Customer Reviews

Serotonin Solution

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

 

 

I have been using this book's recommendations religiously since August, and I've lost thirteen pounds. This is the only diet I've ever been on that has enabled me to exercise at the same time, and not become terribly depressed. The only other way I could lose weight was with diet pills, and then I couldn't exercise because I didn't have the energy. It fits my eating patterns perfectly, and I have not had any near-fainting episodes from low blood sugar in months. I also have suffered from mild obsessive-compulsiveness in the past; I believe that this diet helps control that, too. I take vitamins, fatty acids, and kava kava in addition to this diet, and I am telling everyone I know about it. Thanks so much for all your research. I would like to see a sequel with a maintenance diet plan.

This book has completely turned my life around. I thought my bingeing on carbs was simply a matter of willpower. After reading this book, I now understand the biological reason for it. My body was screaming for Seritonin. This book explains how to enable your body to create more seritonin without bingeing. With more seritonin, i no longer have the desire to binge. The author Judith Wurtman does an excellent job of explaining why we get uncontrollable cravings and how to qual them. She also does a great job in explaining why the 'Low Carb Diets' only make you crave carbs more. Thank God for this book. It's helped me understand how your body works and why it craves certain things at different times. Buy it, you won't regret it.

I have read many serotonin-related books and I am quite confused. In his book "Beyond Prozac" Michael J. Norden, an eminent Psychiatrist, states that the much-publicized high-carbohydrate diet may actually make you depressed and overweight. In "Potatoes not Prozac" a high-carb plus protein diet is advocated. Dr. Joel Robertson in his "Natural Prozac" states that protein is a dopamine booster. Who should one believe? What is true and what is not? Should one accept Dr. Wurtman's approach as correct? O.K. she is an M.I.T. professor but the other authors have impressive academic credentials as well.

Tryptophan (a serotonin precursor) is a large amino acid not easily absorbed; carbohydrates improve tryptophan absorbtion. Fat would slow the action of the carbohydrates, so turkey on rice is better than turkey on rice with gravy for absorbing tryptophan. However, high carbohydrates trigger the release of serotonin. If it is night and you are going to bed, that might be good. If it is in the middle of the day and you are trying to build your serotonin reserves (or curb your appetite), high carbs in the absence of tryptophan are bad. Carbs must be used wisely and with purpose.

The author puts forth the idea that food provides needed nourishment and is not the enemy in our diet struggles. Indeed, attempting to get what it needs, the body may crave more than food and other addictions and behaviors may result which complicate one's life. The book was written some time ago, starting a discussion about the role of foods in brain function, a discussion as timely now as ever.