Food Noise: What It Is, Why It Happens, and Why It Comes Back
Before GLP-1 medications became widespread, many people lived with what they now recognise as "food noise" - but they didn't have a name for it. They just thought they lacked willpower, were obsessed with food, or had some personal failing that made them think about eating constantly.
Then something changed.
People started taking medications like semaglutide (Ozempic, Wegovy) or tirzepatide (Mounjaro, Zepbound), and suddenly reported an unexpected benefit: the mental chatter about food... stopped.
Stress, Hunger and GLP-1 Medication: Why Appetite Can Still Feel Unpredictable
One of the quiet assumptions people make when they start GLP-1 medication is that stress will matter less.
If appetite is quieter, if food noise has dropped, surely stress eating should just… stop.
For some people, that does happen for a while.
For many others, it doesn’t.
Instead, they notice something more confusing. Hunger that appears when they’re stressed rather than physically hungry. A pull towards food in the evenings, even after a day of low appetite. A restless, unsettled feeling that eating used to take the edge off.
This is often the point where people start to worry that the medication isn’t working properly.
Most of the time, it is.
What’s happening is that GLP-1 medication changes physical hunger far more effectively than it changes stress biology.