Food Junkies Podcast

Molly and Clarissa sit down for another Clinician's Corner to dig into shadow work — what Carl Jung meant by it, why it's not just a "woo-woo" concept, and why it belongs in food addiction recovery. They talk about the parts of ourselves we learn to hide (anger, desire, ambition, even joy), how those exiled parts often drive the very behaviors we're trying to recover from, and how projection, envy, and even compliments can point us straight to what we've buried. This episode previews the Shadow Work module inside Liberation, Sweet Sobriety's brand-new 10-module program launching this fall.
WHAT WE COVER
Why Molly built a shadow work module into Liberation, and how it connects to the Shame module covered in a previous episode
Carl Jung's quote — "Until you make the unconscious conscious, it will direct your life, and you will call it fate" and what it means in practice
The iceberg metaphor: the curated 10% we show the world vs. the 90% underneath driving our behavior
Where the shadow comes from (genetics loads the gun, environment pulls the trigger) and why this isn't about blaming parents
How substance use, food behaviors, and other compulsive patterns often exist to manage and suppress shadow parts
Recovery work doesn't make the shadow disappear — and why it can get louder, becoming a high-risk time for return to use
Projection: how "accusations are often confessions," and why the people who irritate us most can be mirrors
The Golden Shadow — the positive traits (confidence, joy, ambition) we also learn to suppress or deny
Why receiving compliments can feel unbearable, and what that has to do with shadow work
Envy and jealousy reframed as information rather than something shameful
Individuation and integration — Jung's idea that the goal isn't to eliminate these parts, but to become a whole person who can hold all of them
How return to use fits into this: not a moral failure, but sometimes a shadow part that hasn't been integrated
A personal moment on privilege, shame, and how rejecting a part of ourselves can limit our ability to help others
What to expect from the Shadow Work module inside Liberation
LIBERATION — SWEET SOBRIETY'S NEW PROGRAM
Liberation is the next step after Foundations — a deeper 10-module program covering shadow work, shame, anger, guilt, the inner critic, ADHD and the nervous system, trauma, highly sensitive people, and more. You do not need to have completed Foundations first.
Modules release the week of September 21. Live sessions begin October 15 at 1:00–2:30 PM Eastern. Starting price: $400 USD for this first round (early participants help shape the program, same as the first Foundations cohort)
Learn more and join us: https://sweetsobriety.newzenler.com/courses/sweet-sobriety-liberation
RESOURCES & LINKS
Catch our earlier episode on Shame: https://open.spotify.com/episode/44sTxYKeVv7r01wtSKkYtm?si=7557f537d5314ebd
Sweet Sobriety Foundations Program: https://sweetsobriety.newzenler.com/courses/sweet-sobriety-foundations
Sweet Sobriety website: https://www.sweetsobriety.ca/
Have a topic you want us to cover? Email us: foodjunkiespodcast@gmail.com
POLAND 2027: https://fundacjabraciarodzen.pl/products/international-advanced-training-programme?variant=56860764078458
ABOUT FOOD JUNKIES PODCAST
Food Junkies is hosted by Dr. Vera Tarman, Clarissa Kennedy, and Molly Painschab, exploring food addiction, ultra-processed food use disorder, and recovery from a clinical, compassionate, and lived-experience perspective.
Subscribe for new episodes and hit the bell so you don't miss our Clinician's Corner series.
Our show is for educational purposes 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.

Why do older women show the highest rates of food addiction, while older men are more likely to meet criteria for alcohol and tobacco use disorder — and why does that gap flip when it comes to weight? In Episode 292, we sit down with Lucy Loch, a doctoral candidate in Psychology at the University of Michigan, to unpack her research on food addiction in older adults and what it reveals about decades of diet culture, marketing, and an under-screened generation.
Lucy studies the life course development of addictive-like eating — how early-life experiences and exposure to ultra-processed foods shape appetite, self-regulation, and long-term health outcomes. She's supported by the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship, works under Dr. Ashley Gearhardt at the University of Michigan, and her research has appeared in Addiction, Current Obesity Reports, and Physiology & Behavior.
In this conversation, we dig into her recent study from the National Poll on Healthy Aging: why older women meet criteria for food addiction at higher rates than older men, why overweight men in the study were 19x more likely to meet criteria (compared to 11x for women), what a small but striking finding on underweight older adults might mean, and why isolation and food addiction may feed each other in a bidirectional loop. We also talk about why food addiction is so often invisible in geriatric medicine, what it would take to get it screened for the way depression and falls already are, and what decades of "low-fat," heavily marketed diet products may have set up for the women who trusted them.
This one is for anyone who works with older adults, anyone who's ever been told "just eat healthier," and anyone who's still unlearning the idea that this comes down to willpower.
About our guest:
Lucy Loch is a doctoral candidate in the Department of Psychology at the University of Michigan. Her research focuses on the life course development of addictive-like eating, examining how early life experiences and exposure to ultra-processed foods influence appetite, self-regulation, and risk for later-life health outcomes. She is supported by the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship and works to uncover why certain foods and life experiences may make some individuals more susceptible to overeating. Her work has appeared in journals including Addiction, Current Obesity Reports, and Physiology & Behavior.
POLAND 2027: https://fundacjabraciarodzen.pl/products/international-advanced-training-programme?variant=56860764078458
Connect With Us
Subscribe to Food Junkies Podcast for new episodes
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, CJ sits down with April for a thoughtful, reflective conversation about recovery. April brings a quiet intentionality to the way she understands healing, growth, and the ongoing work of becoming. Her perspective is introspective, honest, and at times existential, inviting us to slow down and consider what recovery truly asks of us. This conversation has a different rhythm—less about quick answers and more about meaningful questions, self-awareness, and the space between where we have been and who we are becoming. April's calm presence reminds us that recovery can be both deeply personal and profoundly transformative.
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

Can changing what you eat treat depression, anxiety, and even psychosis more effectively than medication alone? In this episode of Food Junkies, Dr. Vera Tarman sits down with Dr. Matt Bernstein, MD, psychiatrist and CEO of Accord, to unpack the emerging field of metabolic psychiatry — and what it means for people recovering from food addiction.
Dr. Bernstein trained at Columbia, Penn, and the MGH-McLean Psychiatry Program before shifting from traditional hospital-based psychiatric care toward lifestyle-based interventions: nutrition, sleep, light, and movement. He now serves on the advisory board of Metabolic Mind and helped organize the first public conference on metabolic psychiatry in 2023.
In this conversation, Dr. Bernstein and Dr. Tarman explore how brain energy metabolism — not just neurotransmitters — may be a root driver of conditions like depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, and Alzheimer's, and why ketogenic and low-carbohydrate approaches are showing early but compelling results for food cravings, food noise, and psychiatric symptom relief.
In This Episode, You'll Learn:
Why Dr. Bernstein moved away from conventional psychiatric medication models toward metabolic approaches
How brain insulin resistance can contribute to depression, bipolar disorder, and schizophrenia
The role of mitochondria, oxidative stress, and the gut-brain axis in mental illness
How ketones act as an alternative brain fuel — and why that matters for insulin-resistant neurons
The connection between brain insulin resistance and Alzheimer's risk decades before symptoms appear
How ketogenic and low-carb diets naturally reduce food cravings and "food noise" for people with food addiction
What a day in the Accord immersive metabolic psychiatry program actually looks like
Why combining diet, exercise, circadian rhythm alignment, and mind-body practices produces faster results than any single intervention alone
How GLP-1 medications compare to ketogenic diets for reducing food noise and cravings — and where each may fall short
The risks of rapid or unsupported psychiatric medication tapering, and why "hyperbolic tapering" matters
What to watch for (and troubleshoot) if a ketogenic diet isn't producing results after several weeks
Guest
Dr. Matt Bernstein, MD is a psychiatrist and CEO of Accord, an immersive metabolic psychiatry program near Boston. He is a leading voice in metabolic psychiatry, sits on the advisory board of Metabolic Mind, and helped organize the first public conference dedicated to the field in 2023.
Connect with Dr. Matt Bernstein & Accord
Website: https://accordmh.com/
 
Releasing What's Not Ours: Healing Food & Body Struggles Through IFS with Vanessa Kredler
👉Learn more here: https://sweetsobriety.newzenler.com/courses/releasing-whats-not-ours
 
Connect with Food Junkies
🎧 Subscribe for new episodes
🌐 Learn more about food addiction recovery at https://www.sweetsobriety.ca/
📩 Have a guest suggestion or topic request? Send it our way: 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.

Fatigue. Brain fog. Cravings that never quit no matter how "good" you're eating. In this episode of Food Junkies, Dr. Vera Tarman sits down with Dr. Carolyn Dean — MD, naturopath, and author of more than 50 books including The Magnesium Miracle — to unpack a piece of the addiction and recovery puzzle that rarely gets airtime: magnesium deficiency and its tangled relationship with yeast overgrowth, sugar metabolism, and chronic cravings.
Dr. Dean has spent over five decades in integrative and functional medicine, and in this conversation she lays out her theory that a huge share of chronic symptoms — anxiety, insomnia, heart palpitations, muscle tension, even conditions mistaken for neurological disease — trace back to a mineral most conventional labs never test properly. She also digs into candida overgrowth, why restrictive diets like keto and carnivore may be working for reasons people don't realize, and why sugar cravings might be your gut asking for something other than sugar.
This episode isn't a replacement for individualized medical or clinical treatment, and it isn't an endorsement of any product mentioned. As always, we encourage listeners to bring these questions to their own care team.
In this episode, you'll learn:
Why magnesium is required to produce ATP — the energy currency of every cell — and what happens when your body can't get enough
The difference between a magnesium compound and a bioavailable magnesium ion, and why so many supplements underdeliver
How soil depletion and modern agriculture have quietly lowered magnesium in the food supply over the past century
The link Dr. Dean draws between candida/yeast overgrowth, leaky gut, and persistent sugar cravings
Why she believes some people on restrictive diets (keto, carnivore, paleo) may be managing yeast overgrowth without realizing it
The connection between sugar metabolism, vitamin C, and cardiovascular health
Her recommended starting point for anyone wanting to address deficiency: diet, timing, and sequencing of supplementation
About Our Guest
Dr. Carolyn Dean, MD, ND is a physician and naturopath with over 50 years of experience in integrative and functional medicine. A graduate of Dalhousie University's medical school, she is the author of more than 50 books, including The Magnesium Miracle, Detox Your Body, and multiple works on sugar toxicity and mineral deficiency. Her clinical focus centers on magnesium, mineral absorption, and yeast overgrowth as root contributors to chronic fatigue, cravings, and metabolic dysfunction.
Learn more: drcarolyndean.com
Her product site: rnareset.com
About Vanessa Kredler's Upcoming IFS Workshop:
👉Releasing What's Not Ours: Healing Food & Body Struggles Through IFS
Not every struggle with food and body belongs to you. Some of it was handed down — a mother's dieting, a culture's obsession with thinness, a family that never said "I love you" out loud but said "eat" instead.
In this 3-part live series, clinical counsellor Vanessa Kredler — a PACFA-registered therapist, certified food addiction professional (INFACT), and Level 2-trained IFS practitioner — draws on her work in addiction, complex trauma, and intergenerational trauma to help you untangle what's actually yours from what you inherited.
Using Internal Family Systems, you'll learn to recognize the legacy and cultural burdens shaping your relationship with food, understand why parts of you hold onto them, and take part in a guided practice to begin letting them go — with the same compassionate, trauma-informed approach Vanessa brings to her own clinical work (and, as she'll tell you, her own recovered life).
👉Link: https://sweetsobriety.newzenler.com/courses/releasing-whats-not-ours
About Food Junkies
Food Junkies is a podcast about food addiction, hosted by Dr. Vera Tarman, Clarissa Kennedy, and Molly Painschab — clinicians, researchers, and advocates working to bring visibility, science, and community support to ultra-processed food use disorder (UPFUD). New episodes feature conversations with leading researchers, clinicians, and people in recovery.
Subscribe for new episodes, and find us wherever you listen to podcasts.
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.