Food Junkies Podcast

📢 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 quit
How Bright Line Eating began, and why so many people won't walk into a 12-step room
The honest story behind ReZoom: Susan's own break-and-resume cycles while leading a recovery movement
The six-year follow-up study: methodology, sample, limitations, and what the numbers actually show
How outcomes compare to published GLP-1 (semaglutide) data at long-term follow-up
Why simply learning about the addictiveness of sugar and flour may "inoculate" people against further weight gain
The four Bright Lines: sugar, flour, meals, quantities
Who did best at six years — and the surprising role of morning accountability calls
GLP-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 disease
The 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 intervention
The three identity shifts in Maintain: becoming devoted, resourced, and liberated
Grief work: why letting go of foods (and food-centered traditions) is a real loss that deserves real mourning
Finish-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 day
What's next for Susan: an alternative memoir about the dopamine-dominant brain
Connect with Susan Peirce Thompson
Website: https://brightlineeating.com
Books: 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
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.

In this episode, Dr. Vera Tarman sits down with world-renowned nephrologist, researcher, and New York Times bestselling author Dr. Jason Fung to explore one of the most pressing questions in the food addiction community: Is fasting safe for the food addict?
Dr. Fung's latest book, The Hunger Code: Resetting Your Body's Fat Thermostat in the Age of Ultra-Processed Food, challenges the calorie-centric model of obesity and offers a deeper, more honest look at why we eat the way we do — and what it actually takes to change.
In this episode, you'll hear:
Why the calories in/calories out model fails — and what the hormonal model of obesity actually means
The three types of hunger driving overeating: homeostatic, hedonic, and conditioned hunger — and why the social and emotional components may account for 90% of our eating behavior
How ultra-processed foods are engineered to hijack the brain's reward system — and why that matters for food addicts
The difference between fasting and starvation — and why the mindset behind fasting changes everything
The dangers of using fasting as a punishment after a binge — and how to use it safely and intentionally instead
Why a low-carb, higher-fat diet makes fasting more sustainable for people coming out of binge cycles
Dr. Fung's honest take on GLP-1 medications like Ozempic — the benefits, the limitations, and why they're not the whole answer
What Japan and Italy get right about eating culture that the U.S. has lost
Why public policy — not just personal willpower — must be part of the solution to ultra-processed food addiction
 
About Dr. Jason Fung:
Dr. Jason Fung is a Toronto-based nephrologist and one of the world's leading experts on therapeutic fasting and low-carb nutrition. He is the bestselling author of The Obesity Code, The Diabetes Code, The Cancer Code, and his newest release, The Hunger Code. He is also the co-founder of The Fasting Method, a coaching program helping people reverse obesity and type 2 diabetes through hormonal and lifestyle approaches.
🔗 Learn more at thefastingmethod.com
The Food Junkies Podcast is hosted by Dr. Vera Tarman, Molly Painschab, and Clarissa Kennedy — dedicated to exploring the science, stories, and solutions behind ultra-processed food use disorder.
🎙️ Subscribe, rate, and review wherever you listen to podcasts.
✉️ Email us at foodjunkiespodcast@gmail.com
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.

CJ is joined today by Keren, a vibrant young woman whose passion for recovery and love of life shine through in everything she does. With an infectious enthusiasm and deep gratitude for her journey, Keren is dedicated to sharing her experience, strength, and hope with others who may be struggling. Her commitment to helping people has even inspired her to launch her own YouTube channel, where she openly documents her recovery journey and encourages others to keep going. Full of energy, honesty, and heart, Keren brings a refreshing perspective to the conversation and reminds us all that recovery can be filled with purpose, joy, connection, and hope.
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

What if the voice urging you to binge isn't really you — and you could learn to talk back to it? This week, Dr. Vera Tarman sits down with psychologist and bestselling author Dr. Glenn Livingston, whose unconventional path from Fortune 500 food industry consultant to food compulsion researcher led him to develop one of the most distinctive frameworks in recovery: Never Binge Again.
Glenn shares how his own 80-pound weight loss journey — and nearly 2,000 clients later — shaped a method built on structured food rules, cognitive refutation, and understanding the neuroscience of cravings extinction.

In This Episode:
Why Glenn left lucrative food industry work and what he saw from the inside about how hyperpalatable foods are engineered
The "inner pig" framework — and why separating from the voice that drives bingeing is the foundation of his approach
How his self-funded study of 40,000 people shaped his thinking (and why the results surprised him)
The four food rule categories: Never, Always, Conditional, and Unrestricted
Why 1 in 3 people genuinely need abstinence — and how to tell if you're one of them
The extinction burst: why cravings often get worse before they disappear (and why this is actually good news)
The "screw it, just do it" response — what causes it and how to address it with self-regulation
Commit with perfection, forgive with dignity — how to handle slips without derailing recovery
Abstinence vs. moderation: where Glenn agrees with food addiction models, and where his philosophy diverges
His take on GLP-1 medications and how they fit into the bigger picture
The difference between his original Never Binge Again and his newer book Defeat Your Cravings

Resources Mentioned:
📘 Defeat Your Cravings — free at defeatyourcravings.com
🎙️ Glenn's podcast on binge eating and food addiction recovery
90-day coaching program with Glenn (details at defeatyourcravings.com)

Connect with Food Junkies:
🌐 foodjunkiespodcast.com
📱 Email us at foodjunkiespodcast@gmail.com
If this episode resonated with you, please leave a review and share it with someone who needs to hear it.
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.

Your eyes might be revealing metabolic disease long before your doctor catches it in bloodwork — and most people have no idea. In this episode, Dr. Vera Tarman sits down with Dr. Radka Toms, ophthalmologist, functional medicine practitioner, and founder of My Sugar Stop, to explore the fascinating and largely unknown connection between sugar, gut health, and your vision.
Dr. Toms shares her own story — from a "hardcore conventional doctor" eating chocolate bars for lunch to developing rosacea and insulin resistance and eventually pioneering the field of nutritional ophthalmology.
What You'll Learn:
👁️ The Eye-Metabolic Health Connection — How your ophthalmologist may spot insulin resistance, pre-diabetes, and inflammation before your blood work does
💧 Dry Eye & Sugar — Why so many dry eye patients have a metabolic root cause, and how improving diet can reduce or eliminate symptoms
🔬 The Gut-Eye Axis — How bacteria in your gut produce metabolites that travel through the bloodstream and directly affect eye tissue — including the link to macular degeneration, glaucoma, and Sjögren's syndrome
🌿 The 7 Types of Eye Conditions Linked to Metabolic Health:
Dry eye & ocular rosacea
Diabetic retinopathy
Age-related macular degeneration
Glaucoma
Cataracts
Vascular/cardiometabolic changes in the eye
Sjögren's syndrome
☀️ Light as Medicine — Circadian biology, why 10 minutes outside within 20 minutes of waking matters, when to wear sunglasses (11am–3pm), and how ceiling lights at night are confusing your brain
🥑 The PFF Framework — Dr. Toms' practical nutrition approach: Protein, Fat (especially omega-3s), Fiber, and Fermented foods — and why fiber is "the king"
💊 The DRRN Method — Define, Replace, Rebalance, Nourish: Dr. Toms' four-phase approach to helping patients reverse metabolic eye conditions through lifestyle change
Mentioned in This Episode:
My Sugar Stop — https://www.mysugarstop.com/
Matrix Eye Clinic & UHealth (UK-based in-person care): https://matrixeyeclinic.com/our-services/nutritional-ophthalmology/
Lipopolysaccharides as an early inflammatory marker
Robert Lustig's early work on sugar and inflammation
About Dr. Radka Toms: Dr. Toms completed her medical training in the Czech Republic and ophthalmology specialization in the UK, later adding functional medicine and integrative nutritional coaching. She is the founder of My Sugar Stop and Oko Health, and a pioneer in nutritional ophthalmology. She reversed her own rosacea and insulin resistance using the methods she now teaches.

"When you look at an acorn in isolation, you just see an acorn. You don't see its transformative capacity to become an oak tree. People have that same capacity." — Dr. Radka Toms
The Food Junkies Podcast is hosted by Dr. Vera Tarman, Molly Painschab, and Clarissa Kennedy. New episodes every week.
📧Email us at foodjunkiespodcast@gmail.com
👍 Like, subscribe, and share if this episode resonated with you.
 
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.