Shining a Light on Food Addiction: Esther Helga Gudmundsdottir's Journey from Struggle to Global Advocacy

Though most people's minds automatically go to drugs or alcohol when they hear the word addiction, in food addiction, the process is no less pervasive, painful, and complex as any drug or alcohol abuse disorder. Esther Helga Gudmundsdottir, MSc., knows that well. She herself had struggled in food addiction's darkest corners and was driven by a revolutionary cause—to help others heal, train professionals, and get food addiction recognized as a serious disease worthy of international concern.

As director and founder of the MFM Center and INFACT School, Esther has become a trailblazer in the industry, providing hope, education, and sustained recovery to individuals addicted to eating.

A Personal Struggle Transformed Into Mission

Esther learned about food addiction outside of the classroom but in life. She was raised in Iceland, where she had a healthy, active childhood. But like so many, adolescence was the catalyst. "I was a highly active child and never had a weight problem until I believed I was too fat during my teenage years," she recalls.

That self-perception led to decades of body image disturbance, eating disorder, and compulsive dieting. Nothing provided enduring relief despite the employment of a number of diets and health fads. It wasn't until she was 48 years old that Esther discovered a 12-step food addiction recovery program. That was the beginning of real, enduring change. Steer clear of trigger foods and learning about the psychological underpinnings motivating her behavior were key to her recovery. "The craving was gone and has not returned now for 22 years," she says.

Her transformation wasn't really about weight loss—despite the fact that she estimates she has lost over 500 kilograms over the years—it was about reclaiming her life and independence.

Converting Experience into Expertise

Inspired by her own recovery, Esther was determined to help others gain the same freedom. But when she looked for educational and treatment programs for food addiction, she found a wide gap. She proceeded to fill the gap and became a certified addiction counselor and supervisor and later got involved as a participant in an experimental program with the ACORN Food Dependency Recovery Center (now SHIFT) in the United States.

There, she was taught methods borrowed from the classical models of substance addiction, modified to address compulsive eating and food cravings.

The MFM Center's Establishment: The First of Its Kind

Esther opened the MFM Center in Iceland in 2006, the first outpatient clinic in the world to specialize in the treatment of food addiction. The philosophy of the center is founded on three principles:

Avoidance of food triggers

Extensive professional and peer guidance support

A structured plan of action to restore identity and reverse the damage of addiction

This triadic care has proven to be highly effective. Unlike other diet and therapy programs, the MFM Center recovery model works to address and heal the inner emotional, psychological, and neurological causes of addiction.

Building the Future: INFACT School

In 2017, Esther took it to the next level with the launch of the International Food Addiction Counseling & Training School (INFACT). Its mission? To train and certify therapists in treating food addiction—plugging a huge gap in healthcare and psychology.

Since its inception, INFACT has certified 130 practitioners in 19 nations, enabling them to introduce food addiction treatment into clinical and private practice. As Esther states, "Most professionals who work in the weight and diet industry don't have the specialized knowledge needed to treat food addiction. That's what we set out to change."

The school's curriculum brings the ASAM standards into combination with clinical training to produce a new generation of professionals competent to screen, diagnose, and treat food addiction as a legitimate brain disease.

Food Addiction: A Recognized Brain Disease

Central to Esther's work is the belief that food addiction is a chronic, treatable brain illness, no less than alcoholism or drug addiction. In fact, "It's a condition with complex interactions between brain circuits, genetics, environment, and personal life experiences," she asserts.

Although food addiction is not yet officially recognized by groups like the World Health Organization (WHO) or the American Psychiatric Association (APA), Esther is optimistic. What she is doing through the Food Addiction Institute and continued activism efforts is getting the problem in motion.

Breaking Down Barriers and Changing Hearts

Esther is aware that changing attitudes regarding food addiction still represent one of the biggest challenges. The majority of medical and psychological experts still avoid the classification of overeating and addiction to sugar as legitimate substance use disorders.

The greatest challenge has been the professional paradigm that denies the potential for food or ultra-processed food to be addictive," she explains. But that has not dissuaded her from pushing ahead, with science, education, and lived experience as her weapons of change.

A Healing Process of Collaboration

With INFACT training programs, a growing number of health professionals from such fields as nutrition, psychology, and addiction counseling are now incorporating food addiction recovery into their practice. Others are even developing special programs or conducting assessments to diagnose and treat clients with compulsive eating.

This cross-disciplinary effort is gradually but increasingly placing food addiction therapy into the mainstream.

Looking Ahead: A Plan for Generational Change

Esther envisions a bright and ambitious future. She envisions the MFM Center as a continued resource to Icelanders and the global community with food addiction—providing screening, evaluation, and individually tailored treatment plans. For INFACT School, she envisions it as a continued leader in education and training, establishing an international network of food addiction professionals. Words of Wisdom for Future Counselors To people who are interested in joining the practice of treating food addiction, Esther provides the following advice: "Learn about the science of addiction counseling. Release your assumptions about dieting or weight loss fads. Be open to the body of knowledge developed by people with much time spent with food addiction recovery." Her message is clear: with the right education, compassion, and resources, food addiction can be treated—and lives can be altered. Esther Helga Gudmundsdottir's steadfast dedication to revealing the truth about food addiction and constructing concrete solutions has already transformed lives in their thousands. And with the dialogue around food and addiction ongoing, her trailblazing work guarantees that victims no longer need to continue suffering in silence.