Almost overnight the trees have filled in. It was raining last night, so there are droplets on all the trees this morning. Flowers are everywhere. Things feel soft, like spring. It feels as if the community is budding as well. Something special is waiting to emerge. I was traveling last week. I always love to come home. The dogs were leaping and crying with joy. I have learned to ask my cleaning person to come the morning of the day I come back, so everything sparkles and shines when I walk in the door. Before I learned this trick, I would come back to paw prints everywhere, hair rolling around, dog nose on the windows and such. Now it is the best of both worlds. We will be starting these new classes the week of 03/28. Please click on the name of the class you wish to join and it will take you to the registration page: 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. Learning About Depression is a key class for the Potatotes Not Prozac crowd. Learn in-depth information on the kinds of depression, why drugs will or will not work, how they work and how Doing the Food can help. Step 3: Three Meals is one of our core classes. This is a skilled based class. If you want to learn the baby steps of a successful step 3, come join us. This class is ALWAYS fun. Using the 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. We will be starting these new classes the week of 4/4. Please click on the name of the class you wish to join and it will take you to the registration page: 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. Back to Basics 1 is the class for those who have been on Step 7 and got lost. If you are wobbling around, have relapsed or need a tune up, come connect. We are kind, funny and have a great get back on track process. I have posted the 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 **********************************************************************
March 25, 2007 ** Quote From Kathleen **
Remember that you are literally learning a new language. You are going to have to practice to become fluent in body talk. *********************************************************************
** Testimonial for the Week**
This is my sense of how you get to step 7. When you start breakfast it is so
overwhelming. I can't cook breakfast every morning, it is too much work, I
don't have stuff in the house, I'm not awake enough within an hour, it will
mess up my kitchen which is already messy, too much food, etc. But you put
your energy into doing it and after a while it is easy. You don't think
about it. If 2 years ago you'd told me that I would wake up and prepare a
shake for myself, different shake for my 5 year old (and mommy please clean
out the blender because I don't like that banana flavor in mine), supervise
my 8 year old making an omelet and oatmeal AND that I'd need to pack snacks
for both and lunch for one (could I please have pasta in the thermos today
and sorry, I forgot to clean it out yesterday.) AND that this would all have
to be done in a timely manner, I'd have sat down and cried. But this is my
daily life and I love it.By Emily, Step 6 It is rare that we all eat the same breakfasts and yet it doesn't bother me. It is just what we do. Breakfast happens every day. I feed myself first and then I help my kids. Similarly, I just naturally pick up my journal and note stuff down and meals happen on time and I habitually include enough protein and brown. I don't have to watch the clock, I don't have to think about it, it just happens. My kitchen ALWAYS has a meal available. I can throw things together (before if there wasn't a plan, it was fast food). We ate for almost 10 days without a grocery run last month while everyone was sick and we never missed a meal. It seems like my body generally gives me clues about when it is time for potato. When I first started step 4 it seemed like such a pain and preparing food for lunch when I was home alone seemed like a waste of time. Now I happily cook for myself. Things just shift and it is no longer hard. There's no longer a struggle and hopefully there is joy. Right now, it is taking a lot of my energy to not eat sugar, to think about coverts, to take care of myself, to attend to my grief. My sense is that as I work on this step, those things will become easier too and it will be like the other steps and they will just happen and so then I would think I'll be ready for step 7. I'm not really sure what step 7 is about. I think of it as an adventure of discovery. I know that there is a different tone to the posts from people on step 7. There is patience, serenity, wisdom, joy, fun - regardless of personality or anything else, there is this essence that sort of oozes out of their posts. I think we get lots of glimmers of step 7 as we go along and the closer we get, the more glimmers. Breakfast brings a clarity to the morning, journaling helps you connect, step 3 brings steadiness and self care, step 4 brings happiness, step 5 (well, it sort of just happened so not sure on that one), and step 6 brings peace. I guess step 7 will be zest for life. ********************************************************************
For our youngest son's 6th birthday I made him this cake. It is originally a muffin recipe, but I am giving it to you the way I made it for the birthday cake. I know some of our healed teens don't feel they need a cake anymore (come check out the Parents list and you will see!), but my little guy does and I feel happy to have a program friendly alternative for him. CHOCOLATE BIRTHDAY CAKE
To make the frosting, chill the beaters and bowl very well. Add the heavy cream to a medium sized bowl and whip on high until thickened. Add the vanilla and banana, if you wish, and whip again until stiff. Frost cake. ********************************************************************
**Your Last Diet: More Than What You Think**
YLDonline is a membership program run directly by Kathleen DesMaisons herself. It’s funny, but I find myself loving YLD more and more. I love the change from frantic energy that says, *I am fat, I am out of control, I have to lose weight NOW!* into a thoughtful and reflective connection to doing what it takes to heal first. Last night I was looking at some popular magazine that peeks in on celebrity life. It was talking about the drugs the stars use. It was all about addiction. I think that what we are doing here is the antidote. Nothing flashy, just day in and day out working to heal what drives us to have a problem. Some of you have written to me to ask if you need to be on step 7 to join YLD. Absolutely not. YLD provides intense support from day one of your program. Chats with people from around the world will give you an insider’s sense of the pulse of the community. They are funny, informative and extremely supportive. 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. ********************************************************* ***********
**David's Corner **
David manages the Radiant Recovery Store. He is also Kathleen’s oldest son. 
Please send questions and suggestions. I love hearing from you and truly want to help you do your program better. ********************************************************* ***********
**Our Online Groups**
We have been doing a lot of work to support your entering into or enhancing the way you exercise. We wanted to have a place for each of you. All of our movement groups presume that you are doing the steps of Radiant Recovery as outlined in Potatoes Not Prozac and The Sugar Addict's Total Recovery Program. Now you can add to your program in a really significant way. We formed a radiant body team and here are the groups now to make moving FUN! RadiantMovement is a list for people who want to start moving again. If you have a sedentary lifestyle or you find movement a challenge for any reason, this is the group for you. Maybe you remember how much fun it was to move when you were a child and you've lost that. You want to create those feelings again. The Movement list is the place to explore different movement options and find one that works for you. We start with very small goals and to baby step into regular movement. Come share your stories, be inspired to start anew and get moving. RadiantJoyinMotion is the middle ground between movement and fitness. If you are neither a beginner nor an experienced athlete, this is the place for you. Come share how doing the food and the movement we love leads us to reclaiming our bodies for our own joyful use. Whether you are already moving and loving it, or are moving but haven't unlocked your joy about it yet, come join in the fun and inspiration to joy in motion! The RadiantFitness list is for sugar-sensitive athletes seeking to enhance their recovery through healthy sports and exercise. If you are a racer (running, cycling, walking), weekend warrior or goddess, serious yogi, or if have had trouble in the past with exercise addiction (ie., a little too much joy in your motion LOL), this is the list for you. ********************************************************************
**Something is Happening** Kathleen DesMaisons, Ph.D. I am sure that many of you have figured out that Kathleen reads all sorts of interesting things besides brain stuff and nutrition and dogs. Last night I was reading a little book on what is called the implicit order. Basically, the author is building a scientific case for how all things are connected. Physicists and philosophers have been doing this for many years. The mathematicians work things out in math, then the scientists build things that test them. I studied philosophy in college many years ago. Some of what I was reading were ancient Indian Vedic texts about how the world fits together. It is amazing to live in a time when science is now actually touching/feeling those very same things. Well they don't really touch it, because these little tiny little particles are very, very tiny. This field is called quantum physics - the land of tiny, tiny things. Here is a wonderful quote: The remarkable fact emerging from this sea of quantum mystery is that particles and atoms are not individual beasts. They are sociable entities, and under conditions they are so thoroughly "entangled" with each other that they are not just here or there, but in all pertinent places at the same time.Now you are probably wondering whatever can that mean (smile)…so I thought I would offer my own little interpretation. I like to think that it means that we are all connected. What happens to me affects you and what happens to you affects me. So, let's say 15 radiant women in the UK have lunch. They are goofy and laughing. They are experiencing the "recognition" that comes when a group of us get together. Now according to quantum physics, that was not just an isolated lunch that those silly girls across the sea did…. It was our lunch. Their healing, their fun is ours as well.
This is sort of what happens when we do chat. We laugh and laugh and I feel connected. Sometimes we do roll call…South Dakota, Florida, New Mexico, Australia, New Jersey, San Francisco, Toronto, Orcas Island, Northern Maine and there we all are just talking with one another. So chat feels like little beads lighting up all over the hairnet. Something is happening this spring. I can feel it. There is a lightness, a depth of connection to healing, clearing out, priorities and values are shifting. We have all different kinds of people here…people we would never know in our own circles. People who live in flats in London, people who live in Western Australia, in tiny houses in southern Florida, in mansions in California, in duplexes in Virginia, in row houses in Scotland. We have men and women, people of color, gay and lesbians, old people, young people, fundamentalists, pagans, traditionalists, atheists, monks, nuns, wild women, fat people, skinny people, gorgeous people, plain people…and we are all here drawn together by this fierce desire to heal. In the book it says the little quanta are highly sociable: once they are in the same state, they remain linked no matter how far they travel from each other. I say once you reach Step 7, you are never the same. Your cells will always remember. Your cells will hear their twins' voice even if you go mess around and think you are forgetting. Lunch in London affects us all. Ranch in Albuquerque sends a big bump of light through your hair net. And if you thought it was hard to explain the program to your family and friends, think about trying to explain that your hairnet is pulsing with light. Heh heh. ©Kathleen DesMaisons 2007. 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. ©2007 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 Patti Holden, Step 7 |
