As far back as she can remember, Laura Jacobs’s sole confidants and inner tormentors were sugary, high-calorie snacks and sweets. When she was 6 years old, she soothed her boredom by sneaking Frosted Flakes from the kitchen and finishing the entire box in one sitting. In her teens, she would binge on ice cream, feel guilty, and drop the half-empty container in the trash—and then argue with herself about whether to fish it out. “I felt lonely, so I would gorge on sugary foods, and then I’d be ashamed,” she says. “And the cycle would continue.”

Her isolation was understandable: When Jacobs was an infant, her father had a severe stroke, leaving her mother to be both caregiver and breadwinner. “Attention, connection, and guidance were rare,” Jacobs says. “Food became my friend, and throughout my childhood, my body showed it.”