Food Junkies Podcast

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

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.

What do you do when your child will only eat three foods — and none of them are vegetables? For Natalie Peltro, certified nutritional therapist and lifestyle medicine expert, that was her reality. Her son was diagnosed with severe nonverbal autism at 18 months, and the journey to help him heal through food became the foundation of her entire career. In this episode, Natalie shares the framework she's used with hundreds of families to overcome picky eating — not through force, pressure, or sneaky tricks that backfire — but through biology, nervous system awareness, and what she calls the Four E's. Whether you're navigating picky eating in your household, supporting clients who struggle with ultra-processed food habits from childhood, or just trying to understand why your kid will eat mac and cheese but nothing green, this conversation is full of practical, compassionate strategies you can start using today. In this episode, we cover: How Natalie's son went from eating only 3 foods (nonverbal, severely autistic) to graduating mainstream school with honors Why "fed is best" may be an outdated framework in today's ultra-processed food environment The biology of picky eating — zinc deficiency, taste perception, and why green foods taste bitter to nutrient-deficient kids The 10% Fading Rule: how to transform mac and cheese into a nutrient-dense meal without your child noticing The Three Stages of Picky Eaters: Resistor, Adventurer, and Negotiator — and why the approach must be different for each The Four E's Framework: Expectation, Emotional Intelligence, Environment, and Encouragement Why "taste training" works faster in kids than adults (3–5 days vs. 7–14) How your nervous system is sabotaging mealtime — and what to do before you even pick up the plate The coupon system, safe plates, and other creative strategies that actually work How to talk to grandparents and caregivers about food changes without blowing up the relationship About Natalie Peltro: Natalie is the co-founder of Blue Life RX and creator of the Neuronutrition Program (formerly "Bring the Fun Back to Mealtime"), which helps families with picky eaters — including children with autism and ARFID — expand their food diversity through biology-first, fun-first strategies. She's also the host of the upcoming Brilliant Brains podcast. 🌐 Website: https://www.blueliferx.com/neuronutrition 📱 Instagram: nataliepelto_blueliferx ⓕ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BlueLifeRx 🎙️Podcast: Out in June 2026 – keep checking the website!! 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. Leave a comment below — we'd love to know: what's your biggest challenge around picky eating or feeding your family real food? 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 Peggy, whose story is as raw as it is relatable. From the age of six, Peggy began navigating a complicated relationship with food that would follow her into adulthood. She shares candidly about tying her worth to always having a boyfriend, and the deep need for validation that drove those choices. While she was able to walk away from cigarettes with ease, food proved to be a far more difficult battle. Through years of weight fluctuations and self-discovery, Peggy's authenticity shines. Her honesty, vulnerability, and insight will resonate with anyone who has ever struggled to feel enough. 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 your body could warn you before a relapse happens? In this fascinating episode, Dr. Vera Tarman sits down with Bob Messerschmidt — biomedical engineer, inventor, and one of the architects behind the original Apple Watch's health-sensing technology — to explore a surprisingly simple but powerful biomarker: the erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR). Bob is the founder of Core Health and has developed an FDA-registered at-home device that tracks chronic low-grade inflammation over time. For those of us in the food addiction and recovery world, this conversation opens a compelling new door: could inflammation tracking be the missing feedback loop for people working to stay abstinent from ultra-processed foods? 🎙️ IN THIS EPISODE: Bob's personal health journey and how weight struggles led him to inflammation science What ESR (erythrocyte sedimentation rate) is — and why it fell out of favor before we understood chronic inflammation Why inflammation is now understood to underpin nearly all chronic disease How ESR differs from CRP (C-reactive protein) and why its "slowness" is a feature What does a high ESR score mean — and what you can do about it Anti-inflammatory lifestyle interventions that move the needle (including one surprising nighttime trick) How the Core Health device works: a simple weekly finger-stick test from home The feedback loop concept: how seeing your own data creates self-efficacy and behavior change Whether inflammation can precede a relapse — and what the data currently shows How ESR compares to a continuous glucose monitor (CGM) as a recovery tool Bob's thoughts on the Theranos dream — and whether democratized blood diagnostics is truly possible The future of non-invasive glucose monitoring and wearable health tech 🍒 BOB'S ANTI-INFLAMMATORY TIPS FROM THE EPISODE: Tart cherry juice (4 oz before bed — also improves sleep!) Ketogenic eating patterns Vegan dietary approaches Quality sleep Cold plunges Grounding practices 🔗 LEARN MORE & GET THE DEVICE: 🌐 Core Health Website: Home - COR Health 📬 CONNECT WITH FOOD JUNKIES: 📧 Email: foodjunkiespodcast@gmail.com 🌐 Website: foodjunkiespodcast.com If this episode sparked your curiosity, please leave us a review and share it with someone in recovery who might benefit from understanding the inflammation connection. 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.

Can you eat plant-based and still avoid sugar, carbs, and ultra-processed foods? In this episode of Food Junkies, Dr. Vera Tarman is joined by Adina Mullen, plant-based chef, author of Vegan Flavors of the World, and founder of Adina's Delicacies, to explore whether vegetarian or vegan eating can truly support food addiction recovery, low-sugar living, and even plant-based keto—without deprivation or rebound eating. Adina brings a deeply grounded, real-world approach to plant-based cooking rooted in whole foods, cultural traditions, flavor, and satisfaction. This conversation goes beyond diet rules to focus on nourishment, satiety, and sustainability, especially for people healing their relationship with food. 🌱 What You'll Learn in This Episode ✔️ Is plant-based keto actually possible? ✔️ Why many people fail on plant-based diets (and how to avoid rebound eating) ✔️ The difference between vegetarian, vegan, and whole-food plant-based ✔️ How to feel satisfied without sugar or ultra-processed foods ✔️ Best plant-based protein sources, including options for people on GLP-1s ✔️ Why preparation and texture matter more than restriction ✔️ How culture, memory, and comfort foods support long-term recovery ✔️ Common mistakes that leave people hungry, depleted, or triggered 🧠 Key Topics Covered 🥑 Plant-Based Keto & Low-Sugar Eating Adina explains how low-carb, low-sugar plant-based eating can work using whole foods like vegetables, avocados, olive oil, coconut oil, tofu, and seeds—while also naming why keto isn't sustainable for everyone. 🥦 Why "Vegan" Doesn't Always Mean Healthy Removing animal products and replacing them with ultra-processed vegan foods often leads to hunger, instability, and relapse. Whole foods, structure, and adequate fat and protein matter—especially in food addiction recovery. 🍲 Flavor, Texture & Satisfaction Roasting vs boiling, crispy textures, homemade dressings, sauces, and slow cooking are key to making vegetables feel grounding and satisfying—not like deprivation food. 🌍 Culture, Memory & Healing Food isn't just fuel. Adina shares how honoring cultural and traditional meals—without animal products—helps people feel emotionally nourished and connected. 💪 Protein for Plant-Based & GLP-1 Users Includes discussion of: TVP (textured vegetable protein) Tofu & tempeh Nuts and seeds (chia, flax, hemp, pumpkin) Smart prep for digestion and satiety 📘 About the Guest: Adina Mullen Adina Mullen is a plant-based private chef and founder of Adina's Delicacies, specializing in gourmet vegan cuisine inspired by global flavors, heritage, and memory. She is the author of Vegan Flavors of the World, featuring plant-based adaptations of traditional dishes from 12 countries, with a second volume coming soon. ✨ Key Takeaways Healing doesn't come from fighting food—it comes from letting food support you Steadiness matters more than perfection Satisfaction, fat, protein, and flavor are not optional in recovery You don't need more rules—you need nourishment, warmth, and trust 🔔 Subscribe for More Conversations Like This If you're navigating food addiction recovery, low-sugar living, plant-based nutrition, or metabolic health, subscribe to Food Junkies for evidence-based, compassionate conversations that go deeper than diet culture. ▶️ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@FoodJunkiesPodcast 💌 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.

Is there a built-in "fat switch" in our genes—something nature designed to help us store fat for survival? And if so, what does that mean for food addicts living in a world saturated with ultra-processed food? In this episode, Dr. Vera Tarman sits down with Dr. Richard Johnson, Professor Emeritus at the University of Colorado, former Chief of the Division of Renal Diseases and Hypertension, author of The Sugar Fix, The Fat Switch, and Nature Wants Us to Be Fat, and a researcher with 700+ scientific papers to his name. Dr. Johnson explains how fructose (from sugar and high-fructose corn syrup—but also produced inside the body under certain conditions) can activate a powerful metabolic pathway that increases hunger, lowers cellular energy, and shifts calories toward fat storage. He connects this to uric acid, salt, high-glycemic carbohydrates, and the modern "perfect storm" of ultra-processed foods engineered to intensify cravings. Together, they explore the evolutionary logic of fat storage, why visceral fat may have had survival value, why "calories in/calories out" fails to explain the whole picture, and what practical steps can help people restore metabolic flexibility—including carbohydrate reduction, movement that supports mitochondrial health, and the emerging role of GLP-1 medications as a tool (not a replacement) for nutrition change. What You'll Learn 🔥Why Dr. Johnson argues sugar isn't "just a calorie," and how fructose changes metabolism differently 🔥The role of uric acid in blood pressure, metabolic disease, and the fructose pathway 🔥How salt + starch + fat can amplify the "fat switch" (and why chips and fries are a perfect example) 🔥Why the body can make fructose from glucose, even if you aren't eating fructose directly 🔥The survival biology behind fat storage—and why visceral fat may have had an adaptive purpose 🔥How insulin resistance can be a short-term protective mechanism (and how modern life turns it chronic) 🔥Why low-carb approaches may "reboot" sugar absorption and cravings in as little as 7–14 days 🔥What Dr. Johnson believes is a major dietary driver of Alzheimer's risk 🔥How to support mitochondria through movement and nutrition 🔥Dr. Johnson's perspective on GLP-1s: benefits, limits, and relapse risk after stopping Resources Mentioned Dr. Richard Johnson's books: The Sugar Fix, The Fat Switch, Nature Wants Us to Be Fat About Our Guest Dr. Richard Johnson is Professor Emeritus at the University of Colorado, a former Chief of Renal Diseases and Hypertension, and the author of The Sugar Fix, The Fat Switch, and Nature Wants Us to Be Fat. His research explores how sugar—particularly fructose—drives kidney disease, hypertension, diabetes, and obesity, and how modern food environments may overactivate ancient survival pathways. If this episode helped you understand your cravings or your biology with more clarity and less shame, please share it with a friend, leave a review, and subscribe so more people can find recovery-focused science. ✉️ Email us: foodjunkiespodcast@gmail.com Follow us on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@FoodJunkiesPodcast 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, Molly and Clarissa welcome back Dr. Ann Saffi Biasetti for a rich, grounded conversation on body forgiveness and why it can be a turning point in embodied healing. Drawing on her clinical work, research, and lived experience, Ann shares that "forgiving your body" isn't a mental exercise or forced positivity—it's a felt shift that helps move people from control and correction toward listening, trust, and reconciliation with the body as an ally. Ann also introduces themes from her upcoming book, Your Body Never Meant You Any Harm: A Somatic Guide to Forgiving and Healing Your Relationship With Your Body, and revisits the foundation of her work from Befriending Your Body—offering an informed, non-pathologizing approach for anyone healing from disordered eating, chronic dieting, trauma, shame, illness, or body distrust. What you'll hear in this episode How Ann's postpartum autoimmune illness became a doorway into deeper embodiment—and body advocacy The difference between interoceptive awareness (noticing signals) and standing up for your body when you're dismissed Why embodiment is a psychospiritual construct—and how "being beside your body" can be a practical starting point How to tell the difference between mind fear-stories and what your body is actually communicating Entry points for people who feel body connection is inaccessible: curiosity, regulation, and "giving your body a chance" What it means to find your center—and why being "off-center" fuels critical thoughts and body war How diet culture targets predictable times of day when people feel more vulnerable in body image A clear breakdown: body forgiveness vs body acceptance vs body neutrality Why pushing the body to "comply" before safety and trust are built can feel re-traumatizing The clinical risk of "behavioral recovery" without embodiment—and why unresolved embodiment work can look like "relapse" or "symptom swapping." Ann's powerful reframe for "my body failed me" (and the deeper words that often live underneath that phrase) Memorable takeaways Body forgiveness is not forced forgiveness. It's a mind–heart shift that often arises from understanding, regulation, and compassion rather than effort. Curiosity is an access point. It creates space where judgment collapses and new options become possible. Words land in the body. Shifting language (from "failed me" to "became unwell," "changed," "declined," "disappointed," "let me down") can soften the adversarial stance and open an embodied conversation. Mentioned in this episode Befriending Your Body (Ann's book and the evidence-informed compassion-based program) Your Body Never Meant You Any Harm (Ann's forthcoming book on somatic body forgiveness) Embodiment as a "container" for recovery (not just behavior change) Self-compassion components (mindfulness, common humanity, kindness) as supports for body repair For listeners who want to go deeper If you've ever felt like your body is the problem—or you've done everything "right" and still feel distrust—this conversation offers a different path: not fixing the body, but rebuilding relationship with it. Ann's approach emphasizes safety, steadiness, and the kind of compassion that can hold grief, regret, and shame without getting stuck there. Subscribe / Follow / Share If this episode resonates, please follow the podcast and share it with someone who needs a kinder, truer framework for healing their relationship with their body. 💌 EMAIL us at foodjunkiespodcast@gmail.com Don't forget - we are on Youtube! https://www.youtube.com/@FoodJunkiesPodcast 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.