Vera Tarman - Food Junkies: Recovery from Food Addiction

This book will help many people with every kind of eating disorder they all start with the same premise. We who eat too much, too often, and who find ourselves fat, miserable, bulimic, unhealthy, or just wanting to lose 20 pounds before Christmas are in the same boat. Dr. Tarmans book shows how many ways there are to get help and get healed. My own solution through the twelve steps of GSA presents the approach that has saved my life that we all of us, just alcoholics are allergic to sugar, grains, flour, wheat, and corn yes, all grains! the same ingredients that are in alcohol. Avoiding these foods and eating three weighed meals a day and nothing in between can lead you to find the last house on the block, which is a mansion!

Judy Collins, singer, songwriter, and author of Cravings: How I Conquered Food

Dr. Vera Tarman aptly takes the science of sugar addiction and draws a convincing clinical profile of the sugar/food addiction syndrome. With plenty of clinical scenarios, Dr. Tarman illustrates and explains the various stages of food addiction. She then shows how food addiction recovery is possible and sustainable in the long term. Food Junkies is a must read for patients, students, and clinicians interested in addiction medicine and/or obesity management.

Dr. Nicole Avena, research scientist and assistant professor at Princeton University and Mount Sinai School of Medicine and author of Why Diets Fail (Because We Are Addicted to Sugar)

For all those who have struggled with weight loss and failed, here is a wise book that applies the addiction model to food. Tarman tackles the neurobiology of pleasure and the epidemic of obesity and makes sense of both. With a no-nonsense approach, Tarman offers a thoughtful, ground breaking exploration of a subject that plagues the majority of readers.

Ann Dowsett Johnston, author of Drink: The Intimate Relationship Between Women and Alcohol

As someone who regularly treats patients suffering from food addiction and someone who has recovered from it, Dr. Tarman is the quintessential expert on food addiction. This book is a must read for anyone struggling with a food addiction.

Chef A.J., author of The Secrets to Ultimate Weight Loss

Dr. Vera Tarman brings together in this book knowledge of physiology and the brain, experience of treatment for addiction, and sensitivity to the nature of food addiction. She takes us through the process of understanding, enlightenment, and finally hope.

Esther Helga Gumundsdttir, director of INFACT International School for Food Addiction Counselling and Treatment

Are you one of those people who thinks food addiction isnt real? Then you might be what Dr. Vera Tarman describes in her book as a food junkie! I was addicted to sugar and other processed carbohydrates over a decade ago and found my way back to health and recovery thanks to some basic lifestyle changes that made me whole again. Dr. Tarman walks you through all the necessary steps to make that happen for you, too. Addiction is real, but its not inevitable. Grab back control of your health now!

Jimmy Moore, author of Cholesterol Clarity and Keto Clarity

Copyright Vera Tarman, 2019

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Cover image: Ocean Photography
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Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication

Tarman, Vera Ingrid, author
Food junkies : recovery from food addiction / Vera Tarman, MD. -
Second edition.

Includes bibliographical references and index.
Issued in print and electronic formats.
ISBN 978-1-4597-4197-3 (softcover).--ISBN 978-1-4597-4198-0 (PDF).-
ISBN 978-1-4597-4199-7 (EPUB)

1. Eating disorders. 2. Compulsive eating. I. Title.

1 2 3 4 5 23 22 21 20 19

We acknowledge the support of the Canada Council for the Arts, which last year invested $153 million to bring the arts to Canadians throughout the country, and the Ontario Arts Council for our publishing program. We also acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Ontario, through the Ontario Book Publishing Tax Credit and Ontario Creates, and the Government of Canada.

Nous remercions le Conseil des arts du Canada de son soutien. Lan dernier, le Conseil a investi 153 millions de dollars pour mettre de lart dans la vie des Canadiennes et des Canadiens de tout le pays.

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TO CATHY SCHWARTZ,

MY BELOVED PARTNER.

MAY WE LIVE HAPPILY EVER AFTER.

Since I wrote the first edition of Food Junkies in 2014, much has changed and little has changed. This new edition includes the most promising current research and details the latest advances in clinical practices and treatments, including my own. We may still have a long way to go, but giant steps have been taken in some areas. And many of the people I interviewed earlier have successfully navigated the minefields of food sobriety. I also bring their stories up to date.

First, the hopeful news: In the last four years, our awareness of how specific foods (such as sugar) ensnare both the hormonal appetite regulators and the reward circuitry of the brain has grown exponentially. Studies highlighting how sugar can be addictive are cited continually in the media.

Growing numbers of consumer groups are aghast at how the food industry is manipulating our appetites for its own profit. Calls to regulate the food industry and legislate healthy eating are multiplying. There are Internet chat groups, summits, cookbooks, and public lectures offering to help people quit sugar and other addictive foods. The tipping point of awareness that we need to stem the tide of addictive foods is approaching.