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May 26, 2014

Hi {!firstname_fix}

What an amazing week it has been. Today, a friend is coming to work with seeing if we can get my well up and running. We want to see if we can get water to keep coming up. I am very excited with the process.

Yesterday, friends took Ronan and Pepper out to walk. Of course the dogs convinced them that swimming in the ditch (the New Mexico irrigation channels) was their task for the day. They returned smelling like ditch and muddy and dusty, LOL. I said, *What fun! And the next stop is the dog wash.* So we all had a blast... rubbing, scrubbing and blow drying 2 hairy Golden Retrievers. Great time of year for it - blow dry all the undercoat. And then last night Ronan snuggled up smelling like apples and oatmeal.

These classes will begin Wednesday, May 28, 2014.

Clearing All That Clutter (1 week) - A one week, FOCUSED, quick and dirty support to getting your house, your yard, your closets, your life, your soul all cleaned up. This will be a funny, playful way to look at the scary corners filled with 15 spice jars, cosmetics pots of face cream, tools or old sheets that you might need someday. This is an opportunity to face your stuff and be supported in letting it go.
Magical Introversion (2 weeks) - is a class which has grown out of your teachings. Last year you sat with me and talked about what life is like for you. I have taken that material, added the brain component, and put together the implications for sugar sensitives.


This class will begin Wednesday, June 4, 2014. Please click on the name of the class and it will take you to the registration page:

Step 1 (2 weeks) - is our foundation class to get you started. Learn all four parts of step 1 in a structured way. Learn how to progress through them with enjoyment. Let us support getting your program off to a fabulous start.
YLD Fitness for Weight Loss (2 weeks) - is a class for members of the Radiant Recovery YLD program who wish to refine and integrate their fitness plan into their overall weight loss plan. This is one of a two part series that integrates exercise and food into weight loss. It is highly recommended that you be at least steady on step 3 before you take this class.


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

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**Quote From Kathleen **


Your molecules will yearn for balance, care and healing. Instead of cravings for sugar, there will come a longing for wholeness.

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**Testimonial of the Week **


Wanting to isolate and crawl into a private little cave is very SS. Isolation is a major challenge for me and so I made a promise to myself. When I start having "done to, why me, unworthy, unlovable and fat" feelings and they show up in my journal for 2 days in a row, I send out a cry for help. Every time I have done that the results have been magical. Not just in terms of support, understanding and love, but practical step-by-step instructions about what to do to feel better again. This community will carry me and you when we can't walk, and they will never let us down.

Melodie

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**New Options **


I wanted to let you all know about a new program I have set up. Over the last few months several people have asked me about doing an *intensive* program specifically geared to where they were in wanting to do the process. I designed a way for us to talk by Skype once a week for 12 weeks, and to do an interactive food journal online that both of us could work with. The person fills it in every day, and I review and comment. This process seems to be working really, really well. Everyone is pleased. Here is what it includes:
  1. You fill out a detailed assessment, and keep a food journal for 4 days and send this over.

  2. You outline the specific concerns you have that you would like to work on.

  3. We do a one-hour assessment of the *problem*. Afterwards, you write back with your understanding of what we defined. We talk by email to make sure that this is really what you want to be working with.

  4. The following week, we have another one-hour meeting to talk about the *plan* to respond to the problem over the next 12 weeks. We identify starting steps. Again you write back with your sense of what we agreed to. We refine this and then you start.

  5. Each day you go online to the log I have set up for you. You fill in what food you have that day and how the day is going. I add comments right in your log. If you have questions, you put them right on your log and I respond as we go.

  6. Every week, we call or Skype for 30 min and review the week. I show you how to make connections in your log and notice what is happening. This allows you to be very focused and intentional. It also allows us to *catch* derailment right away so you don't have to muck about for days or weeks trying to sort out what is going on.

  7. The interactive dialogue builds as you get a sense of confidence and competence in working with the food to create balance. Round about the 3-4 week, something clicks in and your cells FEEL the power of what we are doing.

  8. You connect in the best place in the community so you begin to experience the support that comes in sharing with others just what you are dealing with.
Basically you are getting 8+ full hours of direct one-to-one time with me, plus daily interaction and dialogue as you go. If you pay for this as you go through it, the cost will be $1600 or about $500 a month. If you pay in advance, you get a special rate of $1265 which includes a 20% discount on the fee. So basically for $100 a week you get daily personalized coaching.

Now this process is not for everyone. It is expensive and it is intensive. It is for the person who is motivated and intentional, and for the person who does not want to muck around, and is ready to figure out his or her own needs and start on a life-changing solution.

Email me at kathleen@radiantrecovery.com if you have questions, or sign up here.

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**Notes from the Forum **


The dress dilemma - Solved! This is making me feel grateful today.

I have an Occasion planned for July, where the dress code is fairly smart. A few years ago this would have been an alarming thought... I would have been panicking at the last minute and trying to find an outfit, choosing the thing that fitted good enough. Or going in my same-old-thing.

A couple of weeks ago I went shopping with this event in mind, and despite trying on most of the shopping centre, there was nothing I really liked. The things that fitted didn't inspire me. But I had a lovely day, and instead of feeling a bit low at 'failure,' it didn't have any charge to it.

On Saturday I was out and about and spied just the thing in a shop window. Fairly casual but the sort of dress that can be dressed up or down.... I thought it was ideal.

And the magic thing was - I bought it - because I will be the same weight next July and so will still fit into it. This has not always been the case. I am remembering how distraught I used to feel about clothes shopping and how unreliable everything always felt, how my weight fluctuated so much I lived in the same few elastic-waisted outfits.

happy days
Mosaic


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** Radiant Recovery® Store **


David manages the Radiant Recovery® Store. He is also Kathleen's oldest son.

Manoomin, or wild rice, is a sacred food to the Anishinaabeg, and a key part of the ecosystem of the Northern Minnesota Lakes region.

Wild rice, one of the most versatile, nutritious and flavorful grains, has been an important food source for people and wildlife for hundreds of years. The warm nutty taste and rich texture of the wild rice makes any dish a special one.

We carry the original rice from the paddies in Minnesota. It is Native harvested.

Please send questions and suggestions. I love hearing from you and truly want to help you do your program better.

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**Radiant Kitchen **


Wild Rice and Sweet Potato Stuffing
  • 1 cup uncooked wild rice
  • 2 1/2 cups water
  • 1/4 tsp. salt
  • 2 medium sweet potatoes, scrubbed and cut into 1? cubes. Do not peel
  • 1 cup chopped apple
  • 2 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1/2 cup onions, diced
  • 1/4 cup celery, diced
  • 1/4 cup parsley, chopped
  • 1 tsp. poultry seasoning
  • 1/4 tsp. pepper
  • 2 TBS olive oil
  • 1/2 cup toasted slivered almonds
  1. In a medium saucepan, combine wild rice, salt and water. Bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat and simmer for 45-60 minutes or until grains open. Drain and set aside.
  2. In another saucepan, combine sweet potatoes with enough lightly salted water to cover. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and let simmer for about 15 minutes until potatoes are tender but not mushy. Drain, set aside.
  3. In a large skillet, heat 2 TBS. olive oil over medium high heat. Add garlic, onion and celery and saute until vegetables are fragrant. This will be about 2 minutes.
  4. Add apples, poultry seasoning, and pepper. Continue to saute another 2 minutes. Remove from heat.
  5. Combine wild rice, sweet potatoes and apple mixture. Add chopped parsley and combine well. Add almonds and toss.
  6. Use stuffing to fill poultry. Or you can put the stuffing into a lightly greased casserole dish and bake at 350 for 25 minutes until golden and heated through.


For more great program-friendly recipes, check out our cookbook in the store and visit our online Radiant Recipes site.


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**Radiant YLD **


We had a fabulous report from Rachel this week. A lot of what we do in YLD is healing the wonky biochemistry and feelings we have about being overweight, so my favourite part of this post is ‘ok about own reflection’. Steph x

Hello all, I just wanted to pop up and say hello! I am still posting on Step 2 and enjoying more connection with my journal, and working on weights and movement.

Also, following the thread about clothes, I am feeling good about clothes at the moment in a pleasing and somewhat new way. I have a new soft, drapey, mid-blue tunic which I'm wearing a lot over trousers - I like the lowish square neck, the gather under the bust, and the way I feel adequately covered while still light and moveable - and like I'm not hiding. I went clothes shopping yesterday with a voucher my mum gave me at Christmas and found three things, and wrote in my journal "decisive" "ok about own reflection" and "calm".

Rachel

If you would like to join, come find us here

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**Radiant Life **


This special membership program is all about support for learning how to *live* as you move towards radiance. The stability of your food and the steps will form a foundation to bring you into a new way of living. We will talk about emotional sobriety, finding passion in your life, disarming things that get in the way, program maturation and, of course, spirituality. Learn more here.

Last week had some wonderful discussions about Sugar Addiction and how it has come into its own culturally in the last year. And how overall the *solutions* seem to be to simply get sugar out of your diet. :)

We know that that is NOT the solution and what fun it was to talk about why. Somehow these discussions bring us to a rich understanding of why we are here and how much we can work with the resources.

Get a lifetime membership to Radiant Life Now: Click here.

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**Our Online Groups **


The Step 3 list is a great place to stop by for those who are finding this a challenging step, or who are starting out or who would just like some extra support. We talk a lot about things like: What is a meal, exactly? How do I get my body to cooperate with eating "just" three meals a day? What are some tips to help me with consistent timing? And all sorts of other aspects of this step. We try to make it fun, because... well why not make it fun?? It's a great place of support... come and join us! (And it matters not if you are new to the step, totally re-doing the step or just shoring up your Step 3 after being further along in the program.)

Or come to the group page to find the one that will best support your program: http://www.radiantrecovery.com/list_serves.htm


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**Our Values **
Kathleen DesMaisons, Ph.D.



I suspect that many of of you may not think about what is behind our community. Who are we? What are we about? This is way more than responding to a collection of books. Radiant Recovery® is a community, grown by a group of volunteer mentors under my leadership. We meet every week. We talk, we sort things out, we work to continue to foster and grow the vision of a highly functional, creative healing place. Some of us have been working together for more than fifteen years. It only gets better and better.

Here are the values we operate with:

1) Commitment to the vision. We believe that the Radiant Recovery® program offers a life-changing solution for the problem of sugar sensitivity and are willing to change our food, change our lives and share the vision with others.

2) Simplicity. We will provide solutions to sugar sensitivity that are easy to understand and implement.

3) Respect. We will recognize the individuality and unique differences of each person doing the program by reinforcing the unique, individually-tailored aspect of the food plans.

4) Listening. We will acknowledge that the most powerful definition of our success comes from those using the services and products we offer.

5) Integrity. We deliver the promises we make. We say what we mean and we mean what we say.

6) Compassion. We encourage self-awareness and empowerment in our community members by providing information in a non-judgmental way and remembering our own journeys.

7) Empowerment. Rather than offering directions, we will provide tools that enable members to find the way out of chaos, feeling stuck and overwhelmed into a sense of clarity, focus and direction. We will work to teach rather than tell.

8) Modeling. Our leadership will commit to living our values, working the program and being fully accountable for the quality of their own recovery. We will walk our talk.

9) Responsibility. We will take responsibility for how we do business. We commit to being culturally and linguistically sensitive to the range of interests, concerns and backgrounds of our members.

One weekend I went to a trade show put on by the Northern California Independent Booksellers Association, five of our mentor team attended. They came to help, paid their own expenses, wore their sunflower Radiant Recovery® shirts and went around and talked to vendors, bookstore owners and buyers. I kept running into people who said *Oh, yes, one of your people was here.* No one could believe that this *staff* was there voluntarily because they care about the books and the message. The model we are creating is sort of outside the box.

At any rate, I am inviting you to participate and share in the development of this vision. If you have ideas and comments or thoughts or critique, email me. I will take your feedback, put it up on the web and we can all talk about it.



Thanks for reading! If you know someone who could benefit from this, feel free to forward it to them.

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Until next time!
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Here are the folks who are helping put the newsletter together:

Gretel, our webmaster, puts it all together.
David runs the Radiant Recovery® Store.
Steph provides the Your Last Diet column. mosaic contributes to the Notes from the Forum column.


©2014 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