Can food be an addiction? On this episode of The Health Bridge, Pedram Shojai invites Susan Peirce Thompson as they discuss the psychology behind food cravings and how the mind can have trouble controlling them. Susan opens up to Pedram about the struggles she had with her own weight and addiction to other substances besides food. Are some people susceptible to becoming addicted to things in general more than other people? Is there a way to break a cycle of addiction?

We've talked about gluten on The Health Bridge previously. Pedram returns to the subject and invites Peter Osborne to expand on the how gluten can affect the human body. He helps explain why grains in particular can be harmful. Are grains meant to be eaten? Why are grains believed to be such an important part of a balanced diet? What sort of immune responses can be triggered by grains? And are all grains created equal?

For some of us, when we set a goal to become healthy by introducing exercise and exorcising bad foods, we REALLY stick to that goal. We might really stick to not eating excess fats and avoid gluten or dairy or both completely. Of course this might make living in the real world a little difficult. Choosing a place to meet a friend for lunch suddenly became much more tedious, but stick to it! You want to be healthy, right? But when does this become an obsession that affects us beyond our physical health? On this episode of The Health Bridge, Pedram Shojai welcomes Marc David back to the podcast to talk about orthorexia, an obsession with avoiding foods believed to be unhealthy. How can a strict focus on being healthy affect our relationships to other people and our overall enjoyment of life?