037: Dr Jen Unwin – Fork In The Road

Dr Jen Unwin Dr Jen Unwin is a chartered clinical and health psychologist. She worked for over 30 years in the NHS and now spends her time researching, campaigning and writing about sugar addiction. She is a founding member of the Public Health Collaboration, a UK charity campaigning for better public health advice. Her and her husband Dr David Unwin, a GP have been helping the patients in his practice adopt low carb diets to reverse their diabetes. This work has resulted in several published papers and numerous conference and media appearances. She has recently published a book called 'Fork in the Road' which is a guide for people with sugar/carb addiction. All profits are for the PHC. Dr Jen Unwin is a Clinical Psychologist and lifelong carbohydrate addict. She noticed that if she came off plan it was hard to get back to it. She knew about addiction in her work as a psychologist but hadn’t linked it to food. Once Dr Jen became aware that sugars and carbohydrates can truly be addictive, she looked into more. Dr Jen trained with Bitten Jonsson a holistic addiction specialist. They recognised that the same problems a person has with alcohol or drugs can also happen with sugars and carbs.Dr Jen explains that some sugar and carb addicts have to be careful with sweeteners, nuts, dairy and alcohol as they too can influence the brain pathways. Dr Jen's Books Fork In the Road - Dr Jen Unwinhttps://amzn.to/33TytYg Dr Jen's Top TipsIf you can’t moderate - try withoutIf you can recognise an addiction - then abstain rather than moderateIt’s not all about the food Resources Mentioned Escape The Diet Trap - Dr John Briffahttps://amzn.to/3fjnqgu Bitten Jonssonhttps://fabulouslyketo.com/podcast/011 Quotes by Dr Jen Unwin “So I'm a bit of an all or nothing person. So I did the whole cold turkey thing, straight onto low carb. Had about eight days of feeling pretty grim. But then the lights came on, the colour came on. And I felt amazing.” “It’s essentially the sugars that are the most addictive thing.” “What's addiction?  It's about this kind of compulsion and a difficulty resisting carrying out those behaviours even when you don't want to.  You know, you're doing something that you know is harming your mental and physical health but still you do it.” “Find your tribe. Most of us haven't got people in our family, necessarily, who understand this struggle.” “Hope is possible. Change is possible.” “Sugar is robbing people of their joy and their best selves.” “Habits were incredibly powerful.  Yet with