An Eating Disorder Recovery Specialist's Guide for How to Stop Thinking About Food

Experiencing a lot of food noise can be stressful, especially when you are in eating disorder recovery. Not only can food noise take up valuable brain space and bring up difficult emotions, but it is exhausting. While it might be annoying, your body probably has a good reason for not being able to get food thoughts out of your head.

Keep reading to learn the why behind your frequent food thoughts and how you can combat them. The real explanation might surprise you.

Why Can’t I Stop Thinking About Food?

In our diet culture entrenched society, we are primed to feel shame if food is frequently on our minds. As if you are completely in control of your thoughts, it’s implied that you are glutinous or lack self-control if you are frequently thinking about food. However, that is simply not true. Food is a vital resource for human survival – we are biologically primed to think about it, enjoy it, and be driven by it. If this wasn’t the case, many humans before us may not have survived.

If you find yourself thinking about food often, it does not mean that anything is wrong with you. It just means that you are alive and you are human. That being said, there are factors that can increase food noise. These are factors that fire up our biological wiring and trigger responses that were meant to increase our chances of survival in the face of food scarcity. For example, if our ancestors encountered a famine, they would likely develop an intense fixation on food. Biologically, this is meant to heighten the body’s senses and increase the drive to find sources of nourishment.

It is because of this that one of the biggest reasons you might not be able to stop thinking about food is that you are restricting your intake. This can be in the form of cutting out certain foods or food groups, restricting the number of calories you are allowed to eat, or even the cognitive act of planning your next diet. Moving your nervous system out of threat response mode and getting your body to trust you again is possible, but it can take time and intentionality.

How to Stop Thinking About Food

Ditch the Diet

I often remind people that the diet industry is a multi-billion dollar entity. That means that large corporations in the diet industry are profiting (A LOT) off of your desire to lose weight. If you think that these businesses are prioritizing your health above profit, then you are sadly mistaken. And, if profit means keeping you stuck in a feedback loop of dieting and self-hatred, they will gladly do so.

Our nervous systems are hard wired for survival. That includes having a failsafe for when famine strikes or some other event results in the reduction of available food. While we might not face many famines in 2025 Western culture, our bodies don’t really know the difference between food scarcity and your latest fad diet. As a result, when we intentionally deprive our body of necessary resources, our nervous systems enter into threat response mode. This can cause an increase in obsessive food thoughts as your body becomes more fixated on seeking out key survival resources.

Give Yourself Permission

For the next 60 seconds, I want you to NOT think about a white polar bear. Let your mind wander wherever it wants. But, whatever you do, don’t think about a white polar bear. Ready? Go!

Alright, so how did you do? Did you think about a white polar bear? If you are like me and most of the other humans I have encountered, the answer is probably yes. In fact, you probably thought about those cuddly looking creatures in the last 60 seconds more than any other point in your life.

If a white polar bear was on your mind during the last minute, then your experience is right on par with the results of Daniel Wenger’s psychological experiment back in the 1980s. It is because of the way the human brain is wired that the most sure fire way to obsess over something is to establish it as forbidden. (Remember those gel candles your grandma had that you weren’t supposed to stick your finger in? IYKYK)

The same rings true with food – if you tell yourself that the cookie is off limits, you are going to want it even more. You might even eat some other “more acceptable” snacks in an attempt to stop thinking about the cookie, only to finally give in to the forbidden thoughts and have several cookies. Now you’ve wasted a few hours of your life obsessing over a cookie, only to feel guilty and uncomfortably full when you could have just given yourself permission to eat the cookie, felt satisfied, and moved on with the rest of your day. This is why if you want to stop thinking about food, it can be helpful to adopt an all foods fit method of eating.

Build Resources Outside of Food

Sometimes excessive food thoughts can come in if you lean on food as a primary source of comfort. I sometimes tell my clients that exercise can be a good coping skill, but it can’t be your only coping skill. This concept can also be relevant to our relationship with food.

“Emotional eating” isn’t necessarily a bad thing. It’s actually okay to find comfort in food. There is nothing like coming home to your favorite comfort meal after a hard day at work, remembering a loved one by making their favorite recipe, or taking a bite of your mom’s warm chocolate chip cookies. Despite how much we try to pretend like it shouldn’t be, food is emotional.

While it is completely normal for food to be a source of comfort, it is possible to become disconnected from our bodies’ cues when it is the only coping skill that we utilize. This can include a variety of comfort seeking activities in the realm of obsessive food behaviors – spending your time tracking calories, obsessing over how you can “make up” for something you ate, or fixation on planning your next binge.

If you struggle with any type of obsessive food behaviors, they probably help you to meet an emotional need. This is why it can be helpful to focus on building coping skills that give you a more adaptive way to regulate. If you are not sure where to start, try getting outside, chatting with a friend, or working on a hobby. It can also be helpful to work with an eating disorder recovery specialist to help with resourcing yourself and establishing a secure coping skill base.

Connect With Your Body

If you are experiencing a lot of food noise, your body might be trying to tell you something. Take a moment to check in with your body and ask it what it needs. If you are used to being disconnected from your body, it could be difficult to decipher its messages. In this case, try asking yourself these questions:

• Have I been adequately nourishing myself?

• Am I feeling emotionally activated? If so, what does my body need to feel a little safer?

• If I’ve been moving my body more than normal, have I been giving myself permission to eat more food?

• Have I been intentionally restricting my food intake?

• Do I need a snack?

• Am I craving something that I have not been allowing myself to have?

• Even if I feel like I have been nourishing adequately, is there any part of me that is still holding onto the restrictive mindset?

Enlist the Help of an Eating Disorder Recovery Specialist

If you are experiencing a lot of food noise and can’t seem to quiet it down, it can be helpful to work with someone who specializes in eating disorder recovery. I often recommend that my clients who are pursuing eating disorder recovery obtain a comprehensive treatment team, which usually includes a therapist, dietitian, primary care physician, and psychiatrist. Especially when it comes to reducing food noise, having multiple specialized providers can be helpful because we are able to treat all of the factors that can be contributing to your symptoms.

At the time of this blog post being written, I am accepting clients for virtual therapy in California. If you could benefit from one-to-one help in learning how to stop thinking about food and start your recovery journey, reach out to me for a free 15 minute consultation!

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