I am curious to know if anyone who visits this site is doing the "Potatoes not Prozac" Plan. It is for sugar addicts, and I have the book. I find it interesting and wonder about the successfulness of this plan.

I've read the book and thought it had some good ideas and reasoning behind her theories. Didn't try it though cause i was afraid of going back to potatoes. They tend to make be crave more.

Hi Susan--I just finished reading her second book-- "The Sugar Addict's Total Recovery Program", and found it fascinating.. Haven't read the potatoes book yet.. I had to disagree with most of the things that she had to say about certain low carb eating plans (the parts about why certain ones don't work), but that's what makes the world go round, right? We all have our ideas about the perfect plan for ourselves.. I did get lots of great ideas from the book that I just finished, though. I might even consider using a modified version of her plan when I reach my goal. Also--I thought that some (or even most) of the recipes in the book looked great, and do-able. Did you know that there is a website? It's "radiant recovery" and they have a pretty large recipe site.. A lot of the recipes are pretty complex carb heavy (especially for Atkins?--I'm not sure about that), but many of them could certainly be adapted to suit a particular plan. I'm always on the lookout for new recipes, and new ideas...

Ok, has anyone read the potato book??? care to fill us in on some of the details?



I must admit to missing baked taters once in a while...

Here's a brief rundown...Carbohydrate addicts and alcoholics have a lot in common. Sugar and alcohol both produce a sense of euphoria which is where the craving for one or the other comes from. This is very simplistic and there are other things at work that will make you feel the need to drink or consume carbohydrates. In both cases, brain chemistry is a bit messy. Seratonin and beta endorphin levels are low which is part of what gets you hooked on carbs or alcohol.

Eating the potato is time controlled and replenishes the seratonin and beta-endorphin while you sleep. It's a chemistry balancing plan and she also advises to cut down on what she calls brown foods - whole grains and beans - and eat more green foods - vegetables if weight loss is part of your goal.

The website is here and it gives a good overview of the plan.

I tried the potato for a few days. It didn't make me crave, but it made me groggy so I didn't stick with it. Maybe I should have!

Karen

Karen--The "groggy" part is the very thing that might sell it for me.. Suffering through those menopausal sleepless nights--and wondering if it might be the ticket for a good night's rest. Feeling a bit afraid to try it though--it might really set off a reaction that I won't want to deal with. That's why I thought I might give it a try when I finally stop bouncing, and make it to goal..

Karen,
Do you have any thoughts on why it might have made you feel groggy?
i'm going through the steps on the web site and it seems pretty interesting
(though there is no way i could go back to having the carbs she mentions
in the first few steps)

i found this interesting:
If you find that you are having wild dreams on the nights you have your potato, this is a clue that you have low serotonin. This means you are getting a bigger hit of serotonin than you want right yet. The bigger hit means your levels are very low. You need the serotonin, but it is better to go more slowly. Ease into it and let your brain catch up. Have a smaller potato, or eat just a half or even a third of it. Your body is talking to you. Listen.

Soon after i began to limit my carbs I was having bad muscle cramps but couldn't afford the potassium at the time. i still had some bananas here and i ate one of those on two different nights. i ate them soon before bed because i figured if they did cause an insulin spike i would be asleep so wouldn't have the cravings. Anyway both of those nights i had very wild(and disturbing dreams) like i had never had before. i even mentioned it back then in my journal. i am wondering now if there was some connection...

The only thing I could think of was the carb hit. Could be. It's interesting, isn't it?
The grogginess was the day after, not the night of.

As a result, I started looking into other things re: brain chemistry. The Diet Cure by Julia Ross was a very good read. There's some talk about it in this thread

The answers I found on how to deal with depression "naturally"...

And I yakked a bit about potato eating in my journal. It's hard to believe it was in 2002! Tempest fugit!

http://forum.lowcarber.org/showpost...9&postcount=577

Karen

Well Karen,..... if you remember, we talked about this before..
I am the person who started the "wine thread about evening addiction". I am still struggling with it... only for the reason of getting myself to sleep at night. I bought the book when you mentioned it to me. I have started her plan a few times, but found it difficult to journal about the feelings I get from everything I ate.
Anyway I am looking at the book again, and looking for anyone on the plan that perhaps might post on this site.
Thanks for your input, I respect what you have to say.
Susan

Of course I do. Your post hung out for a couple of days and I replied to it. It now has a mind of its own!

With respect to your food journal, you may want to apply the one day at a time principle. Do it for one day because you can do anything for one day. The next day, do it for one day...

Karen

Hi there...you've probably seen me on the wine addiction thread, in addition to a few other places around the forum.

I finally got serious about cutting down my drinking when I realized how long it was going to take me to lose this weight, and how little I would be able to eat, if I continued drinking at the same levels. The calories start adding up with potentially horrifying results, once the wine gets to more than about a glass and a half per day. So I sort of bit the bullet and committed to abstaining 6 days a week and having one "free day." So far this has been going on for a month with good results. The weight loss is moving again and I have tons more energy--plus, I'm really happy about the long-term investment in my health.

I do miss the wine a lot sometimes, especially when I feel keyed up and can't seem to relax, but so far the fat loss has been worth it.

Anyway, I totally understand about the sleep thing. It can be very hard, when you are used to wine-drinking in the evening, to get to sleep without it...especially for the first few days. I found Melatonin to be incredibly helpful in this regard, to get me over the hump, as it were. I use it for jet lag and when I want to make sure to get enough sleep at night. I take 3 mg, 12 hours before I want to wake up in the morning. I'm usually asleep within an hour or two of taking the pill, and I sleep through the night and wake up refreshed.

However, melatonin doesn't work the same way for everybody. Some people get no effect from it at all.

FWIW.

Emily

Thanks for the info tholian,
I agree with you about the missing of the wine at night.
I'm not a huge drinker, but I definitely drink a couple of glasses every night and have for many years....I am not into drinking hard liquor or ever drinking in the day. I guess I am an alcoholic, because I have done it for so long, and totally enjoy the "Peaceful easy feeling" I get from it. I too have been trying to cut back. I will maybe give it a shot, and do as you are doing... Have it one evening a week. Can't hurt. Osuz

Karen,
I have to chuckle at your journal advice ... I am pretty bad at journaling... It shows in the way I keep it up!
I think it's because I keep a note book journal, I always have, and once I write down my stuff of the day in the note book, I just forget to come here and keep up my online journal.
I'll give it more of an effort, like you suggest...One day at a time.

You can keep it that way. You don't have to journal here, you just have to journal.

Karen