Customer Reviews

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

5 star:		(21)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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!

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!

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.

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.

I have three boys. Twins ages 6 and a 3 year old. They are all sugar sensitive, some worse than others. Doing this program has made an enormous change in our household. My children are happy, calm, funny, energetic and NOT whiny. Before doing this program, they were only sometimes happy, calm, funny, and energetic but they were also whiny, violent, overly sensitive and tearful. They had numerous meltdowns, in fact, there was probably a day that didn't go by without a meltdown from somebody. Today, meltdowns are a very rare occurrence and usually happen as a direct result of my kids ingesting some sugar.

If you have children that you feel are out of control, super sensitive, whiny, violent, having trouble concentrating, etc. Try this program, one tiny step at a time, and you too will see the miracles unfold!

This is a must read for every parent, whether you think your child is a sugar addict or not. We have all experienced children having melt downs, tantrums, mood swings, low self-esteem. Often we've been at a loss how to address these, have read tons and tons of self-help books or sought counselors for behavior modification techniques in an attempt to find a solution. Rarely did we find the help that produced long-lasting results.

Dr. DesMaisons' program takes a different approach, based on her understanding that behavior is often linked to diet, and particularly sugar sensitivity. Just by changing what and when we eat, we change how we think and feel. Amazing results in family dynamics have occurred where her program has been implemented.

This book gives step by step guidelines and examples of how it works and how to work it. Compassionate, deeply experiential and humorous as well, it will become a classic in helping us help our children to express their smart, creative, loving selves!

Kudos for groundbreaking information and a true gift to us all!

Gretel

This program is not only extremely helpful, it is really easily do able. Most parents will look at the title and think there is no way they are going to stop giving their kids sugar completely - the kids will riot right? Christmas without candy? Halloween??? You will be so pleasantly surprised if you read this book. First of all - going off sugars is the very last of several very detailed and important steps - there are a lot of us who are not to that point yet - and it is so very important that you slowly work your way toward it. Dr Kathleen gives you all the right steps so that you will not even miss it - REALLY! She helps with everything - including the holidays - including preventing eating disorders (so many of you will think that if you cut it out of your kids diets they will go overboard when you are not around - you have to read this book!!)

I truly believe everyone can benefit from Dr. Kathleen's program - sugar sensitive or not. Move over Atkins and South Beach and make way for Dr. Kathleen - hers is not a gimmick or even a diet - it is a HEALTHY WAY OF LIFE - THE RADIANT WAY!!!!

This wonderful book is filled with information I wish I had had when I was raising my children 30 years ago. It would have understood the wild mood swings and instant tears that so drove us crazy. It wasn't the fault of our parenting skills, it wasn't a flaw in our childrens' personalities, it was just that we have sugar sensitive children and a sugar sensitive mom.

I am thrilled to have this knowledge now, though, so that it can help my grandchildren. Just keeping those little bodies fed with the right foods can make all the difference.

When I look at the news of all the children who are overweight, being diagnossed with ADD or ADHD and being put on drugs, I am hopeful that their parents will read this book and find a simple way to reverse these problems.

I liked this book because Kathleen DesMaisons program has allowed me to have better health. I would like to use this program to change the eating habits of my three grandsons. I believe once a child's biochemistry is healed, they will have better health and be able to realize their potential.

The steps to changing a child's eating habits are clearly written. One can go as slow as needed to change the child's diet.

My fifteen year old grandson has ADHD. When he eats the way that Kathleen DesMaisons recommends, he is able to focus and is much more pleasant. He doesn't have mood swings any longer as long as he "does the food".

I have seen several children that are doing this program and they are well behaved, healthy and happy all the time.

If you have children I would recommend buying this book. I have gotten five copies for my health care providers. I still need to buy copies for my grandsons teachers.

Ann H NYC

Even though I don't have kids yet, I bought and read Little Sugar Addicts. I'm sugar sensitive myself and through Dr. DesMaisons book Sugar Addicts Total Recovery Program I was able to heal myself. After healing myself, I came to realize that my husband is also sugar sensitive and would greatly benefit from this program. Little Sugar Addicts gave me the tools I needed to help get him to change how he eats, so that his biochemistry can also be healed.

Since sugar sensitivity is biochemical, I'm sure our kids will be sugar sensitive also. Little Sugar Addicts gives us the knowledge we need to raise a child - and make that child's growing up years easier than ours were.