{"product_id":"little-sugar-addicts-isbn-9781400051649","title":"Little Sugar Addicts","description":"Sugar Is Not Love\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eDo you have a smart, creative, loving child who is also cranky, inattentive, and sometimes downright obnoxious? If you’ve written off this negative behavior as “typical” for your child’s age—whether toddler or teen—stop and think: Does your child have a taste for soda, sugary breakfast cereals, and treats like candy and cookies? Does she eat regularly scheduled meals or skip them? What, exactly, does he drink and snack on throughout the day?  \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eYour child’s behavior may be linked to diet—specifically to the sugar in obvious sources like sweets and soda and to hidden sugars that lurk in many foods, fruit-based drinks, and “healthy” snacks like granola bars. And if your son or daughter is sugar sensitive, misbehavior and moodiness can be aggravated by missed or late meals and junk foods.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eNow, bestselling author Kathleen DesMaisons offers you a workable solution for getting back your child by changing his diet—without creating a sense of deprivation, without setting unrealistic goals, and without turning sugar into “forbidden fruit.” This book offers:\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e•  A step-by-step program, backed by years of research, for gradually improving the food your child eats—you and your whole family will benefit!\u003cbr\u003e•  Tips for navigating the sugar-laden world of birthday parties, holidays, and school cafeterias\u003cbr\u003e•  Ways to incorporate healthy snacking and regular mealtimes into your child’s      day, including suggestions for meals and snacks, plus recipes\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLittle Sugar Addicts\u003c\/b\u003e isn’t about strange foods, dramatic lifestyle changes, or complicated menus—just support, guidance, and real-life suggestions from other parents that work. It will help you make the connection between the addictive qualities of sugar and negative behavior and offer a healthy solution you and your whole family can live with.KATHLEEN DESMAISONS, Ph.D., revolutionized the field of chemical dependency treatment with her pioneering work in addictive nutrition. In her bestselling book \u003cb\u003ePotatoes Not Prozac\u003c\/b\u003e she coined the term “sugar sensitivity.” She currently serves as president and CEO of Radiant Recovery, manages a private consulting practice, and maintains a huge and thriving online community through her website www.radiantrecovery.com. She lives in New Mexico.Is Your Child Sugar Sensitive?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIf you are reading this book, you may intuitively feel that you have  a sugar sensitive child. But how can you know for sure? We have no  blood test yet that will tell you. What we do have, however, is a  solid list of clues that has been developed over a long time and with  a lot of input from parents just like you. Sugar sensitivity affects  behavior, health, and emotions. Let's go through each one and see how  your child fits the profile. Whether he is a toddler or she is a  teen, most of these questions will apply.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLet's look first at your child's behavior:\u003cbr\u003e --Does your child ask for sweet foods all the time?\u003cbr\u003e--Does your child have unexpected meltdowns that turn into tantrums or tears?\u003cbr\u003e--Is your child impulsive?\u003cbr\u003e--Does your child have a very short fuse?\u003cbr\u003e--Is your child wildly dramatic and goofy?\u003cbr\u003e--Is your child restless and in motion all the time?\u003cbr\u003e--Is your child known as a motormouth?\u003cbr\u003e--Does your child have a hard time paying attention?\u003cbr\u003e--Does your child lock into a task for a long time and forget to do  anything else?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e And check your child's health:\u003cbr\u003e --Does your child have lots of allergies?\u003cbr\u003e--Does your child still wet the bed?\u003cbr\u003e--Does your child have persistent ear infections?\u003cbr\u003e--Is your child overweight?\u003cbr\u003e--Does your child come home from school exhausted?\u003cbr\u003e--Has your child been diagnosed with diabetes?\u003cbr\u003e--Has your child been diagnosed with ADD or ODD?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Finally, and perhaps most important, are the emotional clues:\u003cbr\u003e --Does your child cry at the drop of a hat?\u003cbr\u003e--Does your child go from being absolutely charming to pouting and being moody?\u003cbr\u003e--Does your child have low self-esteem even though he or she is  smart, skilled, and capable?\u003cbr\u003e--Does your child feel alone, isolated, not a part of the in-crowd at  school or in the playground?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e If you checked three or more boxes from all the lists combined, you  are reading the right book. Your child will benefit from a change in  diet. If you checked many boxes, do not be alarmed--the more you  checked, the more dramatic will be the results you get by changing  what and when your child eats. You may have simply assumed that you  have a moody child, or a little goofball who bounces around with a  motormouth turned on. You may have figured these things were just a  part of your child's personality or personal style and never  considered that they have a biochemical basis and are connected. The  truth is, all of these symptoms can be rooted in your child's  biochemistry. The degree to which your child displays them is very  connected to what and when she eats. You may be stunned at the  positive changes in your child's behavior as you change the food.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003ePerhaps you have already made the connection between sugar and  hyperactivity, but the idea of creating a sugar-free household is  simply beyond your imagination. And if you are sugar sensitive  yourself, you may have your own issues to resolve. You may feel like  an inadequate parent because your children are so moody or mouthy.  Sometimes you may join your children in evening treats to help  contain the pain and complexity of your feelings. Little Sugar  Addicts will show you the way out. You will recover both your own joy  in parenting and your child's happiness. You will learn the skills to  transform your family in a kind and practical way. The mood swings  and meltdowns will disappear. Self-esteem will skyrocket, and the  entire family will start having fun.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e My kids and I enjoy each other more. We have more fun and want to  spend time together. They don't fight with each other, they are  better at problem solving, and don't expect me to do everything for  them. I always \"knew\" what wonderful, creative, intelligent, and  caring kids I have. Now I \"see\" those traits every day.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eVicki\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Let's go on to learn about what sugar sensitivity is and what you can  do about it. Sugar sensitivity is the term I coined in my doctoral  thesis to describe a physical condition that includes three key  imbalances: a volatile blood sugar response to sugar and simple  carbohydrates, low serotonin, and low beta-endorphin. If you have an  alcoholic, depressed, or overweight parent or grandparent, you may  have inherited this biochemistry. If you are sugar sensitive, what  and when you eat makes a huge difference in how you feel and act. A  diet of erratic meals, high sugar, and lots of refined carbohydrates  will create havoc. It will foster the behaviors that are in the  diagnostic profile I just gave you.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e The Biology of Sugar Sensitivity\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Let's talk about the biochemistry of sugar sensitivity and how all  the pieces fit together. Imagine a stool with three legs, each with  its own name: blood sugar, serotonin, and beta-endorphin.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Blood Sugar\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Let's look at the first leg: blood sugar. This leg is critical for  sugar sensitive children, so listen carefully to the story. Normally,  when you eat foods made up of carbohydrates (sugars and starches),  your blood sugar rises and your body releases a hormone called  insulin. Insulin helps your cells draw sugar from your bloodstream to  use as fuel. This is a very well-regulated system, and normally the  size of the rise in your blood sugar and amount of insulin released  are in proportion to the foods you eat. If you are sugar sensitive,  you can be highly sensitive to carbohydrates and your system will  overreact. When you eat carbohydrates, your blood sugar rises more  quickly and goes higher than normal. In response, a greater amount of  insulin is released, and your cells quickly absorb the sugar in your  blood. This causes your blood sugar level to plunge. These blood  sugar changes make you feel really good, even high, at first, and  then tired, overwhelmed, and spacey as the level drops.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSo when a sugar sensitive child eats carbohydrates (especially  without protein to slow down the effect), he experiences a blood  sugar spike. Instead of a gentle rise and fall, he gets a spike that  causes a problem. This condition is not the same as hypoglycemia. In  hypoglycemia, the blood sugar drops below normal. In sugar  sensitivity, the blood sugar rises and falls quickly but does not  necessarily fall below normal. Your sugar sensitive child will run  out of fuel more quickly than other children. If he has sugary cereal  for breakfast at 7 a.m., he will be zooming around full of energy at  8 and crashing by 9:30. By 10, he will be both frantic and bouncing  off the wall or will be a zombie, unable to pay attention in class.  His body has already used up the sugary cereal, and he's running on  empty. To his teacher, he will look like a child with ADD or he may  seem depressed. It is tricky to diagnose because the same syndrome  can cause different symptoms.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWhen he is at home and his blood sugar plunges, he will come cruising  into the kitchen for a snack--a sweet snack NOW! He will drink a soda  and grab a Pop-Tart or a sugar-laden energy bar or grab some candy  and dash out the door. After he eats his snack, his blood sugar will  spike and crash again. This pattern of spiking and crashing may  happen three or four times a day. Each time it does, it creates  stress in your child's body. Each time the blood sugar spikes, the  body thinks it is in danger and releases adrenaline. This repeated  stress depletes his system more and more. Over time this pattern  takes its toll with something called adrenaline fatigue. He crashes  on the weekend and sleeps till 9 or 10. During the week, he can't get  up on time for school. If you even look at him the wrong way in the  morning, he falls apart. He has no resilience. You may attribute his  behavior to a growth spurt, or a family issue like a divorce, a move,  or the arrival of a new baby. And you wouldn't think to make the  connection between this behavior and the sugary cereal he had for  breakfast.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Serotonin\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Serotonin is a chemical that quiets the brain. It takes the edge off.  It makes your child feel like the world is an okay place to be. It  also enables her to put the brakes on emotions and behavior. Think of  it as the brakes in her brain. If she has a sufficient level of  serotonin in her brain, she stays out of trouble. If she doesn't, she  can be impulsive, act without thinking, and talk without stopping. A  child with low serotonin has a short fuse and talks back. She gets in  your face, acts out, and can't control herself. She can get fixed on  one subject, one issue, or one desire, and can't get off it. Or she  can be depressed, overwhelmed, and unable to cope with stress.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSugar sensitive children have lower levels of serotonin than other  children. Sugar sensitive children who experience trauma or violence  (even the violence of movies or video games) will have even lower  serotonin and be more vulnerable to the symptoms I have described.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWe can't measure exact serotonin levels in the brain, but once you  understand the effects of low serotonin, you will begin to see  patterns in your child's behavior. If she often manifests the  behavior I have described, isn't it a whole lot more comforting to  know it is because of imbalanced brain chemistry rather than her just  being a bad girl? Or your being a bad parent? Isn't it a relief to  know there is a solution that doesn't require expensive medication,  psychotherapy, or boot camp? The plan in Little Sugar Addicts is  designed to raise your child's serotonin levels by making changes in  her diet.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Beta-Endorphin\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e The second brain chemical involved in sugar sensitivity is  beta-endorphin. Beta-endorphin is the brain's own painkiller. It is  there to protect us from big pain. When our ancestors had to run from  a saber-toothed tiger, their brains flooded with beta-endorphin,  which enabled them to keep running despite the pain in their lungs so  they could get to safety. In modern times, most people experience  that flood of beta-endorphin as a rush called runner's high.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eChildren who are not sugar sensitive have normal levels of  beta-endorphin. They have tolerance for pain; they brush it off with  a shake. But sugar sensitive children, who have low beta-endorphin,  feel every hurt. They fear or hate the dentist, they cry when they  scrape their knees, they cry if they find a dead bird, they cry if a  friend hurts their feelings, they cry if you criticize them or even  if you look at them the wrong way, they cry at everything, it seems.  They are often labeled \"sensitive\" if they are girls or \"sissies\" if  they are boys.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWe have known about the pain-masking effect of beta-endorphin for a  long time. But there is a second part of the beta-endorphin story  that is even more amazing. Beta-endorphin levels are also associated  with self-esteem. I learned this intriguing fact when I was reading  the literature about heroin addicts. Since then, in my work with  thousands and thousands of addicts and sugar sensitive people, I have  become convinced that this is a crucial part of the story for all of  us.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eChildren with high levels of beta-endorphin feel confident and able  to cope with life. When they face hard things, they problem-solve and  find solutions. Children with low beta-endorphin get stuck and feel  helpless. They feel inadequate and unworthy, even if they are smart.  Their feelings do not match the facts. Some of these children  overcompensate in an effort to please. They try to be perfect. Others  simply give up.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eUntil I discovered this link, I never imagined that self-esteem was  biochemical. Like everyone else, I figured it was psychological. When  I raised my own children, I was troubled that they often felt so  inadequate. They were attractive, smart, and capable, but the reality  didn't seem to matter. What was even more confusing was how their  feelings could change. Sometimes they felt they could take on the  world, other times they felt like they couldn't even tie their shoes.  I often wondered what had I done wrong. It never, ever occurred to me  that going for ice cream sundaes was biochemically causing their  self-esteem to skyrocket right after the sundae and plummet a few  hours later.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eI first noticed this link between food and self-esteem in my own  life. When I was growing up, I often felt the same way my children  had. The inside feeling of inadequacy did not match the outside  circumstances. There seemed to be no real reason I should feel so  unworthy. After I changed the way I ate, my own self-esteem changed.  How I felt on the inside matched the outside. I felt capable, and I  was capable. And this feeling didn't suddenly go away one day only to  reappear the next. I could count on it. I could count on myself.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMy experience has now been mirrored in thousands of people who are  talking online. Here is a note from Joanne who made a list of her  \"sugar feelings.\" Joanne is an adult and was able to articulate the  profile pretty clearly. You will see these things in your sugar  sensitive children even if they don't have words for them.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e* feeling inadequate\u003cbr\u003e* having low self-esteem\u003cbr\u003e* feeling victimized\u003cbr\u003e* taking things personally\u003cbr\u003e* feeling that life is out of control\u003cbr\u003e* feeling overwhelmed\u003cbr\u003e* overreacting to criticism\u003cbr\u003e* living in a \"twilight zone\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e There is not a sugar feeling listed here that I have not experienced.  I no longer feel any of these feelings on a regular basis. I'm not  saying that I no longer ever have a sugar feeling because I do when  my food is off. So those are some of the \"bad\" feelings that I tried  to live with before becoming steady on this program. How about the  flip side?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e* feeling confident\u003cbr\u003e* loving oneself\u003cbr\u003e* thinking responsively and reflectively\u003cbr\u003e* being other-centered\u003cbr\u003e* feeling mobilized and able to take action\u003cbr\u003e* thinking clearly and being able to focus\u003cbr\u003e* having hope\u003cbr\u003e* feeling empowered\u003cbr\u003e* staying on an even keel emotionally\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Joanne has captured the essence of the change in beta-endorphin. We  called untreated low beta-endorphin the \"sugar feelings\" phase. When  I learned about the relationship of beta-endorphin to self-esteem, I  was floored. I often tell the story of working on my Ph.D. research,  sitting in the library, and reading a huge text on substance abuse.  It must have weighed 20 pounds, and I was squinting to read the tiny  text. When I came to a section that talked about the effect of heroin  (a beta-endorphin drug) on self-esteem, the hair on the back of my  neck stood up. Literally. The text talked about heroin withdrawal and  stated that there continued to be \"feelings of decreased self-esteem  up to 6 months after going off the drug.\" The implications of this  sentence to me were tremendous. I had already learned that sugar  activates beta-endorphin, just as heroin does. I made the connection  between sugar and self-esteem. The text was suggesting that low  self-esteem was a function of withdrawal. My own clinical experience  told me that low self-esteem precedes drug use and is one of the  primary factors in drug-seeking behavior. Reading that sentence was  one of those moments I will remember forever. It literally changed  the course of my life.A Breakthrough Nutritional Approach from America's Leading Expert on Sugar Sensitivity","brand":"Harmony","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46303530778853,"sku":"NP9781400051649","price":18.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9781400051649.jpg?v=1767731563","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/es\/products\/little-sugar-addicts-isbn-9781400051649","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}