Category: Food Addiction

The food addiction paradigm is a primary cause of the childhood and adult obesity epidemic. Highly pleasurable foods, such as junk food and fast food, can be addictive. Posts in this section explore food addiction and its impact on obesity.

Lisa Lampanelli and “Stuffed”

December 28, 2017
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Standup comedian Lisa Lampanelli’s play “Stuffed” revolves around women and their food and body-image issues.

Hefty Humor

December 27, 2017
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But if fat is officially not funny an awful lot of professional comedians have not received the memo.

An Obesity Treatment Paradigm Shift?

December 26, 2017
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FOMO is a treatable problem that can be approached in a number of ways by allied healthcare providers who are neither MDs nor psychiatrists.

Some Eating-Disordered Thoughts

December 22, 2017
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Many mental disorders evolve from common roots, and mental health professionals are eminently equipped to treat compulsive overeating and under-eating.

Will the Mental Health Pros Answer the Call?

December 21, 2017
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Even though it’s not established that obesity is an addictive process, this does not preclude using an addiction-model methods, proved effective to treat it.

Where Does Psychiatry Stand?

December 19, 2017
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Since most obesity results from overeating, which should be defined as an eating disorder, is it most effectively treated by the mental health professionals?

Loss Aversion and Manipulation

December 8, 2017
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Disordered overeating and obesity in youth stem from psychological problems. Disordered overeating that leads to obesity is, by definition, an eating disorder.

Obesity Is Shrink Territory

December 5, 2017
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Dr. Pretlow makes a good case for the idea that obesity is primarily a psychological problem, and even a layperson knows that depression leads to overeating.

Dr. Pretlow’s WPA World Congress Message

December 4, 2017
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Is obesity an eating disorder? Yes. Obesity and caloric intake are inextricably entwined, but it’s also possible for people who don’t overeat to become obese.

Escape From FOMO

December 1, 2017
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To overcome FOMO, abolish the scarcity mindset and cultivate the abundance mindset. Bring mindfulness to the table for every meal.

Good News From “Eating Disorders: The Journal of Treatment & Prevention”

November 17, 2017
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Dr. Pretlow’s article, “Addiction to Highly Pleasurable Food as a Cause of the Childhood Obesity Epidemic…” was named one of the top 25 articles by EDJTP.

What Is Ecological Momentary Assessment For?

November 15, 2017
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Part data-collection technique and part therapeutic modality, Ecological Momentary Assessment is adaptable to many situations, including treating obesity.

The Manly Art of Portion Weighing

November 6, 2017
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In developing the W8Loss2Go addiction approach for weight loss, Dr. Pretlow has noticed that some kids resist weighing their food portions.

Food Portions — Why Weigh?

November 3, 2017
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The steps of the W8Loss2Go program are withdrawal from problem foods, withdrawal from snacking or grazing, and food scale-weighing.

Dictators, Addiction, and Urge-Surfing

November 1, 2017
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Often kids seem unable to figure out how to entertain themselves except through recreational eating.

What Is Urge-Surfing?

October 30, 2017
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Young people are fed up with nutrition information. What they cry out for is a way to cope with the desire to overeat.

Dr. Robert Pretlow at the Symposium

October 25, 2017
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Can inpatient rehab methods that treat childhood obesity be replicated in a way that makes them widely available at a lower cost?

Dr. Fernando Fernandez-Aranda at the Symposium

October 24, 2017
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Dr. Fernando Fernandez-Aranda spoke at the WPA symposium on the traits shared by patients with obesity and eating disorders.

Dr. Caroline Davis at the Symposium

October 23, 2017
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Dr. Caroline Davis, who co-chaired a WPA symposium with Dr. Pretlow, believes compulsive overeating can be successfully treated with addiction-based methods.

Dr. Nicole Avena at the Symposium

October 20, 2017
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At the WPA symposium Dr. Avena talked about physiological similarities between drug and food addictions and looking at overeating through the lens of addiction.

Dr. Pretlow’s WPA World Congress Symposium

October 19, 2017
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Dr. Pretlow would like to see more psychiatrists and psychologists regard disordered overeating and the consequent obesity as a psychological problem.

Psychiatry, Psychology, Obesity

October 18, 2017
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Is obesity a psychological or physical issue? It’s time to take a hard look and think about where, among the confusing plethora of terminology, it might belong.

Obesity and Food Addiction Terminology Roundup

October 16, 2017
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Language matters. There is an obesity epidemic, and there is nothing wrong with calling it that.

BFRBs, the Dual Evil of Soda, and Cosmic Big Mama Cat

October 13, 2017
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How much of what we call motor activity, including eating as a tension-relieving BFRB, is a perverse response to touch deprivation?

Relationship Between Food Addiction and BED

October 12, 2017
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Whether compulsive eating is a substance addiction or a behavioral addiction, the results are pretty much the same: obesity and assorted co-morbidities.

Peripheral Professions in Obesity Treatment

October 9, 2017
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Once the parents grasp the fact that their child is obese, how does a primary care physician decide what advice to give them?

More on Addiction Terminology

October 2, 2017
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Is something is missing from the latest edition of the DSM-5? It’s strangely silent on the most prevalent eating disorder on the planet — food addiction.

Questions of Terminology for Obesity and Addiction

September 28, 2017
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Since disordered overeating so often leads to obesity — why isn’t obesity considered a psychological problem — and an eating disorder?

Types of Bias in Treating Obesity

September 26, 2017
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One of the problems with treating obesity is getting some medical professionals on board with compassion for the pain of obese patients and their challenges.

Functional Medicine and Obesity

September 22, 2017
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Trauma and epidemics are different from chronic illness because nothing is more subjective than chronic illness, and every case is rife with individual factors.

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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