A mean-density description of spatially-inhomogeneous Bose-condensed gases based on Bogoliubov's method is introduced. The description assumes only a large mean atomic density and so remains valid when the mean field collapses due to phase diffusion. A spread in the number of particles in the condensate is shown to lead to an anomalous coupling between the condensate and excited modes. This coupling is due to the dependence of the condensate spatial wavefunction on particle number and it could, in principle, be used for reducing particle fluctuations in the condensate.