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.


Review
Christiane Northrup, M.D. Author of Women's Bodies, Women's Wisdom: Creating Physical and Emotional Health and Healing DesMaisons is onto something that is of major importance. The experience of reading Potatoes Not Prozac was a big 'Yes!' experience for me.... The ramifications of her work are enormous. 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.

Michael T. Murray,N.D. Author of Encyclopedia of Natural Medicine With a commonsense and practical approach from someone who has been extremely successful in helping people improve the quality of their lives, Potatoes Not Prozac provides clear guidance and real answers in helping people attain proper brain chemistry without the use of drugs. This book can definitely change a person's life!

Lucille Greenwood Lifelong Doctor's Assistant For forty years as a recovering alcoholic, I have hoped that someone would write a book about what Dr. DesMaisons describes so well. Sugar sensitivity is indeed the missing link in the treatment of alcoholism and other addictions. Now at last I have that book and find myself saying 'Amen' as I read in enthusiastic agreement.


Review
Lucille Greenwood Lifelong Doctor's Assistant For forty years as a recovering alcoholic, I have hoped that someone would write a book about what Dr. DesMaisons describes so well. Sugar sensitivity is indeed the missing link in the treatment of alcoholism and other addictions. Now at last I have that book and find myself saying 'Amen' as I read in enthusiastic agreement.


Review
Lucille Greenwood Lifelong Doctor's Assistant For forty years as a recovering alcoholic, I have hoped that someone would write a book about what Dr. DesMaisons describes so well. Sugar sensitivity is indeed the missing link in the treatment of alcoholism and other addictions. Now at last I have that book and find myself saying 'Amen' as I read in enthusiastic agreement.


Book Description
Are You Sugar Sensitive? Have you ever wondered why you just can't seem to say no to fattening foods, alcohol or troubling behaviors like overspending and overworking? The answer is not that you're lazy, self-indulgent or undisciplined. The problem lies in your body chemistry. In her groundbreaking book, Potatoes Not Prozac, Kathleen DesMaisons, Ph.D., addictive nutrition expert, reveals that emotional troubles such as mood swings or depression often can't be fought by medication. Her radical new way of finding and maintaining mental and physical health offers instead a prescription for altering our eating habits. Millions of people are sugar-sensitive -- which means they have a special body chemistry that reacts in extreme ways to sugar and refined carbohydrates like white bread and pasta. DesMaisons reveals that these "comfort" foods actually provide just the opposite effect, triggering feelings of exhaustion, hopelessness and low self-esteem. What's worse, these foods don't stop our cravings for them -- they only make us want to go back for more. Helping us to free ourselves from sugar dependency, DesMaisons explains how certain food dependent chemicals in the brain regulate our moods. Once we understand how these biochemicals react to what we eat -- or what we don't eat -- we are free to control our lives. Serotonin, beta-endorphins and blood sugar need to be kept in balance. We can achieve this balance by following DesMaisons's inexpensive, all-natural nutritional plan, which has resulted in a 92 percent success rate with recovering alcoholics, and emotional stability for the thousands of people she has treated in her practice. In addition to food charts, questionnaires to determine your own sugar sensitivity, and accessible scientific lessons that explain your body chemistry, DesMaisons provides a straightforward seven-step plan to overcome your addictions. There is no regime of measurements or self-denial: you tailor the plan to your tastes and lifestyle. These steps are actually more liberating than any diet could be. You will no longer settle for the short-term relief from pain or problems that cookies or ice cream might give you. You will find the optimism, energy and high self-esteem you have craved for so long. Because DesMaisons is committed to her own recovery, she is a compassionate, skilled guide in navigating you through this process, one choice at a time. And what you learn in the end, she says, is that the process isn't about food at all. "As we come into balance, we can shape our own direction rather than being driven by biochemical circumstances. We feel empowered to make changes in our lives and to control what is happening to us. What seemed like a story about food is really a story about possibility." You can change your life with Potatoes Not Prozac.


About the Author
Kathleen DesMaisons, Ph.D., is President and CEO of Radiant Recovery, a revolutionary program for treating addictions of all kinds, compulsive eating, depression and other conditions associated with faulty brain chemistry. The program has gained national attention due to its unparalleled success rate and its innovative combination of medical and holistic approaches. Dr. DesMaisons is a leader in the field of addictive nutrition and has been lauded for her identification of the phenomenon of sugar sensitivity as a critical factor in addiction and depression. She splits her time between the San Francisco Bay Area and Albuquerque, New Mexico.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

In her book, Potatoes Not Prozac, Kathleen DesMaisons, Ph.D., addictive nutrition expert, reveals that emotional troubles such as mood swings or depression often can't be fought by medication. Her radical new way of finding and maintaining mental and physical health offers instead a prescription for altering our eating habits. Millions of people are sugar-sensitive - which means they have a special body chemistry that reacts in extreme ways to sugar and refined carbohydrates like white bread and pasta. DesMaisons reveals that these "comfort" foods actually provide just the opposite effect, triggering feelings of exhaustion, hopelessness and low self-esteem. What's worse, these foods don't stop our cravings for them - they only make us want to go back for more. In addition to food charts, questionnaires to determine your own sugar sensitivity, and accessible scientific lessons that explain your body chemistry, DesMaisons provides a straightforward seven-step plan to overcome your addictions. There is no regime of measurements or self-denial: you tailor the plan to your tastes and lifestyle. These steps are actually more liberating than any diet could be. You will no longer settle for the short-term relief from pain or problems that cookies or ice cream might give you. You will find the optimism, energy and high self-esteem you have craved for so long. Because DesMaisons is committed to her own recovery, she is a compassionate, skilled guide in navigating you through this process, one choice at a time.

SYNOPSIS