This week’s reflections are on my trip to Hopi. I thought you would like to hear a little more. And then at the end of this week I will be going back to Vinalhaven which is a small island off the coast of Maine. As you read about Hopi, you will understand the juxtaposition of these two places. In many ways they represent two parts of my soul - the sea and the mesa. It’s funny how we are shaped by place. And sometimes, we just have some fun things to share. Come see what Geraint, the photographer who has created the wonderful banner for the newsletter, did with Mr. Ronan, my Golden Retriver. http://geraintsmith.com/potd/pages/archive/july_06/july_06_06.html We will be starting this class this week: Step 1: The Art of Breakfast is the basic fun class we do for newcomers. Come learn how to do it well. Then there will be no classes the week of 7/17 as I will be on vacation in Maine. I am NOT working, not doing seminars and not even taking my computer. (smile) However, we are set for the seminar in Boulder, CO On Aug 12. Click here to see the details. No seminar in NYC on my way home from Ireland. My colleagues said, *you have got to be kidding!* So I listened and said, *OK, OK.* I have posted a new class schedule on line. I am sorry that we are moving things around a bit. When I have to travel, it does affect the class schedule. 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. The classes are done online with one lesson each day. You do not have to be at your computer at any set time. 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. Please feel free to pass this week's newsletter on to your friends and family. Don't forget to let me know what you like and would like to see me cover. Be sure to visit our Radiant Recovery® website and Community Forum regularly. Warmly, Kathleen **********************************************************************
July 10, 2006 ** Quote From Kathleen **
When you eat according to your food plan, you will have a solid sense of self-esteem that comes from biochemical balance, clarity and well-being. *********************************************************************
** Testimonial for the Week**
We seem to have a lot of parties and barbecues especially in the summer. One thing that I am beginning to notice is that people, i.e. family, friends, neighbors, are getting so used to the way that we eat that they aren't even surprised or mad that we don't have any sweets or sugary, white stuff at any of our parties. Yesterday we had a big July 4th barbecue, lots of family, friends, neighbors were there. None of the kids asked for any soda, they didn't whine or complain that there wasn't any ice-cream or desserts. We had lots of fresh fruit for dessert and juice with sparkling water to drink. We had ribs, hot dogs, potato salad, fresh green salad, homemade bean dish and tons of fun. It seemed like everyone was just focused on the fun and not the food. We had a huge water fight and then we did fireworks. There weren't any whiny, miserable children or teenagers there,lol. It was a great day. Janie ********************************************************************
**Recipe of the Week**
I bought a new gas grill and am having a blast playing around with it! Here are some great marinades from the Radiant Recipes cookbook. Marinate small pieces of whatever you are grilling for 1 - 24 hours. The longer the marinating time, the more intense the flavor. Remove meat, fish or tofu from the marinade and cook as desired. Brush a little marinade onto the protein as it cooks for greater flavor. Do not use the leftover marinade without boiling it first. Boil the marinade until slightly thickened and then you can use it as sauce. Lime Ginger Marinade
Teriyaki Marinade
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**Your Last Diet: More Than What You Think**
We are putting some major changes in place about Your Last Diet. We are shifting the program from a membership program to an integrated part of the community. The weight loss lists will be open to anyone just as any other lists. We will be offering special weight loss classes in the fall as part of the class schedule. Current YLD members will get a full and in-depth discussion of what these changes mean for them. Stay tuned for more information. ********************************************************* ***********
**David's Corner **
' I send soy milk makers all over the world. If you need a 220 model, just let me know. We love this product and I always enjoy featuring it. Please send questions and suggestions. I love hearing from you and truly want to help you do your program better. ********************************************************* ***********
**Our Online Groups**
Most of us underestimate the importance of breakfast and try to do all the steps in the first week. When that doesn't work, we begin again. We concentrate on Step 1, breakfast, and find our lives begin to change. The RadiantBreakfast list is a great place to learn the nuances of breakfast, build a strong foundation for the rest of the steps, and find how helpful it is to share our journey with others. It is great for new people and those who have been on the program a long time. Sharing helps everyone. The awesome thing is we all, Step 1 or Step 7, eat breakfast every single day. How cool is that? We'd love it for you to Sign up: We love new members! http://www.radiantrecovery.com/list_serves.htm ********************************************************************
**To Get to Hopi** Kathleen DesMaisons, Ph.D. This is the first part of an article I am preparing. I thought you would enjoy it “in progress.” To get to Hopi, I drove west from Gallup. The road passes through huge, high flat plains. I got to the area near the Petrified Forest where they have giant plaster dinosaurs. Then went by the store with the big plaster grey jackrabbit that you can sit on and take your picture. Soon after it was time to turn north. Hopi is 60 miles up the road. There were no more dinosaurs, no stores, no houses, no cell phone coverage, nothing but plains and scrub brush for as far as you can see. In the distance stone formations rose from the desert. Once in a while, a car came by, but mostly it was pure silence and solitude stretching as far as I could see. My instructions said, “go to the cultural center at second mesa”. The map showed a dot for second mesa. After what seemed forever, high mesas appeared in the distance. Yellow rock, sort of a mixture of cream and brown, they are a unique color. Not ocher, not white, but Hopi rock color. The road came to a T. I figured this was second mesa, but I was not on a mesa and nothing was around. No sign of anything, but I counted and figured that the cliffs to the left were number two of three stretching out before me. So I turned left and followed the road. It climbed up and up, around a switchback and then came out on the top. On top were lots of little houses interspersed. They were a combination of concrete block or stone block of the Hopi yellow. There are a number of weathered signs for art and jewelry, but it was not clear where the places were. I kept driving and eventually came to a pink-stuccoed multistoried building that said Cultural Center and Restaurant. It was about 5 in the afternoon. I was looking forward to dinner. My bother has been coming out to Hopi for many, many years and gave me an orientation about good food at the restaurant. I parked the car, walked over to the door and the sign said, “closed.” This seemed strange. I walked around in back, and there was another hand- written sign on the door that said, “We are closed, sorry for the inconvenience.” I tried the door, it was open and I went in. The clerk at the front desk asked if she could help me. She gave me the key to the room and explained that the restaurant was closed. Health department had been in a few days before and she had no other comments. I figured I would go to my room and settle down and then do some problem solving. I was just a little concerned. I had not brought any food with me. That was unusual because I generally take my cooler and a well-stocked array of goods for a journey. I went up to the room that was on the second floor, called and left a message for the conference coordinator. My cell phone had no service. I tried hooking up my computer to the phone jack. That didn’t work. I was simply there on second mesa. No food, no restaurant, and myself. About 20 minutes later, there was a knock on the door. Anita is the conference coordinator’s mother. She was wearing navy shorts and white Nike shoes. She said, “Leon called and asked me to check in on you.“ She decided to take me on a little food hunt, so we hopped in her pickup truck, put on the seat belts and away we went. We did a little tour first. Hopi sits on 3 mesas. They have been here for more than 1000 years. Some folks are living in the same stone houses on the edge of the cliff that were built that long ago. Many of the houses have satellite TV dishes and some have solar panels. She told me the stories of the clans and the families and the villages. I was taught in school that “Columbus discovered America”…what nonsense that was. The Hopi people were here long before white guys set sail. They were planting corn and beans and squash, the three sisters. They were grinding and making bread. And they carried a profound and deep spiritual tradition that lives on today in ceremony and teaching. But on this night, I was more interested in my stomach growling. We went back to the hotel to see if Leon had called. He had but now was out for a walk. On our excursion, we had learned that the health inspector had shut down all the eating establishments on the reservations. At 6:45, Leon and Mom decided to get me a submarine sandwich from the gas station. “What did I want?” I responded, “Whatever you get is fine.” Leon called the store; mom drove me down the backside of the mesa, off into the plain to another little town. A store, a gas pump and lots of new pickup trucks. It was 7:06, the store closes at 7. Anita knocked on the door and the owner brought my sandwich out. We drove back in late light. Yellow over yellow rock, heat shimmering still from afternoon sun. I went to return to my little room and Anita says, “Why don’t you plan to come down to my house for breakfast. Leon will come for you.” I said I would like that a lot. I ate the sandwich, drank bottled water from the stash in my car and read three chapters from The Book of The Hopi and went to sleep dreaming of Spider Woman and the Twins holding the world. It was light about 4:30, the sky red from the fires in Sedona. Leon came later in the pickup and led me down and then up and then out to one of the more remote villages. The houses were clumped in a central area, but we drove out and around, out a dirt road with ruts around the edge of the mesa, and then turned back up to his house facing out to the south. He parked on the left; I found a place in the sand on the right. Two rez dogs came to greet us, one with polar blue eyes, sniffing me and knowing that I smelled of NM dog. Two girls were playing outside, one hanging laundry on the line. “My nieces. Come in side,” said Leon. His mom was making breakfast – eggs, bacon, oatmeal, toast, juice. It felt like a feast. It wasn’t quite ready so I went out back to watch David boiling hominy on a hue kettle over a fire. He was starting the process of making a feast for the attendees at the seminar. The dogs were in the back now, guarding the perimeter. A dog walked too close and the house dogs were off in a flash, making it very clear that this place was off limits. Breakfast was delicious. Afterwards, Leon went off to work on seminar things and I drove his mom down to her job at the Department of Education. At noon, I went over to the heath center; a multimillion-dollar new building that houses all the health services for the reservation. Doctors, dentists, physical therapists, WIC, maternity, the pharmacy, all of it. I met with the substance abuse staff. They were excited to hear about the biochemistry. We had a great conversation. Then I went back to the hotel. The guys had figured out that the presenters needed food, so they had put together a great dinner. We sat in the conference room and started to get to know one another. The conference was on sustainability and food, so the people there were fascinating. After dinner I walked back to the second floor, over the roof to my room. The sky was black – no street lights. And a billion stars, stars that we never see in the city. I read more that night, more about kachinas, and farming and water and living in a place for a 1000 years. I wondered what it would be like to live where my family had been for 1000 years. I wondered how that experience would be stored in my cells……… ©Kathleen DesMaisons 2006. Here are the folks who are helping put the newsletter together: Gretel, the liaison for the recovery list and the webmaster puts it all together Naomi, liaison for step 4 gathers the recipes David, who runs the Radiant Recovery® Store talks about what new products we have. 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.htm. ©2006 by 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 and use this attribution: "By Kathleen DesMaisons, Ph.D. of Radiant Recovery®. Please visit Kathleen's website at http://www.radiantrecovery.com for additional resources on sugar sensitivity and healing addiction." Please notify me at kathleen@radiantrecovery.com to let me know where the material will appear. Banner Photograph by Geraint Smith |
