 Hi {!firstname_fix} I am starting to plan out the agenda for Ranch in May. We have a number of brand new people so I will be providing an overview of the steps and then some intensive workship time for new people. I am also going to spend a fair amount of time talking about brain plasticity. The folks who took the new brain frontiers class were fascinated to learn about how your brain can heal. I have been learning a lot myself. I got introduced to the work of Len Ochs last fall and have pursued its relevance to sugar sensitivity. I did some work with Len and his wife with my own brain [you know I don't make suggestions unless it is something I have tried, LOL] and I was excited about it. And then I have taken my dog Ronan for a little work on his dog agression issue. Ronan was attacked by a big dog when he was a puppy. Since then he has been dog agressive. I haven't been happy with this because it means we can't go visit or go to dog parks and things. I took him to school for 18 months but he was still tense. I started the LENS work with him and am pretty excited about what is happening. Anyway, I invited Len and Cathy to come to ranch. We are talking about some collaboration. Usually they are presenting at high powered psychology biofeedback conferences all over the world. This is a little fun, time out for them. They get to meet you all, you get to learn some about what LENS can do for healing. My hunch is that doing the food and doing LENS can be a super combo. We don't know yet, and I have no promises, but I do know we are going to have fun. These classes will begin the week of March 12, 2008. Please click on the name of the class you wish to join and it will take you to the registration page:  New Science is a class to learn about new science affecting sugar sensitivity, sugar addiction and other issues affecting us. I was over looking at what is being published and got really excited. I thought you would love to hear some of the lab stuff that is happening. I figure if it excites me, it is going to excite you
Step 7: Radiant Life is for those of you who want to know what life on the other side of detox is and how it unfolds. We will be looking at some of the issues and excitements. Step 2 Journal: An Introduction will teach you the basics of journaling. The class will give you step by step instructions in how to record your food and feelings in a way that gets you excited. These classes will begin the week of March 17, 2008. 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. Back to Basics 2 is the continuation of the regroup and get back on track class that started this week. 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 **********************************************************************
March 10, 2008 ** Quote From Kathleen **
You will be thrilled and excited when you master the moods that have haunted you for so long. *********************************************************************
** Testimonial for the Week**
I started smoking at 16, and so by the time I was 27 or so, I had learned a lot about my addictions. I'd tried to quit many times, and when I eventually did, in 2005, I switched my addiction to sugar. I had always loved desserts, but of course, being on and off every diet under the sun, I would only eat them when I was "being bad" or in the middle of bingeing my way out of a diet. I had lost 35lbs with weightwatchers when I quit smoking, and I felt wonderful, til I couldn't keep up with those silly points any more and the weight stopped coming off. So I relaxed my food rules once more...and I started to binge...and then I started to see how I was using sugar just like I had used cigarettes, and it got a lot worse when I was stressed, like when I was studying for exams. I remember sitting there all day eating and eating and eating, and all white stuff, and chocolate. And then of course, I couldn't concentrate, nor learn anything, and I had a meltdown every night. I felt hopeless and stupid (altho I did pass the exams!!) So, come April 2006, I had had enough so I googled sugar addiction and found a random website set up by someone who was a sugar addict. Within her pages, she referenced Potatoes Not Prozac so I ordered a second hand copy from Amazon. I remember reading it and crying with relief, here was my story set out in all those pages, and I was so joyous I had found an answer. So i set about doing all the steps at once.....of course I didn't really know I was doing this til I looked back at my first journal a few months ago. That made me laugh! I also found the community forum, and my first post, like so many others' was "How many eggs????!!!!" I wonder how many newbies have written that!? Anyway, Kathleen answered my post, in her kind and gentle way, and told me not to worry about the eggs and to go get some protein powder, she even told me where to get it in the UK. I was totally floored that the author herself was available for questions, I knew this program was different. I had done low-carb, high protein weight training diets in the past, so I had used protein powders before, but never had I found one that wasn't full of other sorts of crap....I was excited that I could start having shakes again, I had always loved such an easy breakfast in the past, esp if I was off to the gym before work. So that was breakfast.......then I plodded on with the steps, and I asked lots of questions on the lists and went to YLD chat. I asked more questions and I did what I was told and by September 2006 I felt ready for detox. In hindsight, I think I could've worked on my step 3 some more, but I detoxed easily anyway, no mess, no fuss, no drama. It was remarkable. And since then, well, I've had my ups and downs, but I am now more able to spot what is wrong when I have a down period. And thankfully there are many more ups than there are downs! I live with a sugar-sensitive flatmate, and she reminds me so much of where I was, so I have a constant reminder of how far I've come. No more dark depression where I don't want to get out of bed, no more bingeing, no more hunting through the cupboards for something sweet to eat after dinner, I am totally in control of my food for the first time ever. Food is just fuel and life is wonderful. I feel happy, and contented and I now even have plans for my future, and dreams I want to make come true. And all because of breakfast! And so, for all of our new people, believe it can happen for you too. Our stories are not unique, you will notice it is the same story told by all of us who have walked this path a little longer than you. So keep on being persistent, start with breakfast, write in your journal, listen, ask questions, and even come and join YLD Eurochat, and your life will change too, all for the better. Lots of love Milly ********************************************************************
**Radiant Ambassadors** In last week’s newsletter I wrote about a new Ambassador’s project to increase the profile of Kathleen’s books. If each of us put a review of Potatoes not Prozac on Amazon it would show the general public and the publishers that we think the book and program are just fantastic! And we might get more people talking about Radiant Recovery too. Since last week the number of reviews have shot up from 18 to 24 in the US. And in the UK we have doubled the number of reviews from 3 to 6. Thanks to everyone who’s taken the time to contribute so far. We’re making headway, but it would be great if we could get some more reviews featured. And don’t forget Kathleen’s other books too - Sugar Addicts Total Recovery Plan, Your Last Diet and Sugar Addicts. So if you’ve been humming and harring about whether or not to put a review on Amazon, I’d say *go for it*. It’s so easy to do and it will make a difference. Selena Come join us if you are excited about spreading the news. ********************************************************************
My kids really love this dessert and ask for it often. BANANA COCONUT PUDDING
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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 discussions in the Introvert class about how knowing the agenda ahead of time really helps introverts feel comfortable. So I think I will start posting chat topics here each week. I will post the topic, we will do the chats and then we will talk more about the content on the YLD list. Last week's topic was about addiction to misery. This week's topic will be about techniques to help your brain heal. I will look for you at chat. And don't forget that Monday night chats are great question and answer consultations. Just a Note about Chat Timing: Daylight Savings Time has started in the US, but not elsewhere. So for the next 3 weeks, if you live outside the US, chat will be an hour earlier. 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. ********************************************************* ***********
**Radiant Recovery Store **
David manages the Radiant Recovery Store. He is also Kathleen's oldest son.
And of course, as always, if you want any special things added, we can do that as well. 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.) ********************************************************************
**Addiction to Misery**
Kathleen DesMaisons, Ph.D. I have often reflected on why some people stay stuck in being miserable. No matter what life presented them, they would pick out certain variables to show that once again life was against them. This pattern went beyond your basic garden negativity. It was more like “I will continue my attachment to misery no matter what. It doesn’t matter what good comes to me, I know it is not real.” This pattern defied logic to me. Why would perfectly thoughtful, intelligent people want to live this way? My first clue in sorting this out came when I noticed my own physical response. I withdrew energy, disengaged and did not want to hang with misery or the miserable. When I realized that nothing I did or said changed anything, I just backed off. One day, in the shower, I had an incredible thought. My body was responding to les miserables just the way it does around active alcoholics and addicts. If someone commits to change, asks for help, listens and moves, I am there in a flash. But stay stuck, go round and round, whine, stay miserable no matter what, I just don’t want to spend time on the boat with it. The more I have healed my own codependency the less I can do rescuing. As I was rinsing the shampoo, I thought, “what if we can be addicted to misery?” As soon as that thought passed through, I knew it was true. It would explain the tenacious holding on, the energy, the devotion to it. So then I trundled off to do some research on this. My books, google and PubMed all gave clues. Yep, misery evokes beta-endorphin. Misery evokes the same brain chemical activated by alcohol, heroin, morphine and sugar. When we are miserable, our brains release BE so we feel better. It soothes us until it wears off and then we have to go back for more. We become attached to it. We get romantic and intense about all the bad things that have happened to us. We do “woe is me!”. And…significantly, we become tolerant to it, just like with any drug. Then we need bigger misery. More, more. We amp up the feeling of less than, not good enough, poor, not smart enough, not rich enough, not educated enough. And if life does not cooperate by offering enough brutal events, we create them in our minds. We need to feel worse to feel ok. We create catastrophe in our minds, we exaggerate, we munch to create drama and perpetuate the BE feelings. The increasing tolerance creates immunity to the little negatives, so we need more misery. We then take neutral events and shape them into desperate drama. For example. Perhaps you live on little money. You feel bad because you are poor. And you have low BE because you are sugar sensitive. So you overdraft your account, you pay late, you skip your taxes. And your tolerance grows so things get worse and worse. And when you try to change this pattern, you actually go into withdrawal. So you need to find other misery to grow. You stay in a horrible job, an abusive marriage, a bad apartment. You go round and round and misery becomes your way to being in the world. When you first hear this, it may be confusing. You don’t feel you are seeking it; you aren’t looking for a "high”. But think of it another way. BE is a painkiller. When life is hard, your natural tendency is to look for ways to soothe the pain. You unconsciously turn to things that do that, and then you get hooked. You didn’t know. Just like you didn’t know sugar was a drug until you were way in. Les miserables is a hard one to face. You might feel shame at first and think, “oh dear gawd, not more!” But the joy of healing is that now you understand. Now you have a name for what you thought was just circumstance. Now you can make sense and take action. You start to laugh at yourself. You get amazed at the skill your little inside addict has…it can find ANYTHING and EVERYTHING to make you feel ok. It has a good heart, it is trying its best to have you not feel pain. It is just a little misguided and now, in your recovery, you will do something a little different. You will kiss it on its little black nose, and say “ah, nice try, baby, but we aren’t doing that anymore…..” You will see that you do not want a life of les miserables. You are ready for something different. You can go to school, you can find ways to work with little money, you can leave abusive relationships, you can find a life of joy. This is what recovery is about. When you do the food, you do way more than give up sugar. You are HEALING addiction on a cellular level. Healing is real and it is yours for the doing. ©Kathleen DesMaisons 2008. Here are the folks who are helping put the newsletter together: Gretel, our 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. ©2008 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 |
