Vera Tarman

MD, MSc, FCFP, ABAM | Medical Director, Renascent | Author, Food Junkies

Dr. Vera Ingrid Tarman, MD, MSc, FCFP, ABAM, is a globally recognized Canadian physician, author, speaker, and pioneer in the field of addiction medicine, specifically specializing in food and sugar addiction. For over two decades, she has been at the forefront of treating substance abuse and compulsive eating disorders, helping thousands of patients achieve biochemical sobriety.

For twenty years, Dr. Tarman has served as the Medical Director of Renascent, one of Canada’s largest residential substance abuse treatment networks, overseeing the care of over 10,000 patients suffering from alcohol and drug dependencies. While at Renascent, she pioneered some of Canada’s very first specialized inpatient and outpatient treatment tracks for food addiction, treating over 1,000 individuals struggling with severe compulsive eating. She has also served as a staff physician at The Salvation Army Homestead, a residential facility providing addiction support tailored to women.

She is the author of Food Junkies: Recovery from Food Addiction (Dundurn Press). Now in its second edition, the book breaks down the neuroscience behind sugar cravings, dopamine, and the biochemical reality of food dependency, and is widely used as a foundational text in recovery programs.

She founded Addictions Unplugged and has co-hosted multiple Canadian television call-in series, including Addictions Unplugged and Toronto Speaks: Addiction. She is a regular media commentator on outlets like the CBC and The Agenda. With Molly Painschab and Clarissa Kennedy, she hosts The Food Junkies Podcast, and she founded the free Facebook support community I’m Sweet Enough: Sugar-Free for Life.

Dr. Tarman’s clinical framework is deeply informed by her lived experience. She openly shares that she is a recovering food addict. By applying the abstinence model she teaches, she lost 100 pounds and has maintained her weight loss and food sobriety for over 15 years.

She earned her MD from McMaster University and completed her family practice residency through the University of Toronto. She holds an MSc, is a Fellow of the College of Family Physicians of Canada, and is board-certified by the American Board of Addiction Medicine and the Canadian Society of Addiction Medicine.

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