Little Sugar Addicts: End the Mood Swings, Meltdowns, Tantrums, and Low Self-Esteem in Your Child Today [Paperback]

Kathleen DesMaisons (Author)

Book Description

Release date: July 27, 2004

Sugar Is Not Love

Do you have a smart, creative, loving child who is also cranky, inattentive, and sometimes downright obnoxious? If you’ve written off this negative behavior as “typical” for your child’s age—whether toddler or teen—stop and think: Does your child have a taste for soda, sugary breakfast cereals, and treats like candy and cookies? Does she eat regularly scheduled meals or skip them? What, exactly, does he drink and snack on throughout the day?

Your child’s behavior may be linked to diet—specifically to the sugar in obvious sources like sweets and soda and to hidden sugars that lurk in many foods, fruit-based drinks, and “healthy” snacks like granola bars. And if your son or daughter is sugar sensitive, misbehavior and moodiness can be aggravated by missed or late meals and junk foods.

Now, bestselling author Kathleen DesMaisons offers you a workable solution for getting back your child by changing his diet—without creating a sense of deprivation, without setting unrealistic goals, and without turning sugar into “forbidden fruit.” This book offers:

• A step-by-step program, backed by years of research, for gradually improving the food your child eats—you and your whole family will benefit!
• Tips for navigating the sugar-laden world of birthday parties, holidays, and school cafeterias
• Ways to incorporate healthy snacking and regular mealtimes into your child’s day, including suggestions for meals and snacks, plus recipes

Little Sugar Addicts isn’t about strange foods, dramatic lifestyle changes, or complicated menus—just support, guidance, and real-life suggestions from other parents that work. It will help you make the connection between the addictive qualities of sugar and negative behavior and offer a healthy solution you and your whole family can live with.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Addiction expert DesMaisons, who addressed adult "sugar sensitivity" in Potatoes Not Prozac, now turns her attention to the younger generation. Sugar sensitivity can be linked to behavior, health and emotions, she says. In kids who are especially vulnerable to sugar, imbalances in brain and body chemistry are the cause of low serotonin, low beta-endorphin and volatile blood sugar. Consequently, kids react to sugar as if it were a drug, embarking on a craving and crashing cycle. DesMaisons advocates modifying children's biochemistry by changing their diets, and suggests parents explain to kids that sugar has a connection to their mood and feelings, and then get them to help keep a food journal. She also suggests parents alter their own use of sugar before they start on their child. Although DesMaisons advocates cutting out sugar, she isn't a purist; hot dogs and chips are occasionally allowed, along with healthy snacks and whole wheat bread. Though some parents may balk at the monumental nature of the task, DesMaison's sugar-free plan is practical and gradual, and she includes kid-tested recipes as well.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

About the Author

KATHLEEN DESMAISONS, Ph.D., revolutionized the field of chemical dependency treatment with her pioneering work in addictive nutrition. In her bestselling book Potatoes Not Prozac she coined the term “sugar sensitivity.” She currently serves as president and CEO of Radiant Recovery, manages a private consulting practice, and maintains a huge and thriving online community through her website www.radiantrecovery.com. She lives in New Mexico.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Three Rivers Press (July 27, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1400051649
• ISBN-13: 978-1400051649
• Product Dimensions: 5.2 x 0.6 x 8.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (28 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #76,249 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #83 in Books > Cookbooks, Food & Wine > Special Diet > Diabetic & Sugar-Free

More About the Author

Kathleen DesMaisons, Ph.D. is the best selling author of Potatoes Not Prozac, The Sugar Addict's Total Recovery Program, Your Last Diet, Little Sugar Addicts and Your Body Speaks. She is both a compassionate coach and a social commentator, who has taken the concept of sugar sensitivity and transformed the way of looking at the relationship of addiction and food as a healing agent. Kathleen is a cultural visionary, understanding the essence of addiction in a compassionate and revolutionary way.

In 1988, Kathleen started a small addiction treatment center in Northern California. Seeking new alternatives to enhance the success rate of her center, she initiated a nutritional protocol with her clients that caused the sobriety rate to skyrocket to 92%. Following her deep commitment to understanding the biochemistry of her clinical success, she returned to school to obtain a Ph.D. She chose to attend The Union Institute, the country's oldest and most prestigious interdisciplinary university committed to connecting scholarship and social action. The nature of her work was so revolutionary that she graduated with the first degree awarded in the field of Addictive Nutrition. That work chronicled her efforts in seeing Drunk Driving as an issue of alcoholism rather than criminal action and resulted in a dissertation of the impact of her nutritional intervention on a group of multiple offender drunk drivers which was associated with a 30% drop in offense during the time her program was in place.

As the biochemical understanding of sugar sensitivity and sugar addiction have evolved, so has Kathleen's mission, transforming from a lone voice on the cutting edge of addiction treatment to a cultural leader and life guide, inspiring hope in hundreds of thousands world wide who have suffered from alcoholism, sugar addiction, depression, eating disorders, and the complexities of parenting. Kathleen's voice is caring, skilled and clear in a realm where fog, blame and dysfunction abound. She provides not only hope, but also practical skills for profound life change.

Kathleen's books have a worldwide audience from all over the U.S. and Canada, Europe, Australia and into the Far East including Mongolia, Japan and Thailand. Her books have been best sellers in the UK and the U.S. and have reached close to a half a million people. She has taught animated and informative workshops, seminars and retreats since 1988 across the country and the UK.

Kathleen's name has become synonymous with the healing of sugar addiction through nutrition. The genuineness of her vision and the depth at which people have bonded with her message have powered the development of her website at www.radiantrecovery.com into a leading voice of hope and healing throughout the world. In 1998, she set out to build a worldwide community of supportive sharing, previsioning the social networking of today. She has empowered hundreds of women and men to collaborate with her in providing support to thousands daily. The members of her community respect her as a trusted servant of truth and an embodiment of authenticity. Her unique style and vision flows out into a vibrant and empowered collective voice of recovery.

Kathleen lives with her three Golden Retrievers in Albuquerque New Mexico. She also serves as the President of the statewide Golden Retriever Rescue. She can be reached at [e-mail]

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

52 of 53 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars This book will answer so many questions parent have! November 4, 2004

By Heather K. Swift

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

Kathleen DesMaisons first book, Potatoes Not Prozac, changed my life. I went from a completely depressed person well on my way to taking anti-depressants, to a happy, confident person who loves life--all because I changed the way I ate! Since healing my own body and mind I have changed my children's diets with miraculous results.

Before Kathleen's program my kids would whine, scream, hit, be totally out of control, throw tantrums and in general, I didn't like them very much a lot of the time. I couldn't understand what I was doing wrong?!? How could I feel this way about my kids and what could I do about it? No amount of parenting advice or classes could change what was going on with them. Well, after getting myself steady on Kathleen's program I started to look at my kids diet. It took a little time and adjustment, but now by feeding them differently and at consistant times they are mostly fun, loving, compassionate, focused, easy to talk to and the joys I always knew they were. Food was the answer, pure and simple!

Get this book if you've ever had those feelings of helplessness with your kids. It will change your life and your families life!

38 of 39 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars The program in this book can lighten up the whole household! July 28, 2004

By C. Brown

Format:Paperback

This book is an excellent collection and celebration of years of experience helping families clean up their food and being delighted by the rewards: a cheerful, funny, smart, affectionate and connected family.

I am the 'Connie' quoted in the book who says you get your easy kids back. I've been 'doing the food' myself for about 3 years and as the mom, I cook and shop per this program. I have a 17 yo daughter still at home (3d of 3) who has come along this food journey with mom; as a teen she still chooses sugary junk food sometimes, but by gum she is completely knowledgable about its effects!

DD much prefers her cheerful, calm mom. She remembers the old days of moodiness, gloom, cranky. Our house is a place of affection, laughs, and consideration where before it was too often drama, crisis, silence and slammed doors. (Turns out that mom's 'pizza coma' kind of scared her but she never said so at the time!)

It's quite unbelievable until you experience it, how big an effect regular, sugar-and-whites free meals can have. Little by little, step by step, recipe by recipe we have moved to fresh whole foods and family meals.

The reviewer of the book sounds kinda spooked herself at changes like this, LOL. But EVERY change we have made, we made because we like the new way BETTER and feel better. None of this grim stuff for us. Really, it is fun and funny to see what we are ready to change and what we aren't, sometimes.

And I say, never, never, never underestimate what kids will 'get.' My DD has not read one word of any of DesMaisons' books, and thinks the full 'no whites' deal is just for middle-aged me who obviously screwed up earlier (I am dealing with overweight)...... but even so, here is what she has spontaneously shared with me:

- she thinks her clear skin and luscious figure is from good food available at home

- she always has breakfast and lunch; no starve/binge

- she notices her high school friends - no breakfast, no lunch, and then kaboom, regrettable choices

- she knows about low serotonin and its relation to diet (they studied it in health!)

- she knows about beta-endorphin and its role in craving / addiction

- she knows it is inherited and biochemical

- one time reading a book for English class about an addicted teen, she said, Mom, she was sugar sensitive before she ever started 'using'

- she knows buying junk is out of her own allowance

You can totally arm your kids with understanding & information. they will LIKE it and their feeling of control!

How I wish I had this when my kids were little! Read more ›

26 of 26 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars one of the best books ever for families October 13, 2004

By Mary Margaret Goff

Format:Paperback

My experience is much like the previous reviewer's, only I was a bit older when I found Dr. DesMaison's

work, and started following her food program. Her books explained my whole life....depression, mood

swings, meltdowns, temper tantrums, low self-esteem etc. "Doing the food" changed all of this. I've just

finished reading "Little Sugar Addicts", and I think how wonderful that families today have this

available to them, and what a difference it would have made in my family's lives. What is so different

about this is it is not the parent/s *telling* the children what to do, but inviting the whole family to

participate in what and how changes will be made. Lots of quotes from real people that are doing this plan.

It works. I recommend this book to all parents, grandparents, aunt, uncles, friends with children.

What a difference it will make.

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars If only my mother had had this book when I was a child October 13, 2004

By Allison Schacht

Format:Paperback

If my mother had had this book when I was a child, my whole life would have been different. Doing the food program would have spared both of us a lot of pain. I didn't find out until I was nearly 40 and Dr. DesMaisons wrote her first book that it was the food I was eating that had made me so depressed for most of my life. Doing her food program changed my life.

I don't have children of my own, but reading this book makes me almost wish I did. DesMaisons explains that limiting sugar in your house isn't enough - the process she outlines will help your children see the effect that sugar has on them, and buy into the whole process of eating healthy food and avoiding sugar.

One of the most interesting pieces of information, in my opinion, is that the majority of tantrums are caused by blood sugar crashes. Once a child is in biochemical meltdown, punishment doesn't work, but a cheese stick will. And by making sure your child eats some protein every three hours, you can prevent meltdowns.

I grew up feeling bad because I was a very difficult child. Reading this book gave me compassion for myself as a child. I wasn't difficult on purpose - I had a biochemical imbalance. With the right food, things would have been very different.