hi, im beth, and would like to introduce myself to this forum.
let me sum all this up.
ive read the stories on this forum and they greatly match mine.
here is the good:
2 beautiful kids, house, 2 cars, church home, , good job, dog.. oh and a good husband (jj about posting him last-hehe)

the bad
low self esteem, depression,mood swings, binging at night and on weekends (especially previous to TOM), obsession with dieting, stressed, asthma, allergies, need to eat or will get an attitude, overweight, no self control

will schwarzbein help me or not? i hate to be blunt, but atkins didnt work (for me).. I cant control my eating very well (hence, the overweightness)

i just dont think it is right for my body type. i fall into depression even more when on atkins.. as soon as i eat a orange or something.. im on cloud 9 now when i eat a high carb meal, im on cloud 9 then on ground zero..

Hey Beth,

WOW -- our stories sound VERY similar -- even our weights are pretty much the same.

I believe that SPII will help you a great deal -- I'm fairly NEW myself, but I've been doing the healing program for a little over a week now and things have improved a bit already.
I was also doing atkins for a while and feel pretty crappy on it. I'd get a high for a few days -- and then get real low and have uncontrollable cravings -- it was no way to live.
DO you have the book yet? If not, it's worth the investment --- I now understand why i've been feeling so crappy the past year.

Read through my journal and see if anything resonates with you -- although, I'm NEW at this too -- feel free to ask me some questions.

GOOD LUCK -- HOPE IS JUST AROUND THE CORNER...
cristin

Hi b-ready:

Glad to see you here!

I just read through some of your posts and it seems that you have a big issue with bingeing. We often equate bingeing with lack of self-control or lack of motivation. I don't buy it!

We do not have control over our body's hormones, which regulate our energy stores. If our major hormones (insulin, adrenaline and cortisol) are unbalanced, our body will demand more food, regardless of one's fat stores. New research on leptin is really making headway into the whole arena of leptin resistance in which the body mistakenly thinks it's starving. Hormones are very complex and science has barely scratched the surface of metabolic disorders. Leptin was only discover in the mid 1990s, so we'll hear more about it in the future.

Anyway, thought I'd just say my peace so that you don't feel that you have to continually beat yourself up when you binge. It's your body talking, telling you that it's confused. BTW, have you had your thyroid tested?

I can't comment on the "depression", but there are others who have had the same experience as you while doing Atkins. I'm sure they will post with their experiences.

Hope you find some peace,
Wanda

i read spI and got mad one day and sold all my books to half price book store. i think purchasing the sp II may be worth it. i will stop by the book store tonight. what supplements do you take? do you feel better overall?

Hey,
I do fee better overall -- although I did feel pretty awful for the first 3 days or so -- and I did gain some weight already. The good news is that I've been loosing about a pound a day since saturday :-) Definetly get the SPII -- so much more info than the first one. I think Imay sell the first one too... haha
I think with people like us it's all hormonal, she didn't really go into the hormones in the first one, SPII is ALL about that -- very good read.

I finally feel like I am in CONTROL of my life -- esp my MOODS.... like you, I deal with some major MOOD swings and some light depression and anxiety. That has definetly IMPROVED in the past week :-)
I'm so glad you found us -- the ladies on here are so supportive and full of info.....
if you want a sneak peak at SPII go to her website
www.shwarzbeinprinciple.com
it's not chock full of info, but you can get the basics off of there.

For supplements I'm taking a multi vitamin (of course), calcium with magnesium, GLA (evening primrose oil - supposed to balance hormones??), L-carnitine and right now I'm detoxifying my colon so i'm taking about 4 bottles of stuff.... but that will only last for a month....

are you taking anything?

dont even ask (i did mention im compulsive right)
besides the fact that i am high on hydroxadrine right now i usually take stuff with b-12, b-6, garcinia cambogia, gaurana (caffeine).. and the adrenal test says.. i love salt, stuff with caffeine like teas.. anything to keep me going.. i drink this stuff called SPARK.. it has caffeine, lcarnitine, taurine, gaba, lglycine, rla, coq10, choline..gets me hype but i think the caffeine is throwing me over the edge.. i feel sensitive to light now too.. my eyes really start to hurt in too much sun.. weird

Hi Beth:

I think we posted above at the same time. You may have missed it.

Wanda

wcollier,
i did miss it.. i see that i have to go all the way back to the thread to see recent updates.. thanks so much for your post. i had my thyroid tested and it was okay.. but i did that adrenal test and i dont get red at all i just stay white and it leaves a whep (SP?).. one more thing i forgot to mention
in the 3rd grade i was on the 12th grade level.. saying this to say i have always had an above average intelligence and an superb memory.. but for the last few years... i honestly cannot remember from one second to the next.. it is SOOOOOO frustrating. i cant seem to focus anymore.

Totally hear ya! I mentioned in my intro in my journal that I had 3 university degress yet felt like an imbicile b/c I couldn't recall the simplest words. It was a real problem for me and probably what really got the ball rolling in sorting out my problems.

Have you ever followed a candida diet? It seems to be "candida" day around here today. But your symptoms can also be candida related and candida is also a cause of adrenal fatigue. Given all your boughts with steroids, I'd bet it's very likely that you are dealing with an overabundance of it.

M1whowaits has a link in her signature for doing the test.

Wanda

thanks again!, this is the first forum where i dont feel totally alone.. im going to find that candida questionnaire and test myself. I have also called barnes and noble and told them that im bringing sugarbusters, metabolize!, and secret to low carb success back... they can keep the change.. just give me SPII!

Beth,

My memory had declined dramatically as well... it's horrible. I use to be able to remember EVERTHING -- now I can't remember what I did an hour ago. It is esp. frustrating at work because someone will ask me about a project I worked on a few days earlier, and I have NO IDEA what I did -- so know I write everything I do at work down on a notepad so I can go back and see what I have completed in case someone asks..... so sad.

I'm hoping my memory will IMPROVE....

i know how frustrated you must be -- but you came to the right place.... :-)

Hi Beth!

You definitely came to the right place. Everyone here has been great to me and I have only been here a couple of days. I've been on TSP for about 8wks now and have been devouring the info. I think the books are definitely worth it. I so know what you mean about not being able to think straight. I couldn't add simple numbers in my head. I had to get a calculator just to add 9 to 12. It was really bad. I think Atkins cuts the carbs too low. That can make you feel really crappy because your brain has to have sugar for energy. Then when you really need it badly you can't resist it. This sets up a bingeing cycle of rising serotonin levels (which makes you feel great) and dropping serotonin levels which makes you crash. The key is to not consume more carbs than your body needs, so you don't make too much insulin and store too much sugar as fat. Doc Schwarzbein explains it really well. Good luck!

Thanks so much for replying cicely. wow -i have to do that too for 9-12..amazing.. i went and traded my other diet books for this at bn yesterday..i am devouring it.. im trying to finish the book in one day but it is hard with all that info... and i wanna know it all.. i'll be checking back to let everyone know how its going and im sure my journal will be noted and my plan will change..thank you all for listening to my woes.. i even went to bed "partially" on time last night