Food Addiction, the Problem and the Solution – Details, episodes & analysis

Large food companies, previously owned by tobacco companies, know that we are addicted to sugar and ultra-processed foods.  These companies are making large profits using the same tobacco addiction model with items they are selling us to eat. Food companies add sugars to food items, like high fructose corn syrup, and 250 other sugars to the engineered items they call food.  Meanwhile, the U.S. population is over 50 percent obese with many health problems and our children are becoming addicted to sugar and these chemically-altered items. We are made to feel like it is our fault as food addicts, by these food companies and by medical professionals, that we just need to eat less and exercise more to lose weight and become healthy. Sugar and highly processed foods cause a dopamine release in our brains identical to other addictive substances like alcohol and drugs causing us to become addicted.  Dr. Nicole Avena and Dr. Erica LaFata, are two professionals who have made it their life’s work to raise awareness about our sugar and ultra-processed food addiction. Dr. Avena’s book Sugarless, Book, Dr. Nicole Avena, and Dr. Erica LaFata’s research using the Yale Food Addiction Scale  have helped progress our understanding of what is actually going on.  Dr. Avena and Dr. LaFata presented their findings at the International Food Addiction Consensus Conference (IFAC) held in London, May, 2024.  Professionals gathered at this conference and reached a consensus: Ultra-processed foods should be recognized in the International Classifications of Diseases (ICD) and the APA’s (DSM), Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders as a substance-use disorder, identical to alcohol and drugs.  The only question now is:  As a society, how long will it take for us to see the truth?  That we are ADDICTED:  to sugar and ultra-processed foods …..and they are killing us.  And how many millions must die as our country spends billions on obesity-related illnesses for us to recognize that we are addicted to sugar and ultra-processed foods? It is not our fault.  There is a problem and there is a solution.  

Doris R. grew up in an alcoholic household and as the oldest of five children had a lot of responsibility early in her life. She was responsible for taking care of her younger siblings while her mother worked. Her father was an alcoholic, and her mother was obese and used food. Her first diet was in the 4th grade. A recovered alcoholic, after Doris became sober and her food use increased.  She realized that she needed to eliminate addictive foods from her diet and has since reached and maintained a healthy weight by realizing that abstinence from sugar and highly processed foods was necessary yet was just the start. She learned she also needed to recover from her food addiction as she entered the treatment program SHiFT, Recovery by Acorn (foodaddiction.com). She has experienced a physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual transformation and recovery.  As a recovered food addict, rather than using food to deal with emotions she feels the emotions and uses her recovery program to handle life situations.  Listen to this great episode!

Thirty-four years ago, Dr. Debbie Danowski weighing 328 pounds realized that her life was unmanageable and she decided to enter a food addiction recovery program. Today Dr. Danowski maintains a 170 weight loss through a daily recovery routine. In this podcast, we discuss denial, powerlessness and the negative consequences of food addiction.   Getting the message out about food addiction is the driving force in all of her work and the release of her newest book Happy Eating and Food Addiction in American Advertising which profiles how the food and drink industries are contributing to food addiction and obesity in the U.S.  In her research for her book, she watched over 500 food advertisements and outlined specific techniques used in advertisements for ultra-processed foods, which promise consequence-free eating to consumers while encouraging the over-consumption of unhealthy and addictive foods and drinks. Dr. Danowski presents an analysis of promotional methods in the context of food addiction characteristics and behaviors through an exploration of the themes used in this type of advertising such as using food to rebel, play, relax and achieve happiness and good health. Listen to Dr. Debbie Danowski explain how as a food addict she recovered and how her career has been spent on helping others understand the truth about it and how the food industry plays a role. A 30 percent book discount is available to listeners at this website:  Link For Ordering Book  with the use of this code: LXFANDF30 https://rowman.com/ISBN/9781666939262/%E2%80%9CHappy-Eating%E2%80%9D-and-Food-Addiction-in-American-Advertising

In his book, Recovery Mind Training Dr. Paul Earley cites the statistic that addiction is a devastating brain disease affecting over 23 million individuals including their loved ones in the U.S. alone. He says that the single biggest driver around addiction is genetics and that there is a strong genetic link with addiction in families.  Dr. Earley describes how powerful and insidious the Addict Brain is as it hijacks our brains without us being aware. The Addict Brain is like a computer virus running autonomously in the background virtually undetectable overwhelming an individual's conscious control by reorganizing life goals and ensuring its survival.  Once the addict recognizes this and begins to realize the Addict Brain’s power as negative consequences occur, it is possible to implement new skills and recovery practices and place the addiction in remission. In his Recovery Mind Training method of recovery, he employs six domains including addiction containment, basic recovery skills, and emotional awareness and resilience. The RMT method helps unwind and repair damages to the individual as well as his or her family and social network caused by the Addict Brain. Dr. Earley recommends recovering addicts develop a set of skills and life responses to handle life situations blocking the primitive drive to use the addictive substance. He integrates a 12-step recovery program as part of his model and says when we recover and our behaviors are in alignment with our morals and values we find the feeling of freedom, joy, peace and serenity.  He cites the strong connection between successful sustained recovery and those individuals developing a spiritual side. What an outstanding podcast episode as we host Dr. Paul Earley outlining the problem...and the solution! Amazon Link to Recovery Mind Training: https://www.amazon.com/s?k=Recovery+mind+training&i=stripbooks&crid=2FV9H3E4BREK6&sprefix=recovery+mind+training%2Cstripbooks%2C97&ref=nb_sb_noss_1

When an overweight friend had a stroke, Tony W. realized that if he did not address his own weight and food issues, his health would continue to decline. Weighing 464 pounds, he had many obesity-related illnesses including neuropathy in his feet and five hernia surgeries. He grew up in a family and culture of fried foods and high-calorie foods.  Tony got sober from drugs and alcohol using a 12-step recovery program, then began using food even more than he had. He entered the Bright Line Eating Program (https://www.brightlineeating.com/) and has released all of the extra pounds achieving a healthy body weight through eliminating sugar and flour, limiting the times he eats during the day, and weighing his food. The Bright Line Eating Program helped Tony focus on the inner emotional work required around the reasons he was using food. The work Susan Peirce Thompson, PhD (https://www.susanpeircethompson.com/), the founder of Bright Line Eating has done as a neuroscientist resonated with Tony given her focus on the chemical reaction in the brain when we ingest sugar and flour. He realized it was not his lack of willpower which caused his food addiction, but rather his body’s response to addictive substances which set up cravings and obsessive behaviors around food. He talks about how automaticity began to play a part in his daily routine in which he has developed new habits that feel normal.  Today Tony W. lives a happy, thin and free life through having recovered from food addiction as he continues to follow his program each day. What an inspiring and hopeful story of recovery from food addiction!

Colleen Y. has been recovering from food addiction for over four years having physically released 150 pounds. Like many food addicts, her history involves eating in secret and planning her food binges. She experienced shame and embarrassment about her weight and food use and tried to control her food and weight through diets and lap-band surgery.  During a 2-month relapse, after she had become abstinent from sugar and other foods, she realized how serious her food addiction was and became suicidal. She entered a food addiction recovery treatment program Shift Recovery by Acorn (https://foodaddiction.com/) and found out she was very angry and processed her anger there. Working a 12-step program, today she enjoys a rich spiritual life with daily disciplines around food. She is abstinent and has neutrality around the foods she used before. Through the support in food addiction recovery, she found the courage to deal with her anger and made changes in her life so today she enjoys her healthy body and a happy and grounded life with peace of mind.  What an incredible transformation and inspirational story of recovery from food addiction!

Once weighing 335 pounds, Lisa K. lost 150 pounds and recovered from her food addiction through treatment and ongoing 12-step work and recovery support. Early in her childhood she had a preoccupation with food and loved the sugar, fat and starch food combination. Growing up in an abusive home she learned not to feel emotions. Later as a teenager she became a food volume addict and was often teased and bullied about her weight. Despite the negative consequences including strained personal relationships, Lisa continued to eat and could not stop eating once she started, often eating secretly. On Jan 1, 2021, she saw an advertisement for Shift Recovery by Acorn (https://foodaddiction.com/) and after a meeting, entered treatment for her food addiction. In recovery and through support she has learned to feel emotions fully and has repaired relationships as she has created the life she wants to live. What an inspirational story of recovery from food addiction!

Dr. Susan Peirce Thompson has the unique experience of being an addict along with having studied the science of food addiction. In her book Bright Line Eating, The Science of Living Happy, Thin and Free she discusses the concept of automaticity which is developing important new habits around the way we eat and behave. Her Susceptibility Scale quiz allows clients to determine on a scale of 1-10 how strongly their brains react to the reward of addictive foods."Her book, Rezoom addresses the ways in which we get off track from the program by lapsing. She offers ways to resume with acceptance and grace around addiction and recovery. Her approach toward various parts of our personalities that drive our food addiction such as the Saboteur, the Food Indulger and the Rebel helps her clients identify obstacles in their recovery and how to face them. She says the food industry is aware of our society’s addiction to sugar and highly processed foods and deliberately is manufacturing it.Her new book is out, On This Bright Day, A Year of Reflections for Lasting Food Freedom has just been released and is a daily inspiration book to help food addicts recover. Dr. Susan Peirce Thompson is an inspiring person and a phenomenal advocate for recovery from food addiction!  Susan Peirce Thompson website http://susanpeircethompson.com Bright Line Eating: The Science of Living Happy, Thin, and Free https://www.amazon.com/Bright-Line-Eating-audiobook/dp/B06XGLWG1N/ref=sr_1_1crid=1I017ZYYOH1TC&keywords=bright+line+eating+book&qid=1697104954&sprefix=bright+line+eating%2Caps%2C98&sr=8-1 Rezoom https://www.amazon.com/Rezoom-Powerful-Crash-Burn-Addiction/dp/B09MYBYY5J/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1XV7871MF6JG&keywords=Susan+Peirce+Thompson+rezoom&qid=1697477303&s=audible&sprefix=susan+peirce+thompson+rezoom%2Caudible%2C78&sr=1-1

Dr. Guttorm Toverud has a Ph.D. in Counselor Education from the University of North Carolina and a master's degree in Agency Counseling from Appalachian State University. He specializes in teaching that recovery from food addiction is possible using a 12-step program having conducted workshops for 30 years with more than 10,000 participants. Dr. Toverud trains professionals to treat food addicts with a clinical approach by using one of the most published books in history, the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous as a textbook. While he acknowledges that the 12 steps of recovery are important, his academic approach in training focuses on the first 63 pages of this book which clearly outline instructions around the problem and the solution. Dr. Toverud says addicts come to treatment not for the addiction itself, but because of the negative consequences of the addiction. In the case of food addiction, this can be obesity-related problems and illnesses and/or compulsions and obsessions with food and food behaviors. In the case of addiction, he urges that it cannot be controlled until we follow the instructions and do not start using the offending substance or behavior.  What an insightful and inspiring episode with Dr. Guttorm Toverud!

Dr. Robert Lustig has a degree from MIT, a medical degree from Cornell University and a law degree from U.C. Hastings.  He is bold in his messaging: Our metabolic health as a nation has been negatively affected by our nutrition---We are not eating real foods, whole foods.  Sugar is added to ultra-processed foods and it is making us sicker.  75 percent of our health care costs in the U.S. are due to our poor metabolic health which is related directly to our poor nutrition.  Doctors treat the symptoms of metabolic disease and do not urge prevention through eating real food. The food industry and big pharma are all financially highly incented to keep us addicted and they know sugar and ultra-processed foods are addictive.   His Youtube video, Sugar: The Bitter Truth (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBnniua6-oM) has gone viral with over 24 million views.  His most recent book Metabolical: The Lure and the Lies of Processed Food, Nutrition, and Modern Medicine (https://www.amazon.com/s?k=Metabolical&i=stripbooks&crid=3KXLJ2N75LH2J&sprefix=metabolical%2Cstripbooks%2C109&ref=nb_sb_noss_1) offers an excellent account of what is truly going on:  Food and sugar addiction are real, the food industry knows this and adds sugar to foods, our doctors are treating the symptoms of obesity and metabolic syndrome by throwing pills at the problem and the pharmaceutical industry is motivated to be complicit. Dr. Lustig is a vocal advocate for placing Food Addiction in the DSM-V as a substance use disorder just like alcohol and drugs so that insurance companies will pay for treatment.  What a brilliant and inspiring man Dr. Robert Lustig is! Listen in!