Foodnoise, Ozempic and Eating Disorders
The phrase Foodnoise has taken the world by storm. A term that used to live solely in the offices of eating disorder professionals has become a catchphrase.
Foodnoise is something seemingly everyone has that they didn’t know they had. It consists of the calorie negotiation in our heads and the internal equation that results in exercise hours to counteract daily food intake.
Foodnoise is a hyper focus on health, micro and macro nutrients, the unrelenting quest for protein, and intermittent fasting discipline. It is also not breaking news to mention that Ozempic and all approved GLP-1’s impact foodnoise.
It is the silent, unanticipated layer of these drugs, which, for many, is the greatest gift of all.
The field of eating disorders will never be the same because of GLP-1’s. It is a seismic moment.
Historically, those of us who work in eating have maintained a consistent message: we must learn to love the body we have, not the body we want. Approaches have varied-nuanced within the microclimate of food treatment. Behavioral versus dynamic orientation, nutrition-focused or family focused.
However, the idea that there is a tool that may impact food negotiation, mood dysregulation and may be connected to self-perception and body image is an astonishing development.
I am asked about these medications regularly, often in casual settings, like out for dinner or at an event. Recently, it has been coming up more and more with my patients in session.
What are my thoughts?
Are GLP1s good or bad?
What happens when people we know who don’t have an issue with diabetes and cardiovascular disease, and are not in objectively bigger bodies (regardless of self-perception) go on these drugs?
By this point, most of us know someone taking a GLP-1 who didn’t appear to “need” it. We blink, and they are ½ the size of what they once were. We go out for dinner, and they seem to struggle with a small piece of bread and a quarter of their plate.
Yet we are quiet.
People don’t talk about it, fearful of the judgement and taboo. But, we all know it is there- and move around it, not wanting to upset the apple cart. So, again, how do I feel?
I am going to be honest- I feel conflicted. Very conflicted.
I don’t believe that thin is better or superior. I feel so frustrated and angry that society continues to revere thinness and demand thin superiority, and insist we live governed by thin privilege.
I know that the pressure on women and men to have perfect bodies is damaging and, even more, it is reductive. We are so much more than our bodies, and we all know that what we love about our families and friends has nothing to do with shape and size.
But, I would also not be serving my patients, or anyone, if I did not meet the moment of where our world is. How do GLP-1’s fit into this complex psychological prison of foodnoise? And how does this implicate restrictive eating disorders?
It is best to comment on what I see in front of me, not my interpretation.
There is something different happening to my underweight patients who are taking GLP1’s off-label that is giving me pause; they are finding relief.
For the first time in our work, potentially for the first time in their memory, they are experiencing a sliver of freedom from the harshness and cruelty they inflict on themselves.
They are not entirely organized and monopolized by what they eat, when they eat, and what the implications of food and exercise are every single day. They don’t look in the mirror and feel the same level of revulsion and self-hatred.
They can live.
In fact, for some, they are even slowly beginning to love.
They are drinking less, which is also a considerable complication in the eating disorder world. They are feeling less guilt and shame.
I will say over and over that this is not an endorsement of GLP-1’s for those who do not medically require them, but it is a truth I cannot unsee.
An essential part of my job is helping people find peace and relief. I cannot unilaterally reject something when I see it having a profoundly positive effect. These positives do not mean there are not negatives.
My next post will focus on the side effects of GLP1’s that are not positive. The struggles and issues those with average to underweight bodies face and why some of them think it’s worth it and some don't.
This is the first blog in a Foodnoise series. What am I seeing on the front lines?
Send me any questions you have- I will answer your questions as well as inform you of what I am experiencing and witnessing. Let’s make our way through the off-limits contradictory topic of GLP1’s in the “average weight” population.
Buckle up.
Get to KnowDr. Danielle Shelov
Dr. Shelov's therapeutic approach emphasizes understanding individuals within the context of their families, childhood experiences, relationships, and larger systems as crucial to psychological treatment.
You Might Also Like
