Reducing Food Noise While Taking GLP-1 Medications

Nutrition support for people using Ozempic, Wegovy, Mounjaro and similar GLP-1s

One of the most powerful — and often life-changing — effects of GLP-1 medications is their ability to reduce food noise.

For people who have never struggled with their weight, the concept of food noise can be difficult to understand. But for those who live with obesity or long-term weight gain, it is profoundly real.

What is food noise?

Food noise is the constant mental and physical pull toward food — thinking about it, wanting it, fighting it, and feeling exhausted by the battle.

A simple way to explain it is to imagine walking past a bakery.

Someone who has never struggled with weight may smell the baked goods and keep walking without a second thought.

For someone with obesity, the experience is completely different. They smell it. They think about it. They want to eat it. They fight their brain not to go in when they first walk past. They continue thinking about it while doing other things. Then they have to fight again not to go in when they pass the bakery later.

For someone who has never struggled with weight, the closest comparison might be walking past a bakery before breakfast. It smells amazing. The thought briefly crosses their mind: Should I get a croissant? That moment of deliberation is a mild version of food noise — the body looking for energy and seeing food as a solution.

For people with obesity, this battle is amplified 100-fold — and it happens all day, every day because our food environment means food and food messaging is everywhere. Smells, shops, advertising, social events. Add to that judgement from others who mistakenly equate obesity with willpower, and it becomes clear why weight loss can feel like an uphill battle when food noise is present.

Why GLP-1 medications reduce food noise so effectively

When people start GLP-1 medications such as Ozempic, Wegovy or Mounjaro, something remarkable happens: the food noise quietens — or disappears altogether.

Suddenly, they experience what it’s like to think about food normally. They stop obsessing. They stop eating constantly. And for the first time, weight loss becomes possible without sheer mental exhaustion.

This is why I truly believe GLP-1 medications are fantastic — not because they are a “quick fix”, but because they finally give people space.

Space away from food noise. Space away from constant hunger. Space to learn.

GLP-1s create space — but learning must happen

Research on the best diet to eat for GLP-1 medications is currently limited.

What we do know is that when GLP-1 medications are stopped, people regain weight. The most recent research, published in BMJ in January 2026, tells us that people appear to regain weight faster after stopping GLP-1 medications than they do after finishing traditional weight loss programmes.

This tells us that people may be eating less food and losing weight while on the GLP-1 medications... but this is NOT the answer. Eating less doe not equal eating better.

People are failing to make the right diet changes while they are taking GLP-1 medications that they need to.

Nutrition support while taking GLP-1 medications

What are the changes that people should be making?

To my mind, they need to be making changes that make the food noise go away. Food noise is caused by a combination of factors.

The main factor, in my view, is insulin resistance. Without going into detail, this is a process where diet and lifestyle factors cause something called insulin to rise in the blood. For some people this happens easily. For others it never happens. Insulin is typically characterised by weight gain.

Once insulin goes up, food noise begins. Then it becomes self-proliferating. Food noise causes eating. Eating causes insulin. Insulin creates food noise. Etc. Then added to this is the societal judgement of being overweight and eating.

Other factors include nutrition - real nutrition. A diet of WeetBix for breakfast, a sandwich for lunch and a pasta for dinner are not real nutrition. But this is a story for another day.

Work with me

Reversing insulin and insulin resistance is do-able. Very do-able. If this is something you want to learn to do then please get in touch.

Starting in February 2026 I will be introducing a 10-week program specifically designed for people taking the GLP-1 medications who long-term want to stop taking them – it is called “10-weeks to Exiting GLP-1s” and is an adaptation of my 10-weeks to better health program. The aim of the program is to reverse insulin resistance, for good. In theory this means, when you are ready, you should be able to stop taking the GLP-1s without weight regain.

My GLP-1 exit program is focused on slowly learning and committing to everyday life, new habits targeted at reversing insulin resistance.

My aim is to make that pesky food noise go away forever.

Get in touch

Please get in touch if you want to discuss any of the above. You can book a 15 minute chat with me anytime. If you are looking for diet and nutrition advice while taking GLP-1 medications, or if you are planning your long-term exit from them, I’d love to help.

👉 Visit nickyclarknutrition.com to book a consultation or learn more about 10-Weeks to Exiting GLP-1s here [link to follow]

It really is mission critical to take advantage of the reduction in food noise to learn about how to reduce insulin so that food noise goes away forever.