The Health Profession and Food Addiction, Part 2

My late nite snack

As we have noted before, not every MD in history has recoiled from the food addiction paradigm. A few shining lights have gone on record, and risked being thought of as cranks, or worse.

Sobriety coach Cynthia Perkins is the author of Get Sober Stay Sober: The Truth About Alcoholism. With 21 years of “uninterrupted and craving-free sobriety,” Perkins is living proof of the validity of Dr. Theron Randolph’s ideas. At PlanetThrive, she honors the memory and achievements of this physician who truly strove to understand addiction.

Dr. Randolph taught that cravings originate in neurotransmitters that are deficient or malfunctioning, and the root of addiction is the same whether the substance of choice is alcohol, caffeine, sugar, carbohydrates, methamphetamine, nicotine, or even gambling.

In order for addiction recovery to take place, balance needs to be restored to the neurotransmitters. What causes the unbalanced functioning of neurotransmitters? Here is the list, as conveyed by Perkins:

… [N]utritional deficiencies, candida overgrowth, hypoglycemia, food allergy or sensitivity, healing child abuse issues, hypothyroidism, sugar, caffeine and nicotine and environmental toxins… Our main goal in recovery from any addiction, is to keep the neurotransmitters in balance.

Environmental toxins may exert the worst influence, because they are seldom suspected, and they are usually far beyond our control. When neurotransmitters and reward pathways are out of whack, humans could get sick physically and emotionally, including getting addicted. When the dopamine, serotonin, acetylcholine and norepinephrine are wonky, the habits and behavior will be too.

Perkins gives a blood-chilling example of how this works, according to Dr. Randolph’s discoveries:

If an alcoholic, drug addict, sugar addict etc., who is in recovery works as a pest exterminator or spends time on a golf course that are notoriously polluted with herbicides or has their apartment fumigated for cockroaches, then their neurotransmitters are inhibited and symptoms of anxiety, depression, irritability and confusion develop and then they have cravings for sugar, carbohydrates, caffeine or alcohol and/or drugs to get relief.

Dr. Theron Randolph observed and articulated the complex relationship between food sensitivities, chemical sensitivities, allergies, and addiction. He is called the grandfather of environmental medicine, and although he might have been considered a fanatic, we have him to thank for some of the awareness, and even some of the legislation, that has helped make the world a bit less dangerous.

Another medical maverick was Dr. Douglas Hunt, who specialized in allergies, hormone imbalance, phobias, and obesity, and who had become one of the world’s recognized experts on food addiction. In 1987, when his book No More Cravings was published, Dr. Hunt had treated 50,000 patients, including probably plenty of show business celebrities, because he was headquartered in Southern California. He used to have his own radio show, Alive in L.A. with Dr. Hunt.

Despite being a medical doctor with three years of psychiatric training and a special interest in nutrition — and despite being a qualified and the establishment-approved weight control expert — Dr. Hunt could not help himself or control his addictions. He was in bondage to chocolate and soda pop, which were, he wrote,

[… ] constantly associated in a vicious circle, as chronic and dangerous to my health as any heroin or cocaine habit.

Because of his own experience, he believed that there is such thing as actual physical dependency on certain foods, often very specific ones. One of his patients hid cheese sandwiches everywhere, even in her underwear drawer, so she wouldn’t run short. Another woman was fiercely addicted to apple fritters; and one of his male patients was enslaved to baked goods with added cream cheese and peanut butter.

Baffled by the terrible strength of these consuming passions, Dr. Hunt decided to start from scratch, and devised nutritional solutions that freed many people, including himself, from their addictions. He believed that drug and food addictions, while not identical, are very similar. He saw imbalances as caused by food allergies, vitamin or mineral deficiencies, and what he called “the ultimate unbalancer,” stress.

He, too, identified the problem as out-of-order brain chemical transmissions causing internal miscommunication. For instance, a grossly obese person’s body might be sending messages to the brain that it is starving, so the brain sends messages back to the body saying, “Grab that food and stuff it in your mouth.”

Not with willpower alone, but with carefully chosen and calibrated mineral supplements, Dr. Hunt had quit cold-turkey his two main problem foods — and never looked back.

Your responses and feedback are welcome!

Source: “Environmental Toxins and Addiction,” PlanetThrive, 11/03/09
Image by Cl@re Bear, used under its Creative Commons license.

2 Responses

  1. Hi Pat
    I totally agree – food can be as addicting as drugs and alcohol – I see it all the time!
    Addressing the nutritional deficiency, neurotransmitter imbalance, food intolerance, toxicity etc is key, rather than just relying on willpower alone!
    I’ve had great success with amino acids (read The Mood Cure by Julia Ross) while dealing with the above issues.
    Sugar and carb cravings disappear, weight-loss occurs easily and mood improves dramatically too (and often sleep and energy too).
    Trudy

Leave a Reply to Pat Hartman Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

FAQs and Media Requests: Click here…

Profiles: Kids Struggling with Weight

Profiles: Kids Struggling with Obesity top bottom

The Book

OVERWEIGHT: What Kids Say explores the obesity problem from the often-overlooked perspective of children struggling with being overweight.

About Dr. Robert A. Pretlow

Dr. Robert A. Pretlow is a pediatrician and childhood obesity specialist. He has been researching and spreading awareness on the childhood obesity epidemic in the US for more than a decade.
You can contact Dr. Pretlow at:

Presentations

Dr. Pretlow’s invited presentation at the American Society of Animal Science 2020 Conference
What’s Causing Obesity in Companion Animals and What Can We Do About It

Dr. Pretlow’s invited presentation at the World Obesity Federation 2019 Conference:
Food/Eating Addiction and the Displacement Mechanism

Dr. Pretlow’s Multi-Center Clinical Trial Kick-off Speech 2018:
Obesity: Tackling the Root Cause

Dr. Pretlow’s 2017 Workshop on
Treatment of Obesity Using the Addiction Model

Dr. Pretlow’s invited presentation for
TEC and UNC 2016

Dr. Pretlow’s invited presentation at the 2015 Obesity Summit in London, UK.

Dr. Pretlow’s invited keynote at the 2014 European Childhood Obesity Group Congress in Salzburg, Austria.

Dr. Pretlow’s presentation at the 2013 European Congress on Obesity in Liverpool, UK.

Dr. Pretlow’s presentation at the 2011 International Conference on Childhood Obesity in Lisbon, Portugal.

Dr. Pretlow’s presentation at the 2010 Uniting Against Childhood Obesity Conference in Houston, TX.

Food & Health Resources