The Sugar Addict's Total Recovery Program - Hardcover

DesMaisons Ph.D., Kathleen

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 034544132X ISBN 13: 9780345441324

Publisher: Ballantine Books, 2000

Synopsis

Kathleen DesMaisons started a diet revolution with her runaway bestseller, Potatoes Not Prozac, a startling new health and nutrition program for people who are sugar sensitive. The response was phenomenal: 170,000 copies sold and more than 5 million hits on her Web site over the past two years. Now, in this new book, The Sugar Addict's Total Recovery Program, which is based on a careful balance of protein and carbohydrates, Dr. DesMaisons provides detailed, workable, meal-by-meal instructions on how to implement her breakthrough food plan and make it a part of your daily life.

Sugar-sensitive individuals require not only a different diet but a different approach to diet--and that's exactly what Dr. DesMaisons offers here. Writing with the deep understanding and personal experience that comes from being both a clinician and a recovering sugar addict herself, and informed with all the latest scientific research on what makes a person sugar sensitive, Dr. DesMaisons explains exactly how you can free your mind and body from the tyranny of sugar and shake off the exhaustion, mental fogginess, and mood swings that sugar dependence causes. Revealing the various ways sugar addiction affects both men and women, and the unique methods for healing it, Dr. DesMaisons encourages you to custom-tailor her simple program to fit your lifestyle, and includes information on:

- How to fully integrate a "slow-carbs not low-carbs" strategy into your diet
- How to shop efficiently and economically for staples, treats, and emergency foods
- Why regular protein is essential and how to get it with every meal
- What to eat when a sugar craving strikes
- How to get the nutrition you need on the run--even at fast-food restaurants
- How to find an exercise program you'll enjoy
- 10 breakfasts you can prepare in a flash
- Menus and recipes for every lifestyle and taste

Practical, hands-on, and reader friendly, The Sugar Addict's Total Recovery Program gives you the guidance you need for every phase of healing your sugar sensitivity, from chaos to stability to lasting recovery. By finding and sticking with the protein/carbohydrate balance that's right for you, not only will you look and feel better, but you'll actually resolve the problems that have made you lose control of your eating. This book will transform your life by helping you eat right--starting today!

About this title

About the Author

Kathleen DesMaisons, Ph.D., revolutionized the field of chemical-dependency treatment with her pioneering work in addictive nutrition. She coined the term sugar sensitivity to describe the problem of those who are addicted to sugar and simple carbohydrates, and developed a treatment program that has resulted in a 92 % success rate for her clients recovering from alcohol addictions. Her bestselling book, Potatoes not Prozac, has helped sugar-sensitive people learn how to use food to change their biochemistry and improve their physical and emotional health. Dr. DesMaisons lives in Albuquerque, New Mexico, where she has a private practice and manages her organization, Radiant Recovery. She personally manages her exceptionally popular Web site, www.radiantrecovery.com, which has created a uniquely safe and supportive community for sugar-sensitives in recovery.

Reviews

Following in the tracks of her Potatoes Not Prozac, nutrition expert DesMaisons serves up a practical and promising dietary plan for sugar addicts, which revolves around several basic tenets: no sugar, moderate amounts of complex carbohydrates, more protein, regular meals and a nightly potato. (Eating potatoes enables tryptophan to enter the bloodstream, which increases production of the brain chemical serotonin, which, in turn, boosts optimism, creativity and the ability to concentrateAkey factors, DesMaisons avers, in maintaining a healthy diet.) Using biochemistry to alter mood and cure sugar cravings is DesMaisons's primary goal, and she maintains that the best way to redirect a sugar-sensitive makeup is to deal with the sugar addiction step by step. To that end, she offers an accessible diet that allows dairy (butter on the potato is allowed!), meat and plenty of whole grains. The book includes menus and recipes (including some creative ways to fix "Mr. Spud"), tips on what to order when dining out or when eating on the run and a list of foods containing "covert" sugar. DesMaisons guides readers graduallyAalbeit with some repetitionAthrough her plan This is a sensible approach that will surely tempt sugar lovers hoping to find a natural, long-range solution to their addiction, and ultimately change their lives. (Dec. 19)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

The author of the successful Potatoes Not Prozac returns with a book of instructions about beating sugar cravings that lead not just to fat but to exhaustion and lack of concentration. DesMaisons is president of Radiant Recovery, a treatment program for addiction, depression, and compulsive behavior.
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Why You Are Different
If you are a sugar addict, you can't "just say no" to ice cream, candy,
soda, chocolate, or cookies. If you are a sugar addict, people have been
saying "watch your calories," "exercise more," "clean up your room," "stop
snacking on cookies," "stop drinking," "stop smoking," or "why don't you
just ______" to you nearly all your life. You fill in the blank. The
message is the same, although the content may vary.

The problem is clear. You are doing something that you don't want to be
doing. But the solution isn't so clear. If you could just stop it, you
would! You can't just say no. And the longer this helplessness goes on,
the more tricks you try, the more failures you have and the more hopeless
you feel. On the outside you may act cool. You might even have flip
responses or pat retorts, but each time you hear the "why don't you just
say no" message-even if it is subtle-you brace yourself. You ask yourself:
"Why can't I get it together and take care of myself? Where is my
willpower? Why aren't I like other people?" They just decide to do
something and then they follow through. Again and again you decide, you
make a commitment, you start-then your resolve fades. You get busy, you
get overwhelmed, you get distracted, and your intention dissipates like
the morning fog in the noonday sun.

Nancy is a sugar addict. She has vowed to give up chocolate almost every
day of her life. Three days into her commitment to quit, something always
happens and she reaches for a candy bar. Rosemary, who is not a sugar
addict, decides that chocolate isn't good for her skin. She decides to cut
it out of her diet, never buys another candy bar, isn't tempted, and
doesn't think of it again. Rosemary's resolve may be inconceivable to you.
Nancy feels like your sister.

When you are a sugar addict, saying no is not an issue of willpower. Your
biochemistry has a direct effect on your behavior. Your craving and desire
for sugar are profoundly affected by your brain chemistry, and even more
significant, by what and when you eat.

You are a sugar addict because you are sugar sensitive. Sugar addiction is
a primary symptom of sugar sensitivity. If you are sugar sensitive and
your meals are erratic, if you skip breakfast, eat lots of sweet things,
drink quarts of diet soda or eat pounds of pasta and bread, then you will
be depressed, moody, erratic, volatile, forgetful, and impulsive. You may
have a short fuse, a short attention span, and a reputation for being all
over the place. You may have trouble with your weight, you may have an
eating disorder, or you may have a problem with aggression.

It has probably not occurred to you that the food you eat could have such
a dramatic effect on you. You may have figured out that sometimes you are
really cranky when you haven't had your "fix." You have to go out and get
a pint of your special brand of ice cream even if it's eleven o'clock at
night. Your friends or parents or boss may have noticed that you have
something like a split personality. Sometimes you are creative, cheerful,
charming, funny, and delightful. Other times you are a royal pain in the
butt and even the people who love you stay out of your way. You are a
sugar addict.

When you first hear me talking about sugar addiction in this way, you may
not be convinced that it is a real condition. You may not think it is
possible to be addicted to something so "harmless" as sugar. Stay with me
while I take you through the reasoning for my position.

Criteria for Addiction

Here are the criteria the American Psychiatric Association uses to
determine addiction:
¸         The substance is taken in greater amounts or for a longer time than
intended.

¸         There is a persistent desire or one or more unsuccessful attempts to cut
down or control use.

¸         Major time is spent in seeking, using, or recovering from the effects of
use.

¸         Frequent intoxication or withdrawal interferes with responsibilities.

¸         There is a decreased level of social, recreational activities due to use.

¸         There is continued use despite adverse consequences.

¸         There is a marked increase in tolerance.

¸         There are withdrawal symptoms.

¸         There is use to prevent withdrawal.

Let's reframe these criteria and see if we can create a list for sugar
addiction.

¸         The substance is taken in greater amounts or for a longer time than
intended.

Have you ever planned to have just a cookie and eaten the whole plate?
Have you ever planned to have a caramel double latte once as a celebration
and found yourself going back every day? Have you ever planned to have a
piece of pie and eaten the whole thing? Can you imagine eating half a
piece of cake and leaving the rest because you just weren't hungry for it?

¸         There is a persistent desire or one or more unsuccessful attempts to cut
down or control use.

One or more unsuccessful attempts seem sort of funny to sugar addicts.
Have you ever tried to control your use? Does that question make you laugh
because it seems so absurd? Have you spent most of your life since eighth
grade trying to cut down or control your use of sweet things? Once you
start eating sweet things, you cannot stop.

¸         Major time is spent in seeking, using, or recovering from the effects of
use.

Do you make sure you always have a can of Coke (or even Diet Coke) on your
desk? Do you make a special trip to Costco to get that big jar of jelly
beans? Do you feel an inordinate sense of relief when your family is gone
so you can eat what you want? Do you have sugar hangovers and feel cranky
and irritable the day after?

¸         Frequent intoxication or withdrawal interferes with responsibilities.

Now at first blush, you may think that your sugar use does not affect your
life. But are your bills paid on time? Is your desk cleared off? Do you
double-book appointments? Are you too tired to function at three in the
afternoon? Are you funny, charming, and all over the place when you eat
sugar or have your soda or sweetened coffee? Look at your behavior with a
different eye and you may be shocked at how true this is.

¸         There is a decreased level of social, recreational activities due to use.

Do you prefer to be alone so you can eat what you want, when? Do you get
nervous about visiting your son's apartment because you know he doesn't
have anything there for you to eat? Do you shy away from those friends who
have given up those sweet things? Are you drawn to the people doing the
"reward meal" on the Carbohydrate Addict's Diet because you know you will
have company in eating what you want?

¸         There is continued use despite adverse consequences.

This is the ringer-continued use despite adverse consequences. You know
it's bad for you, you know it's killing you, you are in despair, and you
go back for more. Hits kinda close to home, yes?

¸         There is a marked increase in tolerance.

You need more to get the same effect. One small cookie won't cut it. You
have to eat the whole box. You remember not so much the high feeling, but
the feeling of relief-that the world is okay, you fit, and things will be
all right. But it takes more to get you there.

¸         There are withdrawal symptoms.

You may not have made the connection to withdrawal per se. You may simply
intuitively know that you feel better if you have a cup of tea and a piece
of cake. Or you know exactly how much better you will feel once you get
your supply down the hatch.

¸         There is use to prevent withdrawal.

You know you are cranky and will feel better if you have something sweet.
Your three-year-old is having a temper tantrum because you said no to her
in the grocery story. You get a soda and pop it open and she sits there
being a good girl. You take a sugar break at 3:00 p.m. because you know if
you don't you will be a basket case by 3:30. You know what time the
edginess will start.

Sobering, isn't it? Makes you think. When you first connect with this idea
of sugar addiction, it may be a little scary to you. You may find it hard
to put yourself in the same class as alcoholics or heroin addicts. You may
have been conditioned to think that addiction is bad and only weak-willed
people are addicts or alcoholics. This book will help you understand that
addiction is a chemical reality. The reason you are a sugar addict is your
unique body. You respond to sugar more intensely. You hurt more in
withdrawal. You feel better when you have it. The physical dependence is
real. You are not a bad person; this is not a character defect. Once you
start to think of yourself as having a unique brain and body chemistry,
you can start on the road to recovery.

Edition details

• Publisher: Ballantine Books
• Publication date: 2000
• ISBN 10: 034544132X
• ISBN 13: 9780345441324
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 288