The Diet Cure page

[ShannonCC]

Anyone else following this? I started last night.

I fit three of the problems but have decided to tackle blood sugar first. I also fit the brain chemistry problem but I'm on an SSRI and am nervous about the cautions with SSRIs and serotonin boosting aminos. I'm always worse in the winter and even in the book she says not to try going off an SSRI unless it's late spring or summer, so I'm going to stay on it (happily - it's changed my life!) for the fall and winter and think about dropping it next spring.

I also fit the PMS one but I'm thinking that might be secondary. I have months where I have zero PMS and it's gone down a lot since I cut grains. So I'm not worrying too much right now. If doing the blood sugar supplements don't help me with PMS then I'll revisit that.

So right now I'm taking all the regular supplements she recommends, plus the ones for blood sugar.

My blood tests have never been high or low or anything but normal. I've been pregnant twice and took the glucose tolerance test both times (straight sugar on an empty stomach) and was fine both times. But over the years I've noticed that I seem to have a lot of symptoms of low blood sugar. Reading her checklist of sugar issues was pretty telling. I fit almost all of them.

And even though I am not diabetic, my mother is, her mother was, her father was, my father is pre-diabetic and my sister had gestational diabetes. Also alcoholism or at least alcohol abuse runs through my mom's side of the family. So yeah, sugar is a problem in our family.

The book also mentions that blood sugar and stress go hand in hand. Many of the problems in her book are made worse with stress or triggered by stress, etc. I had an abusive childhood so right there was a few decades of constant stress (during those oh so important formative years - fun fun!). So yeah, I figure I have things that need fixing.

Anyway, just wondering if anyone else is doing this or has any comments on this book.

[Legbiter]

My only comment is that any quick-fix diet which features strict caloric restriction and increased activity level will net you some weight loss depending on how fat one is at the outset. Most of these crash course diets fail because they're hellishly difficult to follow and don't address any of the underlying issues, or they are just out-and-out scams designed to separate the gullible & desperate from their money. Also, they invariably espouse some BS low-fat, frequent snacking on carby shite. Toss in chronic cardio and you've got most of them pegged.

Hell, if Mark Sisson had called his lifestyle the Primal Diet I'd never even have glanced at it.

That said, this Diet Cure seems to be a little less woo-based because she's quite adamant about ditching processed sugar & wheat. If she threw all those processed vegetable oils under the bus as well she'd have eliminated pretty much everything that comes in a box. Which would be a major dietary improvement for anyone.

[ShannonCC]

The author is actually pretty adamant about *not* restricting calories and *not* going low fat! She talks again and again about how dieting is bad and even has a few chapters on how to fix issues from too much dieting or from too much fat restriction. This is mainly a book about using supplements to fix problems such as sugar binging.

I'm trying this because I went primal and had no grains or refined sugar (and very, very low fruit) or legumes for 2 months (in hindsight I was having canola oil in salad dressing but I'm not a big salad fan so that was at most twice a week). And after two months of success I still found myself back to binging on sugar. I need more help. It's not as simple as "just don't eat it" for me. So I'm hoping her supplement regimen will do what she claims and I'll be able to stick to healthy eating.

[FairyRae]

First off--Shannon, I would NOT start supping aminos (ESP. L-Tryptophan or 5HTP) without discussing it with your doctor when taking an SSRI!!! SSRI's are contraindicated w/ both of those (which it sounds like you are aware of, and you'll most likely need to wean off the SSRI *with the support of your doctor* b/4 trying to add in either of them. PLEASE talk to your doc before playing around with this. (There was a recent example about the very real dangers of doing this here.)

Anyway, back to the actual topic of the thread. As someone who has ED/bulimia history, I have found the info in _The Diet Cure_ very helpful, and very compatible w/ primal. Have you seen *the* binge thread Shannon? There is a lot of discussion of the supplementation and ideas from Diet Cure and Mood Cure in there.

Legbiter, _The Diet Cure_ is really about healing your body *from* years of trying to follow restrictive diets. (She is ok w/ grains/legumes, but really, other than that, her recs are quite in line w/ primal.)

[ShannonCC]

FairyRae, I've only heard that you shouldn't take the serotonin boosting ones if you are taking an SSRI. L-tryptophan and 5-HTP that you mentioned. I haven't heard anything about not taking *any* amino acids when on an SSRI. Not just from this book but from searching around online to double check before I began. Is that what you meant, or did you just mean L-tryptophan and 5-HTP?

I might not have been clear enough, but I am not taking L-tryptophan or 5-HTP right now. My plan is to continue the SSRI until the spring and then wean off of it and, if I think I need it, then start up the serotonin boosting amino acids after the SSRI is out of my system (I think it takes a few months or so). But no, not while I am on the SSRI.

The only amino acid I am taking now is L-glutamine which she recommends for blood sugar issues and which does not have any (that I can find) warnings about taking while on an SSRI. The only other thing specific to blood sugar is, I think, chromium. The rest are general supplements like C, B, E, etc.

[indigogirl]

Hi Shannon
I just started a thread about taking supplements to tame the sugar monster.
I think I need to look at The Diet Cure.
I have read the whole binge thread.
I also am on an SSRI and have read about not taking 5HTP or L-Tryptophan.
Just had a bunch of blood work done last week with a new OB/GYN who specializes in BIHRT and she really seems to know her stuff. I should probably not start anything new until I see her this week and we go over my blood work. I am going to look at The Diet Cure, though. Sugar has been an issue for me for the last 20 years (I'm 58) *sigh*.

[indigogirl]

Just looked at The Diet Cure website.
PB and the Leptin Reset are enough for me to handle right now! I'm not going to add anything else to the mix.
Good luck with it Shannon!

[ShannonCC]

Good luck indigogirl ;-) For me, I am trying the Diet Cure because I couldn't stick with PB or the Leptin Reset alone. I hope this helps me. I've had problems with binging on sugar for as long as I can remember (back to childhood) so I've got a lot to fix here

[FairyRae]

FairyRae, I've only heard that you shouldn't take the serotonin boosting ones if you are taking an SSRI. L-tryptophan and 5-HTP that you mentioned. I haven't heard anything about not taking *any* amino acids when on an SSRI. Not just from this book but from searching around online to double check before I began. Is that what you meant, or did you just mean L-tryptophan and 5-HTP?

I might not have been clear enough, but I am not taking L-tryptophan or 5-HTP right now. My plan is to continue the SSRI until the spring and then wean off of it and, if I think I need it, then start up the serotonin boosting amino acids after the SSRI is out of my system (I think it takes a few months or so). But no, not while I am on the SSRI.

The only amino acid I am taking now is L-glutamine which she recommends for blood sugar issues and which does not have any (that I can find) warnings about taking while on an SSRI. The only other thing specific to blood sugar is, I think, chromium. The rest are general supplements like C, B, E, etc.

I really mean taking those two you mentioned, although I personally would contact my doc as well about the other aminos, just to get the 'ok'. (That's just me though--I believe you are right about them not being contraindicated.)

Good luck with everything!!! Please share any progress if you find something is helpful for you!

[June]

Shannon - I read the book and am following a few chapters with supplements, but I'm not on SSRIs. Been trying it for about 3 months now maybe.