How ketamine therapy gets to the root cause of food addiction, offering relief and a healthy relationship with food.
With the abundance of highly processed and palatable foods, it’s no surprise that many people struggle with controlling their food intake. But how do you know when your cravings, impulses, and desire for certain foods or quantity of food has become disordered?
More than Just a Sweet Tooth, Understanding Food Addiction
Food addiction is a growing concern. It is a behavioral addiction characterized by the compulsive consumption of highly palatable foods, such as those high in sugar, fat, and salt. People who struggle with food addiction often experience cravings, loss of control, and negative consequences as a result of their eating behavior. This can lead to a cycle of shame, guilt, further overeating, and obesity.
Its validity as a disorder has recently gained support after studies have emerged like Yale graduate Ashley Gearhardt’s findings on compulsive overeating and its connection to substance abuse. Like any addiction, food addiction can be a complex and difficult condition to overcome.
At Forum Health, some of our expert providers have started to offer ground-breaking ketamine therapy treatment for individuals suffering with food addiction. Ketamine therapy has been shown to reduce compulsive behavior and combat other debilitating disorders such as depression, anxiety, chronic pain, and PTSD, and is showing great promise in overcoming food addiction.
What is Ketamine Therapy and How Does it Help You Heal from Food Addiction?
Ketamine is a safe, FDA-approved dissociative medication for treatment-resistant mood disorders, addiction, PTSD and chronic pain. When the administration of ketamine is paired with talk therapy, it allows you to work through subconscious, repressed feelings that underlie unproductive behavior patterns, poor mental and emotional functioning, and unhealthy coping mechanisms.
So, how does ketamine therapy relate to food addiction?
Recent research suggests that ketamine may help to reduce the compulsive behavior associated with addiction. While the exact mechanisms behind these effects are still being studied, it is believed that ketamine may help to disrupt the neural pathways associated with compulsive behavior and cravings.
In particular, the neurotransmitter glutamate. Glutamate plays an important role in many physiological and pathological processes such as learning, memory, cognition, and neurodegeneration and when imbalanced, has been associated with depression, anxiety and addiction.
Modulating or affecting glutamate activity with medication that targets glutamate receptors, like ketamine, can improve symptoms of these conditions and restore balance in the brain.
In this way, ketamine may help to weaken the associations between highly palatable foods and rewards in the brain, making it easier for individuals to resist temptation and overcome food addiction.
Ketamine-Assisted Therapy for Food Addiction with Forum Health is Personalized to You and Gets to the Root Cause.
Ketamine-assisted therapy at Forum Health is led by experts in functional and integrative medicine who understand your unique health history and goals and are dedicated to helping you heal.
The providers at Forum Health offer a different ketamine experience:
- Nuanced Dosing: We are not a one-size-fits-all clinic. We consider your age, metabolism, lifestyle, and medications to determine the appropriate dose for your session. We believe this personal approach is the key to long-term healing.
- Ensured Comfort: Experienced medical technicians supervise the infusion to ensure your safety and comfort the entire time, so that you experience the full benefits of your session in a comfortable environment.
- Integrative Approach: We take an integrative, root-cause approach to healing the mind-body connection to promote full-body healing.
Like any treatment option, ketamine therapy is not a one-size-fits-all solution. It should only be used under the guidance of a qualified healthcare provider, and it may not be effective for everyone. However, for individuals struggling with food addiction, ketamine therapy may offer a promising new avenue for treatment.
If you or someone you know is struggling with food addiction, consider talking to a qualified healthcare provider to see if ketamine therapy may be a viable treatment option.
