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REFERENCE

food noise

idiom
Meaning

A mental preoccupation with food that is differentiable from hunger and from cravings but tends to urge people to overeat.


Origin

first recorded 21st c.

By a metaphor in which mental preoccupation is portrayed as noise inside one's head that cannot be turned off, somewhat like an earworm. Widely used since the early 2020s, when indications for using the GLP-1 receptor agonist medication class expanded beyond diabetes treatment into weight control for anyone with or without diabetes; not in widespread use before that. Attested since 2007.

Examples
SIMPLE

I try to ignore the food noise when I am bored.

CONTEXTUAL

She finds that constant food noise makes it difficult to focus on her work during the afternoon.

COMPLEX

Despite having eaten a full meal, he struggled to quiet the persistent food noise that urged him to seek out another snack.

Anchors to
Related idioms8entries
  1. 01

    box of toys

    [Cockney slang]noise

  2. 02

    eat one's own dog food

    To use or consume the economic goods or services that one is producing; to be part of a closed household economy.

  3. 03

    food baby

    A protruding belly resulting from the consumption of a large quantity of food; the contents of one's digestive system causing the protrusion.

  4. 04

    food chain

    A hierarchy.

  5. 05

    food for thought

    Information or knowledge that is worthy of contemplation.

  6. 06

    make a noise in the world

    To attract great notoriety.

  7. 07

    make noise

    To scold, condemn, or criticize very harshly.

  8. 08

    put food on the table

    To provide enough money to cover basic necessities.

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