Why food addiction is not an eating disorder, and why getting it wrong can be dangerous

Low-carb and ketogenic communities are often very familiar with food addiction, cravings, and abstinence-based recovery, but the same tools that help one patient regain control can put another patient at serious risk. Brian can explain the clinical difference between food addiction and eating disorders by separating two questions: what drives food into someone’s mouth, and what happens once the food is swallowed. His perspective is unusually valuable because he works with both severe food addiction and life-threatening anorexic eating disorders, including cases where both patterns exist in the same person. This conversation would help listeners understand why accurate assessment matters before applying any diet, abstinence model, or recovery framework, especially in people whose relationship with food is already fragile.

About Brian Baumal

Brian Baumal, podcast guest

Registered Psychotherapist Specialist in Weight Loss, Overcoming Deep Shame, CBT for Sustainable Behaviour Change, Food Addiction and Support for GLP-1's or Weight Loss Medications.

100 lbs Sustained weight loss10–12 Typical treatment sessions2026 Became Chair of the Sugar & Food Addiction Professionals NetworkRegistered Psychotherapist

Brian Baumal is a Toronto-based psychotherapist who helps people lose weight without turning their lives or their self-worth into collateral damage. His work sits at the intersection of cognitive behavioural therapy, eating disorder treatment, and the emotional reality of long-term weight change. What makes his approach distinctive is not just clinical training, but lived experience.

In his early forties, Brian found himself in Disney World, often described as the happiest place on earth, facing a sudden wave of fear and shame after a health scare that never fully materialised. Surrounded by family, uninsured, and acutely aware of his own physical limits, he realised that weight was not just a health issue. It was shaping how he moved through the world, how safe he felt, and how harshly he judged himself. When he returned to Toronto, he did not start a diet. He started a plan, using the same therapeutic tools he had been trained to offer others.

Rather than chasing speed or perfection, Brian focused on dismantling shame and slowing expectations. He learned how to stay engaged after missteps instead of treating them as proof of failure. Over time, the weight came off and, more importantly, stayed off without relying on restriction, punishment, or rigid rules. That process became the foundation of his clinical work.

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182. Dismantling Diet Culture with Psychotherapist Brian Baumal
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