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The Spectrum of Addiction and Recovery with Dr. Susan Peirce Thompson

Robert Sikes

• April 11th, 2022

Have you ever struggled with addiction and didn’t know how to make it through to the other side? Early in her teen life, Susan spent six years battling her weight and ultimately a drug addiction. She found sobriety, success, and love, but also food addiction and obesity. Overcoming her food addiction, she has found her passion in helping others find their success with weight loss and healthy living.

What we talked about in this episode:

Her struggle with being overweight at a young age and becoming addicted to drugs to help with weight loss (1:25)
Experiencing her first high and drop in weight after doing mushrooms (5:40)
How drugs affect the appetite thus resulting in weight loss (7:41)
Becoming addicted to crack cocaine and working as a call girl (9:36)
The catalyst for becoming clean (10:46)
Quitting cold turkey (14:01)
Susan’s family and how they reacted to her addiction and lifestyle (15:56)
The correlation between the drug abuse and food addiction (19:16)
Binging and purging (20:55)
Disordered eating (23:04)
Moderation vs. elimination (27:32)
Why there is so much pushback to eliminating food groups (28:39)
What is the main mechanism in certain foods that cause them to be addictive (30:57)
Dopamine receptors and how they are affected by processed foods (33:53)
Bright line eating and its core concepts (36:42)
The power of automation and routine (39:45)
The success she has seen with clients who follow bright line eating (42:35)
Basic recommendations and the food plan skeleton (43:31)
How bright line eating makes things easy because of the categories of food (44:34)
The importance of sustainability (46:42)
Who is susceptible to food addiction and the food addiction susceptibility quiz (48:45)
Political correctness in the nutrition space (53:32)
What’s in the pipeline for Susan (1:00:15)