Roast turkey served in a puddle of rich gravy. Buttery mince pies between meals. Crackers with cheese and chutney. And endless lucky dips into the open tub of Quality Streets, rummaging to find your favourite flavours. Food is at the very heart of Christmas, with countless traditions centred around sharing beautifully-prepared produce with loved ones.
We rise long before the sun on Christmas morning to skin potatoes for the family roast, and savour leftovers sandwiched between soft slices of bread on Boxing Day. We slurp Bailey’s and flambé sticky Christmas pudding, before saturating it in cream. The subject of food is simply inescapable around Christmas time, which, for those who struggle with food noise, can make this time of year feel quite overwhelming.
Although not a diagnostic term, the phrase is used to describe frequent and intrusive thoughts that people have about food, macronutrients, calories or other food-related decisions – even when they don’t feel hungry. “Food noise goes beyond a craving or passing thoughts about foods, but creates a preoccupation that can create a mental load,” explains health psychologist Dr Sula Windgassen. Research shows it’s more closely aligned with rumination, which the American Psychological Association Dictionary defines as “obsessional thinking involving excessive, repetitive thoughts or themes that interfere with other forms of mental activity.”
We’re not talking about a gentle nudge of hunger. “Many people experiencing food noise are eating enough yet still feel mentally crowded by food-related thoughts,” says psychotherapist and Counselling Directory member Lauren Russell. “It becomes problematic when it starts to dominate attention, trigger guilt or anxiety, or interfere with daily life.”
Made popular in 2023, it’s a relatively new term to describe the specific intrusive thoughts people experience surrounding food. There’s not a wealth of data on how many people struggle with food noise, but a recent survey of 2,000 UK adults, conducted by Numan, revealed that nearly nine in 10 people experience it.
Of course, food noise isn’t only difficult to manage around Christmas. However, mental health experts agree that the festive season can be a particularly challenging time of year, when food noise is at full volume. “In my own clinical work, I often hear people say that December is the month they feel they’re constantly ‘mentally negotiating’ with food, even those who generally feel at ease with eating during the rest of the year,” says Russell. “That tug-of-war is rarely about appetite alone. More often, it’s about exhaustion, expectation and feeling emotionally stretched.”
If you are someone who experiences heightened food noise around Christmas, let us first reassure you that you aren’t alone. While there’s certainly no quick and easy antidote, there are methods to turn down the volume – which we cover below. Keen to read more expert-backed nutrition content? Don’t miss our guides to Em The Nutritionist’s health hacks, plus our go-to healthy breakfast ideas, healthy snack ideas, and healthy smoothie recipes, here.
Ever wondered how to turn down food noise? Your expert led guide
What factors make you more susceptible to food noise?
There are various factors that make you more vulnerable to food noise, according to Dr Windgassen. “It can happen because of an interplay of factors including psychological relationship with food, environmental factors (the emphasis on food around the festive period, for example) and biological factors, like shifts in appetite with hormonal fluctuations, changes in weather, movement and more,” she says. Additionally, food restriction often makes food noise more likely.
Why can food noise be so damaging?
“People often report increased shame and self-criticism, a growing distrust of their bodies, and a sense that food decisions have become high-stakes moral tests,” she continues. “Over time, this can fuel cycles of restriction and overeating, reduce pleasure and presence around meals, and pull attention away from rest, connection and enjoyment, even in people with no history of an eating disorder.”
At best, according to Counselling Directory member Annabelle Hird, food noise can be an annoying distraction from life, reducing productivity and fulfilment. “At worst, it can lead to isolation, as a person might withdraw from social interaction.”
How to turn down food noise, according to top experts
1. Try not to put pressure yourself
Try not to pile pressure on yourself to “fix” your thoughts. This, Russell says, is neither realistic nor necessary. “It’s about turning down the volume,” she says.
2. Eat regularly, even when routines are off
“Key foundations to help with food noise,” says Dr Windgassen. “This includes ensuring regular mealtimes, as much as possible, good hydration and good sleep.” Eating regularly, she says, will help the physiological regulation of hunger. “It will also set you up for optimum ability to work with your mind and emotions.”
“Skipping meals to ‘make up for it’ tends to intensify food focus,” warns Russell. “Regular nourishment reassures the brain that food is available, which often eases urgency.”
3. Let go of all-or-nothing thinking
One meal doesn’t undo your health or your worth, Russell emphasises. “Rigid rules keep anxiety alive; flexibility gives your nervous system some breathing room.”
She advises paying attention to how you eat, not just what you eat. “Slowing down, tasting your food and noticing satisfaction can help the mind move on. Being present/mindful often does what control can’t.”
4. Notice emotional triggers with curiosity, not judgement
If certain foods show up during stress, boredom or loneliness, this is information, says Russell, not a failure.
Dr Windgassen agrees. “Recognising how you are feeling emotionally when you are preoccupied with food can help you to identify a key trigger to food noise,” she says. Boredom, sadness, anxiety, and guilt can all cause rumination on a particular topic, such as food noise.
“Instead, offering an alternative route to regulate these emotions can help your brain recognise an optimum way of managing how you feel that is more appropriate for improving your wellbeing.” She recommends movement, journaling, sitting with your feelings and meditation for regulating emotions.
5. Soften the language around food
“Words like ‘good’, ‘bad’ or ‘naughty’ carry emotional weight,” says Russell. Neutral language, she says, reduces shame and mental fixation.
6. Widen your sources of comfort
If food is doing a lot of emotional heavy lifting, Russell recommends gently introducing other forms of nourishment, such as rest, movement, creativity, connection. “When needs are met elsewhere, food often feels less urgent,” she says.
Dr Windgassen emphasises the importance of getting really clear what, exactly, it is you value about Christmastime, and let this guide you. “Say, for example, having fun with family is what you value most. You can write down a list of ways that you can engage in this over the period so that you can more easily reorient yourself to these options when your mind is focussing on food,” she says. “The more valued options, the more appealing choices your brain has to refocus on.”
7. Consider support if the noise feels stuck
In some cases, food noise is closely linked to past trauma, disordered eating patterns or unmet psychological needs, according to Russell. Working with a therapist, she says, can help untangle these safely and compassionately.
“Food noise isn’t something to defeat; it is an unmet need being communicated,” Russell reassures. “It’s information, a sign that something in you is asking for care, safety or nourishment. When I share this with clients, the response is often relief rather than surprise. Simply understanding that the noise has a reason can soften it.”
When pressure eases, she says, the chatter often fades on its own. “And that, perhaps, is a kinder and more realistic goal than trying to manage Christmas perfectly.”
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What are the key signs that you’re experiencing food noise?
If you’re often preoccupied with thoughts about food and eating, even when satiated or doing other tasks, you may be experiencing food noise. “This might be thoughts about what you will eat next, or what will happen if you eat certain things or how you feel having eaten what you have already eaten, or even comparing what others are eating,” says Dr Windgassen.
You may, she says, find yourself thinking of food in terms of ‘good’ versus ‘bad’ foods or having rules around food that you feel you are violating over the Christmas period. “People with a lot of food noise may continually snack or eat, even when full or reach for food to emotionally regulate.”