'potatoes not prozac' support thread

I know a few of us spoke about having a support thread to accompany the 'potatoes not prozac' theory of eating for health... and controlling sugar addiction.

I'm midway through the book now and have to say I have nodded and agreed with everything. I have been overwhelmed to some of the answers given as to why I am the way I am. I am not normally swayed or interested in self help books but this one has struck a chord.

I'm yet to read what the steps are that I should be taking but I doubt it will be long before I am embarking on this change in the way I eat.

So.. here's to the support group. Where are you 'all at' with regard to the plan?

I'm holding off until someone else starts, so that we can hopefully support each other.
Only do the first part to start with, eat your breakfast as she says, or else like I did before you'll set yourself up to fail.

What a coincidence I bought this book off greenmetropolis today. Not got it yet but seriously need to deal with mynsugar cravings. If I am honest I am dreading it, not idea how the plan works but have built up in my mind the idea that it will be basically going cold turkey from sugar

Bitsy Beans wrote:What a coincidence I bought this book off greenmetropolis today. Not got it yet but seriously need to deal with mynsugar cravings. If I am honest I am dreading it, not idea how the plan works but have built up in my mind the idea that it will be basically going cold turkey from sugar

No definitely not, it can take months before you're ready to cut out sugar.
It really is quite a slow process.

Rosie wrote:

Bitsy Beans wrote:What a coincidence I bought this book off greenmetropolis today. Not got it yet but seriously need to deal with mynsugar cravings. If I am honest I am dreading it, not idea how the plan works but have built up in my mind the idea that it will be basically going cold turkey from sugar

No definitely not, it can take months before you're ready to cut out sugar.
It really is quite a slow process.

Glad to hear it.

It's a fascinating read Bitsy Beans.. well fascinating if you're sugar sensitive, addictive and it resonates with you. She really insists on taking things slowly, infact I don't even have to address what I eat yet.

So:

*a food diary for me but has to include how I feel physically and emotionally
*eat 3 meals a day at regular intervals and ALWAYS eat breakfast.

I really dislike breakfast (another 'symptom ) but have forced myself this morning ::ergh, didn't want it and felt pretty sickly eating it, mind you my choice didn't help maters much!

Saturday
time:: 7.30
eaten:: poached egg/toast & fennel tea
emotionally felt:: miserable/down/on edge/under pressure
physically felt:: tired/sluggish/bloated

I've started this morning, had a cheese & onion omelette & porridge for my complex carbs.
This time I will take it slowly & hopefully work through it properly.
There's loads of info on the website, Radiant Recovery.
I've just had to look up what I should have for breakfast, hopefully I'll have enough energy to chew some frogs & find the safe place my 2 books on the subject are lurking.
Good luck to anyone else who's fired up to start today.

i eat breakfast but i cant eat before 8am.

well according to greenmetropolis it can take 7-10 days for my book to arrive so i might start the food diary in the meantime. do you have to include drinks???

Oh I forgot about http://www.radiantrecovery.com/ thank you Rosie. Well done on starting today too.

I'm convinced this is what is wrong with me so hopefully will stay committed to weaning off the dreaded sugar.

Froogs I see that you started as well, well done.
Like you I never ever ever ate breakfast, I would have porridge or toast maybe after I'd walked the dog, so might have been 3-4 hours after getting up.
I can't find my books at the mo, but I think she says that you are supposed to feel hungry soon after waking.
I'm very open to the power of suggestion I think, ok, gullible. I did find that on the last day I did it before, it was only a few days but I did get up & think, I need my breakfast.
I think that it's a good sign to feel the need to eat shortky after waking.

Bitsy Beans wrote:i eat breakfast but i cant eat before 8am.

well according to greenmetropolis it can take 7-10 days for my book to arrive so i might start the food diary in the meantime. do you have to include drinks???

If you look on the website it gives all the basics. You don't stop eating anything to start with, you just have to eat breakfast within an hour of waking. The breakfast must contain enough protein for your weight.

Rosie wrote:

Bitsy Beans wrote:i eat breakfast but i cant eat before 8am.

well according to greenmetropolis it can take 7-10 days for my book to arrive so i might start the food diary in the meantime. do you have to include drinks???

If you look on the website it gives all the basics. You don't stop eating anything to start with, you just have to eat breakfast within an hour of waking. The breakfast must contain enough protein for your weight.

hmmm going to be a challenge eating within a hour of waking when I have small persons to contend with

Will check out the website thanks.

OK have worked out at breakfast I need 32g at each meal. Do you religiously weigh this? I mean should I make scrambled eggs and weigh out 32g??? Or am I being a bit too rigid?

I don't, a large egg is 6 grams of protein according to several sites. So you need a lot of eggs.
Could you make a large omelette the evening before & either heat up in the microwave or eat cold.
I made a cheese & onion omelette this morning & ate half, I'll have the other half for lunch or tomorrows breakfast.
I'm fat so need 40 grams of protein, which is such a huge amount to eat in one go.
The last time round I tried it I bought cooking bacon from Sainsbury and had that in an omelette.
I looked into buying protein powder to make shakes but would have cost well over £1 a breakfast.
In one of the books she said about eating non breakfast stuff, so another day I had a ham & cheese toastie. For us non breakfast eaters it sounds hideous but I tried to focus on how much better I would feel if I could stabilise my mood.
You can have peanut butter on toast.

Bitsy Beans wrote:OK have worked out at breakfast I need 32g at each meal. Do you religiously weigh this? I mean should I make scrambled eggs and weigh out 32g??? Or am I being a bit too rigid?

Wow, that is a lot of protein, yowzer!

I have just ordered my copy from amazon again
i was sure i ordered it last week with other books but nope!
I have read over some of the website so hopefully between here, the book and the website there will be no more eating family sized cakes in one sitting for me
I am just a bit worried about the amount of protein we have to eat tho. i have done high protein diets in the past lost lots of weight but have ended up feeling like i was going to be sick if i had to eat another bit of meat/egg
but i need to sort myself out I am so fed up of being fat/binging/being exhausted and crabby
I do like peanut butter on toast and poached eggs on toast for brekkie tho so thats one meal sorted just have to make myself eat it when i get up rather than 2 or 3 hours later( im not sure how much of it i woould have to eat tho as im supposed to have 32g of protein a meal?)

I need 29 grams per meal. I have had 12 for breakfast. I am now panicing thinking I can't do it - 4-5 eggs for breakfast?

So I guess my reading today is swot up on protein and how much is enough. A bit scared now. I do love peanut butter though so will look at that too.

I'm feeling daunted!

One skinless chicken breast (130g): 41g protein.
One small fillet steak (200g): 52g protein.
One beef burger or pork sausage: 8g protein.
One portion of poached skinless cod fillet (150g): 32g protein.
Half a can of tuna: 19g protein.
One portion of cheese (50g): 12g protein.
One medium egg: 6g protein.
150ml glass of milk: 5g protein.
One tablespoon of boiled red lentils (40g): 3g protein.
One portion of tofu (125g): 15g protein.
One slice medium wholemeal bread: 4g protein.

and a database http://www.highproteinfoods.net/ of 6000 foods with protein content

You could have about 28g of protein if you had a couple of slices of seeded bread - seed sensations is about 4.4g per slice and 200g of baked beans which is about 19g (9.5g per 100g). Peanut butter is about 25g per 100g. If you're going to try this, it would be all about the combinations of foods you'd have rather than just focusing on eggs etc. Combining lentils/beans with brown rice and stuff like that would have to be the way forward imo.

Rather you than me, good luck guys!

Thanks froogs
I have just downloaded her other book to my kindle, the sugar addicts weight loss plan so hopefully will get some more ideas from there
if i do i will come and share especially breakfast ones i dont think i can eat that many eggs in a morning yuck!

The difference with this to things like the Atkins diet is you have to eat carbs as well,
I don't think that I always eat the full amount of protein but I eat as much as I can.
My problem was still feeling full when I had to eat lunch.
When I did it before lunch would be
Tuna with mixed bean salad, or some other tinned fish on toast or pitta bread. Beans & poached egg on toast. Hamor bacon & cheese toastie, HM scotch eggs.
Dinner, jacket potato with cheese & beans, or the same as lunches with salad or veg.
I did find the cooking bacon from sainsburys good to have in at £1 a pack & either used it shopped to add to things or look through for the thick slices that are like bacon chops.
I'm going to make chillis & curries with lots of beans & veg. I think miso soup is high in protein.

alec eiffel wrote:You could have about 28g of protein if you had a couple of slices of seeded bread - seed sensations is about 4.4g per slice and 200g of baked beans which is about 19g (9.5g per 100g). Peanut butter is about 25g per 100g. If you're going to try this, it would be all about the combinations of foods you'd have rather than just focusing on eggs etc. Combining lentils/beans with brown rice and stuff like that would have to be the way forward imo.

Rather you than me, good luck guys!

righto thanks as always alec eiffel. I think that is what she suggests in the book too to be honest. She's very up for brown rice pasta's and bread. We should get our carbs from this kind of source and not the white stuff, almost knocking the white, refined stuff on the head because of the lack of goodness in it and it easily being broken down into sugars.

I am getting carried away. Eeeek, no mention of altering my diet yet in the book and I have to remember that. It's a process that you have to learn gradually not only to understand it but to get to know when your body is craving and what your moods are telling you you need or don't need.

Thank alec eiffel. I've been brought back down to earth... sloooowly, read and learn. (I have almost been at the 'I can't do that I'm quitting' and the author of the book said to take it slowly because you will quit)

Also worth remembering, if we focus on all these proteins etc right at the beginning we will, without meaning to, reduce drastically our sugar intake and cold turey will ensue - along with the headaches and body/mood out of sinc

sloooooowly! x

The last thing she wants is for you to go cold turkey, hence you start with just breakfast & only go onto the next stage when you've sorted that out & it's easy to do. I think the 2nd stage is to keep the diary.
For the time I wouldn't even read too much of the book beyond the step you're on that way you may be less inclined to do it all at once.
After the bad effect it had on me I would suggest that if you generally eat a lot of sugary or processed stuff to carry on doing it. If you make yourself ill then you'll stop, or that's what I did.

Tbh, the food side sounds ok but I think it's a little high on the protein. I train with weights which means I need protein to help the muscle rebuild after I've put all that stress on it and I only require about 90g a day on days that I'm training, other days lower than that. That's why I think it's a large amount.

I do think protein is the way forward though. It's easy to grab and go with biscuits, breads, crisps and other stuff like that and much as we're told that grabbing a slice of bread with a meal will fill us up it's just not really the case. Having protein with every meal is a great idea - it does make you feel fuller longer. But, it's about balance. Swapping white bread for seeded, rye, spelt or whatever is a good thing, swapping white rice for brown is a good thing (not to mention it tastes nicer), adding some lentils to your stews and salads is a good thing. So if you think about it you're not moving to a high protein diet you're moving away from an emphasis on carbs to a more balanced way of eating.

Preparation will be the key. The days you'll struggle will be the days you're tired and crabby and can't be bothered to prepare anything. If you have some grab and go foods on hand you'll be fine. As Rosie said things like houmous and pitta are great, crudites or an apple with some nut butter is a great snack when you need a boost. I like to keep falafel in the fridge, if you're a meat eater having some cooked meat or tinned fish to hand will be a lifesaver.

So don't worry about the large amounts of protein too much, don't overwhelm yourself and you'll be grand.

Ok so glad to hear we can still have carbs
I prefer wholemeal bread and brown rice to white anyway so that will be good
thanks for the seed sensations info alec i do like that bread and houmous and peanut butter yum
ok i am feeling less scared now