Sarah's story may sound familiar. For years, she struggled to find a way to improve her nutrition, lose some excess body fat, and feel better. But no matter what healthy or dietitian-recommended Mediterranean, vegetarian, whole food, or low carbohydrate approach she tried, Sarah always ended up feeling worse.

Within hours to days of modifying her regular diet (like many Americans, Sarah's nutrition came mostly from restaurants and ultra-processed foods) Sarah felt tired and sluggish. She'd become moody and irritable. And she was tortured by cravings and ruminations about food. No amount of willpower or motivation was ever enough for Sarah to endure this misery for long. Understandably, she felt discouraged.

Some timely good fortune helped Sarah's story have a happy ending. A news article she read happened to refer to a 2022 review paper1 discussing the science behind symptoms of something called "food withdrawal"—evaluating the question of whether certain foods could have addictive properties similar to some drugs. What struck Sarah was the information summarized in the image below.

Thinking about the symptoms she experienced when trying to improve her nutrition, Sarah realized they were mostly the same as those mentioned in the review paper describing food withdrawal........

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