I have been up in Colorado again doing some planning for the future. We are looking at options for offering a variation of the program to corporations interested in wellness programs. I will keep you posted on how it goes. I love this time of year. We are doing a lot of tidying the garden of the community. Cleaning up and getting ready for the quiet time. We will be starting these new classes the week of 11/15. Please click on the name of the class you wish to join and it will take you to the registration page: Step 1: The Art of Breakfast is the first of the core programs for newcomers. If you are just starting off, this is the place to come. Learn the details and get your plan set right from the start. Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Our Products is the fun tour of the Store that David does once a month. If you want to know what we have and why, come join this free class. YLDweightlossinaction is open to YLD members who are on step seven and are ready to begin the process of losing weight. And there will be no classes the week of 11/22, we will resume the week after Thanksgiving and my birthday (smile). 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 **********************************************************************
November 13, 2006 ** Quote From Kathleen **
Learning to recognize the subtlety of what your body has to say may take some time. *********************************************************************
** Testimonial for the Week**
Claire, I'm just catching up on posts, but I love what the others have said. I started the program first and used the questions the children asked me as opportunities for education. When I was steady on step 7 for a while, we started the children on breakfast. We started to change our language to reflect the program. Sugar was no longer a "treat", but trips to the library and spending time with friends was our new "treat". I gave them decision-making power within the parameters of the program, "We have to eat a protein and a brown, which one would you like today?" Helping the children realize how they feel after they eat whites and sugar was helpful for us as well. I hope this is helpful. This group has been a great resource for me. Amy ********************************************************************
**Recipe of the Week**
Here are some stuffing and cranberry recipes to help you get ready for Thanksgiving. Hope you enjoy them!! RICE STUFFING
CRANBERRY SALSA
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**Your Last Diet: More Than What You Think**
I am feeling settled with YLD these days. The classes are working. People are having fun, getting out of diet head and having some major success. Even more exciting is what is happening with chats. The Euro chats are so funny, I can hardly get through them. The Monday chat is a delight. I love the questions and answers that are coming out from that chat. They are so helpful. And Wednesday evening continues to be the highlight of my week. Last week we tried really hard to *work* but we started having so much fun, it was hard to stay on task. It is pretty amazing to think how far we have come. Chats used to be serious stuff. People were anxious and overwhelmed by being fat. Now the culture is one of such hope. We have a solution that we know works. Our task has become simply to help people stay focused on the doing. It is so exciting to watch. 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 **
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 Janie. I'm the liaison for the radiantdepression list. The depression list is my heart place. I joined this list when I first read SARP. I didn't even have a computer back then and when I read in SARP that there was an on-line community, I told my husband we had to get a computer so I could connect! My depression started in my early 20's. What I did about it back then was self-medicate with alcohol, drugs, caffeine and sugar not realizing of course that this was making me worse. Then my depression really hit hard after I started having children. When my twins were born my depression was totally debilitating. We had to hire a nanny because I was too depressed to take care of my own children. It was then that I started seeking professional help. I went to every kind of doctor and practitioner out there. I was even hospitalized twice for suicide. I tried all sorts of meds and nothing worked for me. It wasn't until I read PNP that I finally found the answer. I'll never forget that day when I first found that book. I read it all in one day and started the program the next day. Kathleen's work has totally changed my life and I will be forever grateful to her and to this community. Being in service here in this community and especially on the depression list is my joy and bringing hope to those who suffer from depression is my mission. Please come join us on the depression list. ********************************************************************
**Another Look at Commitment** Kathleen DesMaisons, Ph.D. Every week, I get many letters from people who feel inadequate, overwhelmed, fat, out of control and unable to do the program. Or I get letters from people who feel buffeted by the stress in their lives. People have died, work is demanding, no time, no space, no capacity to “do” anything but get by. And each time I say, “These feelings are caused by being out of balance. The stress does not create the feelings, your biochemistry does.” When you are balanced, you respond to stress differently, it becomes functional rather than overwhelming. You stand in the center of the swirl with a sense of calm and clarity about priorities and demands. And when you are not balanced, that idea seems totally off the wall. When you are in the middle of what I call sugar feelings, you will be reactive and feel done to. You will feel like a victim. You will feel like you can do nothing right. And of course it seems like these feelings are REAL because it is what you feel. And when you feel that way, you need something to help you hold them, so you get ice cream and soda. And you feel better for a little while. Life is manageable for a few minutes and you are seduced into thinking that this is comfort. But what you think is comforting you is the cause of what you are feeling. It is a deadly, seductive dance. When you are in that place, the idea of the “program” seems totally overwhelming. No, you cannot give up sugar. No, you cannot manage to plan anything. I just don’t get it! You feel it is just too big and too unattainable. It is too much so you need to just give up and feel that nothing will work. So, here is the bottom line. This program can not only save your life, it can transform it. It can make you clear and steady. It can give you a platform for losing weight. But it cannot work its magic unless you do it. And you do not have to do it all at once. You do not have to be perfect or rigorous or disciplined. You can come, you can whine, you can stumble. But if you show up, you ask for help and you listen, and then you follow instructions, things will change. Sugar sensitive people are notorious for not listening. We think we know it better. We think that we are unique, a special case and the plain ole boring do the steps slowly and in order does not really fit our situation. That way of thinking has to go. If you want what we have, do what we do. We do the steps. We have breakfast every morning, on time. We journal. We eat meals on time. We have enough protein for our body. We take the vitamins and eat the potato. We eat whole grains and we do not have sugar. We are funny, focused and purposeful. And we are NOT different from you. We were there in that dark, horrible place. Every single one of us, including me, has been there. And it is a place we do not want to go back to. The way out was not magic. It was showing up and “doing”. Doing breakfast, doing journal. Doing potato. One choice at a time. One day at a time. As I said last week, “Nodding will not heal you.” Agreement will not make change. Commitment makes change. You do not have to live that way any more. Come on over and let’s do this together. ©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 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 |
Exciting news!! We are now stocking 