The old adage about snack foods—“you can’t eat just one”—turns out to be more accurate than we ever imagined.
Acknowledging Ultra-Processed Food Addiction
Reading the article The Growing Epidemic of Ultraprocessed Food Addiction, I was encouraged to see the mental health community begin to acknowledge something that functional and integrative psychiatry has understood for years: ultra-processed food can be addictive. And yes, food addiction is very real.
Decades of Observing the Impact
For over 30 years, as a psychiatrist specializing in eating disorders, I’ve witnessed the profound impact of ultra-processed food addiction on my patients. My approach—rooted in functional and integrative medicine—has focused on addressing the root causes of eating disorders, recognizing the complex role that ultra-processed foods play in both the development and recovery from these conditions.
Resistance in the Mental Health Community
Despite the clear research and clinical evidence, the broader mental health community has often been hesitant to embrace the idea of food addiction or consider ultra-processed foods as a factor in disease diagnosis and recovery. This article represents a pivotal step forward—a “crack” in the traditional mindset, one that I hope will grow into a more open-minded and holistic understanding of how we approach mental health and eating disorder treatment.
Redefining Care Through Functional Psychiatry
At Psychiatry Redefined, we’ve trained clinicians to adopt this whole-person, personalized approach for years. I invite you to explore our clinical programs to learn how functional and integrative psychiatry is redefining care for patients worldwide.
