🌙 Happy Ramadan, Lent, and Lunar New Year

This year feels special.

A good proportion of people from different faith traditions are fasting around the same time, which happens once in 33 years! There is something beautiful about that shared discipline.

Ramadan, for me, is more than decorations, iftar gatherings, self-discovery, and celebrating identity. It is also a time to quiet something else — what many now call “food noise.”

What Is Food Noise?

Recently, I had a thoughtful conversation with my healthcare provider. She gently asked questions about my relationship with food and how I respond to impulses in my body.

After reflecting, I realized something uncomfortable but true:

Food occupies a loud space in my mind.

Here’s what food noise can sound like:

You’re at a dinner party. Chocolate cake with strawberries is served.

Your brain begins:

“That looks amazing… but I’m out of calories. Wait — strawberries are healthy. Maybe just the strawberries. But what about the glaze? Is that dark chocolate? Dark chocolate is healthy… Maybe I can take it home and portion it…Who am I kidding? I’ll eat it all.”

Endless negotiation. Math. Strategy. Justification.

If this sounds familiar, you know what food noise is.

What I Learned from Reading

Around the same time, I bought five bestselling books about obesity. I’ve finished 3.5 so far.

What struck me most is this:

For many people, food does not create this internal negotiation. Hunger and fullness cues are relatively quiet and self-regulated.

That difference is not about morality or willpower.

It is biology.

We know this now, because patients report that after they start taking the new obesity medications, this whole speech bubble goes "pufff". It is gone. They can focus on goals, activities, learn an instrument, plan a hike and so on, without constantly battling with their own brains. Once the loop of food noise is turned on, until it is controlled (mentally) or gone (with medications), no matter how much willpower we have, the cycle of gaining and losing weight just repeats.

📘 The Obesity Code — Dr. Jason Fung

This book reviews historical diet experiments and proposes a hormonal model of obesity — emphasizing insulin’s role.

The central argument: Chronic high insulin levels may contribute to insulin resistance and weight gain. The tone can feel sobering — many diets “work” short-term and then fail long-term.

His proposed solution centers on:

• Reducing refined carbohydrates

• Avoiding constant snacking

• Intermittent fasting

  
  

📘 How to Lose Weight for the Last Time — Dr. Katrina Ubell

This book is different in tone — deeply psychological. If I were to frame any sentence in the book it would be: "I stopped eating for emotional reasons."

Dr. Ubell focuses on:

• Recognizing food noise

• Observing urges without reacting

• Building metacognitive awareness

• Choosing small sustainable habits

I chose:

1. Journaling food and weight

2. Eliminating sugar and flour

3. Plan your next day the night before

The journaling has been eye-opening.

📘 Enough (GLP-1 Perspective) by Dr. Ania Jastreboff

This book discusses modern GLP-1 receptor medications and includes powerful anecdotes — including stories from Oprah.

One that struck me: Intense exercise + severe calorie restriction did not produce weight loss.

This reinforces a critical point:

Obesity is a chronic metabolic condition — not a character flaw.

Genetics, Evolution, and Environment

We often blame genetics. But the rapid rise in obesity since the 1970s suggests environmental and hormonal factors play major roles.

There is research showing:

• Maternal metabolic state during pregnancy influences offspring risk.

• Early hormonal exposure may affect long-term regulation.

This is complex, multifactorial science — not simple inheritance.

One Common Theme Across All Books

Stop constant snacking.

Three meals + three snacks keeps insulin elevated most of the day.

Reducing eating frequency may allow hormonal cycles to normalize.

That was another eye-opener for me.

A Ramadan Reflection

Fasting interrupts food noise; maybe by creating separated insulin peaks.

It creates space between impulse and action.

Certain foods, like sugar, flour, starchy vegetables like potatoes, processed foods, can create special urges in the brain. If not controlled leads to over eating by numbing the centers that control hunger and satiety. One prevention is to recognize such food and just quit them.

Another is to control the response in the brain, which is harder:

When an urge rises, you let it pass.

The wave comes.The wave goes.

You remain.

If these two sound like they may not work another suggestion is spiritual control. The book Sugar Fast for 40 days gives strategies from the spiritual Christian perspective.

Whether your framework is scientific or spiritual — both paths acknowledge the same truth:

Awareness changes behavior.

A Final Thought

In 2026, we are not helpless.

We have:

• Behavioral tools

• Psychological insight

• Hormonal understanding

• Medications that work for many people

  
  

Obesity, like diabetes or hypertension, often requires long-term management.

Perhaps one day, we will understand prevention even better.

Until then, if you notice food noise, pause.

Name it.

Let the wave pass.

🌙 Ramadan Mubarak.🙏 Peace to those observing Lent.🧧 Joy to those celebrating the Lunar New Year.