How to Stop Thinking About Food: Advice From Eating Disorder Experts
When you’re struggling with disordered eating or an eating disorder, it can feel impossible to figure out how to stop thinking about food.
These constant thoughts can stem from restriction—mental or physical. While it can feel exhausting and all-consuming when you’re being bombarded with those thoughts, the good news is you don’t have to live with this forever.
To help you quiet that voice, I’ve asked a few eating disorder and disordered eating experts to share the advice they’d share with clients. Everyone who we spoke to said some version of the same thing: allow yourself to eat more food with the goal of minimizing restriction to create safety.
If you want to know how to stop thinking about food, and end that restrictive behavior, you’ve come to the right place. Here are a few ways to approach this challenge plus a few practical strategies to get started with.
Please note: food insecurity and food noise can sometimes be related, so keep that in mind. If you’re struggling with food insecurity and need support, please head to Freedge.org or Feeding America for food access points. This piece specifically discusses food noise when food access is not a concern, or a primary concern.
Give Yourself Permission to Eat Food (and Enjoy It!)
First things first, eat. “A body and brain deprived of food will fixate on food. When we don't eat enough, this food fixation is an attempt to drive us toward finding energy, nourishment, and safety,” says Abbie Attwood, MS, She/Her, Founder & Owner, Abbie Attwood Wellness.
“This is called hunger. And despite what diet culture wants us to believe, it's a survival mechanism, not a design flaw.”
The first step to quieting that food noise and critical voice is to actually do the thing it’s telling you to do: eat. But more than that, to eat enough.
“We can break the cycle of obsessive food thoughts by eating enough, and by eating what we truly want. When we give ourselves permission to enjoy food, we communicate to our body that it's being cared for; and our brain is freed up to focus on other aspects of life.
Attwood’s insights are rooted in a common pattern seen among folks struggling with disordered eating called the Binge-Restrict Cycle. Even if you’re not binging, the restriction is what’s driving your body to want to do that—hence the constant thoughts. Attwood explains why this happens:
“Restriction drives obsession because it keeps us in survival mode. Compassionate nourishment liberates us so that we can fully live.”
Create More Safety in Your Body
“In order to stop thinking about food, our body needs to feel safe enough to let go of the thoughts,” says Stefanie Michele, Binge Eating and Body Image Coach.
Michele brings us back to a similar insight as Atwood: “One of the biggest reasons we think about food is because we are hungry—the brain is trying to get our attention and drive us towards a resource it believes is scarce.”
This is where that safety becomes important. As she explains, “Until the body feels secure that food is available (and will stay available), it will be hard pressed to let go of the focus on it -- remember, this is based on our survival instincts.”
Bottom line, Michele reminds: eating more food is the foundation to thinking about it less. How can you do this? She shares a few practical ideas:
Add more calories to your daily intake.
Increase the frequency of meals or snacks throughout the day so the body isn’t getting over hungry.
Include more varieties of foods. Carbohydrates and sweet foods are often the ones we find ourselves thinking about most, so let the body know they’re available!
Honor Your Cravings Without Guilt
Diet culture tells us that some foods are good and some are bad. Marcella Cox, Founder and Executive Director of Kindful Body, says this is a cause for those obsessive food thoughts, especially when it comes to cravings. She explains:
“Many people who obsessively think about food habitually deny themselves their cravings, labeling certain foods as ‘bad’ or ‘unhealthy.’ This approach tends to backfire, making the obsessive food thoughts even stronger.”
To quiet that food noise, do the opposite of what you might automatically think to do: eat the food you’re craving. Why? Cox says: “Eating is allowed to be enjoyable—adopting a balanced, intuitive approach to food will help reduce your fixation on it."
Kindful Body also recently shared a guide on how to silence food noise that might be a helpful resource.
Understand (and Recognize) Your Biological Needs
Sometimes it can be easier to shift an eating pattern when we understand why it’s happening—on a biological level. It takes the “fault” off ourselves, which can relieve some of that anxiety in and of itself.
Jennifer Wang-Hall, Ph.D., Licensed Psychologist helps us understand why, biologically, this happens:
“When you are nutritionally deprived, your brain is going to be constantly gearing your attention towards food because from an evolutionary perspective, it is fearful of famine. And emotionally, when you are depriving yourself of something over and over, the fear gets built up more and more. This can lead to thoughts about more restriction and/or what it would be like if you ‘gave in’ and nourished yourself.”
It’s a self-fulfilling and exhausting cycle that can feel impossible to get out of. Wang-Hall shares a strategy she uses to help clients shift out of this cycle:
“We start immediately with eliminating BOTH the physical and cognitive restrictions around food. Full nourishment and permission for pleasure, joy, and satiety makes a huge difference and often eliminates a huge amount of the rumination.”
How to Stop Thinking About Food: Minimize Restriction
The bottom line is this: restricting food only leads to thinking about it more. Foundationally, to minimize these thoughts, you have to minimize the restriction. That can be difficult to do so I hope the ideas and insights from these experts can help you move in that direction.
We at Project HEAL also encourage you to get professional support if you’re struggling to minimize restrictions or quiet these thoughts.. Here are some resources to find that support:
