Potatoes
Not Prozac: A Natural Seven-Step Dietary Plan to Control Your Cravings
and Lose Weight, Recognize How Foods Affect the Way You Feel
by Kathleen DesMaisons
Reviews
Amazon.com
The same brain chemicals that are altered
by antidepressant drugs are also affected by the foods we eat. According
to addiction expert DesMaisons, many people, including those who are depressed,
are "sugar sensitive." Eating sweets gives them a temporary emotional boost,
which leads to a craving for still more sweets. The best way to keep these
brain chemicals in the right balance and keep blood-sugar levels steady,
she says, is through the dietary plan she describes in Potatoes Not
Prozac. Her rules are fairly simple - eat three meals a day, eat proteins
with every meal (especially those high in the amino acid tryptophan, which
creates the calming neurotransmitter serotonin), and eat more complex carbohydrates,
such as whole grains and, yes, potatoes. Not only will this make you less
depressed, DesMaisons says, but it will also keep you from craving too
much of the foods you shouldn't eat, making it a self-regulating
system.
Book Description
Can't say no to fattening foods, alcohol
or compulsive behaviors?
You're not lazy, self-indulgent or undisciplined;
you may be one of the millions of people who are sugar sensitive. Many
people who suffer from sugar sensitivity don't even know it; they continue
to consume large quantities of sweets, breads, pasta or alcohol. These
foods can trigger feelings of exhaustion and low self-esteem, yet their
biochemical impact makes sugar-sensitive people crave them even more. This
vicious cycle can continue for years, leaving sufferers overweight, fatigued,
depressed and sometimes alcoholic.
Now there is a solution: in Potatoes Not
Prozac Dr. Kathleen DesMaisons gives you the tools you need to overcome
sugar dependency, with self-tests to determine your sugar sensitivity as
well as an easy-to-follow, drug-free program with a customized diet high
in protein and complex carbohydrates. Join the thousands of people who
have successfully healed their addiction to sugar, lost weight and attained
maximum health and well-being by using Dr. DesMaisons's innovative plan.
Synopsis
Addressing the millions of Americans who
suffer from genetic sugar-sensitivity, this book presents a practical and
workable eating program that uses everyday foods - with an emphasis on
complex carbohydrates and vegetables - to balance blood sugars and ease
depression National print ads. National author publicity.
The author, Kathleen DesMaisons, January
26, 1998
Thank You!!!
I am deeply touched by the response of my
readers. And so glad that finally this story can be told to so many. Keep
talking, we're listening!
Customer Comments
Yolanda LePley (YLepley@aol.com)
from USA, October 15, 1999
This book offers encouragement to all
of us.
Finally someone that understands that we
are not overweight by choice but because of a poor understanding of the
nature of our bodies actions. You must read this to believe that you can
correct your understanding and feel better. Best of all you will lose those
unwanted pounds in the process.
A reader from Houston, TX,
August 11, 1999
Informative and not blaming... a MUST
read for EVERYONE
I just bought this book 2 days ago and so
far, I LOVE IT. I'm not too keen on the idea of keeping a food journal
and I would prefer if it had some sort of sample menus, but that is the
only two reasons it doesn't get 5 stars from me. So far, of the reviews
I have read on this book, the people who did not like or did not understand
it or did not think it will work, don't have sugar sensitivity. You don't
have to be OVERWEIGHT to be sugar sensitive. This book will help people
who work out constantly to stay thin because of their sugar sensitivity
to take control of their moods and life just as well as it will help those
who are overweight. I'm recommending this book to my physician so he can
review it for other patients he has.
A reader from CINCINNATI,
July 19, 1999
HER TESTS FOR SUGAR SENSITIVITY ARE RIGHT
ON POINT
I CAN REALLY RELATE TO THE AUTHOR AND TO
THE BOOK AFTER READING HER COMPARISON OF HERSELF AT HALLOWEEN TO THE "NORMAL"
KIDS: THE NORMAL KIDS HAD THE LITTLE PLASTIC PUMPKIN HOLDERS, BUT DR. DESMAISONS
HAD A PILLOWCASE FOR TRICK-OR-TREATING. WELL, I HAD A REINFORCED SHOPPING
BAG, AND ONE OF MY COUSINS USED TO PULL HIS WAGON TO HOLD THE CANDY, SO
I THINK I'VE FOUND A SPIRITUAL HOME IN POTATOES NOT PROZAC. IT'S A GREAT
BOOK, WITH A SENSE OF HUMOR THAT'S ABSENT FROM SO MANY OF THE DEADLY EARNEST
DIET BOOKS ALL OVER THE PLACE AND THAT MAKES IT VERY READABLE.
Betty Andrews (Andrewb@slu.edu)
from St. Louis, Missouri, U.S.A., July 1, 1999
Don't believe the detractors; this is
a great book!
I have been working the Potatoes Not
Prozac eating plan for about 3 months now, and have found it enormously
helpful. As I read these many reviews, I felt compelled to argue with the
critics. This IS different from other plans. My sugar sensitivity is strong,
and my cravings have embarrassed me many times (I am 52). I have hidden
candy, and I have become angry when someone else ate the ice cream I was
saving for myself. I have been a closet sugar junkie. In my humble opinion,
the great strength of Des Maisons' method is the order in which she arranges
the steps in the program. Eating protein at every meal, spacing the meals
realistically, taking a daily vitamin, and eating a potato before going
to bed each night BEFORE giving anything up allowed my body chemistry to
stabilize and my cravings to quiet down before I tried to adjust my carbohydrates
and sugar.
I had often awakened in the middle of the
night and not been able to get back to sleep, seemingly because my blood
sugar level had dropped and I needed to get up and have a snack (usually
an apple). Fear of not sleeping through the night often motivated me to
overeat at dinner time, which usually didn't help me sleep through anyway.
The potato before bed time not only raises my serotonin level, but it also
puts that fear to rest and produces an uninterrupted night of sleep. What
a blessing!
One critic said that everyone learns in high
school that complex carbohydrates are better for us than the refined ones,
but I disagree. Most high school kids have other things on their minds,
and I know my high school didn't give me this information. We've learned
to prefer whole wheat bread, but how many people give up pasta for a whole
grain variety? How many people choose brown rice over white? And how many
people go all the way to 100% whole wheat bread? For some of us, these
distinctions are critical to our mental, emotional, and physical health.
I guess this book just may not appeal to those who are not sugar sensitive,
and that's O.K. The rest of us will find valuable help in its pages.
If you have any inkling that you might be
even a little sugar sensitive, please do yourself a favor and read this
book. You have nothing to lose and everything to gain. You could feel free
of cravings and mood swings!
A reader from Tempe, AZ,
June 12, 1999
This book has truly changed my life!
After years of having been a sugar/carbs
addict and having had major mood swings, I finally found a book that puts
the pieces of my puzzle together! Dr. DesMaisons' work is incredible, and
in reading it and following its principles I am changing my life. If you
cringe at the thought of giving up sugar, think about what you're keeping
in return - perhaps depression, excess weight, and a general feeling of
unsatisfaction! For me, there's no question. . . and I'm not having cravings!
After twenty-three years of adding sugar to cereals such as Corn Pops,
this is a tremendous breakthrough. Thank you, Dr. DesMaisons, for helping
all of us who are sugar sensitive!
A reader from Annapolis,
MD, May 20, 1999
The chocolate chip cookie test IS scientific!
This book is a blessing to those who suffer
from sugar-sensitivity. And to find a solution with food instead of drugs
is a god-send. Regarding the chocolate chip cookie test, the question what
is what would you do? Sugar sensitive people would eat the entire plateful
of cookies, not just one. The FDA may not have approved of this test, but
ask any sugar sensitive person what they would do with the plate of cookies.
No joking around, this is a sickness that should be taken more seriously.
This book explains it all. If you would eat the entire plateful of cookies,
buy the book.
* * *
People DO have various problems with life.
Instead of naming and redefining these problems as various "mental diseases",
and labeling people with them, as is currently done within the psychiatric
community, these problems with life and living are best understood and
addressed outside of the traditional psychiatric paradigm. Why?
Because psychiatric "treatments" such as ECT, lobotomy, and powerful psychotropic
drugs are barbaric, based upon severe faulty scientific methodology, and
quite simply, harm people.
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