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Food Addiction, the Problem and the SolutionMy Mission is to Help Souls FlyBarney Reason is a recovering food addict who has also overcome addictions to alcohol, drugs, and compulsive behaviors. His journey began early—he had his first drink at age 7 and got sober from alcohol by 25 years old. But as the alcohol stopped, his food addiction escalated, leading him to a peak weight of 365 pounds.
Barney grew up in a deeply unstable environment, marked by abuse, neglect, and chaos—he lived in 16 different homes in 16 years. As a child, his emotions, especially anger, were not welcomed or validated. In response, he turned to food, substances, and compulsive behaviors to sooth...2025-05-1457 minFood Addiction, the Problem and the SolutionIt Is Only Because I am Powerless That I am WillingDavid Wolfe is a certified food addiction counselor and co-founder of SUGARx Global (https://www.sugarxglobal.com/), an online community dedicated to helping individuals overcome sugar and food addictions. David has been instrumental in developing impactful programs that support people successfully finding freedom from addictive food behaviors. He is also the co-author of The Fix For Cravings (https://tinyurl.com/yhnnnc3x) with Cynthia Myers-Morrison a book offering practical strategies and insights for managing cravings and maintaining long-term recovery. David emphasizes community support, connection, and comprehensive lifestyle changes in the recovery journey. His approach blends professio...2025-03-1850 minFood Addiction, the Problem and the SolutionFood Addiction is Not Your Fault, Yet It Is Your Responsibility to Recover When You KnowDr. Adrian Soto-Mota brings a unique blend of expertise as a practicing clinician, data specialist, researcher, and educator at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), the largest university in Latin America.The Yale Food Addiction Scale (YFAS) (https://sites.lsa.umich.edu/fastlab/yale-food-addiction-scale/) is the most widely used food addiction screening tool worldwide. Dr. Soto-Mota utilized another food addiction screening technique, CRAVED (https://the-chc.org/assets/uploads/CRAVED%20Introduction%20and%20Notes%20for%20the%20User_Update_240506.pdf), a shorter yet effective screening method, in his research. His study distinguishes between binge-eating disorder and food addiction, highlighting key...2025-02-2557 minFood Addiction, the Problem and the SolutionThe Problem Was Never My Body Weight; the Problem was WHY I Overate.Sachir Ajlouni’s incredible journey from obesity and food addiction to recovery is a story of hope and transformation. Weighing 450 pounds at his heaviest, Sachir spent over 30 years trapped in a cycle of compulsive overeating and failed attempts at weight loss, including bariatric surgery. It wasn’t until he entered SHiFT, Recovery by Acorn (https://foodaddiction.com/) a food addiction recovery program that he realized the true nature of his struggle: it wasn’t just about his weight or eating habits—it was his addiction to food that had been controlling his life. After seeing success from others, he entered a...2025-02-0452 minFood Addiction, the Problem and the SolutionAll Behavior Originates In The BrainDr. Bonnie Nolan holds a PhD in neuroscience and is a Licensed Clinical Alcohol and Drug Counselor. With expertise in both neuroscience and psychotherapy, she works on the front lines of opioid addiction, understanding the brain's dopamine response to addictive substances. She also recognizes how genetics, environment, and mental health issues like anxiety and depression contribute to addiction.Having struggled with alcohol addiction herself, Dr. Nolan has been in recovery for years, seeing addiction’s prevalence in her large family. Her experience at the The INFACT School (https://infactschool.com/) led her to identify as a food addi...2025-01-1459 minFood Addiction, the Problem and the SolutionAbstinence Without Food Addiction Recovery Is Just Another Diet!The INFACT School (https://infactschool.com/) is the only school in the world that teaches students about the science of food addiction and how to treat it. Graduates receive a Certified Food Addiction Professional (CFAP) which is recognized in Europe and the U.S. This seven-month virtual training program involves speakers and many top professionals who study the disease of food addiction. Students are taught screening, assessments and intake technique processes involving looking at behaviors and addiction genealogy. They are trained in counseling and treatment for abstinence and the reversal of personality changes that happen as a person becomes addict...2024-12-1053 minFood Addiction, the Problem and the SolutionI Broke My Own HeartChristine G. was raised in an alcoholic home and was often compared by her parents to a sibling and was expected to be different. As a child, she began using food to cope with this treatment and she reached her highest body weight of 229. Her lowest weight was 95 pounds as she suffered many years with bulimia and food addiction. At the age of 13, Christine experienced a traumatic personal violation and didn’t tell anyone for many years. In her addiction, she used food and bulimic behaviors to deal with feelings. To the people in her life, she appeared...2024-09-1759 minFood Addiction, the Problem and the SolutionSugar and Ultra-Processed Foods Are AddictiveLarge 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...2024-08-2059 minFood Addiction, the Problem and the SolutionI Had A Physical Reaction to Sugar, I Got High On It.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 hi...2024-08-0652 minFood Addiction, the Problem and the SolutionRecovery From Food Addiction Led Me To Hope and PossibilityBefore recovery, Raena Z. weighed 315 pounds and today she is a recovered food addict which over a 100-lb weight release. As an overweight child, she recalls liking food more than others and using food to manage her emotions. In this episode, Raena shares an experience from high school that caused her incredible shame. After she married and gave birth to her son, her weight continued to climb higher. Eating in secrecy, she could not stop once she began and finally realized her powerlessness and how her compulsive food behaviors were affecting her life. In November 2017 after surrendering to her powerlessness...2024-07-0256 minFood Addiction, the Problem and the SolutionIt Is Scientifically Proven: 12-step Recovery Programs WorkDo 12-step recovery programs work? Yes! Dr. John Kelly of Harvard performed a comprehensive study which is one of the most widely disseminated research findings in the last five years and was reviewed by Cochrane. The Cochrane organization reviews research studies and is internationally recognized as the benchmark for high-quality information about the effectiveness of health care. Dr. John Kelly specializes in addiction recovery and has served as a consultant to U.S. federal agencies and foreign governments. His research work has focused on addiction treatment and the recovery process. This important study confirmed what many recovered addicts know, 12-step programs wo...2024-06-111h 05Food Addiction, the Problem and the SolutionFood Addiction Recovery is Available through 12-step Programs.Amy B.’s highest known weight was 265 as she used food for many years to deal with stress, anxiety and life challenges. While there is humor and a comedic lightness in this podcast episode discussion between two food-recovered food addicts, the messages are serious and important in talking about what it was like and recovery from food addiction. A recovered alcoholic, Amy used food in the same ways she used alcohol, addictively and to numb emotional pain. Within the laughter, we talk about how we were numbing ourselves with food and alcohol and found that using a 12-step prog...2024-05-2149 minFood Addiction, the Problem and the SolutionFood Addiction Versus Eating Disorders, What Are the Differences?These three incredible professionals have not only personally experienced recovery from addiction, but they have made it their life’s work to help others recover from food addiction and eating disorders. This podcast panel episode is comprised of three well-known experts in the treatment of food addiction and eating disorders, Dr. Marty Lerner, Amanda Leith, and Esther Helga Gudmundsdottir. Dr. Marty Lerner is the founder and CEO of the Milestones in Recovery program (Milestones In Recovery website // https://www.milestonesprogram.org/) in southeast Florida Amanda Leith heads SHiFT, Recovery by Acorn ( SHiFT website // https://foodaddiction.com/), and Esther Helga Gudmunds...2024-04-301h 06Food Addiction, the Problem and the SolutionMy Food Use and Weight was Affecting Everything In My LifeLori P. is a recovered food addict who shares the challenges experienced in childhood, during a failed marriage, and after the death of her mother. An accomplished company executive, she had used food and many diets during her life attempting to manage her weight and food addiction. Lori had reached a bottom in her addiction and reached a point of desperation, so she began recovering in a 12-step program. She surrendered control of food and weight through abstinence from offending foods as she physically recovered by releasing and maintaining a 55-pound weight loss. Today Lori uses a spiri...2024-04-0947 minFood Addiction, the Problem and the SolutionNo Weight Loss Program Can Beat a Severe Food AddictionDr. Joan Ifland is a leading authority and expert in highly-processed Food Addiction and wellness recovery and has personal experience with food addiction. When she realized that her mental and physical health was being negatively affected by the food she was eating, she began to make changes involving eliminating certain foods and utilizing recovery. Dr. Ifland gives practitioners and clients new insights into why food addiction recovery can lead to health improvement from nutrition-related diseases. She cites a statistic in which 1.6 million Americans will die from diet/nutrition-related diseases each year. She also says that it was no coincidence that to...2024-03-1957 minFood Addiction, the Problem and the SolutionDenial of My Food Addiction Caused Me to Live From the Neck UpKristie M., a recovered food addict, has been maintaining a 170-pound weight loss for many years. Having been a child of obese parents and one parent who abused alcohol, she identifies as being obsessed with food early in her life and dealt with the shame and denial of not being able to control her weight or food use on her own. There were many food behaviors including secret eating that plagued any success around the use of diets to control her weight or food. A work colleague told her about a 12-step recovery program for the disease that she enter...2024-02-2754 minFood Addiction, the Problem and the SolutionI Was an Unhappy Fat Boy, Today I’m a Joyful Thin ManAfter losing 130 pounds and gaining it back…twice, on his 34th birthday, Michael Prager had reached 365 pounds. He was often miserable and isolated and alienated people in his life while feeling the shame of his body size. After many years of dieting, he finally learned that he has an addictive, biochemical reaction to sugar, flour, and highly processed foods and decided to “get out of the driver’s seat” and surrender his will. He wrote the book Fat Boy, Thin Man in which he describes his journey from childhood through recovery from food addiction and reached and sustains a healthy body weight. ...2024-02-0653 minFood Addiction, the Problem and the SolutionDeception And Persuasion By the Food Industry Contribute To Our Food AddictionThirty-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...2024-01-1651 minFood Addiction, the Problem and the SolutionThe "Addict Brain" Highjacks Our Brains Like a Computer VirusIn 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 ensurin...2023-12-1952 minFood Addiction, the Problem and the SolutionI Used Food In the Same Ways I Had Used Alcohol and DrugsWhen 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 hea...2023-12-0548 minFood Addiction, the Problem and the SolutionFood Was My Friend, My Lover, My CompanionColleen 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...2023-11-2153 minFood Addiction, the Problem and the SolutionA Doctor Told Me I Was Committing Suicide with FoodOnce 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 advertiseme...2023-11-0751 minFood Addiction, the Problem and the SolutionThe American Obesity Epidemic is An Addiction CrisisDr. 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 resu...2023-10-241h 00Food Addiction, the Problem and the SolutionFollow the Instructions from the Original Recipe to RecoverDr. 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 th...2023-10-1054 minFood Addiction, the Problem and the SolutionSugar is Toxic and is NOT A Food, It Is an Additive to FoodsDr. 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...2023-09-2655 minFood Addiction, the Problem and the SolutionI Understand My Food Addiction is a DiseaseErin 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...2023-09-1252 minFood Addiction, the Problem and the SolutionAcceptance is Not Approval and Powerlessness is Not HelplessnessH. 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 we...2023-08-2940 minFood Addiction, the Problem and the SolutionSugar Addiction is Real….And It’s Not Your FaultDr. 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 eas...2023-08-1557 minFood Addiction, the Problem and the SolutionI Never Imagined How Free Life Could BeSonja 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 bra...2023-08-0152 minFood Addiction, the Problem and the SolutionWe Get To Learn a New Way of LivingHaving 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 fo...2023-07-1849 minFood Addiction, the Problem and the SolutionI Did Not Think I Was Lovable, Today I Know I AmDee C. is a recovered food addict having maintained abstinence from sugar and excessive food consumption for 37 years and keeping off 100 pounds of extra weight. We discuss the shame and secrecy surrounding the use of food to cope with our lives. After many failed attempts at dieting, Dee talks about the misery of not being able to control food on her own and found the solution to her food addiction in recovery. She believes when she finally became completely honest and embraced the practices around abstinence and worked with other addicts, she recovered from the disease of food addiction. Today...2023-07-0451 minFood Addiction, the Problem and the SolutionThe Addict Mind Will Always Say, “It’s Not That Bad”Dr. Vera Tarman is the Medical Director of Renascent, one of Canada’s largest treatment centers for substance abuse where she works as an addiction specialist. Dr. Tarman cites the statistic in her book, Food Junkies: the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that by the year 2030, 84% of the U.S. population will be overweight and 42 % will be obese. After recovering from food addiction herself by maintaining a 100-lb weight loss for more than 12 years, Dr. Tarman is on the front lines in presenting the message about the problem of food addiction and recovery solutions through her...2023-06-2052 minFood Addiction, the Problem and the SolutionIt Is Possible to Have a Life Free of Food AddictionMary F. has maintained a nearly 200-pound weight release for 31 years as she has recovered from food addiction. As an overweight child and teenager, she endured ridicule and verbal abuse. The shame associated with not being able to control her eating made her miserable and suicidal. Mary talks about the powerlessness to stop eating once she started, and she discusses the secrecy around her addiction. We address not only physical recovery but also emotional and mental recovery. For many years she and her partner/husband led what is now Shift Recovery by Acorn (foodaddiction.com) helping many people recover from f...2023-06-0655 minFood Addiction, the Problem and the SolutionFood Addiction is an Attempt to Avoid Legitimate SufferingIndividuals can be predisposed to addiction through genetics says Dr. Marty Lerner, head of Milestones in Recovery https://www.milestonesprogram.org/ In his book, A Guide to Eating Disorder Recovery, Defining the Problem—Finding the Solution, he outlines the nature of the disease of food addiction and how to recover. Dr. Lerner talks about the “perfect storm”, a person being an addict and seeking brain pleasure-center hits of dopamine and having the available substance, food can lead to the disease of food addiction. Food addicts can recover and enjoy glorious lives free of their substances through daily disciplines such as having a food p...2023-05-231h 03Food Addiction, the Problem and the SolutionThere Is Treatment For Food AddictionAnna Maria S., a recovered food addict, was a child of alcoholic parents. Her childhood was one characterized by instability and sexual abuse. Though she was not aware of the sexual abuse until later in life, once she acknowledged the abuse and processed it, she was able to deal with it. She began to cope with life stress by using food as a solution early at the age of 7. After many failed diets Anna Maria was desperate and weighing 286 pounds, she was on the eve of gastric bypass surgery, yet elected instead to enter a food addiction treatment program. There Anna Maria l...2023-05-0941 minFood Addiction, the Problem and the SolutionFood Addiction is a Brain DiseaseEsther Helga Gudmundsdottir is a pioneer in the field of food addiction treatment and recovery. Motivated to continue to get the message out that food addicts cannot control their eating and body weight through diets and exercise alone, she began the Food Addiction podcast. Esther was personally battling food addiction for most of her adult life, carrying 130 lbs. of too much weight. She discovered the solution to her problem in recovery and a twelve-step program which changed her life and led to her life’s mission. She is founder and director of one of the first food addictio...2023-04-2543 minFood Addiction, the Problem and the SolutionComing SoonThe ASAM (American Society of Addiction Medicine) has found Addiction to be a brain disease affecting a person’s physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual well-being and that recovery from the disease is possible through treatment in recovery centers and 12-step programs or similar support. Currently, there is overwhelming evidence and science for food addiction as a substance use disorder.Podcast listeners would include those who might either identify as food addicts, believe they may have a food addiction, or have tried diets unsuccessfully. Also, listeners would include those treating and counseling clients with food addiction and physicians/doc...2023-04-2200 min
Black Entrepreneur ExperienceBEE 353 Food Addiction Expert, Esther Helga ~Innovative ThinkerEsther Helga Gudmundsdottir MSc. Director of INFACT, from Iceland. Websites: The INFACT School, Matarfikn, Food Addiction Institute2023-01-1940 min
Food Junkies PodcastEpisode 95: Esther Helga GuðmundsdóttirToday, in this reprisal episode, Vera interviews a mentor and colleague – Esther Helga Gudmundsdottir. Esther is a pioneer in the field of food addiction treatment. She opened one of the first food addiction treatment programs in the world, MFM. The MFM program in Iceland has treated approximately 3000 Icelanders. Esther’s program gives them hope and the tools to achieve long-term recovery and is based on the twelve steps of Alcoholics Anonymous. Esther also founded INFACT, an international training program for any type of professional willing to learn about food addiction and how to help those suff...2022-10-2043 min
Unsweetened Sio151 - Esther Helga Gudmundsdottir, Director of the INFACT SchoolIn today's season 5 premiere, I talk with Esther Helga Gudmundsdottir. She tells us about her own journey with food addiction, how she helped herself and then how she opened one of the first food addiction treatment programs in the world. And after doing those things, also founded INFACT, to help professionals get the training needed to help their food addict patients. Esther has almost 20 years of abstinence under her belt and is changing the world so that everyone can find and get treatment.
Esther Helga Gudmundsdottir is a pioneer in the field of food addiction treatment. Once an oper...2022-09-0754 min
Heilsumál - hlaðvarp um heilsu og vellíðan.Matarfíkn - aðeins 20 mínútna viljastyrkur á dag ? - Esther Helga matarfíkniráðgjafiEsther Helga Guðmundsdóttir matarfíkniráðgjafi er mætt til okkar í spjall. Við ræðum við hvað orsakar matarfíkn og hvað við getum gert í henni. Getum við treyst alfarið á viljastyrk okkar eða þurfum við aðrar lausnir ?Esther Helga er sérfræðingur í matarfíkniráðgjöf og eftirsótt bæði hér heima og erlendis sem fyrirlesari og kennari fyrir bæði fagfólk og almenning.Esther Helga stofnaði MFM miðstöðina árið 2006 og hefur unnið mikið að fræðslu um málefnið ásamt því að bjóða uppá einstaklingsmiðaða meðferð við matarfíkn og átröskunum.2021-04-051h 18