In this powerful episode of Food Junkies, we're joined by Amber Romaniuk, emotional eating and digestive health expert, to unpack the real drivers behind binge eating, food addiction, and the relentless restrict–overeat cycle.

Amber shares her personal recovery journey from binge eating, bulimia, and food addiction—and explains why lasting healing requires more than another diet or food plan. Together, we explore how hormones, thyroid function, nervous system stress, and shame shape our relationship with food in ways most people are never taught.

This conversation is especially important for women who feel like they "know better" but still struggle—and wonder why nothing seems to stick.

🎯 In this episode, we cover:

• Why emotional eating is communication, not a lack of willpower
• How cortisol, thyroid dysfunction, and low progesterone can drive cravings and binge cycles
• Why fasting, restriction, and over-exercise often worsen food addiction patterns
• How shame keeps people stuck—and what actually helps dissolve it
• What "Body Freedom" really means beyond weight loss
• First steps to identify emotional eating triggers without self-blame
• Why healing your relationship with food must come before hormone repair can work

This episode is for you if:
✔ You struggle with binge or emotional eating
✔ Diets and food rules keep backfiring
✔ You suspect hormones or stress are part of the picture
✔ You're exhausted by shame and ready for a deeper, kinder path forward

🔗 Connect with Amber Romaniuk

🌐 Website & free resources: https://amberapproved.ca
🎙 Podcast: The No Sugarcoating Podcast
📱 Instagram & YouTube: @AmberRomaniuk

👍 If this episode helped you, please like, subscribe, and share—it helps more people find compassionate, evidence-informed conversations about food addiction recovery.

▶️ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@FoodJunkiesPodcast

💌 Email us at: foodjunkiespodcast@gmail.com

💬 Comment below: What part of this conversation resonated most with you?

The content of our show is educational only. It does not supplement or supersede your healthcare provider's professional relationship and direction. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified mental health providers with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition, substance use disorder, or mental health concern.

Is there a built-in "fat switch" in our genes—something nature designed to help us store fat for survival? And if so, what does that mean for food addicts living in a world saturated with ultra-processed food?

In this episode, Dr. Vera Tarman sits down with Dr. Richard Johnson, Professor Emeritus at the University of Colorado, former Chief of the Division of Renal Diseases and Hypertension, author of The Sugar Fix, The Fat Switch, and Nature Wants Us to Be Fat, and a researcher with 700+ scientific papers to his name.

Dr. Johnson explains how fructose (from sugar and high-fructose corn syrup—but also produced inside the body under certain conditions) can activate a powerful metabolic pathway that increases hunger, lowers cellular energy, and shifts calories toward fat storage. He connects this to uric acid, salt, high-glycemic carbohydrates, and the modern "perfect storm" of ultra-processed foods engineered to intensify cravings.

Together, they explore the evolutionary logic of fat storage, why visceral fat may have had survival value, why "calories in/calories out" fails to explain the whole picture, and what practical steps can help people restore metabolic flexibility—including carbohydrate reduction, movement that supports mitochondrial health, and the emerging role of GLP-1 medications as a tool (not a replacement) for nutrition change.

What You'll Learn

🔥Why Dr. Johnson argues sugar isn't "just a calorie," and how fructose changes metabolism differently

🔥The role of uric acid in blood pressure, metabolic disease, and the fructose pathway

🔥How salt + starch + fat can amplify the "fat switch" (and why chips and fries are a perfect example)

🔥Why the body can make fructose from glucose, even if you aren't eating fructose directly

🔥The survival biology behind fat storage—and why visceral fat may have had an adaptive purpose

🔥How insulin resistance can be a short-term protective mechanism (and how modern life turns it chronic)

🔥Why low-carb approaches may "reboot" sugar absorption and cravings in as little as 7–14 days

🔥What Dr. Johnson believes is a major dietary driver of Alzheimer's risk

🔥How to support mitochondria through movement and nutrition

🔥Dr. Johnson's perspective on GLP-1s: benefits, limits, and relapse risk after stopping

Resources Mentioned

Dr. Richard Johnson's books: The Sugar Fix, The Fat Switch, Nature Wants Us to Be Fat

About Our Guest

Dr. Richard Johnson is Professor Emeritus at the University of Colorado, a former Chief of Renal Diseases and Hypertension, and the author of The Sugar Fix, The Fat Switch, and Nature Wants Us to Be Fat. His research explores how sugar—particularly fructose—drives kidney disease, hypertension, diabetes, and obesity, and how modern food environments may overactivate ancient survival pathways.

If this episode helped you understand your cravings or your biology with more clarity and less shame, please share it with a friend, leave a review, and subscribe so more people can find recovery-focused science.

✉️ Email us: foodjunkiespodcast@gmail.com

Follow us on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@FoodJunkiesPodcast

The content of our show is educational only. It does not supplement or supersede your healthcare provider's professional relationship and direction. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified mental health providers with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition, substance use disorder, or mental health concern.

In this month's Clinician's Corner, Molly and Clarissa take a deep dive into the fix response—a lesser-named but incredibly common nervous-system survival strategy that shows up as over-functioning, urgency, problem-solving, and "doing something" to make discomfort go away.

This episode explores why fixing isn't a personality flaw, control issue, or codependency—but a biologically wired, trauma-informed self-preservation response that once helped keep us safe.

Together, we unpack how the fix response shows up in food addiction recovery, relationships, work, parenting, and even helping professions—and why it so often leads to burnout, resentment, and cycles of shame when left unexamined.

In this episode, we discuss:

• What the fix response is (and what it's not)
• Why fixing feels regulating in the moment, but often backfires long-term
• How fixing differs from healthy problem-solving
• Common fix patterns in food addiction recovery (constant plan changes, "starting fresh Monday," adding rules after lapses)
• Over-functioning, hyper-responsibility, and lawn-mowing other people's problems
• Why fixers struggle with rest, delegation, and asking for help
• How ADHD, dopamine, urgency, and novelty-seeking intersect with fixing
• The developmental and trauma roots of the fix response
• How fixing pairs with fawn, hyper-independence, and people-pleasing
• Why optimization culture and biohacking can reinforce dysregulation
• The cost of living in constant "fix mode"—burnout, resentment, disconnection, and relapse risk
• How to recognize fix mode in the body (jaw clenching, shallow breath, tight chest, restless urgency)
• Why the goal isn't to eliminate fixing—but to update it
• How to build awareness, pause, discern responsibility, and bring choice back online

This conversation is especially relevant for clinicians, coaches, caregivers, helpers, parents, and anyone in recovery who feels exhausted from always being the one who "handles things."

📺 Watch on YouTube and please subscribe—it helps us reach more people who need this conversation.
📩 Have a topic you want us to cover? Email us at foodjunkiespodcast@gmail.com

The content of our show is educational only. It does not supplement or supersede your healthcare provider's professional relationship and direction. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified mental health providers with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition, substance use disorder, or mental health concern.