Kim Dennis Board Member Email SunCloud Health Kim Dennis, MD, is a double board-certified psychiatrist (psychiatry and addiction medicine). She specializes in treating eating disorders, addiction, trauma, and complex co-occurring psychiatric disorders. She maintains a holistic and integrated treatment philosophy, incorporating the biological, psychological, social and spiritual approaches into trauma-informed, personalized treatment plans. She is the co-founder, chief medical officer, and CEO of SunCloud Health. She obtained her medical degree from the University of Chicago, Pritzker School of Medicine, and completed her psychiatry residency training at the University of Chicago Hospitals, where she served as chief resident. Dr. Dennis is also a clinical assistant professor at the University of Illinois Chicago in the Department of Psychiatry. She serves as a board member for Sero Mental Health, chief medical officer at Sero Mental Health, a member of NEDA’s Clinical Advisory Council, a member of the American Association of Pediatrics Eating Disorders and Obesity Workgroup, clinical advisory council for ANAD, and leads the research lab at SCH. Dr. Dennis regularly speaks on the intersection of trauma, medical comorbidities, eating disorders, substance use disorders and Food Addiction at conferences, on podcasts and webinars, locally, nationally and internationally. She brings lived experience to her work as a physician with long-term recovery from Food Addiction, an eating disorder, AUD, and trauma.
Nancy Kaley
Nancy Kaley Board Member Email COR Retreat Nancy Kaley, BS, LADC, is a licensed alcohol and drug counselor with 30 years’ experience supporting individuals in recovery across outpatient, residential, and co‑occurring treatment settings. She has been sober since 1988. She has been COR Retreat’s program director and facilitator since 2018. Her connection to COR began years earlier as a participant in 2014, an experience that led to a sustained 110‑pound weight loss, improved health, freedom from food obsession, and a renewed sense of joy, purpose, and empowerment. Nancy’s personal and professional commitment to recovery is grounded in the 12‑Step model and a deep understanding of the physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual dimensions of addiction. She is especially passionate about the sacred, collective work that happens in groups and the profound shifts that emerge when people heal together. She is known for her ability to create safe, transformative group environments where honesty, connection, and fellowship support meaningful change. Her approach blends direct, compassionate guidance with humor and humanity — qualities that help participants move from despair toward hope. COR participants often quote her well‑known motto, “Don’t f#$k with the food plan,” a reminder of the seriousness of Food Addiction and the importance of unwavering commitment, balanced with the healing power of laughter. Throughout her career, Nancy has worked extensively with both women and men, developing a nuanced understanding of their unique experiences in recovery. Outside her professional life, Nancy enjoys time with her three adult sons, grandchildren, extended family, friends, and the many fellows she has met over 37 years in recovery communities. Her interests include exercise, live music, riding her vintage Yamaha motorcycle, reading, and writing.
Bunmi Aboaba
Bunmi Aboaba Board Member Email Dr. Bunmi Aboaba is a global wellness strategist and human performance consultant with over a decade of experience in wellness and executive optimization, and a Certified Food Addiction Counselor. She is the creator of the R4 Method (Reset, Regulate, Rewire, Reclaim), a framework for nervous system regulation, and author of “Craving Freedom, the R4 Method for Overcoming Food Addiction,” a guide drawing on her own recovery and clinical experience to help readers understand and break free from Food Addiction. A former strategic partner with UK Active, she has worked to bring awareness of sugar and ultra-processed food addiction to fitness organizations. Her current mission is to raise awareness of Food Addiction within the GLP-1 medicated weight loss community.
Denise Force
Denise Force Board member Email Denise Force is a Doctor of Nursing Practice–prepared Adult-Gerontology Nurse Practitioner and Certified Diabetes Care and Education Specialist with more than 20 years of nursing experience and extensive expertise in diabetes, obesity, and metabolic health. Throughout her career, Denise has worked with thousands of individuals living with diabetes, insulin resistance, obesity, and metabolic syndrome. Her clinical experience has led her to recognize what she believes is a strong and often underappreciated connection between Food Addiction and many chronic metabolic diseases. She has seen how addictive responses to highly processed foods can drive weight gain, worsen glycemic control, and contribute to the progression of diabetes despite a patient’s sincere efforts to improve their health. Denise is passionate about increasing awareness of Food Addiction among healthcare professionals and the public. She believes that identifying and treating Food Addiction can play an important role in preventing and improving obesity, type 2 diabetes, and related metabolic conditions. Denise earned her Doctor of Nursing Practice degree from Rutgers School of Nursing and works in metabolic health and diabetes care, helping patients achieve lasting improvements through education, nutrition, and evidence-based lifestyle interventions.
Acknowledgment for Food Addiction, need for policy changes
Respondents say Food Addiction is real, and public policy change might be needed This is a reprint of an
People with Food Addiction May Be the Most Under-Tested Group in Mental Health
Rather than willpower, it might be your biology By David Wiss, PhD, RDN, IFMCP The field of Food Addiction has come a long way. Many of us are now proposing the term Ultra-Processed Food Use Disorder to align with DSM-5 terminology. What was once dismissed as a lack of willpower — or worse, a moral failing — is now recognized as a legitimate neurobiological phenomenon with measurable behavioral, psychological, and biological signatures. That progress is real. It has given language to experiences that were previously invisible. But progress has a next step. And for too many people struggling with compulsive eating, that next step is biological precision. If you’ve struggled with compulsive eating, you’ve probably heard it all. Just eat less. Try harder. Get to therapy. Maybe you have tried therapy, medication, support groups, and elimination diets. Maybe some of it helped. But if you’re still stuck in the cycle, here’s something most providers have never said to you: the problem might not be willpower; it might be your biology. And your biology has almost certainly never been fully tested. Food Addiction lives at a fascinating and often frustrating intersection of psychology and physiology. What rarely done is to look upstream. The literature on adverse childhood experiences is unambiguous — trauma reshapes the body’s stress response systems in ways that drive compulsive behavior for years, sometimes decades. This isn’t just psychological. It’s immunological, hormonal, and gastrointestinal. When someone eats compulsively in response to stress, they’re often medicating a nervous system that was dysregulated long before the eating patterns began. Whether someone presents with binge eating, rigid restriction, or classic Food Addiction, the underlying biology often shows a similar pattern of disruption: dysregulated dopamine signaling, a compromised gut microbiome, elevated inflammatory markers, blunted cortisol response, and nutritional deficiencies that quietly sabotage the neurotransmitter systems people are trying to fix with food. The specific pattern — and therefore the repair strategy — depends on the individual’s history, neurodevelopment, and genetics. This is the premise I built FxMed Mental Health around. Precision assessment should precede treatment planning, not follow years of failed attempts. We run comprehensive specialty lab panels that assess gut permeability, food sensitivities, nutrient status, hormone rhythms, genetic variants affecting neurotransmitter metabolism, and markers of systemic inflammation. For people with Food Addiction, this testing often reveals what conventional providers have missed: zinc and magnesium deficiencies that undermine impulse control, elevated zonulin indicating gut barrier compromise, cortisol patterns consistent with HPA axis dysregulation, and genetic variations that help explain why standard interventions haven’t worked. What’s built on that foundation isn’t simply a supplement protocol. It’s a care plan that integrates functional medicine with psychiatry, psychology, and — for those for whom it’s meaningful — spirituality. The relational and meaning-making dimensions of recovery that the addiction field has long understood to be essential remain central. Community, accountability, purpose — these aren’t replaced by a lab panel. They’re supported by one. When the biological load is reduced, the emotional and spiritual work people have been doing often finally gains the traction it deserves. Food Addiction and eating disorders share more than symptom overlap. They share root causes. And those root causes deserve a real investigation — not just another referral to a framework designed for someone with an entirely different biological profile. You’re not broken. You’re likely under-tested. David Wiss, PhD, RDN, FMCP, is a functional medicine clinician and mental health researcher who specializes in identifying biological root causes that conventional care often misses — because most people aren’t treatment-resistant; they’re just undertested. His work is grounded not only in rigorous science but in a deep respect for the healing intelligence encoded in living systems. Dr. Wiss has authored more than 30 peer-reviewed publications, and his research has been cited in The New York Times, National Geographic, and Washington Post.
Food Addiction on The LowCarbMD podcast
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1SFiKkHSNlYDrs. Tro Kalayjian and Brian Lenzkes, hosts of their LowCarbMD podcast for eight years, invited in Michael Prager, the institute’s chairman, for a discussion titled, “Eating in the Age of Addiction.” In addition to other topics, they discussed the volume and pace of Food Addiction research, practical tips for dealing with FA, and addressed Dr. Tro’s question about whether he should give up his rage.
Video: Ultra processed foods — What counts, what doesn’t, and why it matters
Dr. Maya Vadiveloo might know a thing or two about ultra-processed foods. She is a Ph.D. registered dietitian, and associate professor of nutrition at the University of Rhode Island. She’s also chair of the nutrition committee at the American Heart Association. Some things she said:
GLP-1s: What’s available, what’s coming, and why they’re not a magic bullet
Medication Brand Name(s) Form & Frequency Target Mechanism FDA Status Typical Weight Loss Notes Semaglutide Ozempic, Wegovy, Wegovy HD Weekly injection; oral daily tablet GLP-1 Approved 10–15% (HD dose higher) Wegovy HD recently approved; oral version available Tirzepatide Mounjaro, Zepbound Weekly injection GLP-1 & GIP Approved 15–20% Dual-agonist for enhanced metabolic effect Liraglutide Victoza, Saxenda Daily injection GLP-1 Approved 5–10% Older GLP-1, generic options increasing access Orforglipron Foundayo Daily oral pill GLP-1 Approved April 1 10–20% (early data) Non-peptide, oral convenience Retatrutide N/A Weekly injection (in trials) GLP-1, GIP, Glucagon Phase 3 >20% Triple-agonist, not yet FDA approved CagriSema N/A Weekly injection GLP-1 + Amylin analog Phase 3 15–20% Combination therapy, engaging multiple satiety pathways GLP‑1s: What’s available, what’s coming, and why they’re not a magic bullet By Asha ValorAnyone, but especially people tuned into weight loss, would have to be living under a rock to be unaware of GLP-1 receptor agonists, a hormone that slows digestion, reduces appetite, and helps regulate blood sugar. One in eight Americans are said to have tried them. But being aware and being informed about them are not the same, especially in a field that, though popular, is still developing. Several GLP‑1 medications are approved in the United States. Semaglutide, sold as Ozempic for diabetes and Wegovy for chronic weight management, is administered via weekly injection. A high-dose version, Wegovy HD, recently approved by the FDA, delivers a dose triple that of the previous formulation, resulting in greater average weight loss in clinical studies. Semaglutide is also available as a tablet, giving patients a daily pill option. Tirzepatide, marketed as Mounjaro for diabetes and Zepbound for weight loss, takes a different approach by activating both GLP-1 and GIP receptors, thereby enhancing metabolic effects beyond those of traditional GLP-1 therapies. Liraglutide, an older GLP-1 drug delivered daily via injection, is sold as Victoza for diabetes and Saxenda for weight management, with generic versions now increasing access and affordability. The next generation of medications, none of them yet approved by the US Food and Drug Administration, promises even more. Retatrutide, often described as a “triple-agonist,” simultaneously targets GLP-1, glucagon receptors, and GIP (glucose-dependent insulinotropic polypeptide). Data suggest potential weight reductions exceeding 20 percent, far surpassing earlier treatments. CagriSema, combining semaglutide with the amylin-analog cagrilintide, has also shown promising results in Phase 3 trials. Eli Lilly’s Orforglipron, a daily oral GLP-1 with a brand name of Foundayo, was approved by the FDA April 1. Long-term adherence to these drugs remains a challenge. Nausea, gastrointestinal discomfort, and other effects lead patients to discontinue therapy. Weight regain after stopping the medication is common, underscoring that GLP-1s work best alongside sustained lifestyle changes. Cost and insurance coverage further complicate ongoing use.
GLP-1 “non-responders”
About 10 percent of those who take Wegovy, Zepbound, etc. do not experience the results they seek, according to a New York Times article. “Over 15 months on Zepbound, Ms. Layeux lost only a pound or two. ‘“’No matter what I do, these “miracle drugs”’” don’t work,’ she said. “GLP-1 drugs like Zepbound have helped millions of people shed significant weight. But then there are the often-overlooked outliers: In clinical trials, about one in 10 people on the drugs were “non-responders,” losing less than 5 percent of their body weight, compared with the average of 15 to 21 percent. With so much attention on the benefits of these drugs, the experiences of non-responders are often overlooked. “For these patients, it can be maddening to see no weight loss after months of treatment and thousands of dollars spent.”