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An emerging clinical term
Food addiction is not currently a standalone DSM-5-TR diagnosis. Still, the cravings, distress, and eating patterns people describe are real and deserve thoughtful clinical attention.
Integrated, evidence-informed care
Compassionate Food Addiction Treatment for the Whole Person
If eating feels compulsive, distressing, or hard to change, you deserve care without shame. SunCloud Health looks at the full picture - eating-disorder symptoms, trauma, mental health, substance use, nutrition, and medical needs - to build one connected treatment plan.
Weight-neutral, person-centered care
Support for complex co-occurring needs
Multiple levels of care when appropriate
Understanding Food-Related Distress Without Shame
“Food addiction” can describe cravings, compulsive eating, or repeated patterns that feel difficult to change. Because these experiences can overlap with eating disorders and other concerns, a thoughtful assessment is the safest place to begin.
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Symptoms can overlap
Cravings or compulsive eating can occur alongside binge-eating disorder, other eating disorders, trauma, mood concerns, or substance use. Assessment helps clarify how these experiences connect.
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Assessment guides safer care
Assessment can distinguish eating-disorder fears from foods or situations linked with intense cravings or compulsive patterns. This helps address triggers without introducing unnecessary restriction.
When to Seek Help for Food-Related Distress
Consider reaching out if food, eating, or related emotions are interfering with your health, relationships, responsibilities, or quality of life.
Eating feels hard to interrupt
Eating continues longer or differently than you intended, even when you want to change course.
Cravings take up mental space
Thoughts, planning, or urges around food crowd out work, relationships, rest, or daily life.
Patterns continue despite consequences
The pattern continues even when it affects physical health, emotional wellbeing, relationships, or personal goals.
Shame, secrecy, or isolation
Hiding behaviors, avoiding support, or feeling trapped in self-criticism.
Eating-disorder symptoms
Bingeing, restriction, purging, body-image distress, or rigid food rules.
Co-occurring concerns
Trauma, depression, anxiety, substance use, or medical needs complicate recovery.
Connected Care Starts With Understanding You
Eating concerns rarely fit neatly into one category. SunCloud brings medical, psychiatric, therapeutic, and nutrition perspectives together so each person can receive a connected plan instead of having to coordinate complex care alone.
SunCloud’s multidisciplinary care is supported by experienced clinical leadership, an active research program, and documented accreditations, certifications, and licensing.
If this feels hard to sort through
Talk With Someone Who Understands Complex Eating Concerns
You do not need a diagnosis or a complete plan before reaching out. Tell us what feels difficult, ask about programs and cost, and learn what an appropriate next step could look like.
Reaching out does not commit you to treatment.
A Comprehensive Assessment Clarifies What You Need
A clinician looks at eating-disorder symptoms, reward-driven eating patterns, nutrition and medical risks, trauma, mental health, substance use, and daily functioning. Measures such as the EDE-Q and modified Yale Food Addiction Scale can add useful information, but no questionnaire replaces a comprehensive assessment.
The resulting recommendations reflect safety, autonomy, culture, lived experience, practical needs, and the person’s own goals - not a number on a scale.
Eating & nutrition
Flexible nourishment, food-related distress, body image, and internal cues.
Mental health
Mood, anxiety, emotion regulation, compulsivity, and psychiatric needs.
Trauma & stress
How safety, adverse experiences, shame, and nervous-system patterns interact.
Substance use
Shared triggers, recovery supports, and overlapping reward pathways.
Medical health
Current symptoms, medications, nutritional risk, and coordinated care.
Life context
Family, culture, relationships, community, access, and practical barriers.
An Integrated Treatment Plan, Built Around You
Based on your assessment and level of care, treatment can bring together medical, psychiatric, nutrition, therapeutic, and recovery support. The plan evolves as your needs and goals change.
Medical and psychiatric care
Medical assessment, psychiatric support, medication review when appropriate, and coordination for physical or mental health concerns.
Individualized nutrition therapy
Adequate nourishment, practical structure, cultural preferences, flexibility, and a more peaceful relationship with food.
Skills for cravings, distress, and change
CBT-, DBT-, and RO-DBT-informed strategies can support distress tolerance, emotion regulation, flexible thinking, and sustainable behavior change.
Trauma and co-occurring conditions
Connected treatment for eating disorders, PTSD, depression, anxiety, substance use, and related conditions.
Family, peer, and community support
Education, communication, peer connection, and recovery communities that reduce secrecy and isolation.
Continuing care and relapse prevention
Identify risk patterns, strengthen sustainable supports, and prepare for transitions between levels of care.
Right-sized support
Care Across Multiple Levels of Support
Following assessment, care may range from 24-hour residential treatment to full-day PHP, scheduled IOP, virtual IOP, or ongoing outpatient services. Admissions can explain what is currently available and whether a program matches the person’s age, clinical needs, location, and schedule.
Residential treatment
Live-in, 24-hour care for people who need therapeutic support and structure throughout the day and night. SunCloud offers residential care for adults ages 18 and older in Northbrook and a separate program for adolescent girls ages 13 to 18 in Matteson.
PHP: Partial Hospitalization Program
Full-day treatment several days each week, with patients returning home or to supportive housing afterward. SunCloud offers dedicated adult and adolescent PHP programming.
IOP: Intensive Outpatient Program
Several hours of structured treatment on scheduled days while patients continue more of school, work, or home life. SunCloud offers adult and adolescent IOP, plus virtual IOP for eligible adults in Illinois.
Outpatient care
Ongoing care scheduled around daily life for people who do not need the daily structure of PHP or IOP. Services may include individual or group therapy, nutrition care, psychiatry, and recovery support. Adult and adolescent options depend on clinical need and current availability.
How People Describe Their Experience at SunCloud
Public reviewers - including patients, families, and referring professionals - frequently describe individualized care, compassionate teams, and attention to the whole person.
Featured review
“The staff genuinely care about each individual and take the time to understand the whole person - not just a diagnosis.”
Public Google review · SunCloud Health
Individualized care
“They treat the individual, not the disease.”
Public Google review · SunCloud Health
A safe place to heal
“They provided a safe space where I could focus on healing and rebuilding my life.”
Public Google review · SunCloud Health
Care without judgment
“The therapists are inclusive, offer care without judgement.”
Public Google review · SunCloud Health
These excerpts reflect individual public experiences and do not guarantee a particular result. Treatment recommendations and outcomes vary by person.
How SunCloud Measures Eating-Disorder Symptom Change
SunCloud uses standardized, patient-reported measures to track symptom change during care. The 2025 Outcomes Report includes EDE-Q results for patients with eating-disorder diagnoses; it does not represent a separate food-addiction treatment cohort.
Adult patients with eating-disorder diagnoses
Global EDE-Q score
Admission
3.1
to
Discharge
2.2
The average reported score was lower at discharge.
Adolescent patients
Global EDE-Q score
Admission
2.5
to
Discharge
1.8
The average reported score was lower at discharge.
How to read this
What the EDE-Q measures
The Eating Disorder Examination Questionnaire assesses disordered eating behaviors over a 28-day period. Higher scores indicate more problematic eating patterns.
What this means for you or your loved one
These results cannot predict any one person’s experience, and they are not specific to food addiction as a standalone diagnosis. They do show that SunCloud tracks eating-disorder symptoms with a standardized measure and reviews change over the course of care. For someone considering treatment, that adds an important layer of accountability: progress is measured, discussed, and used alongside clinical judgment to help guide care.
Source: SunCloud Health 2025 Outcomes Report. These are group averages reported from admission to discharge; they do not guarantee an individual result or establish outcomes for food addiction as a separate diagnosis.
Research, Recovery, and Integrated Care
SunCloud’s approach is informed by peer-reviewed research, ongoing clinical inquiry, and the experiences of people in recovery. Explore selected publications and short videos that show how evidence and whole-person care come together.
SunCloud protocol · Nutrients · 2024
Food Addiction Screening, Diagnosis and Treatment: A Protocol for Residential Treatment of Eating Disorders, Substance Use Disorders and Trauma-Related Psychiatric Comorbidity
SunCloud research · Journal of Eating Disorders · 2025
First do no harm: the impact of assessing for ultra-processed food addiction on dietary restraint in patients with and without eating disorders during residential treatment
Clinical treatment manual · Behavioral Sciences · 2024
The Food Addiction Clinical Treatment (FACT) Manual: A Harm Reduction Treatment Approach
Systematic review · BMJ Open · 2024
Association between ultraprocessed foods consumption, eating disorders, food addiction and body image: a systematic review
Watch Perspectives on Recovery and Integrated Care
These short videos bring together a lived recovery perspective, an expert conversation about food addiction, and an explanation of why coordinated care matters.
Recovery perspective
Recovery Is Not a Straight Line
Kimmy Haynes shares an honest perspective on setbacks, growth, and continuing forward through recovery.
Expert conversation
Food Addiction: Is It a Thing?
Nicole Avena discusses the evolving science and the questions clinicians continue to examine.
Integrated treatment
Why an Integrated Treatment Model Matters
Learn why eating concerns, trauma, mental health, substance use, nutrition, and medical needs are best understood together.
Questions people ask
Food Addiction Treatment FAQs
Is food addiction an official diagnosis?
Food addiction is not currently a standalone DSM-5-TR diagnosis. It is also not the same as obesity, and body size alone does not establish whether someone has an addiction-like eating pattern or an eating disorder. Clinicians may still assess the experiences a person describes - including cravings, eating that feels difficult to change, continued behavior despite harm, and overlap with eating disorders or substance use - to develop an appropriate treatment plan.
Is food addiction the same as binge-eating disorder?
No. They can overlap, but they are not interchangeable. Binge-eating disorder is a recognized eating disorder with specific diagnostic criteria. A careful assessment can help distinguish binge eating, restrictive or compensatory behaviors, reward-driven food patterns, and other co-occurring concerns.
Does treatment require avoiding certain foods forever?
Not necessarily. Goals should be individualized. Depending on assessment and patient preference, care may use harm-reduction strategies, reduce exposure to personally triggering foods or contexts, or use a more structured approach. Protecting adequate nourishment and avoiding unnecessary restriction are important, especially when an eating disorder is present.
Can medication, including GLP-1 medications, be part of treatment?
Medication decisions are individualized. When medically appropriate, clinicians can discuss medications, including GLP-1 medications, in the context of eating-disorder risk, nutrition, co-occurring conditions, available evidence, patient preferences, and treatment goals. Medication is not a substitute for a comprehensive assessment or connected care.
Can treatment address trauma or substance use too?
Yes. SunCloud’s integrated model is designed for complex, co-occurring needs. A coordinated plan may address trauma, depression, anxiety, substance use, eating-disorder symptoms, nutrition, and medical concerns together.
Does SunCloud offer residential food addiction treatment?
SunCloud offers multiple levels of care, and program availability varies by age, location, and clinical need. Admissions can explain current residential and outpatient options and help determine the appropriate next step.
What happens when I call admissions?
The conversation is confidential. The team listens to what is happening, answers questions about programs and payment, and helps arrange an assessment when appropriate. Calling does not obligate you to enter treatment.
What Happens When You Contact Admissions
You do not need to know your diagnosis, level of care, or exact program before calling.
Tell us what’s happening
Share what feels difficult, what has been tried, and what support you are looking for.
Review insurance, timing, and cost
We explain insurance verification, payment options, timing, and current program availability.
Complete a clinical assessment
A clinician reviews symptoms, safety, co-occurring needs, and the appropriate level of support.
Choose the appropriate next step
If SunCloud is clinically appropriate, we coordinate admission. If not, we discuss other options and resources.
You do not have to solve this alone
Talk With Admissions About the Right Next Step
A confidential conversation can help you understand treatment options, current availability, insurance, and whether a clinical assessment makes sense.
This page provides general educational information and is not a diagnosis or substitute for individualized medical advice. Treatment recommendations depend on a clinical assessment. If you are in immediate danger, call 911. For mental health crisis support in the United States, call or text 988.