Thinking About Food Isn’t a Problem.

Lately, I’ve been noticing a pattern in conversations across the nutrition and dietetic world – both in professional spaces and on social media.

There’s a growing emphasis on stopping “food noise”, those constant thoughts about what to eat, whether something is “good” or “bad,” and the mental chatter around portion sizes, ingredients, or timing of meals. Alongside this, mindful eating has become almost a buzzword, with an aim to slow down, tune into hunger cues, and quiet that internal commentary.

On the surface, both of these sound supportive and helpful. But there’s a risk here: if we push too hard to erase any thinking about food, we may create a new problem, the belief that there’s something wrong with you if you do think about food.

Thinking about food is normal. It’s not always “noise” to be silenced.

Food choices are influenced by dozens of factors every single day, including our biology, our environment, our cultural upbringing, our budget, our health goals, our schedules, and even the people around us. Many of these mechanisms operate without conscious control.

Why Not Everything Can Be Understood

Imagine you’re walking down the street and smell fresh bread. Instantly, you feel hungry. Did you decide to be hungry? No. Your brain caught a scent, and thousands of little processes kicked in without you even knowing. Hormones shifted. Memories of buttered toast at your nan’s house lit up. None of it was conscious.

Not every food thought has a neat explanation. Some come from deep in the body, from old habits, from little triggers we’ve long forgotten. They just… arrive.

And if you try to figure out every single one, you can end up stuck in your

head, going round in circles. Like trying to catch every leaf blowing down the street, exhausting and impossible.

The skill isn’t in understanding them all.

The skill is knowing when to nod at a thought, let it pass, and keep walking.

The Danger of “Nothing”

If the alternative to mindful eating or “cutting food noise” is… nothing, then what fills the gap? For many people, that vacuum can quickly be replaced with confusion, inconsistency, or even a return to unhelpful patterns.

Food choice is not a random act. Even when we think we’re “not thinking about it,” our brains are still processing options and weighing decisions. So instead of striving for no thought, perhaps the goal should be clear thought, informed by evidence and self-awareness, but without the need to analyse every passing idea.

This is where we need to be brave, as individuals and as practitioners.

Instead of vague, hesitant guidance, we can challenge ourselves to speak with clarity and confidence. Firmness means replacing uncertainty with grounded statements that remove the moral judgment from eating and instead focus on physiology, context, and choice.

When you work with people around food, you’re not just addressing what they eat; you’re helping shape how they interpret their thinking. By reinforcing that food thoughts aren’t inherently bad, and by equipping them with factual anchors rather than guilt or confusion, you create space for healthy, informed decision-making.