frequently asked questions:
Sugar & Food Addiction Course
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The video lessons and interactive live sessions are presented by Vera Tarman, MD.
Dr. Tarman is a physician who specializes in treating addiction. Her mission is to educate the public as well as other medical professionals in the biology of food addiction and how the clinical syndrome of sugar and flour addiction can be as treacherous as addiction to alcohol or tobacco. She is the author of Food Junkies: Recovery from Food Addiction and co-hosts the Food Junkies Podcast. She is the Medical Director of one of Canada’s largest treatment centers for substance abuse and has spearheaded two unique treatment programs for residential and outpatient food addiction. Most importantly, as a recovering food addict herself, Dr. Tarman walks the walk: she has abstained completely from sugar and flour for over a decade and is maintaining a 100-pound weight loss.
Yes! Dr. Tarman cannot provide personalized medical advice, but questions about sugar and food addiction, binge eating, food plans and recovery options are most welcome. In fact, that’s what the live, interactive Zoom sessions with Dr. Tarman and the food addiction counselors are for! (For questions of a medical nature, always work with your own physician, with whom you have an established doctor-patient relationship.)
If you’re not able to join the live Zoom sessions due to schedule conflicts or a difference in time zone, all live sessions will be recorded and added to your student portal the following day. (Replays will also be sent to you via email.) So even if you can’t be there live, you will be able to watch the sessions afterward.
Yes, absolutely. Simply send us an email with your question and Dr. Tarman or one of the certified food addiction counselors will answer it during one of the Zoom sessions or reply to you privately.
Not at all. In fact, the course is designed to help you create your own unique plan if needed, completely tailored to the foods and food behaviors that work best to help you break free from addiction. Many recovering food addicts find that abstaining from sugar and flour is a critical part of their recovery; others find that being very low-carb across the board—such as with a ketogenic diet—is even more effective. However, the Sugar and Food Addiction course does not require you to follow any specific plan or food list. The goal is to give you the information you need to create a plan of your own: one you can follow and enjoy for long-term success.
Absolutely! Many people find it difficult to adhere to a ketogenic diet even when they know which foods to eat and which to avoid. Education about the biology of addiction is often missing from conventional teaching about keto, and this may lead to continued use (and abuse) of low-carb substitutes for highly addictive foods, such as keto ice cream, keto brownies, keto cookies, etc. Other people struggle with compulsive overeating even with whole, unprocessed low-carb foods, such as meat and vegetables. Learning about the addictive nature of specific foods and ingredients, and addiction to certain behavioral patterns around food, can help you customize and personalize your keto diet—or any other food plan—to get results with weight loss and improved health that have eluded you so far.
Sugar and Food Addiction is suitable for laypeople and professionals alike. The course presents high-level science in a down-to-earth manner that delivers actionable education and information for both patients and providers. In fact, medical and nutrition/dietetics professionals are encouraged to enroll. Discussion of food and sugar addiction is often missing from clinical practice, and your patients will be the direct beneficiaries of the knowledge and strategies you will gain from this course.
Yes! We know that the “tech” can feel a bit intimidating, but rest assured, it’s very simple. We want all of our students to have a seamless experience, so if you run into any difficulty, simply send us an email and our tech support team will be happy to assist you.
The course is yours to keep! You will be able to log in to your student portal anytime to watch the video lessons even after the course is finished. Additionally, the pdf resources, video transcripts, and all other written content in your student portal are yours to keep permanently. You can download them and save it, and even print it out if you prefer to have hard copies. The video lessons are not downloadable, but the written transcripts are, and again, you can re-watch the video lessons at any time even long after the course ends, including the interactive live sessions.
