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“In the space between stimulus and response lies our capacity to choose our reaction.” ~Viktor Frankl<\/strong><\/p>\n For many years, I sensed something was off with me.<\/p>\n Regardless of what I was engaged in\u2014attending a meeting, walking the dog, or watching television\u2014my mind was perpetually wrestling with thoughts about food.<\/p>\n Should I eat? Or shouldn\u2019t I? Just one more bite, perhaps? What\u2019s next on the menu? Have I already blown it for the day? I\u2019ve failed once more. Should I just eat anything and reset tomorrow?<\/em><\/p>\n The mental noise was incessant, leaving me drained and embarrassed, convinced of my own frailty.<\/p>\n I blamed it on a deficiency in willpower. Surely, if I put in more effort, I could quiet it. But the more I struggled, the more it amplified.<\/p>\n One evening, after a taxing day, I found myself in the kitchen with the fridge door ajar.<\/p>\n I wasn\u2019t hungry. My stomach was satisfied from dinner, yet my mind insisted I reach for something, anything.<\/p>\n The noise felt overwhelming. It seemed impossible to relax until I succumbed.<\/p>\n For the first time, I halted and asked myself: What is it that I truly long for at this moment?<\/em><\/p>\n The response wasn\u2019t food. It was solace, distraction, relief from tension.<\/p>\n It dawned on me that food wasn\u2019t the core issue. The real problem was the mental noise surrounding food, now referred to as food noise.<\/p>\n Food noise is not the same as hunger. Hunger is physical: your stomach rumbling, your energy waning, your body requiring nourishment.<\/p>\n Food noise is psychological: persistent, repetitive, often specific. It propels you to eat even when you\u2019re not hungry, persuading you it\u2019s a method to cope or feel better.<\/p>\n Realizing this was crucial. I had labeled myself a failure for many years, but food noise wasn\u2019t indicative of failure. It was about how the brain operates.<\/p>\n Every time I consumed food due to boredom, stress, or exhaustion, my brain perceived it as a “reward.” The next time I received the same signal, the noise intensified. This cycle repeated until it became habitual.<\/p>\n Recognizing this provided me with what I had been lacking: self-compassion. I wasn\u2019t broken. I was human. If my brain could be conditioned into these cycles, perhaps it could be conditioned out of them too.<\/p>\n I didn\u2019t suddenly wake up one day liberated from food chatter. It subsided gradually, through small, consistent practices.<\/p>\n As thoughts emerged, I would remind myself, \u201cThat\u2019s food noise, not genuine hunger.\u201d<\/em> It may seem trivial, but labeling it created separation and reminded me I wasn\u2019t defined by my thoughts.<\/p>\n At first, I felt powerless against the temptations. But I began to employ a brief pause. Just two minutes. During that moment, I would hydrate, stretch, or get some fresh air. Sometimes the craving persisted, but often it subsided. That pause reassured me of my ability to choose.<\/p>\n The hardest part wasn\u2019t the food itself. It was the internal dialogue.<\/p>\n It would say, \u201cYou\u2019ve already sabotaged the day; just keep going.\u201d<\/em> Or, \u201cOne more won\u2019t make a difference.\u201d<\/em> I believed it every single time, and each binge concluded with guilt and shame.<\/p>\n I discovered assistance with a cognitive behavioral tool known as refutation.<\/p>\n A refutation is essentially responding to the thought\u2014calmly, clearly, without criticism. It reveals the fallacy.<\/p>\n The first time I attempted it, I documented my food noise: \u201cYou\u2019ve ruined today, so you might as well give up.\u201d<\/em> Then I wrote my counterargument: \u201cOne moment doesn\u2019t ruin an entire day. If I cease now, I\u2019ll feel better later. If I continue, I\u2019ll feel worse.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n Initially, it felt unusual, like I was debating myself, but those written words gradually evolved into a voice I could tap into in real-time.<\/p>\n Now, when the chatter begins, I can hear both perspectives.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" “In the space between stimulus and response lies our capacity to choose our reaction.” ~Viktor Frankl For many years, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9656849,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"Default","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9656848","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/spiritualjourneydigest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9656848","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/spiritualjourneydigest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/spiritualjourneydigest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spiritualjourneydigest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spiritualjourneydigest.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9656848"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/spiritualjourneydigest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9656848\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spiritualjourneydigest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/9656849"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/spiritualjourneydigest.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9656848"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spiritualjourneydigest.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9656848"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spiritualjourneydigest.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9656848"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}The Evening Everything Altered<\/strong><\/h3>\n
What I Learned About Food Noise<\/strong><\/h3>\n
How I Started to Diminish the Noise<\/strong><\/h3>\n
Labeling it<\/strong><\/h4>\n
Taking a moment before acting<\/strong><\/h4>\n
Challenging the noise<\/strong><\/h4>\n