Food Junkies Quotes

“From food addiction to food serenity - freedom tastes great!”
― Vera Tarman, Food Junkies: The Truth About Food Addiction

“Today I say am an addict. A respectable addict, of course. Not like the desperate addicts who have cashed in their mortgage... After all, my drug is cheap, the cheapest of all drugs, and therefore the most pernicious... And my drug is everywhere I look: in the drive-through gas station's convenience store, in the supermarket, on the lusciously displayed menu of an exclusive restaurant.”
― Vera Tarman, Food Junkies: The Truth About Food Addiction

“In 1993, mental health counsellor Kay Sheppard published a revised version of her signature work, Food Addiction: The Body Knows. Sheppard drew from her experience working with food addicts and did not mince words. “Food addiction is a chronic, progressive and ultimately fatal disease,” she wrote. “It is chronic because the condition never goes away, progressive because the symptoms always get worse over time, and fatal because those who persist in the disease will die an early death due to its complications.”
― Vera Tarman, Food Junkies: The Truth About Food Addiction

“FAA Basic Food Plan Breakfast Lunch Dinner MA (Metabolic Adjustment) (4 hrs. after breakfast) (5 hrs. after lunch) (4 hrs. after dinner) 1 Protein 1 Protein 1 Protein 1 Dairy or 2 oz. Protein 1 Dairy 1 Cooked Vegetable 1 Cooked Vegetable 1 Fruit 1 Fruit 1 Fresh Vegetable 1 Fresh Vegetable 1 Grain or Starchy Vegetable ½ Daily Oil 1 Grain or Starchy Vegetable Men: Add 1 Fruit or 1 Grain, or 1 Starchy Vegetable ½ Daily Oil”
― Vera Tarman, Food Junkies: The Truth About Food Addiction

“Feelings of deprivation, obsessions about food, and anxiety arising from unresolved trauma that was being “medicated” by the addictive foods may appear like spectres that linger, worsening before they get better. The”
― Vera Tarman, Food Junkies: The Truth About Food Addiction

“you ever wonder why some people really love their yogourt and cottage cheese? These contain natural sweeteners in the form of lactose and casein, which our stomach breaks down into casomorphin, an opioid peptide that some people find addictive.”
― Vera Tarman, Food Junkies: The Truth About Food Addiction

“Sugar, for example, shares the same neurochemistry and neural pathways as cocaine. Sweetened chocolate mimics the effects of alcohol and opiates. Flour modulates moods and anaesthetizes pain just as many drugs do.”
― Vera Tarman, Food Junkies: The Truth About Food Addiction

“Withdrawal occurs once a person stops eating any addictive food. Though abstaining from foods is a contentious subject in the scientific literature, there is no question that it will cause a level of discomfort that often drives addicts back to eating...

Feelings of deprivation, obsessions about food, and anxiety arising from unresolved trauma that was being 'medicated' by the addictive foods may appear like spectres that linger, worsening before they get better...

It may seem that life without one's comfort foods is simply not worth living. Even problematic eating is seen as better than feeling bereft to the point of suicidal thoughts. But others might find the symptoms so common they are not even recognizable as withdrawal...

The good news is that detoxification is not a long process; it only lasts for a relatively short period - between one week and four weeks...

Cheating by having a bite here or a spoonful there is also an excellent way to suffer withdrawal in perpetuity. Withdrawal will not end if the substance is constantly being reintroduced back into the brain reward pathway.”
― Vera Tarman, Food Junkies: The Truth About Food Addiction

“I believe that food addicts need the same type of support offered to alcoholics and drug addicts. They need to detoxify first first and then learn about their disease, while dealing with the thoughts and feelings that arise once they are off their drug. Quite often, psychological issues do not become obvious until food addicts have been abstinent for a long period of time. That's why ongoing support is needed to prevent addicts from relapsing in a panicky effort to cope.”
― Vera Tarman, Food Junkies: The Truth About Food Addiction

“Obesity, eating disorders, and chemical dependency on food are three distinct and very different diseases -- and demonstrate different behaviors around food. We can categorize the corresponding behaviours of these conditions as problems that occur within the normal eating, emotional eating, and food addiction spectrums.

Obesity is entirely a physical problem: a result of eating too many calories while expending too few... Normal eaters simply eat too much... Normal eaters represent a large proportion of the obese. They can regulate their obesity by learning how to change the circumstances that foster poor willpower: better sleep, stress management, improving social skills, and changing a toxic good environment are only a few of the modifications that can be made...

Certainly, people suffering from eating disorders and food addiction can also be obese, but their primary condition is not obesity. In their cases, obesity is just another symptom of their emotional disturbance or their food addiction. The underlying emotional trauma that drives the bulimic to stuff himself needs to be addressed first before the physical aspects of obesity can be seriously addressed; likewise, the sugar that is propelling the addictive overeater needs to be removed first before tackling any weight issues.”
― Vera Tarman, Food Junkies: The Truth About Food Addiction

“Addiction is a term that's used a lot these days. People claim to be addicted to everything from romance novels to cars. They feel guilty when they enjoy something just a little too much. When it comes to food addiction, the misunderstanding is epidemic...

Until now, scientists and clinicians alike have been reluctant to acknowledge that food addiction even exists. Yes, abnormal eating behaviours have been identified throughout history, but there has long been a resistance to labelling it an addiction.”
― Vera Tarman, Food Junkies: The Truth About Food Addiction

“The brain chemistry that drives the addict to seek pleasure beyond the point of satiety is similar, whether the user favours Jack Daniels or Jack-in-the-Box.”
― Vera Tarman, Food Junkies: The Truth About Food Addiction