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Mischelle
Miller - Bio
Author, Mischelle Miller has worked extensively
with the author side of publishing. She has worked with authors Byron Katie,
Loving What Is and I Need Your Love – Is That True? and Stephen
Mitchell, Bhagavad Gita, Gilgamesh, and others. She organized the launch
for Loving What Is – hardcover and paperback – and I Need Your Love –
Is That True? including a national book tour, advertising campaigns, and
media appearances, as well as producing the company’s grassroots events.
Mischelle is nearing completion of a Ph.D. in
Psychology, with an emphasis on youth-related illnesses including topics covered
in the book like Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder, eating disorders and
obesity, learning disabilities, psychopharmacology, childhood trauma among
others. She also holds a Masters of Hospitality Management from the University
of Houston – where she studied nutrition and food preparation – and a B.A. in
Economics and Management from Ohio Wesleyan University.
Further, Miller has spent 10 years studying and
teaching ways to return children to health using natural alternatives and
holistic techniques. Miller combines a vast knowledge in the field of
alternative health, nutrition, and counseling with a traditional background in
psychotherapy, she is a knowledgeable, credentialed expert.
Miller is also a successfully published writer and
speaker. She has authored and self-published two books, Biting into Life –
An Encompassing Journey into Food, Life and Spirit and La Famiglia
Laudisio. She has authored articles for Nexus Magazine on ADHD and other
youth-related topics. Her talks on ADHD, help parents understand the causes
behind their child’s illness and inspire many to improve their children’s health
and behavior through changing their lifestyles.
Mischelle is particular qualified to write this
book. She was diagnosed with ADHD as a child and later fought obesity,
obsessive-compulsive tendencies, and drug and alcohol abuse. Her personal story
of triumph over these problems through nutrition, alternative healing, and
spiritual awakening bring authenticity and inspiration to Raising a New
America.
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Mischelle Miller - Personal Story
I was born in 1968 – the age of hippies, free love,
and psychedelic drugs. I fit right into the culture: happy, loving, curious,
friendly, and bright with an insatiable desire to learn. By the age of four, I
had learned to cook and developed a deep love for food, especially sweets.
However, by the time I started grade school my love
for food had grown into an addiction to sugar. Each week I could not wait to
get my allowance, so I could get my fix of junk food and candy. I began each
day with a sugary cereal and ended each day with ice cream and dessert. The
effects of all this sugar and junk food began to compound in my system,
contributing to behavioral and sleep problems. I could not grasp then how
powerful sugar is – particularly at the dosage level that today’s kids consume,
averaging 21-23 added teaspoons each day.
I was caught in a vicious cycle. The flood of
artificial energy in my body from sugar constantly demanded new means of
expression. Once it was expressed, I craved more stimulation. With its
split-second delivery of hundreds of thousands of sights and sounds, TV became
my second best friend, mirroring the frenetic world inside me. I was a TV
junkie, sitting like a zombie in front of it for hours a day. I was a member of
the first generation of MTV. In retrospect, I believe watching so much adult
television contributed significantly to my growing up fast. Yet TV was not the
only electronic stimulant comforting me. Life was increasingly an extensive
interaction with machines – TVs, then VCRs, video games, and eventually
computers.
Given my excessive need for internal and external
stimulation, I could not sit still and focus in school. Not surprisingly, at
the age of eight I was diagnosed with ADHD. According to my doctor and the
Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM-IV), diagnosis of ADHD is based not on
physiological symptoms, but on behavioral symptoms as observed in comparison to
peers. According to the doctors, because I had six or more of the behaviors, I
had ADHD. The causes were irrelevant.
Yes, I was a lively child with an insatiable desire
to learn new things. Yes, I was wild and played till I dropped. Yes, I was
hard to manage and control, with a fierce sense of independence, and strong need
for freedom. Yes. Yes. Yes. But was I really a diseased child with ADHD?
Yes, quite possibly, but was medication the answer? Are the nine million
American children diagnosed each year diseased with no recourse but
medication?
My doctor told my parents about Ritalin, and most
American parents would have taken his advice. According to the Drug Enforcement
Agency, the United States buys and uses 90 percent of the world’s Ritalin
supply. But my parents decided to look beyond the symptoms of ADHD. They
looked deeper at what was behind my behavior for the real causes of my problems.
For this I will always be thankful.
Using the Feingold Method, a dietary plan focused
on nourishing the body’s systems and eliminating sugars and artificial
ingredients, they determined that I was sensitive to white sugars and to the
dyes and salisilicates found in red foods. Instead of white sugar and artificial
ingredients, I ate freshly ground peanut butter and candy made with honey and
seeds. When they eliminated those foods and cut back on my TV time, I changed.
I could sit still longer. I could focus. I was not as “out of control” with
authority figures. My behavior and attitude changed dramatically – without ever
taking Ritalin.
I learned to take responsibility for my health. I
learned about health foods and how much sugar I could tolerate. I learned how
diet influenced my behavior and concentration. I learned to track how I felt
after eating certain foods. I learned how to read labels, checking foods for
artificial colors and flavors. I also learned to look beyond the problem and
the symptoms and determine the cause of things. As a kid I did not always follow
what I knew was right to do, but as an adult this early training has proven
invaluable.
By 10-years-old, my physiology was finally
stabilizing, but my world was about to change radically. Shortly after my
parents separated, three men broke into my house and sexually assaulted me.
Social toxicity, so common among today’s children, crept into my world. One in
four women experience sexual abuse at some point in her life, most often as a
child or a teenage girl. This traumatic event sent me into terror and guilt. I
began to use obsessive-compulsive tendencies to feel secure.
When I was 11 years old, I began drinking to sleep
and to numb the fear and pain. From ages 11 to 22, I progressed from a
conscious sugar junkie to a drug user, moving through the typical pattern of
progressive drug use: alcohol to pot, to amphetamines to hallucinogens. Alcohol
and drugs kept me medicated and gave me a sense of safety.
By the age of 22, I could no longer tolerate the
horrible side effects of substance abuse. I cut back on alcohol and drugs and
once again picked up sugar. Within a year, I weighed over 200 pounds and wore a
size 20.
It was not until I met a therapist named Dorothy
Fischer that I began to get at the root causes of my issues. Fischer taught me
a multi-modal practice combining elements of modern psychology, holistic health,
body energy work, neuroscience and her own original research. She also
introduced me to The Work of Byron Katie. Katie presented me with a Worksheet,
Four Questions, and a Turnaround – three simple tools that helped me question
the beliefs that bound me, and that now relieve the mental suffering of
thousands all over the world. Both Dorothy Fischer and Byron Katie taught me to
go inside for answers. In a little over a year I went from a size 20 to a size
12. Today I have no desire to use drugs or alcohol. Today I have the keys to
my freedom from any situation. Now the seeds of responsibility that I had
learned as a child could finally take root. I began to live a life of greater
personal integrity.
I am grateful to be the person I am now, and I
would not trade in any of my life experiences. Yet, I can still remember what
it was like to be a child, so wired from sugar and TV that sitting still was not
an option. I remember being the one child set apart from the crowd as
“diseased.” I remember feeling rejected and tainted as my parents got divorced
and I was left to deal with the aftermath of a sexual assault. Now, freed from
the physical addiction of sugar, drugs and alcohol, and the emotional torment of
fear and guilt, I am making it my life’s work to help parents and caregivers
raise children who can easily learn in school; who will not have to bear labels
like “Problem” or “Diseased;” who can learn how to take responsibility for
themselves and their bodies; and who have the tools to deal with issues and
problems without turning to drugs and alcohol. Contributing to this book is the
beginning of that quest.
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