Hi {!firstname_fix}

Yesterday, I went to a ceramics studio with some radiant friends. This is a place that has greenware (it actually looks white) that you paint on. Then they glaze it and put it in the kiln. We laughed and laughed. I went into an altered state while I was painting my plate. I LOVED making my plate. I will go back on Tuesday to see how it comes out.

Today, I had lunch with Colette and Janie and TL in Boulder. My, but the food is always yummy when program people get together. Garlic lime chicken. Cole slaw. Roasted sweet potatoes. Regular life and lots of laughter.

And yes, even though I am up here in CO playing, we will be doing classes. These classes will begin this week of August 13, 2007. Please click on the name of the class you wish to join and it will take you to the registration page:

Brain Chemistry: Serotonin is the other of our most popular classes. It helps you make sense of why the potato works, why you have a problem in the winter and how Post Traumatic Stress Disorder can play into this. If you munch in your mind, if you are depressed or edgy or feel sad, this is the class for you.

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.

Step 4: More 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.

Step 6: Getting Ready for Detox is a class for those of you getting ready to detox. It is about what you need to do to make it a painless and fun process.

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.

These classes will begin the week of August, 20, 2007. 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 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.

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.

YLD Weight Loss Readiness is the 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.

The class schedule is on line. Click here to see what is planned. Please do not sign up for classes that are not yet scheduled.

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 and you do not have to be at your computer at any set time. It does not matter whether you are in the US, Europe, the Far East or Australia, you simply respond on your own time. And although I advertise that the classes are one or two weeks, sometimes we are a little flexible and they may run longer.

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

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August 13, 2007
** Quote From Kathleen **


You may be surprised to discover that food has a bigger emotional charge for you than you realized.

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** Testimonial for the Week**

Connie, Step 7


Sunday I had the house to myself because the daughters went to the beach. When Cathy (the older one) came by to pick up Margie, she found us in the middle of a hilarious discussion. Margie was doing her comic routine and mimicing again.

This time she was mimicing what happens when her friends come over after school and look in the fridge for something to eat. Inside are either whole-foods ingredients like kale and unflavored yogurt, or strange-looking leftovers (my spinach-and-pumpkin quiche). She says they say, "oh I'm not that hungry" and then close the door. So then they roam to the pantry and what is there are things like canned salmon, turmeric and two-year-old coconut milk from some experiment I planned. So the friend gets this sad look on her face and leaves the kitchen.

So then Cathy comes in and said she dropped by the other day to raid the fridge and hm, that pumpkin pie looks good - but why does it have green in it!!! eeew!!

They laughed their heads off. But then we talked about how different it is to do homemade whole foods as opposed to having convenience food around all the time.

And then we did some problem-solving so Margie could feel like a better hostess. We came up with nuts, fruit, HFS chips and salsa, good PB&J, good sandwiches. Margie asked how she could recognize "healthy" alternatives of things to have so we talked just a little about labels. This is a big deal because she hates with a passion when I read labels too much while shopping.

Too funny.

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**Radiant Kitchen**

By Naomi Muller, Step 7, author of Nutritious and Delicious Cookbook.


With the hot weather, I love to make cold salads. This is one of my favorites from the Radiant Recovery Cookbook.

CURRIED CHICKEN SALAD
  • 3 c. cooked chicken, cubed
  • 3 hard-boiled eggs, chopped
  • 1 1/2 c. sugar-free mayonnaise
  • 1 Tbsp. curry powder or to taste
  • 1/2 tsp. garlic powder
  • 1/2 c. fresh orange segments
  • 1/2 c. sliced scallions
  • 1/2 c. sliced black olives
  • 1/2 c. chopped cilantro
  • 1/2 c. chopped pecans or almonds
  • 1/4 tsp. salt or to taste
  • 1/4 tsp. black pepper or to taste
Combine all ingredients. Serve immediately or refrigerate up to 3 days. Good over mixed greens as main course salad or as sandwich filling. For vegetarian version, substitute baked tofu (cubed) or tempeh for the chicken. Makes 4 servings.

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**Your Last Diet: More Than What You Think**

YLDonline is a membership program run directly by Kathleen DesMaisons herself.


We have been having some wonderful conversations on the YLD list talking about how to make your journals FUN! I love how our chat topics move to the list and then to articles. I am working on the article now.

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.
 


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**Radiant Recovery Store **

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



Many people have asked me about Omega 3 fatty acids and the value of taking fish oil. I asked Kathleen to write something for all of you. Click here to read her suggestions. And, of course, we carry great fish oil options.

Epa capsules are a concentrated, odor free, certified heavy metal option for adults. They allow you to get more concentrated EPA without extra Vitamiin A.

We have DHA for those of you who are pregnant or nursing. DHA is the fatty acid that is used to make your baby's brain. It is very important in the first three years of life.

We also have DHA Jr. for children. It has a higher percentage of DHA and comes in very easy to swallow (or chew) little perls.

And we also carry a very tasty cod liver oil (yes, it IS tasty!) for those of you would like to just put it in your shake or who need a larger dosage. Kathleen gives this to her dogs as well and they have NO skin problems. CLO is a great alternative for those of you who are in perimenopause and may be dealing with heavy bleeding. (sorry for a guy to speaking of a delicate subject). Ask Kathleen for more information on that one.


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

 
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**Our Online Groups**


One of our very specialized groups is RadiantDiabetes where we talk about the different aspects of managing diabetes while following the guidelines of the RR program. As you might imagine, it is a little more difficult to keep our BS levels in a good range than it is for people who don't have diabetes. We do this with humor and lots of sharing. If you have diabetes, pre-diabetes, or someone you love has them and you would like to get more information, as well as support and encouragement, please come join us.

Or come to the group page to see all our groups. http://www.radiantrecovery.com/list_serves.htm


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**Learning Boundaries**
Kathleen DesMaisons, Ph.D.


This article will be on the topic of sexual boundaries. This is something that comes with recovery. I don't always share many of our step 7 topics here but my sense is that many of you might feel the subject helps you where you are right now.

A while ago, I was having a conversation with a member of our community about something I had named ”oozy” boundaries. I asked her if I might share some of what started this discussion.

Looking back at my pattern of relationships I've always jumped right from one relationship to another to another... always had something going, especially with people who are actually unavailable.

Last week I caught myself starting to feel super attracted to someone, in ways that I recognized used to spike me big-time (& I can see that, thanks to The Food). Only this time it really spooked me. It caught me off guard & I felt like I needed to take a hard look at the pattern, in the context of my recovery. I don't want to keep trying for relationships that lead to spikes & crashes, and I don't want to keep hooking up (or trying to) with people who are unavailable. I'm thinking that I used to use this new-relationship behavior to get high (and the crashes could be spectacularly awful). There doesn't even have to be any actual sexual behavior going on, just a remote possibility that it could happen.

Anyway I'm having trouble sorting out just how to work on this but I feel like it's something I need to look at if I'm to be really rigorous about that ol' amoeba. I appreciate your reflecting with me about it.
This pattern sounds very familiar. I think it may be more a part of sugar sensitivity than many of us have realized. I think because we often think of sexual stuff as so taboo that we shy from talking about it. We think that our own personal process is a function of our inadequacy rather than a part of our recovery.

I can only share with you what I did in my own healing.

One day, I simply said I wasn't going to do it any more. I *held* my sexual energy in. I did not flirt, I did not play sexual energy games. And, to be perfectly honest, this boundary is what created the energy that took me through graduate school and got me writing. In retrospect, I see that the sexual energy is our core energy. I realize now that squandering it on *play* was pretty silly. It was part of my addiction amoeba. Flirting with *danger,* pushing the edge, creating a rush. All those things are part of seeking a biochemical rush.

So here is the funny part. You started energetically making the commitment to be alone, to be healthy and not be in an unhealthy relationship. Your psyche immediately started *casting*. This is sort of like making a commitment to do the program and craving chocolate the next day.

I think you are onto something in asking these questions. It does not have to be that you are screwed up and that you are once again doing old patterns. You don't need to do a big therapy gig. It is sort of like doing the food. You simply do it. You stick with the commitment.

What does that mean? Just what it means with the food...you don't flirt with overts, you don't flirt with coverts, you read labels and if they contain danger, you set it down.

You can make it really complicated if you want. You can thrash and whine and create drama. You can do what you have always done, or you can do what you have done with the food. You said you wanted to heal and you did what you knew it would take to do that. You trusted those of us who have gone before you and said “I want what you have”.

Sexual energy is one way we express our life, our power, our flow. But there are many ways as well as sexual. My hunch is that you are feeling the streaming. You have always in the past read it as sexual charge. I am not so sure. This may not be about another person, so much as what is happening in you. Your spirit is waking up. Your energy is streaming. And because in the past you have read this as “sexual”, it may seem like that now. I think it is bigger than that.

I totally trust that your recovery is guiding you. You are asking great questions and looking at these issues with a great deal of integrity. I think it is time for you to trust it as well.



©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