Food Addiction, the Problem and the Solution Esther Helga Gudmundsdottir

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!   

Erin K, a recovered food addict was exposed to addiction and 12-step recovery as a child which she believes helped her realize that her food addiction could be alleviated through 12-step recovery work.  She knew early on that she did not use food for nourishment, but rather to soothe her anxiety and to feel normal. Erin’s powerlessness and her compulsive behaviors around food drove her life. It was not until she surrendered to her disease at the age of 18 and stopped blaming others and taking responsibility for her life that she began to recover from the disease of food addiction.  Later in her life, she had a relapse from abstinence and food began once again to dominate her life.  Today she has 11 years of successive abstinence and through recovery Erin has freedom from food addiction. She recommends to anyone who cannot control their food or weight on their own to consider recovery and that there is freedom from being controlled by food.

H. Theresa Wright, MS, RD, LDN, is the Founder and Director of Renaissance Nutrition Center, in Pennsylvania where she has developed programs to help people develop the skills to make lifestyle changes that lead to freedom from food addiction and encourage a “sane approach” to eating and living. Website:  Sane Food a nutrition therapist registered and licensed dietitian and nutritionist, for more than 36 years, Theresa has helped people struggling with compulsive eating, obesity, eating disorders, weight loss, and food addiction leading them to find freedom and recovery. Growing up in an alcoholic household and witnessing the negative effects of addiction as well as the benefits of 12-step recovery have allowed her to treat food-addicted clients by counseling them on proper nutrition while addressing underlying emotional issues.  Theresa talks about the hallmarks of addiction: tolerance, cravings, and withdrawal, and says withdrawal can come with symptoms as our bodies adjust to eating differently, but they are temporary.  Once her clients become abstinent from excessive food, trigger foods, and compulsive food behaviors she helps counsel them as they emotionally disconnect from the foods they were using. She believes that our unhealthy use of food is hurtful to our minds, bodies, and spirits.   Theresa tells people who are struggling with food to not give up, there is hope to recover and live a wonderful life.
https://sanefood.com/

Dr. Nicole Avena is a research neuroscientist, a pioneer, and a world-renowned expert in the field of nutrition, diet, and food addiction. She received her Ph.D. in psychology and neuroscience from Princeton University and is uniquely qualified to address the biology of food addiction as well as its psychological aspects. In her books, Why Diets Fail (Because You're Addicted to Sugar) and Hedonic Eating: How the Pleasure of Food Affects Our Brains and Behavior, Dr. Avena discusses our addictive and dependence-like relationship with sugar and highly processed foods. She reports that sugar is hiding in many foods and we have easy access to this highly addictive substance. Dr. Avena discusses the neuroscience around the brain’s pleasure center and dopamine release when we ingest addictive substances like sugar and dopamine release which can be in “overdrive” for addicts. Our society can tend to shame those who cannot control their sugar intake on their own, yet it is not a failure, it is an addiction. She reports withdrawal from sugar is possible and while it can come with side effects, they are temporary. Dr. Nicole Avena’s hope for the world is for all of us to make the connection between the obesity crisis and eating sugar and highly processed foods by acknowledging this and making changes. She has also written books about nutrition during pregnancy and for our children with the hope we will not raise unhealthy and overweight children. As she and others advocate for change to labeling and the addiction of food in the DSM-5 as a substance use disorder, the fight is a big one against the trillion-dollar food industry. Her next book Sugar Less will be released in the fall of 2023 which furthers the discussion around the prevalence of sugar and the addictive response in our society with 80 percent of grocery store products containing sugar. What an inspiring professional and advocate for bringing awareness around food and sugar addiction in our society!  All of Dr. Avena’s books can be found at:  
https://www.drnicoleavena.com/bookstore.html
https://www.drnicoleavena.com/index.html

Sonja B. has been abstinent and sober from sugar, wheat, processed foods and compulsive food behaviors including volume eating, and nighttime binges, having maintained a 100-pound weight release for 18 years after hitting bottom in 2005. She had early evidence that she used food differently than others as a child and teenager and carried 75 pounds of extra weight in high school. Sonja went into treatment for alcohol addiction and became sober at the age of 20. Her food use continued after becoming sober realizing she was using food in the same way she used alcohol, which triggered a dopamine response in her brain leading to substance addiction. Her message to fellow suffering food addicts, life can be different, and we do not need to use food to escape. We need not be imprisoned by our addiction and compulsive behaviors with food. In recovery from food addiction, Sonja works a 12-step program through planning meals, committing her food to someone, and writing. She deals with life situations by using spiritual and emotional support as she talks daily with others who share her disease. What an inspiring story of recovery from food addiction!

Having struggled personally with food addiction, Amanda Leith entered a food addiction recovery program of the company she ultimately purchased and now leads, Shift, Recovery By Acorn, https://foodaddiction.com/. At Shift, Recovery By Acorn Amanda and her staff help clients struggling with food addiction to find physical abstinence and address underlying issues which produce life-changing results and freedom from food obsession. Amanda talks about the huge diet industry marketing to the public, yet diets do not work long-term for food addicts. She was a late-stage food addict and weighed 350 pounds. Her disease progressed and she was no longer eating for the effects of food, but because she had to continue to eat compulsively or face withdrawal. Today she has lived in recovery for years fully abstinent from sugar, processed foods, and volume eating while maintaining a healthy body weight. Listen to Amanda’s inspiring story of finding her own recovery from food addiction as she now uses her experience and her passion to help others find freedom from food obsession and seek recovery from this deadly disease.