
05 Aug Why Am I Always Thinking About Food?
St. Louis Area Dietitian Tips on How to Manage ‘Food Noise’ and What it Might Be Telling You
Constant Food Thoughts: What’s Really Going On?
Many factors can cause someone to experience food obsession. As non-diet dietitians who practice weight-inclusive care, we work with clients to help them understand where these obsessions come from and improve their relationships with food and body.
1. You’re Not Eating Enough
You simply might be hungry. Whether you’re intentionally not eating (stuck on the diet hamster-wheel), or you skip meals because you might have ADHD, are working too much, or don’t have the structure you need to ensure proper nutrition, you are going to be thinking about food. A lot.
The brain interprets all forms of restriction as threats because of dieting, fasting, or because you have an active schedule.
When your body experiences limitations, it will concentrate on food consumption. This reaction exists for basic human survival.
2. You’re Mentally Restricting
Mental restriction refers to the internal rules or guilt we attach to eating, especially around certain foods. You might be eating enough calories, but if you’re telling yourself, “I shouldn’t be eating this” or “This is my last chance to have this food,” your brain still interprets that as a restriction. That feeling of deprivation can actually fuel cravings and keep you preoccupied with food, even if your body isn’t physically hungry.
In nutrition counseling, we work on shifting these thoughts to create a more balanced, relaxed relationship with food.
3. You’re Emotionally Eating (and That’s Okay)
Stress and loneliness and boredom lead people to use food as their primary emotional comfort method, which is a common human behavior. The issue arises when emotional eating functions as your exclusive coping mechanism. When people have unmet emotional needs, their minds tend to focus excessively on food.
When working with a dietitian on our team, we can help you identify triggers and, in turn, regulate food intake. We will assist you with meal and snack ideas and work to decrease underlying behaviors contributing to emotional eating.
4. You’re Recovering from Diet Culture
If you’ve been through many dieting cycles, your body may stay on high alert around food, and it can become harder to recognize true hunger and fullness. Rebuilding trust with your body takes patience and a willingness to learn how it communicates with you. This is a process—and you’re not expected to do it alone.
A Non-Diet Approach to Food Freedom
The counseling services at Branz Nutrition Counseling combine Intuitive Eating with HAES-aligned approaches to help clients develop food peace while regaining their body’s natural signals. The following steps help our clients achieve their goals:
Normalize eating enough
The practice of eating at regular intervals throughout the day helps reduce both physical and mental restrictions.
Unpack food rules with compassion
We assist you in challenging diet culture messages inside yourself to eliminate food labeling as “good” or “bad.”
Explore the emotional side of eating
Together, we explore your emotional needs and find supportive ways to meet them—without turning food into the enemy. Our goal is to build a caring, balanced relationship with both your emotions and the way you nourish yourself.
Shift from control to connection
A dietitian on our team can help assist you in building trust with your body. Outpatient medical nutrition therapy doesn’t rely on gimmicks and fads, instead evidence-based practices to help you reach your wellness goals, one meal at a time.
- Your constant food thoughts stem from being underfed or undernourished or from not being heard properly.
- The constant preoccupation with food does not signify failure to anyone. It’s information.
- The correct support system enables you to handle food thoughts in ways that create empowerment rather than self-punishment.
We offer support to those who want to recover and to those who have grown tired of dieting and anyone seeking to repair their food relationship.
Call us: 314-804-1848
Visit our website www.branznutritioncounseling.
Email: recovery@
Achieve food freedom with outpatient nutrition counseling in the St. Louis Area. Online and in-person appointments are available with expert dietitian nutritionists.