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Food Junkies Podcast

Food Junkies Podcast

By: Clarissa Kennedy
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Welcome to the "Food Junkies" podcast! Here we aim to provide you with the experience, strength and hope of professionals actively working on the front lines in the field of Food Addiciton. The purpose of our show is to educate YOU the listener and increase overall awareness about Food Addiction as a recognized disorder. Here we discuss all things recovery, exploring the many pathways people take towards abstinence in order to achieve a health forward lifestyle. Most importantly how to THRIVE rather than just survive. So stay positive, make a change for yourself, tell others about your change, and hopefully the message will spread. The content on our show does not supplement or supersede the professional relationship and direction of your healthcare provider. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified mental health provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition, substance use disorder or mental health concern. Hygiene & Healthy Living
Episodes
  • Episode 289: Brian Baumal | Perfectionism, Shame, and Food Addiction Recovery

    Episode 289: Brian Baumal | Perfectionism, Shame, and Food Addiction Recovery
    Jul 16 2026
    In this episode of Food Junkies, Dr. Vera Tarman and Clarissa Kennedy sit down with Brian Baumal, a registered psychotherapist based in Toronto and owner of Aliva Psychotherapy, where he specializes in weight management, eating disorders, food addiction, and psychological support for bariatric surgery patients. Brian trained at the Gestalt Institute of Toronto and has been a licensed member of the College of Registered Psychotherapists of Ontario since 2015. He's also a food addict in long-term recovery, having lost 100 pounds and kept it off for over 14 years. Brian shares the moment that changed his understanding of food addiction forever — an intense, addictive reaction to a piece of chocolate at a holiday party that made him realize this was on an entirely different scale than an ordinary craving. From there, the conversation dives deep into perfectionism: how shame and diet culture create an idealized, unrealistic self-image; the difference between adaptive perfectionism (using structure and tools in service of recovery) and toxic or maladaptive perfectionism (an all-or-nothing mindset that treats any slip as total failure); and how perfectionism can quietly become a "runaway train," redirecting obsessive focus from food onto weight, exercise, or other behaviors. Brian also explains how he uses a Gestalt therapy lens — treating what shows up in the room between therapist and client as the material for the work itself — to help clients build individualized, flexible recovery plans instead of rigid, punishment-driven rules. The group discusses distinguishing an addictive relapse from a psychological or shame-based slip, the role of relapse plans and "gathering data" after a slip, and why using tools (scales, timers, structure) isn't a sign of weakness but a sustainable part of long-term recovery. The episode closes with Brian's reflections on chairing the Sugar and Food Addiction Professionals Network, a free Facebook community of nearly 200 food addiction professionals offering training, research updates, and access to leading voices in the field. Topics Covered Brian's personal food addiction story and his "aha moment" with chocolate at a holiday partyWhat Gestalt therapy is and how it approaches defense mechanisms relationallyHow shame and diet culture create unrealistic, idealized self-imagesAdaptive vs. maladaptive (toxic) perfectionism in recoveryPerfectionism as a "runaway train" — when focus shifts from food to weight, exercise, or other behaviorsDistinguishing an addictive relapse from a shame-driven psychological slipBuilding individualized, flexible abstinence and relapse plansUsing tools (scales, timers, structure) without turning them into self-punishmentVulnerability factors: trauma, family food dynamics, anxious or over-controlled personality stylesAdaptive perfectionism as flexibility, not the absence of high standardsThe Sugar and Food Addiction Professionals Network on Facebook Connect with Brian Baumal Website: Aliva Psychotherapy — https://alivapsychotherapy.com/ WORKSHOP LINKS: 🚨Curious why cravings hit harder some days than others? Viktoria Hamma's two-part Circadian Rhythms & Red Light Therapy workshop breaks down the biology behind your body's internal clock and shows you exactly how morning light, meal timing, and red light therapy can work with your recovery instead of against it. Grab your spot for Part 1: https://sweetsobriety.newzenler.com/courses/circadian-rhythm-and-red-light-therapy-educations And Part 2: https://sweetsobriety.newzenler.com/courses/circadian-rhythms-red-light-therapy-part-2-understanding-your-body-s-internal-clock The content of our show is educational only. It does not supplement or supersede your healthcare provider's professional relationship and direction. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified mental health providers with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition, substance use disorder, or mental health concern.
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    52 mins
  • Food Junkies Recovery Stories Episode36: Lára Pedersen

    Food Junkies Recovery Stories Episode36: Lára Pedersen
    Jul 13 2026

    CJ welcomes Lara, a former professional soccer player from Iceland, for a powerful and deeply honest conversation about food addiction and recovery. Lara began struggling with food at a very young age and recognized early that it was beginning to take over her life, even while competing as an elite athlete. She speaks with remarkable transparency about her experiences, their impact on her, and the path she has taken toward healing. Lara's willingness to share is so profound that she even wrote a book about her journey. CJ found her story fascinating and truly loved talking with her.

    If you're considering personalized assistance, CJ, a Certified Addiction Professional specializing in Food Addiction, is here for one-on-one coaching. Reach out to CJ at cjnguy@myfoodaddictioncoach.com

    Interested in sharing your recovery story on our show? We'd love to hear from you! Please email FJRecoverystories@gmail.com

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    40 mins
  • Episode 288: Susan Peirce Thompson, PhD — Six-Year Outcomes, GLP-1s & the Identity Shifts Behind Lasting Recovery

    Episode 288: Susan Peirce Thompson, PhD — Six-Year Outcomes, GLP-1s & the Identity Shifts Behind Lasting Recovery
    Jul 2 2026
    📢 A quick announcement from the Food Junkies team: For the first time, we're moving to a new release schedule — new episodes every other week, still featuring one Recovery Story each month. We'll share more about this decision in our next Clinician's Corner. Whether you've been with us from the beginning or just found us, thank you. This is also the perfect time to dive into our archive of hundreds of conversations with experts, clinicians, researchers, and people with lived experience. Our next episode launches on July 17th. About Today's Guest Dr. Susan Peirce Thompson is a cognitive psychologist with expertise in the psychology of eating and the founder and CEO of Bright Line Eating, a global program for abstinence-based recovery from ultra-processed food addiction and long-term weight management. She is an adjunct associate professor in Brain and Cognitive Sciences at the University of Rochester and the author of Bright Line Eating, ReZoom, On This Bright Day, The Official Bright Line Eating Cookbook, and her newest book, Maintain. In 2025, Susan published a study in Frontiers in Psychiatry reporting six-year outcomes from the Bright Line Eating program that suggest an abstinence-based food addiction recovery approach can support clinically meaningful, long-term weight loss. In This Episode Vera and Clarissa sit down with Susan to unpack her research, her personal recovery story, and the deeper psychology of maintenance. Topics include: Susan's journey from drug addiction to food addiction recovery — and why she found the food harder to quitHow Bright Line Eating began, and why so many people won't walk into a 12-step roomThe honest story behind ReZoom: Susan's own break-and-resume cycles while leading a recovery movementThe six-year follow-up study: methodology, sample, limitations, and what the numbers actually showHow outcomes compare to published GLP-1 (semaglutide) data at long-term follow-upWhy simply learning about the addictiveness of sugar and flour may "inoculate" people against further weight gainThe four Bright Lines: sugar, flour, meals, quantitiesWho did best at six years — and the surprising role of morning accountability callsGLP-1 medications in food addiction recovery: Susan's "pro-choice" stance, the promise, the unknowns, and why we shouldn't pathologize medication for a brain-based diseaseThe tension between weight loss outcomes and addiction symptom recovery — and protecting listeners in larger bodies who are doing everything "right"Lipedema: the under-recognized condition affecting an estimated 11% of women that doesn't respond to dietary interventionThe three identity shifts in Maintain: becoming devoted, resourced, and liberatedGrief work: why letting go of foods (and food-centered traditions) is a real loss that deserves real mourningFinish-line anxiety and the fear of liberation — who am I without the food and weight struggle?Willpower, habit stacking, and designing a life that works even on your worst dayWhat's next for Susan: an alternative memoir about the dopamine-dominant brain Connect with Susan Peirce Thompson Website: https://brightlineeating.comBooks: Bright Line Eating, ReZoom, On This Bright Day, The Official Bright Line Eating Cookbook, and Maintain The Food Junkies Podcast Hosted by Dr. Vera Tarman, Clarissa Kennedy, and Molly Painschab — real conversations about food addiction, recovery, and the science that supports both. ✉️email us at foodjunkiespodcast@gmail.com Circadian Rythms and Food Addiction Workshop with Viktoria Hamma 🔗Part 1: https://sweetsobriety.newzenler.com/courses/circadian-rhythm-and-red-light-therapy-educations 🔗Part 2: https://sweetsobriety.newzenler.com/courses/circadian-rhythms-red-light-therapy-part-2-understanding-your-body-s-internal-clock The content of our show is educational only. It does not supplement or supersede your healthcare provider's professional relationship and direction. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified mental health providers with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition, substance use disorder, or mental health concern.
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    58 mins
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