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January 13, 2014 Hi {!firstname_fix} Well, this weekend was one of those take care of business times. I started off early Saturday morning and heard a strange sound while I was driving. Yep, flat tire. Went back home. Called AAA, and waited for the young guy to come. It was interesting. I don't think I have ever seen how to get the spare out from under the car. Then I needed to go and get some new tires. I went to the place and they did an *evaluation* of everything I *need,* like a light bulb for the turn signal. The *needs* were $357 so I decided to stop at the auto supply store and get the bulb and an air filter and such. Then I went to the car wash, and washed and vacuumed. My car is happy. I am happy. I am having fun reflecting on new classes for winter. It is an interesting task to sort through what things might suit you all most. We will have the full schedule up in the next few days. Planned a new weight loss class for those of us who are older. I think the chat we did last week on The Radiant Fitness Camp as the antidote to the TV Show, The Biggest Loser, got me really stoked. Somehow, chatting about all the little details made me realize that we have such an incredible weight-loss option, that I need to be talking about it more. And maybe this time of year, when we all get back to the gym, is a particularly good time. How to have fun while losing weight. Who would have thought? Don't forget that the early bird special for New Mexico Ranch ends on Wed, the 15th. I am going to revise our agenda based on the incredible chat we did last week. We were talking about the alternative to The Biggest Loser TV show camp and brainstormed what our camp would be like. We can't do all of it at Ranch, but we sure can do some. Make sure to get your place! These classes will begin Wednesday, January 15, 2014. Please click on the name of the class and it will take you to the registration page:
These classes will begin Wednesday, January 22, 2014. Please click on the name of the class and it will take you to the registration page:
The class schedule is online. Click here to see what is planned. A number of you have asked me how the classes work. Check the class list page for more information on this. And please go read the questions and answers before you write to me. If you have trouble getting through the process, write the tech forum. Be sure to visit our Radiant Recovery website and Community Forum regularly. Warmly, Kathleen **********************************************************************
**Quote From Kathleen ** Exercise is a crucial part of healing your sugar-sensitive body. Make time for it. **********************************************************************
**Testimonial of the Week ** I have always been an 'off the ground' person who was neither anchored very deeply nor centered emotionally. I am grateful for recovery because I feel that this is really much more of who I am. A wonderful maturity begins to emerge. I go to pow-wows a lot in the summer in Minnesota. There is a dance that a lot of the women do (you have to choose one style and can only dance that way and your regalia must match the style) called 'traditional.' The women, many of whom are elders, come out with beautifully, intricately beaded moccasins, oftentimes a feather fan made out of a hawk wing, a beautiful dress with ribbon fringes, and beadwork barrettes and hair clips. The dance itself is very very slow. The women stand straight upright and walk/march slowly to the beat of the drum in a large circle with the rest of the dancers. They never move quickly. They are a sea of slow, powerful energy as the younger, more active dancers flit by doing fancy, shawl, jingle, grass, etc. dancing. These women are radiant, but like deep radiant -- Where there is this very quiet, deep power that radiates from them. They are unflappable, anchored. Nothing can push them - a wonderful, wise certainty. This is what I imagine the deepening that occurs with step 7 brings. Not high zingy energy, but a slow burning vitality that is grounded, deep and very very wise. I am so early in this process - just new at moving; not yet meditating, and knowing that there is even more depth to the food groove. It's a beautiful thing, maggi **********************************************************************
**Radiant Life ** I am back from New York where I went to visit my 82-year-old Irish Auntie. My daughter came down from Vermont, and her cousin came out from the city. My daughter wrote a poem that sort of sums up this visit: Pear nectar and Caprese omelets Vespa, egg creams Old photographs of mothers reading to daughters and little girls in Radio Flyers birth certificates, deeds, wills, ship rosters 27 Dresses romantic letters from an Italian lover the French count and his castle shopping, stories, lattés, newspaper clippings calculating ages and ordering events saloon keepers and grocers and King’s Scholars Barnard, Hofstra, teaching, studying, traveling, working long hours to put children through college, generations of women scholars writing letters, sharing memoirs telling long-forgotten stories pasting together history passing along history passing along Prada It was a time of gathering family stories, making sense of history. My grandmother went to college in 1906. What an incredible thing that was. It was very moving to me. I have been mulling it all over since I have come home. It is so amazing to see how we are shaped. Kathleen **********************************************************************
**Radiant Ambassadors **  It looks as though the levels of sugar in our foods is being taken a little bit more seriously in the UK with some experts equating it to tobacco. Here is an article I found recently: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2536180/Sugar-new-tobacco-Health-chiefs-tell-food-giants-slash-levels-third.html It does sound as though sugar is being made out to be the enemy here, but at least there is more recognition of its effects on the public at large. And I think that can only be a good thing. Mind you, what would happen if I were to contact Action on Sugar to suggest something that might help? Watch this space! Selena selenas@blueyonder.co.uk Come join us if you are excited about spreading the news. **********************************************************************
**How I Found Radiant Recovery ** My name is Nellie. I am from Utah, but have been in Arizona for the last 29 years...so almost a native, LOL. I am on step 5 in the program and I hope to get enough understanding from the class to help me get to the next step. I am sort of stuck at step 5 with little motivation to do more. I bought the Potatoes Not Prozac book many years ago in the self-help section of Barnes and Noble. I was still trying to get enough protein for many years. Then I had a brain aneurysm and couldn't eat sugar for about 8 years because it tasted like poison. Forced withdrawals. If I had just stuck with that, I would have been great. But when I got my sweet taste buds back, I went on a several-year sugar binge and just began the program again the first of the year. During one of my sleepless nights, I was searching the internet for more info on Potatoes Not Prozac, and found Radiant Recovery. I am hoping with the help of a support group, I can do this. :) **********************************************************************
** Radiant Recovery® Store ** David manages the Radiant Recovery® Store. He is also Kathleen's oldest son. 
We have YLD hardcovers for sale. I think we have the only available hard cover copies. They work really well if you are a *write in the margin* type like I am or if you don't want your highlighting to bleed through. We are going to be starting a YLD book study in the YLD online program shortly. If you want to learn THE best weight loss option in the world, this is it. And now is a perfect time to learn the original concepts and the updates that have happened since it was published.
Please send questions and suggestions. I love hearing from you and truly want to help you do your program better. **********************************************************************
**Radiant Kitchen **  Ok, these are the Brits Lunch Brownies. The original recipe is from Simply
Sugar and Gluten Free. The woman who writes that web site is in culinary
school and alters recipes to be SF. She does use agave, but I
subbed apple juice, and we all thought it was yummy anyway. Great with a cup
of tea or coffee after a yummy Whole Foods Mexican meal. :) Let me know if
you make them!This is her original recipe. My alts are in parens. Makes 24 brownies. (I cut them small and got 36.)
Heidi For more great program-friendly recipes, check out our cookbook in the store and visit our online Radiant Recipes site. **********************************************************************
**Radiant YLD ** Want to make this your last diet and feel like you are not even on a diet?  That’s exactly what happens! Your Last Diet has been created specifically for sugar sensitive folk and comes with a 100% guarantee that it will work. Lose weight and feel amazing! It’s a lot of fun! Kathleen was recently talking about our guarantee. Compare it to the programs you see on TV where they post *results not typical* in tiny little type. Ours says, 100% guarantee..and that you have to *do* it for the guarantee to be in place. Sometimes people say, *I don't want to do this, it is not working,* but it has never, ever been a person who actually engaged in the process. If you would like to join, come find us here **********************************************************************
**Radiant Conversations ** We have a new portal for the Conversations program. Come check it out here. Last week we did some brainstorming about what it is we are doing in the conversations chats. I asked people what they are getting out of them. The major consensus was that they *deepen my program*. I think because we are talking about how doing the food affects real life, these chats link the two. It makes sense why we enjoy them so much. If you would like to join us, you can do that below. Join YLD Weight Loss Now: click here - $99 Join Conversations 2011 Now: click here - $99 Join Both YLD and Conversations Now: click here - $149 Current YLD members wish to Upgrade to Both, click here - $49 If you are not a member, come and join us if you want to be a part of the latest and greatest or just have some plain ol' fun! **********************************************************************
**Our Online Groups ** On the Radiant Step 5 list we talk about the importance of browns, about the different grains available - how to choose, how to cook, how to serve. We explore why for some of us wheat may not be the best alternative or not a good one. Step 5 can be exciting and you can learn how to introduce new things to resistant family members. We also call it the 'coming out' step since it's at this step that when we 'eat out' we may seem different to those not familiar with our program. **********************************************************************
**What This Community is Really About ** Kathleen DesMaisons, Ph.D.
I want to share with you an article I started in 2004 - 10 years ago. I am going to add some commentary at the end that updates it. I think it is really helpful for us to have context about our community. See what you think. Six years ago, Potatoes not Prozac was being published and I was committed to setting up a web site which would provide a way for sugar-sensitive people to come together and share their paths to healing. I spent a long time finding a marketing group to help me set up the site. They asked me my goals. How much money did I want to make? What sort of income stream was I looking for? They were confused by the plan. You want to build *community?* they asked. I explained that I wanted to create a healing web. I wanted to provide a way for people to learn new things and to share their journeys. I wanted people to connect and know the power in working together. Sugar sensitivity and addiction flourish in isolation. Healing comes with connection. So we started. A web site with 20 pages. Mostly informational. A few months later, we put up the Community Forum and people started talking. You asked for ways to share on specialized topics. We set up an elist for depression. You asked for more and the resources grew. I answered every email and listened to your concerns and struggles and dreams. As the mail poured in and the lists grew, I wanted to make sure the tone was clean and we stayed on focus. I formed a leadership team and invited a few folks who were further along in the process to help. The volunteer service base of the community was born. Each person had responsibility for an elist and was willing to meet with me online once a week to talk about how things were going. We learned to do team. We learned to trust one another and to work through style differences. We started the first Ranch and I invited the team to come and meet one another in person. I think we got hooked on the joy of working together. The lists increased and 15 people could no longer do it all. We expanded the leadership team to include more volunteers. A liaison for each list. And then we doubled up. We met once a week, diligently showing up for work and play. We shared our programs, we critiqued ourselves and matured along with the community. People coming in were given a warm welcome. Connections were made. Boundaries were defined about the style of communication. No flaming was allowed and we created a safe place. This was hard work. Sugar-sensitive people are notoriously sensitive and reactive when they are starting out. I started Your Last Diet Online because the marketing guys thought it would be a good experiment. We started chatting and the original idea of *weight loss* expanded to include discovery and exploration about what weight loss might really mean. This was and still is so exciting that I look forward to Wednesday night with a smile. Talk about connection!! Now we have more than 8,000 people talking every day. Close to a half a million letters have been posted to the web site. That be a lot of talking and a lot of healing. I have learned that the web is the perfect way to connect people. Doesn't matter who you are or where you live. If you can get online, you can be part of the miracle of community. We laugh about issues in Perth or Oslo or Atlanta or San Diego. We are so much alike, sometimes it is scary. Our differences make us grow. I LOVE this community. I feel blessed by your energy, wisdom and care. Thank you!!! Ten years down the line, sixteen years of community and things have only deepened. Now it is way more people talking every day. I have no idea how many emails I have read, LOL. And now the *team* has morphed and matured with the program. Your mentors are people with many years of recovery, and lots and lots of experience. Things are seamless. We still meet every week and check in and talk about how we can better serve your needs. When new team members come in, they cannot believe the work that goes on behind the scenes to make the community a loving and caring place. Someone said last week, *I had no idea*..I just laughed and said, *yah, well, that is the point.* What a gift. Thanks for reading! If you know someone who could benefit from this, feel free to forward it to them. Not a subscriber yet? Like what you have read? Sign up to get future issues delivered straight to you: http://www.radiantrecovery.com Until next time!
Here are the folks who are helping put the newsletter together:
Gretel, our webmaster, puts it all together. David runs the Radiant Recovery® Store. Selena provides the weekly Ambassadors column. Steph provides the Your Last Diet column. ©2013 Kathleen DesMaisons. All rights reserved. You are free to use or transmit this article to your ezine or website as long as you leave the content unaltered, use this attribution: "By Kathleen DesMaisons, Ph.D. of Radiant Recovery®", and notify kathleen@radiantrecovery.com of the location. Please visit the Radiant Recovery® website at http://www.radiantrecovery.com for additional resources on sugar sensitivity and healing addiction. You are getting the weekly newsletter from Radiant Recovery® in response to your signup. A copy of this newsletter may also be found posted on the web at http://www. radiantrecovery.com/weeklynewsletter |
