Hi {!firstname_fix}

What a special week we have before us. I have always loved Thanksgiving. It will be quiet this year. I feel so gifted and blessed. I love November. I love the quieting. I hope you all have a very blessed day, and remember that this is really about being thankful for the Harvest.

A number of people have asked me about the seminars in New York City in January. Since the all day Saturday one has limited seating, if you are considering it, I urge you to go ahead and get signed up. We are always full, always. (smile)

This class will begin the week of November 21, 2007. 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.

These classes will begin the week of November 28, 2007. Please click on the name of the class you wish to join and it will take you to the registration page:

Handling the Holidays: Christmas is our annual discussion of how to transform eggnog and green tree sugar cookies. This will be about families and expectations and food is love and all those sorts of things that come up for many of us this time of year.

Step 2: Journaling: 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.

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.

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.

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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November 19, 2007
** Quote From Kathleen **


You are not striving for perfection. You are working for commitment and progress.

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** Testimonial for the Week**


I have been doing RR for a year now-- since sometime in October. :) I am such a sugar sensitive :). I was the creative one-- the high achieving English and writing person and the "sensitive" one in the family -- the one who could always cry at the drop of a hat. My father nicknamed me Gator Girl during the first week of my life because I dove for my bottle like a Gator. No one can tell me that sugar sensitivity is not something I was born with. :) I developed a binging problem as early as 5 years old. I dieted and exercised madly all through school and managed not to put on much weight until later when I went to college; then the real diet/binge roller coaster began. I'm 30 now, so I had 25 years of insanity before I found RR.

I came to the program with no energy, feeling almost crazy, depressed, eating gobs of sweets most days, emotionally unstable, feeling anxiety for the first time in my life, surrounded by a dirty house, lacking motivation for almost everything, and full of rage. I know now that I was really at the end of my rope. I was in the worst shape of my life physically, mentally, and emotionally. I jumped right into the steps after I found the website and read the books as I worked on step 1. I had tried EVERYTHING already: weight watchers, OA, abstinence from sugar, non-dieting, First Place, Atkins, low cal. You name it; I've done it.

In the process of working the steps and finding the program, my DD was being tested for autism and my husband was facing a job change and that meant and impending move for our family. I began to experience peace about all of that. I have no doubt that I found RR just in time; otherwise, I think I would have had an emotional breakdown over the stress and uncertainty. My then 3 year old daughter was diagnosed with autism last March; by that time, I was on step 3 and was coping pretty well. My weight stabilized after about a 10 pound gain. Now, I've lost that weight and then just a bit, but I am not at all concerned with the weight. I realized very quickly that I could feel good no matter my size; weight was not the issue. My imbalanced biochemistry was and is what I need to worry about. ;) I'm a big one, and NOTHING I had done previously ever made me feel good and/or kept my weight down.

I have to say that around the time I began the program, two other sugar sensitive friends of mine did, too. Sadly, they quit within weeks-- looking for fast weight loss. I have seen them keep going from diet to diet and scheme to scheme in the last year-- anything but taking it slow and doing the steps. My heart goes out to them; one of them is very overweight and has just kept gaining on her diets. I remember that quite well! I did it too for years no matter what I tried. So, I pray for my friends and for the other sugar sensitives out there that they will find this program and if they have, that they will come to it ready to embrace it, rather than looking for quick weight loss.

In September we moved from Vancouver, Canada to Mississippi; that's quite a move. I was on step 4, and I wobbled but I never lost the three meals I was doing or the detox I'd done from coffee :). So, a few weeks ago, I tightened everything up, moving back to step 1. I'm again on step 3 and am enjoying it... almost ready to move to step 4. I have felt sane for the first time this past year. I have also felt happy to be alive again since I don't know when.

I feel, for the first time in years, that my life has great possibilities. I am dreaming new dreams about every aspect of my life; I realize that age 30 has been the best age of my life so far, and that's thanks to this program. For now, I'm sitting quietly with those dreams and making some baby steps toward achieving them, gently. I want to thank Kathleen and all of you for making this possible with your support. I am working on doing the best program and life I can.

Lisa G

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**Radiant Kitchen**

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


This is from my cookbook:

PECAN TOPPED YAMS

  • 4 medium Jewel or Garnet yams
  • 2 Tbsp. light tasting olive oil
  • 1/4 cup orange juice, optional
  • 1 cup chopped pecans
  • 1 Tbsp. alcohol-free maple extract
  • 1 Tbsp. orange or apple juice concentrate
  • 2 tsp. cinnamon
  • pinch of sea salt
Preheat oven to 400°F. Bake yams for about one hour, or until soft. The skins should peel off easily when they are still warm. Mash yams well and mix with oil and juice. Place yams in a 8” square glass baking dish. Spread evenly and flatten the top. Toss pecans with maple extract, juice concentrate, cinnamon and a pinch of salt. Spread evenly over the top of the yams. Bake until pecans are toasted and the yams are hot and bubbly (start checking after 10 minutes).

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

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


I will be adding some special holiday chats for YLD members. I think it will be nice to check in on both Thanksgiving and Christmas. So those of you who are alone can connect with a *family* of supportive program people. We will also be sharing how to hold the program during the holidays. It does not have to be the time of everything falling apart.

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.



I still have some of my oatie cheese cakes. Opps, I mean cheesy oatcakes. Buy one, get one free. Get a bunch, put them in the containers and take them with you whereever you go.
And if you are traveling, put your kit together.
Restore
Blender Bottle
All One Vitamins


I know that Kathleen put hers in baggies and then stuffed it in the blender bottle. When the plane was late, it saved her bacon. She called and told me.

Or, if you are traveling, have me send your kit to your destination. Call me today and I will send it ASAP.

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**


Come join us on the Recovery List. We are going to be looking at a whole new set of things - how to get sober, how to stay sober, how to enhance your sobriety and how to move the promises to a new level. I am going to be working with the group directly and I think it will be really fun. This actually will be the start of the exploration of some ideas for the new book on alcohol recovery.

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


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**Feature Article**

PLANNING AHEAD

Kathleen DesMaisons, Ph.D.


Here is a post made by Camille a number of years ago. I want you to read it again and then I am going to talk a bit about this.

Last week I went to a five-day conference. And I have just been dreading it for months, partly because I don't like to travel or be away from home, and mostly because I kept telling myself my food plan would go straight to h*ll and it would take weeks if not months to get back on track. (The last time I went to a conference I just freaked and PnP went right out the window.)

But a day or two before the conference I thought, okay. You certainly aren't going to be able to stick to your plan perfectly. Can you do ANYTHING? Is there ANY step you can commit to and keep up while you're there? (Whoa--starting to get beyond "all or nothing" thinking!)

So I thought--okay. I can keep my journal. No matter what I eat or when or what I'm feeling, I can write it down. And then I thought--okay. I can take my vitamins, and I can have Triscuits three hours after dinner. So there were three things I could do, so that even though I wouldn't be working on Steps 3/4 the way I would at home, at least it wasn't all going to fall apart.

While I was at the grocery store getting the Triscuits, I "just happened" to look through the health food section and noticed that, for the first time in months, they had oat milk without added sugar. And I knew right then that I could ALSO commit to breakfast with protein every morning within an hour of waking up. Breakfast (George's Shake with oat milk and my hand blender), Journal, Triscuits 3 hours after dinner--I could keep up Steps 1, 2 and 4 no matter what. It felt easy.

And I DID IT !! And in fact, I did more. I kept to Step 3--I didn't eat between meals even when there was FABULOUS 5:00 buffet with shrimp cocktail and all kinds of tempting stuff (I was the only one, I think, of 150 people, who just drank mineral water ), and I ate as close as possible to my usual times, making sure that I had a nuts-and-Triscuit snack if I knew I'd have to eat late.

And I exercised! There was a fabulous health club in the hotel and I walked on the treadmill for half an hour every morning. Can't believe it! I'm just so proud! And the thing is, I KNOW that if I had started out bound and determined that I was going to keep doing all the steps perfectly and being at a conference wasn't going to make any difference ... I wouldn't have been able to do it. But starting with baby steps and committing to those, made it possible for me to do a lot more than I'd planned, or even dreamed possible!

I feel as if I've reached a new level in the program, and that my commitment (and "self-discipline"--whatever that is ) is much deeper and stronger than I'd thought. And I know now, even better than before, the value of Little Steps for Little Feet! Just wanted to share!

One of the really key issues of planning ahead is to do it (smile)....especially starting this week. Where will you be on what days. Get your calendar out. Look at every day. Think about every meal. What are you doing each day? Who will you be with? What will your timing be? Will you be traveling? What do you need to take care of? Where will you wake up the day after you travel? What will you have for breakfast?

Make a chart, do a list, and come over to the forum and share.

And have a wonderful week.



©Kathleen DesMaisons 2007.

Here are the folks who are helping put the newsletter together:

Gretel, the liaison for the radiantdog 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