How to Stop Food Noise (Without Counting Calories)

Food noise is exhausting. It’s loud, constant, and confusing — and it often leads us to survive badly around food. We reach for the chocolate bar instead of the carrot. We take comfort in ice cream instead of slowing down and dealing with what’s actually going on.

For a long time, I thought food noise was just me. I thought I was poisoning myself with artificial food, lacking discipline, and failing at moderation in eating. Then I realised something important: millions of people are stuck in exactly the same loop, all trying to escape food noise while living in the food jungle.

If you’ve ever experienced food noise, you’ll know how irritating it can be. It’s the constant background chatter in your head — conversations that never stop and slowly take over your thinking:

What should I eat?
Should I eat this?
Have I ruined today already?
I’ll start again tomorrow.

Food noise isn’t hunger.
It’s not your body politely asking for fuel.

Food noise is the voice that says “just this once” — every single day.

What Food Noise Really Is

Food noise is mental load.

Obsessive thoughts about food
Constant decision fatigue around eating
Guilt, bargaining, rules, and loopholes
Eating for relief, not nourishment

When food becomes something you have to manage instead of something you respond to, food noise thrives. The harder you try to control it, the louder it often gets.

For many people, calorie counting online promises relief. Track everything. Control everything. Silence the noise.

But for most of us, it does the opposite.
The noise gets louder.

To understand why, we need to talk about something most advice ignores completely.

The Food Jungle We’re All Living In

Most eating advice assumes a neutral environment.

It assumes:

reasonable portion sizes
simple ingredients
clear hunger signals
calm decision-making

That world does not exist.

We live in a food jungle — an environment shaped by ruthless food corporations that know exactly how to tap into our weaknesses. I don’t know whether the snack industry is multi-million or multi-billion (probably both), but I do know this: it’s engineered for easy access, low cost, and maximum craving.

Ultra-processed food is:

everywhere
cheap and convenient
consistent in flavour
designed around sugar, fat, and salt

This isn’t accidental. It’s behavioural design.

Trying to “just eat in moderation” inside this system is like walking into a casino and blaming yourself for losing money. The House always wins. The food industry is rigged the same way.

Why Calorie Counting Makes Food Noise Worse

On paper, calorie counting online looks logical.
Psychologically, it creates problems.

1. Control Replaces Awareness

You stop listening to your body and start obeying numbers. Hunger, fullness, and satisfaction get overridden by an app.

2. Numbers Become Moral Judgements

Good day. Bad day. Over. Under. Failed. Restart. Food stops being food and becomes a scoreboard.

3. Tracking Feels Like Progress

You log everything. You feel productive. It feels responsible.

But logging isn’t learning. I spent 5 years tracking different things, and I learnt diddly squat. I spent 3 months tracking the right things, and my life changed.

The reality: You can hit a calorie target while:

spiking blood sugar
fuelling cravings
triggering mood crashes
increasing food noise

The app tells you you’re “on track”.
Your nervous system tells a different story.

This isn’t a willpower problem.
It’s a system problem.

The Moderation Myth (And Why It Fails)

We’re constantly told: “Just eat everything in moderation.”

It sounds sensible — until you question it.

This was a turning point for me when I came across Eric Edmeades, founder of the WildFit programme. He challenged moderation with one simple question that completely changed how I thought about food:

Do you want moderate health — or good health?

Moderation assumes:

equal food quality
equal effects on health
transparency around ingredients

None of those assumptions hold true in the food jungle.

When food is engineered to override satiety, moderation becomes a trap — not a solution. This is where food noise really digs in.

When Treats Become a Lifestyle

One of the most damaging patterns in the food jungle is how we think about treats.

Sunday treat.
Monday stress treat.
Tuesday reward.
Wednesday comfort.
Thursday “I deserve it.”
Friday survival.

Before you know it, life is full of treats.

This was another insight that stuck with me through Eric Edmeades and the WildFit programme. He reframed treats with one powerful question:

How are you treating yourself — well or badly?

When you step back and look honestly at what you’re doing to your body, it becomes clear that many “treats” are actually leading to poor health and more food noise. When that realisation lands, the mental chatter around food starts to quieten.

What Actually Quietens Food Noise

This is the part most advice skips.

Food noise doesn’t disappear with stricter rules.
It fades when pressure drops.

Decisions become simpler
Planning food in advance reduces last-minute stress and decision fatigue. It may feel restrictive at first, but as food noise dies down, planning becomes freeing rather than limiting.
The environment stops fighting you
When your surroundings support you instead of constantly tempting you, the noise eases naturally.
Awareness increases
Understanding yourself — your stress, tiredness, patterns, and triggers — brings relief. When you realise you’re reaching for chocolate at 9pm because you’ve been riding glucose highs all day, the behaviour suddenly makes sense. And when it makes sense, it’s easier to change.

This is what finally changed things for me.
Not cutting things out.
Not perfect tracking.
Not more discipline.

But understanding:

how my environment influenced my choices
how stress amplified cravings
how ultra-processed food hijacked signals
how numbers distracted me from patterns

Once I saw the jungle for what it was, the noise made sense.
And when something makes sense, it loses its power.

A Smarter Way to Eat in the Food Jungle

A smarter way to eat isn’t anti-data.
It’s anti-blind data.

If you want to reduce food noise, you need to track the right things — not everything.

A smarter way to eat focuses on:

patterns over calorie counting
body signals over rigid rules
systems over willpower
environment over self-blame

Environment over self-blame means asking what around me is making this harder instead of what’s wrong with me. When food stops being a daily battle, food noise quietens naturally — not because you’re controlling harder, but because you’re finally listening better.

The Bottom Line

If food noise feels relentless, it’s not because you lack discipline.

It’s because:

you’re living in a food jungle
using tools designed for a different world

Remember, calorie counting online can feel like you’re in control. However, understanding your environment brings peace.

And peace — not perfection — is what actually changes eating behaviour.

If you want to develop a clearer, calmer way of thinking about problems like this, you may find it helpful to explore the detective mindset approach at https://www.bestsherlock.com

Disclaimer

This article is based on personal experience and independent research. It is not medical advice. If eating behaviours feel distressing or out of control, consider seeking professional support.

Calm Economy