Books on Yoga

Yoga as Medicine
By Timothy McCall, M.D.
Copyright 2007

Full Catastrophe Living: Using the Wisdom of Your Body and Mind to Face Stress, Pain and Illness
By Jon Kabat-Zinn, Ph.d.
Copyright 1990

Dr. Yoga
By Nirmala Heriza
Copyright 2004

My massage therapist, Karen Wright with Soothing Solutions, loaned me these three books. She is also a yoga instructor and has promised to show me how to "breathe" in such a way that it could help lower my blood pressure. The books each offer a few pages on breathing and she wanted me to read them before she gives me a one-on-one session. When that happens I'll let you know how it goes (and she gives a great massage, by the way, if you're local and need some therapeutic touch on your back or something).

I like the first two books the best. The Yoga as Medicine in particular is very information and touches on how body work can assist a person in her efforts to regain or maintain health.

I picked up the Dr. Yoga book at the Green Valley Book Fair when I went with a friend in May, so I have added this to my reference collection. I will pick up the Yoga as Medicine at some point, I hope. Maybe I will ask for it for Christmas.

I do not do yoga as a regular practice but probably should. I do a little Tai Chi several times a month but am not as regular with that as I should be, too.

I'd be a dynamo if I'd just do the stuff I oughta, wouldn't I?

Books: Throw Out 50 Things

Throw Out Fifty Things
by Gail Blanke
270 pages
Copyright 2009

I mentioned this book recently but I had not read it. Now I've read it so here's the book review.

This is a great book. The author goes room by room and suggests certain items that all of us have - shampoo bottles under the sink or in the bathroom, old medicine bottles, magazines, etc. She considers piles of items to be one item, so if you toss out 500 magazines it only counts as one thing. I imagine one could consider that two if it were really that many!

After  clearing the clutter from the home and the office space, she moves on to internal clutter. Her pop psychology is very good and offers up a quick way to clear cobwebs, if nothing else.

I read the book through without doing any of the exercises but I will now go back and do those. Even if I don't, I have been inspired to rid myself of a few items that have been taking up space and which really do not need to be here. I have a small house and it's not like I have the room to spare.

First on my clean-out list, I think, will be the sock drawers. They generally get an annual cleaning anyway and I just this morning went to the store and returned with 20 new pairs of white crew socks for each of us. Yes, we are rednecked to the core.

After that I have a few big items in mind, some of which I will list here and maybe on Craig's List in hopes of selling and/or giving to a worthy home. If nothing else I see a yard sale in my future. We shall see how it goes.

If you have clutter, either external or internal, do yourself a favor and take a peek at the website link for this book, if nothing else.

Key to the book is to write down what you're throwing out and she has a workbook online that can help you with that. So I am off to start my list!

Books: America's Women

America's Women: 400 years of Dolls, Drudges, Helpmates, and Heroines
By Gail Collins
Abridged Selections read by Jane Alexander
Copyright 2003

Rarely do I listen to an audiobook and then decide I want the print edition, but that is certainly the case for this volume.

America's Women is a wonderful synopsis of the struggles of women as well as an explanation of where we are today. I am left inspired and amazed.

Women died for the rights that females in this new millennium take for granted. They marched in the streets, they were force-fed to halt hunger strikes, they wrote books, and in Eleanor Roosevelt's case, married well and then subtly ran the country.

The narrative of this book danced with energy as I listened, awed, open-mouthed, and horrified, to the stories of the women of this nation. From Harriet Beecher Stowe to Sojourner Truth to bra-burning, this book was a total delight.

The information appears to have stopped at the year 2000 and I couldn't help but wonder who are the female leaders of today. Sadly I see no Betty Friedans, no Eleanor Roosevelts, and certainly no Sojourner Truths. In the age of such dissected information, when people camp out in certain corners with their own realities and truths and have minds as closed as clam shells, would any woman ever move to the forefront as these ancestors did?

The author, Gail Collins, is a woman of note in her own right. She is a New York Times columnist and I am sorry I am not overly familiar with her other work, though I certainly must have read it.

I plan to purchase this book and keep it on my bookshelf for the rest of my life. She has written another volume called When Everything Changed: The Amazing Journey of American Women from 1960 to the Present and I will definitely be looking for that book as well.

The Living Room Bed

Last week Peggy Shifflett, author of The Living Room Bed: Birthing, Healing and Dying in Traditional Appalachia, presented me with my very own copy of her self-published book.



The author, Peggy Shifflett.

I edited this book for her back in January and early February. I really enjoyed working with her and learned that this type of work, that is, editing for folks, is something I desire. I like editing. I think I do a decent job and Peggy seemed pleased.

I really liked being able to hold the finished product in my hands. I stood salivating over it for the longest time after I returned home with it. It is a bit memoir, a bit history, a bit nostalgia, and partly social commentary. I understand from Peggy that she already has quite an audience for her books in the Shenandoah Valley.

She also thanked me in the acknowledgements, which was very kind. This is the fourth book that has mentioned me in the acknowledgements and I am always quite flattered. I also suspect that being mentioned in a book acknowledgement is not something that happens to anyone very often, so I feel very humbled by that.



The cover of the book.



The back of the book.

With chapters such as Midwives of Hopkins Gap, Gender Mattered, Recovering from Childhood Illnesses and Courtship and Marriage, a reader can obtain a historic and eye-opening understanding of the hard life of Appalachian mountain folk prior to the 1960s (and some of these people still live like this today).

Peggy talks about how difficult it was to sleep three or four children to a bed, what it was like to have to go outside to the outhouse, and how horrible it was to be a girl in a patriarchal and overly religious society. Her insight into these kinds of social mores is fascinating. She also interviewed a wide range of folks in Virginia, covering a stretch from Grayson County to Rockingham County, so the book offers up numerous perspectives of the hard life of mountain folk.

If you have any interest in Appalachian history, folk life, or folklore, I urge you to look for one of Peggy's books in gift shops in the Shenandoah Valley. You can also order directly from her. She is in the process of putting up a website but you can email her for ordering information at pshiffle@radford.edu. The book lists for $22.


Disclosure: I'm not receiving any money for promoting this book, but I was paid to edit it.

Nonfiction Books

Women Who Worry Too Much
By Holly Hazlett-Stevens, Ph.D.
Copyright 2005
168 pages

The Blood Pressure Cure
by Robert E. Kowalski
Copyright 2007
304 pages


These are two nonfiction books I've delved into over the holidays. Nothing like a little "light" reading, eh?

The first book was a present from Santa, who apparently thinks I spend too much time contemplating impossible endings to situations, aka as worry. The book offers a hands-on method for dealing with worry. Identify the worry, determine the absolute worst outcome, find ways to stop avoidance behaviors, and other ways to clear your head are among the techniques the author explores. Living in the present, known as mindfulness, is highly touted.

The second book I bought in hopes of controlling my blood pressure. I am doing all the right things, mostly, but this was a good reinforcement for my behavior. The book advocates five "secret weapons" that are supposed to help with blood pressure. These are arginine,which is an amino acid, grape seed extract, tomato extract, pycnogenol, (which frankly I never did understand), and cocoa (but not milk chocolate; pure cocoa).

Also, lose weight, don't smoke, eat your fruits and veggies, etc.

After this heavy reading, I'm ready for a little fiction!

Book: When Panic Attacks

When Panic Attacks CD: The New, Drug-Free Anxiety Treatments That Can Change Your Life [ABRIDGED] [AUDIOBOOK] (Audio CD)
By David D. Burns
Read by Sam Freed
3 hours

The nonfiction audio book suppy at the Fincastle Library is pretty dismal, and when I was in there a few weeks ago looking for something to listen to in the car I came away with this.

I haven't had something that I called a panic attack in many years, but there was a time when I couldn't go into Walmart without feeling like I needed to flee the store. But then again, it was Walmart. That alone is enough to send a body screaming out into the parking lot.

The CD is a synopsis of the book and I suspect one would be better off buying the book and reading it if there is a problem in need of addressing. The CD had a lot of testimonials and stories about people with problems and how Burns' counseling techniques helped over come them.

I was particularly intrigued by some of the journaling methods he mentioned and may at some point look for the book just for those. I like to try new things in my private journal.

Your feelings are your thoughts is the basic premise of this book as well as the first one, Feeling Good: The New Mood Therapy. I read that a long time ago but it has been so many years I couldn't tell you what it said. It is probably something I should revisit from time to time.

Books: Sex and the Seasoned Woman

Sex and the Seasoned Woman: Pursuing the Passionate Life
By Gail Sheehy
Audiobook read by the author
Copyright 2007

This book is not about how to marinate prior to getting it on or anything like that; instead, it's about women of a certain age. That would be ladies such as myself who are 45 and over, though this book was written more for women over 50. I am not quite there.

Sheehy seems surprised to find out that other women besides herself continue to have sex and fulfilling lives beyond the age of 35. This newsflash seemed a little perplexing to me, considering Sheehy's feminist narrative in previous books.

Anyway, she interviews a lot of women about their love lives, offering up stories about stale marriages that find new life when children grow up, women who divorce and find new loves, that type of thing. She talks about cultivating a new dream in your second adulthood, which seems like a good idea but there was nothing at all here in terms of a roadmap. I think she was talking about that in terms of intimacy more so than in, say, a career, or a new hobby or something. I was looking for something more along those lines when I picked up the book.

She goes into detail about vaginal health and hormone therapy and actually advises women to dismiss studies that indicated hormones offer few benefits. According to her, the study was overblown in the media and the results actually offered proof of good things. I haven't read the study but this did raise my eyebrows. I will have to look this up.

I did not really learn anything from this book but women who are having trouble in their marriages and who are looking for the strength to move away from that may find it beneficial. It may also give a little encouragement to women who think that life is over just because they've hit menopause.

Books: Positioning, The Battle for Your Mind

Positioning
The Battle for Your Mind
by Jack Trout & Al Ries
narrated by Bob Askey
Audiobook
Copyright 1989

This book is about advertising and how to jockey a product into the "number one" position.

Since this edition is pre-Internet, it doesn't even address the bombardment of advertisements folks are inundated with today.

The premise in this 1989 edition is that people are overwhelmed with too much information, particularly in advertising. There used to be three TV stations. Now there are 300. There are too many companies and products, too many choices.

It makes everyone scream and no one really hears.

So the idea is to get in the mind of the buyer and figure out how to make him/her want your product.

It was fun to listen to discussions of products that no longer exist (remember Nuprin?) and to better understand how some products have become number one and things one cannot do without.

In one of the last sections the authors talk about how to position yourself in your career. They advise you to "get on a horse and ride it" to success. In other words, find a strong and forward-moving company and become indepensible.

I think I will take a closer look at marketing theory; it is not something I have studied but I think it is something I could benefit from.

Books: The Audacity of Hope

Warning: I get a little political in this post.

The Audacity of Hope
By Barack Obama
Abridged
Copyright 2006
Read by the author

Bill Maher on his HBO show last night said, "Obama's no liberal," and I have always thought that.

Listening to this tape only confirmed my suspicions. Obama's politics are center-right; he is a Democrat in name only. But truly there are very few true democrats in politics these days. The charade of two parties can end any time now, as far as I'm concerned.

All of which makes the current debacle on health care even more ludicrous as I listen to the catcalls of socialism, etc. that the far right tosses about against one who is essentially one of their own. It's like the right hand slapping the left.

The Audacity of Hope makes it clear that Obama is a centrist at best; he likes free trade and capitalism, adores corporations and loves the comfy lifestyle of someone who makes more money in a year than I will ever see in my lifetime.

Even so, if some of Obama's policies and changes were to pass, the lower middle class, if there is such a thing (really that would be the working class, a term not used in the U.S., and it would include pretty much everybody who makes under, oh, I don't know, let's say $100,000 a year, that is to say, most people), could breath a little easier. Some of the very poor in this country might live a little longer. But it sure seems to me like most folks don't really want poor people, so who cares, eh?

Obama's book talks about health care and how it should change, educational changes, etc., all of which might improve the current status quo. Had he stuck to his original health care ideas and come up with better names for things he might have been more successful; as it is, it looks like what is snaking through Congress will only help the corporations; once again the little guy has been thoroughly forgotten and left for dead.

Our president is well-spoken, and his arguments, center as they are, in theory likely would make sense to people on both sides if either were inclined to listen, which, obviously, they aren't. The book veers off on a long treatise on the treatment of blacks; I daresay some of this would send some white folks I know into an apoplectic fit (I originally misspelled that "apopolitical fit," which is probably appropriate, too), but the short version of his theory is that if blacks are raised above the poverty level everyone else in that category would also benefit, and that is hard to argue with.

He equivocates on some stances as he searches to understand both sides. While this is admirable, I am not sure it will lead to much change in the long run. Finding that "happy medium" is a great goal but it seems next to impossible in the current political climate.

There is also a moral aspect - as in right and wrong - about his ideas that rings true and which is a relief to someone like me, that is to say, a person who sees nothing but immorality in capitalism and the free market because let's face it, not everybody has boots with straps to pull themselves up with. Sometimes folks just have bad luck, and our health care system is set up to bankrupt people, not help them, and corporations can beat a whip across the back of its workers without condemnation, and products can fail or even kill people and the corporations still win. Regular folks have no recourse and I am tired of feeling like I'm just being swept along in a tide of BS that I can't swim out of.

So I can see why Obama the mighty orator was received and anointed as he was, even though I did not agree at the time and still think Hillary Clinton was a better choice. I understand that desire for change, the hope for something better, that brought him into the White House.

If you want to know more about what the man who is our president is thinking, then this is a good book for some insight. It was written prior to his presidential run, although I think he was certainly thinking about it when it was written.

Lest Innocent Blood Be Shed

Lest Innocent Blood Be Shed
By Philip Hallie
Copyright 1979
303 pages

This nonfiction book examines how it was that during World War II, a small Protestant village in France called Le Chambon defied authorities and worked diligently and openly, in full view of the Vichy government, to save thousands of Jewish children and adults from their doom.

This is a study of ethics couched in a real-life event. The author studies the lives of the main players, particularly Pastor Andre Trocme and his wife and followers, for they were mostly responsible for the good deeds performed during that terrible time.

I could not help but admire the courage of these townsfolks as they followed what they perceived as their calling from God - to love all, regardless, and to save lives, regardless. These were true pacifists, not stoic "I'm against war" pacifists who then move on to something else but truly children of Jesus who followed the New Testament as it they interpreted it. That meant no bloodshed, but instead turning the other cheek and loving and living a moral and ethical life in all aspects.

The text was difficult at times and the author sometimes bogged down in details. As a reader I often felt I was following along with the author as he attempted to understand what drove these people to act as few others did.

Books: Creatively Self-Employed

Creatively Self-Employed: How Writers and Artists Deal with Career Ups and Downs
By Kristen Fischer
Copyright 2006, 2007
170 pages

Two years ago when this book came out, I purchased it because I am quoted in it on page 78.

Appropriately enough, I appear under the heading "The Procrastination Blues."

Two years later I have now read the book (talk about prophetic, eh?).

The author interviewed about 50 different writers, artists and other folks who are self-employed business persons to learn how to deal with the slow times, the boring times, the lonely times, and all of the other times in between.

The advice boils down to "time heals all wounds." Freelance work comes in fits and starts. If you are a life coach or something like that, clients come and go in spurts. If you make pocket books and travel the craft circuit, some years folks buy and some years they don't.

If you're a writer, the stories might flow but getting them purchased is something else again.

Dealing with all of that from the financial end as well as the emotional end can take the form of little activity, lots of activity, whining or gritting your teeth to move forward. In other words, as many ways as there are people.

Aside from the "time heals" message, the other thing I took from this self-published effort is not to give up, and to go with the flow, and to remember that I am not alone even if it feels like it.

I can quickly count up the number of folks I know who are in the freelance business, only they don't call themselves that. One is a marketer and a website guru, another is an interior decorator. Another is a woodcutter. And another puts in septic tanks (though I am pretty sure no one ever calls a septic tank installer or other kind of contractor a freelancer, though in essence they are). They all depend on their own efforts and a little luck to keep the money rolling in and their career moving forward.

Actually I have been quite fortunate in that (a) I was satisfied to be a one-woman article-churner for only a few companies and (b) that it lasted as long as it did. For me to only now experience my first real downturn in my work load in 13 years is really kind of mind boggling in the grand scheme of things.

This was a good book for me to read at this point in my life. Another thing it offers is a list of websites and resources, which I will eventually track down and review.

A website with the author's blog and other information, including the aforementioned resources, can be found here.

"Across all these studies, the pattern of the strong crushing the weak kept repeating itself and repeating itself, so that when I was not bitterly angry, I was bored at the repetition of the patterns of persecution. When I was not desiring to be cruel with the cruel, I was a monster - like, perhaps, many others around me - who could look up torture and death without a shudder, and who therefore looked upon life without a belief in its preciousness." - Philip Hallie in Lest Innocent Blood Be Shed, (1979)

Thursday Thirteen

1. Some days thinking of something for Thursday Thirteen seems next to impossible.

2. What can I write about that I haven't written about in the previous 90 entries?

3. Hmm.

4. I can't think of anything to put for the remaining sentences.

5. Okay, I will list the books on the bookshelf that I have yet to read.

6. Wish You Well, by David Baldacci

7. Where I Want to Be, by Adele Griffin

8. The Hex Witch of Seldom, by Nancy Springer

9. The High City, by Cecelia Holland

10. A New Earth, by Eckhart Tolle

11. The Shock Doctrine, by Naomi Klein

12. The Dragon's Son, by Mararet Weis

13. Quentins, by Maeve Binchy.

Not the best TT I've ever done, that's certain!


Thursday Thirteen is played by lots of people; you can learn more about it here. My other Thursday Thirteens are here. This is my 91st one.

Books: The Touch

The Touch
By Colleen McCullough
Copyright 2003
Audiobook
Read by Jenny Sterlin

Alexander Kinross, a nobody from Scotland, hits it big in Australia in the mining industry. He sends home for a wife and receives Elizabeth, a 16-year old distant cousin.

She hates him on site and love never blossom. Kinross is old fashioned and wants an heir. His wife has two difficult pregnancies and is advised to never have a third.

Both children are girls; the first, Nell, is learned and headstrong and exactly like her father, and the second, Anna, is brain damaged from a traumatic birth.

Elizabeth is not a very depth-filled character. She chooses to live out her unhappy lot as best she can. Life is difficult for her in spite of Alexander's unlimited wealth.

Alexander has a mistress, Ruby, whom Elizabeth grows fond of. This unnatural friendship keeps the book interesting.

Ruby has a son, Lee, whom Alexander hopes will take over his enterprise. Lee only has eyes for Elizabeth, however.

I'll leave you to guess what direction that takes.

The book is well-read, although it took a while to get used to the accent.

Books: Born to Be

Become Who You Were Born to Be
By Brian Souza
Copyright 2007
Audiobook read by Don Leslie
Unabridged

This book is about finding your "gift" and in essence doing what you love. If you're bored, tired, frustrated, etc., the hypothesis is it's because you haven't found your gift.

This book doesn't really tell you how to go about finding out what that your gift is, but it strongly urges you to do so.

"Just as musicians must make music, poets must write, and artists must paint, we all have a unique gift designed for a specific vocation that will bring both meaning and purpose to our lives," says the book jacket.

This purports to be a blueprint towards doing that but apparently I need a better blueprint. There were many examples of folks who made good - little biographies that were quite interesting about people who overcame terrific odds to go on to find their gifts and become great citizens.

The book cites the website, http://borntobe.com multiple times. Unfortunately I wasn't too impressed when the site so I can't recommend it. It doesn't look like it has been updated since 2006.

2.5 stars for the interesting biographies

Self Improvement

The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People
by Stephen R. Covey
Copyright 1989
AudioBook read by the author

Don't Sweat the Small Stuff ... and It's All Small Stuff
By Richard Carlson, Ph.d.
Copyright ???
AudioBook read by the author


Of these two books, I liked the second one the best. The first one is very business-oriented, very "get ahead" and "man the torpedoes" - or so it seems on first listen. Some of the ideas are good - create win-win situations, for instance, and listen first and talk second. It is very action oriented.

The second book, on the other hand, is more spiritual, more centered on just being instead of doing. I liked listening to it so well I wouldn't mind owning a copy to have to listen to whenever I like. It's more about lowering your stress levels, seeking spirituality, that sort of thing.

7 Habits - 3 stars
Small Stuff - 4 stars

Mary Queen of Scots

Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots
by Alexandre Dumas
Copyright 1995 (?)
Read by Julie Christie
Abridged
6 hours

I have long been fascinated by Mary, Queen of Scots. Mostly this was because when I was about three years old, I allegedly told my mother that I was born in Scotland and was present at the beheading of the queen. My Baptist-raised mother feared I was reincarnated and forbade me to ever speak of it again. I haven't the slightest recall of this but my mother mentioned it to me several times when I was older. Of course she did not write anything down so I must rely only her memory, which was marred by her puzzlement as to how her baby girl could speak of such things.

In any event, the tragedy of this queen has always struck a chord. Lovely and chilling, Mary Stuart was foiled in love as well as in rule. She could not chose a husband wisely to save her life - and ultimately, it certainly did not.

As told by Dumas, Mary's biggest mistake was trusting that Elizabeth I, her cousin, would harbor her safely. Instead she imprisoned her for nearly 20 years and when she finally could she had the unfortunate woman beheaded.

If only she'd gone to France instead of England, the entire course of history might have changed.

I enjoyed listening to this. Dumas obviously took literary license in the tale, creating scenes and dialogue. It was quite entertaining and I greatly admired Mary for her demeanor as portrayed in this book. Even at the end, as she was led to the executioner, she was a stately presence. Would that we all would meet our demise with such grace.

4 stars

Books: The Schwarzbein Principle

The Schwarzbein Principle
By Diana Schwarzbein, MD & Nancy Deville
Copyright 1999
350 pages

I read this book on a recommendation from Colleen at Loose Leaf Notes in one of my comments and on a recommendation from a non-blogging friend.

I received a gift certificate to Barnes & Noble for Christmas and used it to buy this book and a follow-up to it called The Program. I have not yet read that book.

This book makes a lot of sense, more than most I have read, and I actually understood it. I generally cannot comprehend diet books - some brain defect or something has them leaving me going huh? every time I read one.

But I understood this one. The diet involved is very similar to Atkins ... but not. The focus is on fewer carbs and more protein. Women should have 60 grams of protein, which I thought was a lot.

I don't eat a lot of meat so I suspect this is part of my problem. I went on a low-fat diet this summer at the behest of my doctor and gained 10 pounds. It was like an all-carb diet. The weight gain halted when I stopped dieting and just started eating whatever I wanted, but now I need to lose that weight plus the rest I was trying to lose to begin with.

I will continue to read The Program and in the meantime I will make changes to my diet and see what happens. I am pretty sure if I'd just stop drinking soda it would make a difference, and many days I don't drink soda, but some days I drink as a many as three. Those are not often, though, and generally indicative of a *really* bad day. And they're caffeine free sodas, at that. Just not sugar free.

I have already recommended this book to several people. Even if I don't follow the diet, and I hope to, this is a good book to read if you're interested in your health.

4.5 stars

Eat Carbs, Lose Weight

Eat Carbs, Lose Weight
By Denise Austin with Amy Campbell
Copyright 2005

I bought this and read it last fall and forgot to mention it.

It is a good book with exercises and a nice diet plan if you're not lactose and glucose intolerant (which I am). Also if you like to cook and try new recipes (I do not).

The exercises are good and I have always liked Austin's perky attitude about life. I will look this book over again for that reason. Unfortunately there are many items in the menu that I cannot (or do not) eat. When a diet is like that I generally can't stick with it.

This is much more sensible than many other diet books, I have to say. I wish I could follow it better.

Books: The Sugar Addict's Total Recovery Program

The Sugar Addict's Total Recovery Program
By Kathleen DesMaisons, Ph.D.
Copyright 2000

This book says sugar is addictive and if you eat too much of it, it's because you've got the sugar habit.

The book outlines in great detail a 7-step program to beat your addiction to sugar. Here are the steps:

1. Eat breakfast with protein.
2. Journal about your food and body.
3. Eat three meals a day with protein. (I think you're supposed to skip the snacks in here but the book doesn't come right and say "DON'T HAVE SNACKS"; however, I think it is greatly implied).
4. Take specific vitamins and eat a potato every night (yeah, every night...)
5. Stop eating white food (like white rice) and eat brown food (like brown rice). Potatoes, by the way, are classified as a brown food because the skin is brown... yeah, I know, it's a logic stretch.
6. Stop eating stuff with sugar in it and
7. Get a life.

I honestly don't know that I could ever *not* have a piece of birthday cake, or a piece of fudge. The key, of course, is to only have one piece and not the entire cake.

That said, I have determined to embark upon this as a major effort in my life, because I do think I can eliminate a lot of sugar, if not all of it. I guess the idea is that, like alcoholism, if you have a little bit you slide and have a lot. Plus the book advocates taking months to do this; this is why eliminate sugar is not the first step.

Apparently if you eat enough protein with meals, you don't have those crash times when you desperately need a Coke. Or at least they aren't so bad.

The potato at night is rather odd but apparently this author believes that potatoes, which is a slow-release carbohydrate, helps your body make tryptophan, which is necessary for mood enhancement.

There was a lot of stuff about tryptophan and serotonin and beta-endorphins, much of which I recognized from the time I was in therapy and read many books about such things.

However, I bought a couple of other "diet" books to read, too, so I may change my mind about this. Really this seems like a slow way to get on the Atkins diet, or a way to make the Atkins diet a bit more livable. And the Atkins diet does work, but it is difficult to stay on.

So wish me luck as I break my "sugar" habit. Here's to losing the flab ...