Nutrition Diva

Turning down the food noise, with Dr. Nina Crowley

Episode Summary

Dealing with persistent, intrusive thoughts about food that can make it hard to follow through on healthy behaviors.

Episode Notes

In today's episode, we're exploring the phenomenon of “food noise,”  how it relates to our overall health and weight management, and some ways to turn down the volume.

Dr. Nina Crowley is a registered dietitian as well as a doctor of psychology–affectionately known to her friends and colleagues as the “Psycho-dietitian.“  Nina has years of experience working in the field of bariatrics and as an educator and advocate against weight stigma and bias–much of which is rooted in mistaken beliefs and erroneous thinking about the nature of this disease. 

Some of the topics included in our discussion:

• Four dimensions that distinguish “food noise” from run-of-the-mill cravings
• How this phenomenon is experienced by people living with overweight and obesity
• The impact of weight loss medications on food noise
• Biological mechanisms of GLP-1 agonists, including their effects on gut hormones and brain regions related to reward and motivation.
• Stigma and misconceptions associated with obesity and the use of medications.
• How even a short break from persistent, intrusive thoughts opens a window of opportunity for more lasting change
• The role of behavioral and nutrition support in the medical treatment of obesity
• Behavioral strategies for managing food noise

Related listening:

Ozempic plateaus, muscle loss, and more (Nutrition Diva #738)

Why Weight Loss Is Harder for Some than Others (Nutrition Diva #616)

Mentioned in this episode:

https://www.weightwatchers.com/us/food-noise

Research:

What Is Food Noise? A Conceptual Model of Food Cue Reactivity - PMC (nih.gov)