I am writing this newsletter from a hotel room north of San Francisco.I came up for a seminar in authentic leadership. It is a small group of business owners from all over the world. Lots of sitting on the floor and LOTS of intense reflection and learning. Whew! It is good for me to be pushed to stretch beyond my boundaries. They are mostly psychologist types who are not so open to the idea that food might have an impact on behavior. But that is ok, because whether they know it or believe it does not alter what it does. It is wonderful for me to settle into my own knowing albeit after some struggle. And some of you have noticed that we returned the class prices to their former state We are also shifting the *start* time to Wednesday so that we can make sure everyone is in the class. We are also looking at whatever problems there are in our system that so many of you are having trouble getting over to yahoo and into the class rooms. Don't be surprised if we call on you for some counsel in problem solving this issue. But take a look at the classes and see if you are interested in anything. We will be starting these new classes this week beginning Wednesday, 10/25. Step 3: Three Meals a Day is one of our core classes. This is a skill-based class. If you want to learn the baby steps of a successful step 3, come join us. This class is ALWAYS fun. Step 4: More Intriguing Than you Think is the potato class. Come learn everything you ever wanted to know about the timing, size, frequency of your potato. Learn about the best vitamins and talk all you want about them. This is a nice way to strengthen and refine your step 4. Resource Center Tour is another one of our free walking tours through the website. This one takes you through the resource center. Explore all the nooks and crannies and discover things you did not know were there. Doing the Program on a Budget is a special free class for those of you with limited funding who are trying to make do. Come hear some fun ideas to maintain your humor and find tasty and inexpensive solutions. And we will begin these classes Wednesday, 11/1: Step 2: Journal, Skillful Use is the next level of journaling. This is for those of you who know *how* and want to learn what to do with your data. This class shows you how to interpret what you have written in an exciting and pragmatic way. Using Radiant Resources of the Community is for those of you who are brand new and would like to find your way around town. Come sit on the top of our double decker bus for a guided tour. And even if you are not brand new, this is a really fun class to reconnect with all the treats of the community. Back to Basics 1 is our friendly ole standby for the step 7 folks who hit the wall and wobble around. Come join us if you are concerned about your program. You do not have to be in full-blown relapse. Even if you are just slippin' a bit, come join us. This is a very fun sequence. Everyone loves it. IBD is the second round of the very interesting class on the biochemistry of gut issues. Come learn how IBD/IBS are connected to sugar sensitivity and what you can do to heal. This is a two-week class. Handling the Holidays: Thanksgiving will help you focus on gratitude rather than pie. Learn how to make this day a time of reflection and grace even if Uncle Sandy gets drunk and your sister asks about your weight. YLDweightlossreadiness is the new getting started class for YLD members. We are really excited to do this new format. Come learn how Phase One of your program sets the foundation for your entire weight loss plan. I have posted a new class schedule on line. 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 **********************************************************************
October 23, 2006 ** Quote From Kathleen **
Think of your food journal as your body's book. Your body needs a place to tell its own story. *********************************************************************
** Testimonial for the Week**
Well I am laughing. I have proved to myself, that for me it really makes a difference. Just to give a brief background. My DH has a progressive disability. He has been on sick leave now a total of 4 months, and last week the specialist confirmed that he should retire on medical grounds. He is 43. The disability is beginning to affect his mind as well as the bodily evidence we have seen for some time. I have not previously had much to do with our finances. I have to learn fast. I am finding it all very difficult and some parts of looking after me have taken a back seat. Including making sure I have spud available, and cooked. For a while I have had whatever spud was left from dinner, and when there was none, I had porridge. I was gradually becoming more and more tired, burdened, grey, flat...overwhelmed. Yesterday I baked some spuds. Lots of them. I had one for lunch, stuffed with tuna and sundried tomatoes and basil and olives, with a side of chick peas (garbanzos) mashed with garlic, lemon juice and mint leaves. yum. I had a spud at dinner, and I had a spud, about the size of 2 hens eggs (bigger than I have been having) at the 3 hour mark after dinner, then I went to bed. I slept deeply, had some dreams which I can't remember, and woke refreshed, with a clear mind. Hopeful and purposeful. Responsive, and with a renewed sense of humour. As opposed to vaguely resentful, slightly weary or burdened, this is delightful. No they are not huge differences. It is subtle. How I was feeling this last fortnight is a lot better than what used to be normal (smile). But how I feel today, is *good.* Radiance is a deep thing, not a shallow shine on the surface, it is like a Joy which has roots in my being, not reliant on day to day events and doing. Does it *have* to be a spud? no, but a spud is the best (smile. Kath ********************************************************************
**Recipe of the Week**
With all the Jewish holidays that just passed and the fact that I am no longer eating any dairy, I was searching for a great non-dairy dessert and invented this one. It was a huge hit with my family and my neighbors. I bet you are going to love it, too. NON-DAIRY CHEESECAKE (PAREVE)This recipe makes 1 10 inch cheesecakeCrust:
Filling:
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**Your Last Diet: More Than What You Think**
My oh my are the new Eurochats fun. Thank you all for making it so delightful! And I understand that Patti left you all hanging last Wednesday night at chat, LOL. Sure is nice to have team work here. I think those of you who are attending chats are discovering the power of what happens when we talk with one another. The energy is streaming right over to the hotel room in San Francisco. If you are not a YLD member, come and join us. Click here if you are ready to change your life or just plain ole have fun. It is not too late to get into the classes if you come right now. ********************************************************* ***********
**David's Corner **
 Laura wrote this in one of Kathleen’s classes and she asked if we might quote her here. I think the journal rocks. If you do not have one, get one!  I have been given the assignment to write down everything I eat for other programs, and I would do it for a while, and then stop. On my last go-round with another diet plan I flat-out refused. It was just plain desperation that got me back to Radiant Recovery, and when I saw the journal in the Store, I thought I would buy one and give it a try. "Let's see how long this lasts." I love the Store journal! Having the columns already set out, the sayings from Kathleen, the reminders about how much water I'm drinking, is all very convenient. Tracking how my body feels Physically and Emotionally makes this more than a diet log. On one of my lists there was a person who had certain symptoms that they could take to the doctor and track exactly when they started in order to get a diagnosis--an unexpected benefit of the journal. I've been one of those people who thinks that when they feel an Emotion it is here to stay. Watching my emotions come and go reassures me that they "come to pass." I used to stay mad for hours, even days, and feel stuck there, unable to come out. Now anger comes and goes! It's nothing short of a miracle to me. I'm on my 4th journal now and haven't missed a day. I love my journal! Lora Please send questions and suggestions. I love hearing from you and truly want to help you do your program better. ********************************************************* ***********
**Our Online Groups**
Hi I'm Karen the liaison for the RadiantStep3 group. Like the name says, this group is all about our very favorite Step 3. This was a tough step for me when I started the programme and it was definitely the hardest! I either forgot to eat meals, ate the most inappropriate sugar-laden stuff or just grazed my way through the day. It took me ages to master this step, but now I happily eat three meals a day. It's easy and very natural and I never dreamed I would ever say that in my lifetime! 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?? Since being the liaison for this list, I've been thrilled to see so many people come through and "graduate" to the next steps! 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.) ********************************************************************
**Problem Solving for Sugar Sensitive Dilemmas** Kathleen DesMaisons, Ph.D. People often ask me how they can sort something out. You say, “Kathleen, I just can’t figure out what to do.” Often you are desperate and feel that you have to know NOW. Well, first of all, the haziness, that sort of fog and cloudy sense of not knowing is often induced by what you are eating, or by when you are eating. Skip a meal and get dumb. Have sugar and whites, and get foggy and not be able to make sense of anything. These are the times when you push forward trying to find answers and you feel as if you are pushing into cotton. Nothing comes, even if you wrestle for hours. The first way out, of course, is doing the steps. I know you thought that doing the food would just deal with cravings and your weight, and maybe mood. But there is a huge payoff...you get clarity as well. The fog lifts. Things make sense. Answers come unbidden without thrashing. But let’s say you have a problem now. You can’t wait for step 7. You need some practical skills today. So let’s do some of those. Usually, sugar sensitive people munch – this means you say, "Is it this? Is it that? Is it this? Is it that?" You never find anything, you just fret for hours. The task is to go under what appears to be the question and seek a deep answer. Go under the surface, see what it conceals. When you start you will often think you are too busy to sit with it. Or if you sit, you just munch so why bother. This is different. You take one issue, and you decide to focus on it. You call a sense of clarity. You basically decide to leave the munch and ask the real question. Let me give you an example. I recently had a discussion with a friend who is trying to figure out some major life choices. Should she go to graduate school, what if she gets the new job she was interviewed for, should she stay with the old job, what if she has to move, how will she have enough money? Sound familiar? So I suggested this technique of going under the munching. I asked her what she wanted in her life in 5 years. I asked her to sit with that in stillness for maybe 30 minutes and let all the “stuff” quiet. This is going under the surface. Not the munching, but the real question. She did. And she discovered that she really, really wants to be an art therapist. You might imagine that all the munching faded away. Once she was clear, the choices were clear. She didn’t have to wait for step 7. And she realized that she had been munching for weeks and had never stopped to ask what was underneath. Once she was clear, she focused her energy and in 3 days, all those issues were settled. Concentrated focus is a mighty tool but we rarely use it. We dissipate it with sugar or munching. This is a learned skill. We will talk more about it as we go. Practice the first piece. Warmly, Kathleen ©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 Food and Cooking 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 |