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Share on Pinterest Several healthy habits can help you naturally manage hunger and quiet food noise without medication. FG Trade Latin/Getty ImagesFood noise is not a clinical term but generally refers to constant thoughts about food.Health experts say there are several ways people can naturally control their feelings of hunger and turn down food noise without medication. They include eating high fiber and high protein foods, getting regular exercise and quality sleep, reducing stress, and avoiding extremely restrictive diets.

GLP-1 medications like Ozempic, Wegovy, Mounjaro, and Zepbound have skyrocketed in popularity due to their ability to help people lose significant weight.

One reason these drugs are effective is that they help people reduce the amount of food noise they experience.

What is food noise?

Food noise is when thoughts about food are constantly running through your head, even when youre not hungry, saysRaj Dasgupta MD, a physician and chief medical advisor for Garage Gym Reviews. Its that nagging feeling that keeps drawing your attention back to snacks, meals, or cravings. Sometimes, its tied to stress or emotions, but it can also happen when your bodys hunger signals are out of balance.

GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic can lower the volume of these signals.

They make you feel fuller for longer, slow down how fast food leaves your stomach, and even reduce cravings by acting on parts of the brain that control appetite, Dasgupta says. Basically, they quiet the chatter about food, so its easier to focus on eating when you actually need to.

Yet, the high cost and potential side effects can make taking a GLP-1 medication less desirable for many people.

However, there are several ways you can quiet food noise naturally without medication, including the following six simple lifestyle hacks recommended by health experts. Avoid rigidity and extreme dieting

Food is more than fuel, but it does fuel the body. Not eating or severely restricting calories can have the opposite effect, causing people to consume excess calories.

Consuming small, frequent healthy meals and snacks throughout the day can help you manage hunger cues, says Becky Mehr MS, RDN, CEDS-C, LDN, the director of outpatient nutrition for the Renfrew Center.

She recommends consuming various foods, including starches, proteins, and fats and advises against swearing off things you love within moderation.

When we try to avoid certain foods or tasks, we naturally continue to perseverate on the item much more so than when we have the food or start on the task, she says. So, if you want an apple, have an apple. If its a cookie you are craving, have a cookie. Honoring cravings also enhances satisfaction at meals from day to day and reduces binges.

Mehr says that intuitive eating tuning into feelings of fullness and eating when youre hungry can be helpful.

A 2024 study suggested that women who followed intuitive eating patterns were more likely to stabilize their weight and display fewer disordered eating habits. Dig into protein

GLP-1s keep people feeling fuller longer. However, some people may experience a similar switch with dietary changes, including adding more protein to their daily meals.

A 2022 review suggested that high protein diets could be an effective weight loss strategy.

High-protein diets help manage weight and food noise as proteins keep you feeling full longer and curb cravings, says Chris Mohr, PhD, RD, a fitness and nutrition advisor for Fortune Recommends.

Mohr says good ways to add more protein to your diet include:Lean meats, like skinless chicken breastEggsBeansNuts Fill up on fiber

Fiber-rich foods naturally slow digestion.

Fiber-rich foods reduce food noise by adding bulk to your meals without extra calories and slowing digestion, which helps control hunger, Mohr says. Incorporating vegetables, fruits, whole grains, and beans into your diet is beneficial for overall health, including weight management and reducing cravings.

A small 2023 study of 72 people indicated a link between increasing dietary fiber and weight loss. It supported older research from 2019 on nearly 350 people with overweight or obesity that suggested that fiber intake was associated with weight loss and sticking to a calorie-restricted diet. Embrace exercise

Suggesting exercise for health, including weight loss and maintenance, isnt new. However, physical activity can also help control cravings and hunger, which is sometimes an overlooked benefit.

Exercise can temporarily suppress your appetite by lowering hunger hormones and boosting the ones that make you feel full, Dasgupta says. It also helps with stress, which is often a big trigger for food cravings.

A small 2024 study of 14 people suggested that vigorous exercise could reduce the hunger hormone ghrelin.

A 2023 report on current evidence pointed to data that exercise improved appetite sensitivity but said its long-term effects on hunger hormones remain uncertain. Squash stress

A 2022 review suggested that stress can influence eating behavior, including consuming foods high in fat, sugar, and calories. The authors pointed to recent data that indicated that psychological distress and increased cortisol (stress) hormones could increase a persons odds of developing abdominal fat, a hallmark of metabolic syndrome.

[Managing stress] is a tough one, Mehr says. Stress shows up daily and sometimes out of the blue.

The authors of the 2022 review suggested that mindfulness was one possible solution. Mehr agrees.

Take some deep breaths, she says. Take a break for a few minutes. Take a mindful walk [and] listen to the sounds around you birds, leaves, traffic. Sleep soundly

A 2022 narrative review suggests that insufficient sleep could contribute to weight management issues. The studys authors linked reduced sleep quality and quantity sleep with more snacking, higher calorie consumption, and more snacking, especially on foods high in fat and carbohydrates.

The authors suggested a possible link between sleep and hormone dysregulation, which can change a persons metabolic rate and affect weight loss.

When youre tired, your hunger hormones go haywire, making you crave more food, Dasgupta says. Aim for seven to nine hours of solid sleep, and try to wind down before bed with something relaxing.

Mehr suggests implementing a routine before bed that includes:Screen-free time (including not watching TV in bed)Set bedtimeSetting the temperature to around 65 to 68 degrees

These all to let your body know and recognize its time to go to bed, Mehr says. Takeaway

Food noise is not a medical diagnosis but is used in clinical and colloquial settings to describe constant thoughts about food.

GLP-1 medications like Ozempic can help lower food noise by slowing digestion and reducing cravings. However, not everyone wants to use GLP-1 medicines for various reasons, including costs, access, and side effects (primarily GI discomfort).

Health experts say there are several ways people can control feelings of hunger and turn down food noise naturally. They include eating high fiber and high protein foods, getting regular exercise and quality sleep, reducing stress, and avoiding extremely restrictive diets.

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‘Ghost’ Plume Found Beneath Oman May Explain India’s Ancient Tectonic Shift

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‘Ghost’ Plume Found Beneath Oman May Explain India’s Ancient Tectonic Shift

A long-hidden plume of magma beneath Oman’s Salma Plateau may have played a surprising role in shaping the Indian subcontinent’s ancient journey, researchers report. This “ghost” plume — hot material trapped beneath Earth’s thick crust — cannot erupt but may have shifted the Indian tectonic plate’s course during its dramatic collision with Eurasia tens of millions of years ago. First detailed in the journal Earth and Planetary Science Letters, the finding reveals a new class of deep mantle plumes that shape continents silently, without the typical signature of surface volcanoes.

Hidden ‘Ghost’ Plume Beneath Oman May Have Steered India’s Collision Path with Eurasia

As per a Live Science report, the plume was detected using seismic data from Oman’s dense sensor network. Under the leadership of geophysicist Simone Pilia, the group discovered that the plume altered the way sound waves moved through Earth’s layers, which in turn pointed to its presence. Unlike most mantle plumes, which rise and erupt through the oceanic plates, Dani is amagmatic and does not create surface eruptions because of the thick continental crust above the plume. This finding means that there may potentially be many hidden plumes lurking beneath continents.

The Dani plume is the first such non-eruptive plume beneath a continental plate, which is broadening scientists’ view of how mantle dynamics unfold out of sight. The researchers also calculated the movement of the Indian plate and found that it took a significant turn between 40 and 25 million years ago, which might have been affected by the shear stress created by the plume. The plume’s effects on topography are expected to be small regionally, but its geological role could be relatively large.

While plumes typically leave a visible volcanic trail—like Hawaii’s island chain—the Dani plume’s evidence may have been erased by subduction activity in the nearby Makran zone. Still, researchers say this finding opens the door to discovering more “ghost” plumes, particularly in regions with similar thick crusts, such as Africa. As seismic technologies advance, more silent subterranean forces shaping Earth’s history may come to light.

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Iran says it’s carried out ‘mighty and successful’ attack on US base – as Qatar air defences ‘thwart assault’

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Iran says it's carried out 'mighty and successful' attack on US base - as Qatar air defences 'thwart assault'

Iran claims it has carried out a “mighty and successful response” to “America’s aggression” after launching missile attacks on a US military base in Qatar and Iraq.

The attack comes after the US dropped “bunker buster bombs” on three key nuclear sites in Iran over the weekend.

Iran’s response this evening is the latest escalation in tensions in the volatile region.

Qatar has said there were no casualties at the al Udeid base following the strikes and that its “air defences thwarted the attack and successfully intercepted the Iranian missiles”.

People in Qatar’s capital, Doha, had stopped and gazed up at the sky as missiles flew and interceptors fired.

Follow latest: Iran attacks US bases

Iran had announced on state television that it had attacked American forces stationed at the al Udeid airbase.

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A caption on screen called it “a mighty and successful response” to “America’s aggression” as martial music played.

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Iran releases video after attack on US base

Initial reports claimed Iran had also targeted a base housing US troops in western Iraq, but a US military official later told Reuters news agency the attack in Qatar was the only one detected.

A US government official said the White House and US defence department was “closely monitoring” the potential threats to its base.

Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump was in the Situation Room in the White House with his team following the Iranian strikes.

Traces are seen in the sky over Qatar after Iran's armed forces targeted the al Udeid base. Pic: Reuters
Image:
Traces are seen in the sky over Qatar after Iran’s armed forces targeted the al Udeid base. Pic: Reuters

He later said in a post on Truth Social that the missiles were a “very weak response”, which the US “expected” and “very effectively countered”.

He added: “Most importantly, they’ve gotten it all out of their ‘system,’ and there will, hopefully, be no further HATE.

“I want to thank Iran for giving us early notice, which made it possible for no lives to be lost, and nobody to be injured.

“Perhaps Iran can now proceed to Peace and Harmony in the Region, and I will enthusiastically encourage Israel to do the same.”

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said in a post on X: “We have not violated anyone’s rights, nor will we ever accept anyone violating ours, and we will not surrender to anyone’s violation; this is the logic of the Iranian nation.”

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Why Iran might close a crucial waterway

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The attacks came shortly after Qatar closed its airspace as a precaution amid threats from Iran.

Just before the explosions, Iranian president Masoud Pezeshkian wrote on the social platform X: “We neither initiated the war nor seeking it. But we will not leave invasion to the great Iran without answer.”

Kuwait and Bahrain briefly shut their airspaces after the attack, news agencies in each country reported.

Iraq also shut its airspace, while Oman Air suspended some flights in the region.

The Abu Dhabi-based Etihad Airways said it is rerouting several flights today and tomorrow due to restrictions in parts of the Middle East.

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US strikes: How much damage has been done to Iran’s nuclear facilities?

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US strikes: How much damage has been done to Iran's nuclear facilities?

Three of Iran’s key nuclear enrichment facilities – Fordow, Natanz and Isfahan – were targeted in US airstrikes on 22 June.

The prime target of the attacks was Iran’s most advanced facility at Fordow, suspected of being used to enrich uranium close to what’s needed for a nuclear bomb.

Satellite images from the aftermath of the US strikes suggest at least six bombs were dropped there.

Satellite imagery of Fordow after the US bombing. Credit: Maxar
Image:
Satellite imagery of Fordow after the US bombing. Pic: Maxar Technologies

The secure nuclear facility, home to Iran’s main enrichment site, is buried deep under a mountain.

So exactly how much damage was done is unknown, perhaps even to Iran, which appears to have evacuated the site. The specific location of the strikes and the bombs used gives us an indication.

America used the 30,000-lb Massive Ordnance Penetrator bomb, or a GBU-57 – commonly known as a “bunker buster”.

The bunker buster is the only missile that had a chance of destroying the Fordow facility, and American planes were needed for them to be used.

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Blueprints from Iran’s Nuclear Archive, which date from before 2004 and were seized by Israeli spies in 2018, suggest the bombs targeted the tunnels under the Fordow site.

Blueprints of the Fordow Fuel Enrichment Plant show tunnels running through the mountain. Pic: Google Earth
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Blueprints of the Fordow Fuel Enrichment Plant suggest tunnels run through the mountain. Pic: Google Earth

The access tunnels overground lead to a 250 metre long hall which is thought to contain the uranium enrichment centrifuges, and well as the location of what is thought to be ventilation shafts.

Iran is thought to have likely moved any enriched uranium from the facility before the strikes occurred. But if the ventilation shafts were hit, that would allow the bombs to penetrate as far as possible and hit the centrifuge hall itself.

Iran’s major nuclear facilities seriously damaged, if not completely destroyed


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Tom Clarke

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The loss of industrial-scale centrifuge “cascades” used to enrich uranium will certainly derail any imminent deadlines in weaponisation the Islamic Republic may have set itself – more on that below.

But it has already amassed a sizeable stockpile of highly enriched uranium and may even have already enriched some of it to the 90% or so needed to make fissile material necessary for a bomb.

And despite strikes on industrial scale facilities that have taken decades to generate that stockpile, the material itself weighs less than half a tonne.

Moving it, splitting it up, concealing it, is not beyond the wit of a nation that expected these assaults may be coming.

Iran’s nuclear programme is also more than its large-scale facilities. Iran has been developing nuclear expertise and industrial processes for decades. It would take more than a concerted bombing campaign to wipe that out.

The final steps to “weaponise” highly enriched uranium are technically challenging, but Iran was known to be working on them more than 20 years ago.

Iran also does not require industrial-scale facilities like those needed to enrich uranium, meaning they could be more easily concealed in a network of smaller, discrete lab-sized buildings.

But what’s far from clear is whether Iran had actually taken steps towards weaponisation in recent years.

Recent US intelligence assessments indicated that it hadn’t. Iran’s leaders knew that very significant moves towards making a bomb would be seen as a major escalation by its neighbours and the international community.

For a long time, a key deterrent to Iran developing a nuclear weapon has been an internal political one.

It’s possible of course that position may have been shifting and these latest strikes were designed to disarm a rapidly weaponising Iran.

But it’s also possible the attacks on its nuclear programme may be forcing a previously tentative government to push harder towards making a nuclear bomb.

Fordow is only one of three nuclear facilities targeted in America’s strike, however, and one of seven that have been targeted since the conflict began.

Natanz’s uranium enrichment facility, about 140 km south of Fordow, had been subject to multiple Israeli strikes before America’s advance.

Israeli raids targeted surface buildings, including stores of enriched uranium. However, post-strike radiation monitoring suggested there was little, if any, nuclear material there.

At the weekend, Americans dropped bunker-buster bombs there too, targeting thousands of enrichment centrifuges operating in bunkers below.

Pic: Maxar Technologies
Image:
Destruction at the Natanz Enrichment Complex from satellite imagery. Pic: Maxar Technologies

Then there is the Isfahan complex. Again, Israeli missiles destroyed a number of buildings there last week. And at the weekend, US cruise missiles targeted others, including the uranium conversion plant.

At the weekend, Americans also dropped bunker-buster bombs there, targeting thousands of enrichment centrifuges operating in bunkers below.

Esfahan facility. Pic: Maxar Technologies
Image:
Satellite imagery shows the impact on the Isfahan Nuclear Complex. facility. Pic: Maxar Technologies

Speaking from the White House after the attacks, Donald Trump said facilities had been “completely and totally obliterated”. But experts suggest it could take more to destroy it entirely.

“This is a very well-developed, long-standing programme with a lot of latent expertise in the country,” said Darya Dolzikova, a proliferation and nuclear security expert at RUSI, a UK defence and security thinktank

“I don’t think we’re talking about a full elimination at this point, certainly not by military means.”

The Data and Forensics team is a multi-skilled unit dedicated to providing transparent journalism from Sky News. We gather, analyse and visualise data to tell data-driven stories. We combine traditional reporting skills with advanced analysis of satellite images, social media and other open source information. Through multimedia storytelling we aim to better explain the world while also showing how our journalism is done.

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