Google the term “food noise,” and you may well end up at foodnoise.com, a domain owned by a prescription weight-loss medicine called Contrave. According to Contrave, food noise (or FOOD NOISE™, its branded boogeyman) is “more than just your hunger talking—it’s constant, intrusive thoughts about food. It can be disruptive to daily life and makes sticking to a healthy diet difficult.” On the site’s landing page, a woman—presumably on Contrave—stands behind a kitchen counter, confident that she won’t touch the bag of cookies labeled “Comfort” in front of her.

When I think about food noise, I’m flung back to the height of my eating disorder , when I was paralyzed by the thought of eating anything at all. I ruminated constantly over off-limit foods, and my hunger always won as I binged, th

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