"Before you delve into this second edition of Potatoes not Prozac, I want to give you some background on our program for healing sugar sensitivity. It helps to have some context when making a decision to trust a healing program. How can you know whether this program works? Is this just one more promise that will turn to dust over time or is there really something to it? To answer those questions, let's connect with the power of both the science behind the methods and the lived experience of those who are doing the Potatoes not Prozac program."

The section that really stands out in this paragraph is this one: "How can you know whether this program works? Is this just one more promise that will turn to dust over time or is there really something to it?" Over the years, I've seen so many people come to the Forum and most of them start out wondering this very thing. Most of them have tried diet after diet unsuccessfully, so those questions are natural.

I didn't come here with a history of dieting. My weight was fine. (Actually, looking back at photos, I was too thin. It's kind of scary!) But I had been plagued by depression, misery and crazy thought patterns. I don't remember if I knew they were crazy back then, but my thoughts and the voice in my head that constantly told me I was ugly, stupid, a loser etc certainly made my life miserable. Instead of diets, I tried all kinds of self help books and workshops and group therapy without any success. I remember trying to think positively and I could only do it for a short time. Then I'd be beating myself up for not being able to do it. I had no idea that it was my biochemistry that was working against me, and not a character defect. There was constant drama going on in my head. I truly believed I was defective and doomed.

I came at the program kind of sideways. I'd been complaining to my massage therapist about feeling exhausted. (I was hyper all day and practically comatose in the evenings.) She asked me what I was eating and then told me I needed more protein and I should try the Zone diet. (I really wasn't eating enough of anything, not because I was trying to lose weight, but because I was a single homeowner and very worried about money and also had no concept of how much food I should need. I was hungry all the time, had blood sugar crashes throughout the day, and thought that meant there was something wrong with me because I needed so much food. Pretty crazy, because I really wasn't eating very much.) Anyway, I went out and bought the Zone diet book, and realized that in order to get enough food doing that plan, I'd need to eat protein, complex carbs and veggies. I figured I could eat junk food and sugar on special occasions and I was willing to do anything to feel better, so I just changed my diet overnight. That is something I would not recommend to anyone! Anyway, I began to have more energy, but I also noticed that I began to feel better emotionally.

About a month later, I read about Potatoes not Prozac and sugar sensitivity in Christianne Northrup's health newsletter and realized the description sounded like me, so I went to a bookstore on my lunch break and started looking at the book. I bought it and decided that the plan outlined in the book was easier to do than the Zone because you didn't have to worry about exact proportions and I wasn't trying to lose weight anyway. I didn't really question whether the program would work for me, because I had already found out by accident that eating differently really did make me feel much better, and the food I was eating was really quite similar to eating the way that Kathleen recommended.

The day I knew that this really, truly worked and that I was never turning back was the day I suddenly realized that the voice in my head was gone. That doesn't mean I never have doubts or feel bad about myself, because I have the occasional biochemical blip, but that constant soundtrack of self hatred was gone. It has never come back, and I have never had any feelings or thoughts that come close to it since.

I suspect that if I hadn't already found out by accident that eating differently was the key, I would have had those same questions about whether this would really work. I would have tried the program anyway, though, because I had reached the point where I was willing to do whatever it took to feel better.

Anyway, I've gone on long enough. Who would have thought I'd come up with that much to say about 1 paragraph, LOL. I'd love to hear about whether those questions resonate with you, and what you were thinking when you started the program.
Allison