About this episode

Brian Baumal discusses his journey with food addiction and the impact of perfectionism and shame on recovery.

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…

People in this episode

Host: Clarissa Kennedy

Guest: Brian Baumal

Topics covered

• perfectionism
• shame
• food addiction recovery
• eating disorders
• weight management
• diet culture

Keywords

• food addiction
• perfectionism
• shame
• eating disorders
• weight management
• bariatric surgery
• Gestalt therapy

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Aliva Psychotherapy, Gestalt Institute of Toronto, College of Registered Psychotherapists of Ontario

More episodes of Food Junkies Podcast

• Food Junkies Recovery Stories Episode36: Lára Pedersen · July 13, 2026 · 40 min
• Episode 288: Susan Peirce Thompson, PhD — Six-Year Outcomes, GLP-1s & the Identity Shifts Behind Lasting Recovery · July 2, 2026 · 58 min
• Episode 287: Dr. Jason Fung | Is Fasting Safe for the Food Addict? · June 25, 2026 · 58 min
• Food Junkies Recovery Stories Episode 35: Keren · June 22, 2026 · 37 min
• Episode 286: Glenn Livingston | Never Binge Again — Taming the Voice That Drives You to Eat · June 18, 2026 · 59 min
• Episode 285: Dr. Radka Toms | Can Your Eye Doctor Spot Sugar Damage Before Your Blood Work? · June 11, 2026 · 51 min

Explore listener stats, chart rankings, contacts and more on the Food Junkies Podcast podcast page.