Potatoes Not Prozac: Solutions for Sugar Sensitivity [Paperback]

Kathleen DesMaisons (Author)

Book Description

Release date: January 1, 2008

You're not lazy, self-indulgent, or undisciplined. Many people who suffer from sugar sensitivity don't even know it -- and they continue to consume large quantities of sweets, breads, pasta, or alcohol. These foods can trigger exhaustion or low self-esteem, yet their biochemical impact makes those who are sugar sensitive crave them even more. This vicious cycle can continue for years, leaving sufferers overweight, fatigued, depressed, and sometimes alcoholic.

Dr. Kathleen DesMaisons came up with the solution and published it in her revolutionary book Potatoes Not Prozac. It gave you the tools needed to overcome sugar dependency, including self-tests and a step-by-step, drug-free program with a customizable diet designed to change your brain chemistry. But now, armed with a decade of further research and patient feedback, Dr. DesMaisons has improved her groundbreaking plan to make it even more effective and easier to follow. Join the thousands who have successfully healed their addiction to sugar, lost weight, and attained maximum health and well-being by using this updated, innovative plan.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

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. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

"If sugar were put on the market for the first time today, it would be difficult to get it past the FDA...Potatoes Not Prozac contains important information for everyone from the sophisticated nutritionist to the individual just beginning."

-- Candace B. Pert, Ph.D., author of Molecules of Emotion: Why You Feel the Way You Feel

"I very much look forward to recommending the book to all those who I know without a doubt are suffering from sugar addiction and all its myriad consequences."

-- Christiane Northrup, M.D., author of Women's Bodies, Women's Wisdom: Creating Physical and Emotional Health and Healing

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 272 pages
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster; Updated edition (January 1, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 141655615X
• ISBN-13: 978-1416556152
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.6 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (209 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #17,474 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #84 in Books > Health, Fitness & Dieting > Addiction & Recovery > Substance Abuse

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

205 of 208 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Clear, Simple, Brilliant and Powerful April 5, 2004

By David Spero

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

"Potatoes not Prozac" is a cutesy name for a truly wonderful book that will help millions of people heal their bodies and their lives. Her concept of "sugar sensitivity" and her 7-step treatment plan will enable readers to understand and recover from addiction to foods, drugs, alcohol, and cigarettes. People who have failed repeatedly at sobriety or weight loss can succeed with this plan, as thousands have already.

Kathleen des Maisons learned about the importance of sugar through her work as a drug and alcohol treatment counselor. She was having the usual low success rate in helping people stay off alcohol. Then she discovered how certain foods lead to addiction to alcohol and drugs, as well as being addictive themselves.

She found that nearly all alcoholics lived largely on pasta, white breads and sweet things. She knew what they were suffering. Her own father drank himself to death at age 51, and she herself weighed 240 pounds and had had problems with drinking. When she discovered the benefits of a diet high in protein and vegetables for herself, she started using it with her clients. Her success rates soared, even with the hardest cases.

She realized that addictive behavior has a lot to do with food, and that sugar was the primary culprit. She believes that some people are born "sugar-sensitive," which means they don't have enough serotonin or beta-endorphin in their brains. Serotonin and beta-endorphin make us feel secure, stable, confident, cheerful. If you have low levels of these chemicals, you are likely to feel badly.

Sugar and alcohol raise your serotonin and beta-endorphin levels. So they make you feel better and more energetic, especially if your levels were low to start with.... Unfortunately, eating concentrated sugars or refined carbohydrates causes a rebound effect. Your sugars levels drop quickly, you feel worse than before, and you need more sugar, caffeine or alcohol to pick back up.

Pretty soon you're addicted. You feel alternately great and miserable. The sugar swings stress your adrenal glands. You blame yourself for being out of control and unfocused, for putting on weight or drinking, but actually it's the sugar. It's a physical problem, although emotions do play a part.

Getting off sugar is difficult. Our food supply is awash in sugars and simple carbs. They can't be avoided. Des Maisons gives us a practical strategy based on 12-step recovery programs. Her seven steps are
1. Keep a food journal every day
2. Eat three meals a day at regular intervals
3. Take Vitamin C, B complex, and zinc
4. Eat enough protein at each meal
5. Move from simple to complex carbohydrates, or from "white foods" to "brown" and "green" foods. "Brown" refers to things like whole grains and beans. "Green" means vegetables, of whatever color.
6. Reduce or eliminate sugars (including alcohol)
7. Create a plan for maintenance.

She doesn't spell out a diet or recommend a lot of supplements or medications. She says that, using her steps, each person can figure out for herself what is best for her body to eat. She wants you to go through the 7 steps slowly, not to get impatient and rush ahead. The idea is to build a better relationship with your body and with food, to learn how food relates to your physical and emotional feelings.

Des Maisons writes with a compassion that comes from living with sugar addiction herself. Chapter 3 is called, "It's Not Your Fault." (I also use that title in my book, "The Art of Getting Well: Maximizing Health When You Have a Chronic Illness.") Her plan is based on "abundance, not deprivation." This means you focus more on adding good things (foods, exercise, prayer, pleasure etc), rather than giving things up. She keeps telling us to be gentle with ourselves, to focus on "progress, not perfection." She also has a great sense of humor and an apparent affection for potatoes.

"Potatoes not Prozac" also gives a very clear explanation of the biochemistry of addiction. She explains how serotonin and beta-endorphin are produced, get to the brain, and are regulated there, and how our food affects all those processes. She cites more than 50 studies in support of her ideas, although most of them are animal studies.

I disagree with Des Maisons on a couple of points. I don't think sugar-sensitivity is all in your genes. Your early environment, including the environment in your mother's uterus, makes a big difference. Also, I'm pretty sure that too much stress or too sugary a diet at any time in your life can create sugar-sensitivity or something very much like it.

I would have liked to see more on why, where, and how to get help. She mentions the need for support several times, but doesn't give much specific advice on finding it or asking for it. Reading The Art of Getting Well or Cheri Register's "The Chronic Illness Experience" will give you those skills. I also would have liked to see more on exercise. Des Maisons pretty much just says, "go do it!" Hopefully, that will be good enough for you, because physical activity is just as important as diet change, in my experience.

But these are small complaints. The author's brilliant insights into sugar and addiction, her clear explanations of difficult concepts, her simple but effective treatment plan, and her generous and positive spirit make this book a treasure that can help with a wide variety of health and life issues. It's wonderful.

David Spero RN wwwdotdavidsperoRNdotcom Read more ›

139 of 142 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A true way to heal from addictions, depression and much more January 10, 2008

By HB

Format:Paperback

When I first found Dr. DesMaisons work I was actually looking for a diet book. I was deep in eating disorders and the last thing I needed was to lose more weight. So when I picked up this book seeing "weight loss" on the cover I had no idea how my life would change. I have discovered that my problems with eating had nothing to do with will power, but with a biochemistry that set me up to have no impulse control, erradict blood sugar levels, low self-esteem, depression, even my eating disorder was strongly tied in (I've vacillated between bulimia and anorexia since I was 14, and I'm 31 now).

This book gives the science and the stories behind those who share this biochemistry. It lays out a food based, that's right a *food based* and natural program to heal your biochemistry. The revision is amazing because it incorporates years of practice with thosands of people all over the world into the steps, making them even better. Not to mention you'll see quotes and stories from those who have experienced recovery all throughout the book. I don't know about you, but I find such power in knowing that others have shared the same path!

It has now been seven years since I first read Dr. DesMaisons work, I have a stable relationship, a fantastic job that I never would've thought I was "worthy" of in the past, a joy for life that I thought was only possible when under the influence--and relief from my eating disorders. It is so ironic that what I thought was the problem (food), is actually the solution. Who knew? Well, obviously, Dr. DesMaisons did, and for that I am eternally grateful.

78 of 79 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars This book presents a life changing plan January 19, 1999

By A Customer

Format:Paperback

Potatoes Not Prozac is a program with answers that will change lives. Dr. DesMaisons has created a nationally recognized program which not only has an impressive 92% success rate helping alcoholics to stay sober, but also boasts an incredible track record helping sugar and carbohydrate sensitive people finally kick the sugar habit for good. Different from Sugar Busters, this program gently outlines a simple seven step eating plan which will carefully and easily stabilize brain chemistry without causing suffering from cravings and hunger. When the steps are followed in the order presented, the resulting effect is a feeling of radiance and energy and good feelings that must be experienced to be believed. This simple eating program changes lives. Reading this book and following the program has changed mine. Potatoes Not Prozac is one of the most positive life-changing books that I have ever read. I recommend it highly to everyone.

76 of 77 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A true way to heal from depression and addiction January 13, 2008

By Judita

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

Many years ago my doctor suggested I read Potatoes No Prozac when I went to see him to ask about yet another prescription for anti-depressants. I bless him to this day for putting me on the path to healing and sanity. This is a great book and will change your life as it has changed so many others. Buy this book. You won't regret it.

62 of 62 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Peace of Mind April 4, 2000

By Mrs. R.L. Passarelli

Format:Paperback

For those of us who have unsuccessfully tried to lose weight for years and get rid of depression, this book (if you are sugar sensitive) provides relief and peace of mind in knowing that the inability to lose weight (and have weird behavorial patterns) is not your fault! I highly recommend reading the book cover to cover to understand fully the scientific research done to date on sugar sensitive bodies. It should be a crime for the food companies to continue to add sugar the way they do. I would say the great majority of the population has some "sugar sensitivity"...the amount of sugar used in every day products is obscene. And the world wonders why Americans are so fat! If you have ever excercised 2-4 days a week, did Jenny Craig/Weight Watchers and only watched yourself continue to gain another 20 pounds, this book might be the answers to your prayers. But don't expect a miracle. It takes an understanding of your body to make the changes in your diet. The hard work is more than worth the effort. Finally, I have the motivation (through knowledge)to beat the 80 pounds that have crawled onto me since my marriage. I am regaining my life and my body. That is priceless.