How I discovered the program--

I was teaching a college freshman English course in research methods at a junior college. We were researching topics related to food (nutrition, food production, factory farming, food safety, etc.). At one point I came across a documentary (I forget which one now) where a nutritionist mentioned something about "sugar addiction." It was the first time I'd heard that term used as if it were a real thing and not my own exaggerated description of myself. My first thought was, that can't be real. But about half a second later I realized that it probably is a real thing, and that if it were a real thing, then I most definitely had that problem. And then I wondered, if sugar addiction is a true addiction, maybe there's a rehab program.

So--since it was a research methods class, after all--I threw myself into researching the topic, starting with the college library's databases. One of the first things I came across was Potatoes Not Prozac. I hesitated to read it at first because it didn't sound too scientific from the title, lol. But it kept coming up in all my searches, and I finally read it and became a believer. Next, I waded through the Princeton studies referred to in the book on the mice.

At that point in my life, I was extremely physically active (ok, ocd about working out), and I was off sugar. So I didn't take the advice to heart. I thought I could quit sugar and stay off on my own. But of course, I came back to the sugar. I quit cold turkey several more times over the course of the next 7 or 8 years before I decided I should give the program a try. By then, my life had changed significantly. I now have back injuries that limit my exercise, I have two children, and I've gained 70 pounds. I also went through a pretty awful bout of depression after my oldest was born.

And so here I am. Every day I am more convinced that this program is exactly what I needed. It is changing my life. I'm so glad I finally decided to give it a try. I often wish I'd just done it back when I first read the book instead of having to go through all of the weight gain and depression before doing this. But I'm trying to just be glad that I'm here now.

I'm trying very hard to follow the program and do everything right and not rush ahead.

Julie

: Hi all,
: I'm always interested in how folks
: find the Radiant Recovery program.
: I suspect there's a lot more
: discovering by googling now than
: when I bought The Sugar Addicts
: Total Recovery Program book right
: after Christmas 2000

: I don't remember where or how I heard
: about the book but I knew it was
: the one thing I wanted to buy with
: my Christmas cash. I'd read most
: of the diet books mentioned in
: SARP. I knew I had a problem with
: sugar even though I was always
: thin. So I expected this might be
: one more book about just weight
: loss but there was one tiny
: mention of people of normal weight
: who can be sugar junkies.

: I clung to that. It validated my
: experience.

: Anyway, I read the book, probably not
: very carefully, and came away with
: the idea of eating breakfast with
: protein. So I switched from my all
: carb breakfast (when I ate
: breakfast) to having something
: like a hot dog or cheese
: quesadilla. I didn't eat within an
: hour and it wasn't enough protein
: but I didn't pick up on those
: details, lol.

: I will add that I was totally
: tech-phobic at the time, wouldn't
: go near the computer. I continued
: with being conscious of eating
: protein for breakfast whenever I
: got around to eating breakfast for
: the next year. I also journaled
: for a few days.

: It was a start.

: How did you find the steps?

: janice