynn describes her experience before taking a weight-loss drug. She says the drug made her “food noise” stop. For her, food noise meant a constant inner conflict — she felt like she had “an angel on one shoulder and a devil on the other,” one telling her not to eat and one telling her to give in. The drug made those thoughts go quiet. The phrase “food noise” is now widely used in health and nutrition discussions. You might also hear it used more broadly, for example: “I have so much noise in my head about this decision” — meaning too many worried thoughts. “Noise” in this sense means unwanted thoughts, not actual sound.