 Hi {!firstname_fix} I have been doing some decluttering. I use FreeCycle and just post the things I am wanting to let go of. And then someone says, 'yes, I would like it', they come and take it. It is way more fun than just taking things to Goodwill or the dump. And rather than trying to do everything in one day (my old pattern), I am just doing one side of one room at a time. But the clearing, like the program, adds up over time. I am amazed at how good it feels to *make space*. Less to take care of, less to think about....it sort of feels like what I am doing in my life. So I am adding 2 new classes this week. The step 7 journaling class is something fun we have been talking about for a while. What to do when you have mastered journaling basics. How to really enjoy the dialogue...And for me, what fun to have a group of us wanting to do it. The stop smoking class is for those who want to stop and also surprisingly for those who have and would like to learn more about what happened and why. These classes will begin Wednesday, June 18, 2008. Please click on the name of the class you wish to join and it will take you to the registration page:  Step 7: Journaling (2 weeks) is a new class designed for seniot people who want to go back and learn the nuances in your journal. This is about how to make it come alive, make it fun and an incredible tool for your journey. Stop Smoking (2 weeks), a way off cigarettes, is a brand new, first run class on stopping smoking. Come understand why this addiction is so difficult and what to do to make it work. This is material I have not presented in this way. I was excited to work with the biochemistry and put together something that will make sense for you.Using Radiant Resources (1 week) 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. These classes will begin Wednesday, June 25, 2008. Please click on the name of the class you wish to join and it will take you to the registration page: Learning About Depression (2 weeks) 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 4: More Intriguing Than You Think (1 week) 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. *** Ok, and I am making a little change in the class fees....if you are on disability or low income (your household income is less that $1000 a month), you make take classes for free. This is an honor system. If you qualify, simply make a note in the notes box and we will not charge you. 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 **********************************************************************
June 16, 2008 ** Quote From Kathleen **
As you learn to handle new situations, as you learn to recover from a slip, you will become smarter and savvier each time. *********************************************************************
** Testimonial for the Week**
Anyway, I'm Janice in Maryland and the short version is it took me 2 1/2 yrs from when I connected to the community and started doing breakfast correctly to detox. Then after 2 1/2 yrs of radiance, a detour for the better part of a year. Like you Donna, I didn't go any where close to pre RR madness. And life moved on and wasn't horrible and it took quite a while for things to deteriorate to the point of deciding to do "whatever it takes" to get back on track. It took 3 months to get breakfast steady (it surprised me that it took so long) and get from "whatever it takes except ____" to 'whatever it takes period.' It took another 3 months to get to a really good place with the journal and a real shift in my relationship with it. During that time I learned (or finally heard) that intermittent sugar use is hugely destabilizing, the bulb lit, I steadied my sugar use to meals and step 3 fell into place quickly and I detoxed without really noticing as I got ready to start step 4. All told about 7-8 months to steady radiance on a deeper level than the first time around. And that is the neatest thing. Everything is better and deeper and more meaningful this time around. The healing has moved all the way to my core and I feel finally like I am enough. And then some. (smile) So Donna, and Carmel, steady on, beginner's mind, connection. It's all good. Check out the step 2 list, it was invaluable to me in getting back on track and besides, it's a rockin' place to be. (grin) Hope this helps, Janice ********************************************************************
**Radiant Ambassadors** This week we have been talking about celebrity compassion. I'm sure any UK members here have come across the story of Fern Britton. She's a popular TV presenter who was kind of the "fat and happy" representive of bigger women in the UK. Then she began to lose weight, and was featured in lots of magazines and so on talking about how she lost it through healthy eating and exercise. But this week it came out that she actually had gastric banding in 2006. It's been quite a scandal. I bought a magazine today where she shared how she kept it secret because she was ashamed of not being able to control her eating and so on. And of course the truth is she was never okay with her weight like she said she was. Ah I remember that shame. So, a number of us have decided to write her with understanding about how hard this this. Perhaps it is a little antidote to the media scorching. Really, what this is about is telling our stories, and sharing from our understanding of these issue. Come join the ambassadors list if you would like her email to learn more. Selena Come join us if you are excited about spreading the news. ********************************************************************
**Radiant Kitchen**
And just for the record, choc. almond milk with George Jr. mixed in freezes very nicely into popsicles. Emily That's great to know Emily. For the ice-cream we used 1 1/2 cups of heavy cream and 3/4 cup of the unsweetened choc. almond milk and then 3/4 cup with regular chocolate almond milk. You mix it all together and then put it in the ice-cream maker. Depending on where your kids are in the program you can either make it this way or make it with all of the regular. I think next time I am going to try and put George's Jr. in with it and see how it goes. Janie VANILLA ICE-CREAM 1 ripe banana 2 cups heavy cream 2 tsps non-alcohol vanilla extract (the one from the RR store) In a blender, put the ripe banana, add 1 cup heavy cream and blend until banana is mixed in. Add the other cup of heavy cream and vanilla extract and very briefly blend. Pour the entire mixture into an ice cream maker. When ready eat and enjoy (smile). Naomi
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**Radiant Recovery Store **
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**
Most of us underestimate the importance of breakfast and try to do all the steps in the first week. When that doesn't work, we begin again. We concentrate on Step 1, breakfast, and find our lives begin to change. The RadiantBreakfast list is a great place to learn the nuances of breakfast, build a strong foundation for the rest of the steps, and find how helpful it is to share our journey with others. It is great for new people and those who have been on the program a long time. Sharing helps everyone. The awesome thing is we all, Step 1 or Step 7, eat breakfast every single day. How cool is that? We'd love it for you to Sign up: We love new members! ********************************************************************
**Bridging for Athletes**
Ann Margaret McKillop The concept behind “Bridging” was explained to me by Kathleen DesMaisons. I have taken that concept, synthesized it with some of the work of Scott Sonnon, and theorized further based on the experiences of others in the community, as well as my own experiences. You might say it took a village to write this article LOL! If you are a sugar-sensitive athlete looking to continue your endurance training while maintaining your food program and all that it entails, “bridging” just may be the answer you have been looking for. Bridging is a method of planning training that enables you to make wise choices while keeping your food program and beta endorphin levels steady. Why should sugar-sensitive athletes worry about their beta endorphin levels? Simply put, huge amounts of exercise release huge amounts of beta endorphin. For endurance athletes, this means a beta endophin crash 3-4 days after a BE spike, cravings, and a cycle of spikes and crashes. Not only will this adversely affect your training, but it will, more importantly, sabotage your food program. Heather Butler was the first member of the Radiant Recovery Community to discover that beta endorphin crashes could be different for athletes, particularly endurance athletes. As the first member of our community to run a marathon sugars free, Heather realized that she was experiencing beta endorphin crashes three days after hard training sessions (the spiking event), rather than the four days reported by all other members of the community for emotional or other physical spikes. Considering that athletes train every day, this news meant that sugar-sensitive athletes could expect an unending cycle of spikes and crashes. This would, of course, make it impossible to maintain or find a steady state and would really put a crimp in one’s training program. Kathleen told me when I was training for my first cross-country ski marathon (sugars free!) that baths and candles and all of the soft BE raisers we incorporate into our programs would not touch the BE spikes that I was creating during my running and skiing sessions. Rather, she said that I would need to deal with those spikes through the training itself, using a concept she called “bridging.” Essentially bridging is a series of gradually decreasing BE-evoking training sessions that bridge down from the spiking event to the expected crash/low BE day. For instance, say that my hardest day of a training cycle is a ten mile run, which might evoke a BE spike of 8 on a scale of 1-10, 10 being the highest. The day after the hard session, I should plan for a session that would evoke a 6-7, the next day a 5-6 and a 4-5 on the crash day, thus allowing the body to glide down to the lower BE day rather than plummet. Ah, but how to put this concept into practice? Using Heather as my sounding board, I created a training cycle that incorporated bridging. Since my hardest sessions were hardest because of their duration and distance, I decided that I would need to vary my bridging sessions based on duration, distance, intensity, and load, all concepts familiar to athletes. Thus, I might follow a ten mile run with a shorter run at a faster pace. This might be followed by a long slow ski. And finally I might incorporate a weight training session. Unfortunately, I discovered that while I was in shape to run ten miles, I was not in shape to follow up with a shorter intense run, as my body was too used to the hard day, easy day cycle that most athletes use. This did not mean that I needed to abandon my plan; rather, I needed to decrease my hardest day until my body could catch up to my new schedule. After my ski marathon, I bridged very nicely, so much so that I did not even feel as if I had done the ski! But I also discovered a concept that I will call “layering,” which incorporates soft BE’s with exercise. For instance, the Big Ski probably evoked a 10+. Besides the physical stress, I was over-the-top thrilled to have completed the event, I had a ball with my friends and I saw some of the most incredible scenery Vermont has to offer. Aha! Next morning, I was unsure that I would be able to evoke a high enough amount of BE through skiing, and I certainly was in no shape to run. So I layered my BEs: I skied for 1 ½ hours; I skied as the sun was rising ahhhhh; I skied alone in complete solitude oooooooo; I skied on a magnificently beautiful lake surrounded by gorgeous evergreen trees heavily laden with snow weeeeee. So the BEs I was not able to evoke through the exercise alone I was able so create through circumstance and environment. I discovered something else while doing my final preparations for the Big Ski. Unlike most coaches who taper their athletes’ training down to almost nothing the day before a big event, Scott Sonnon posits another theory; that the fourth day before the event should be the lightest day. This theory I put into action for the ski. The result? Never before have I had such fresh legs before an endurance event. I believe that it was both this method of tapering and the bridging that allowed me to race so well and recovery so quickly. But you will notice that four days again. Something tells me that by combining both Kathleen’s and Scott’s philosophies (although Scott’s was not devised for BE issues), I actually bridged up to the event and bridged down after it. I have been playing with this idea for a few weeks now and will report back after I have more training time using it. My theory is that bridging up decreases the impact of the spikes in the same way that bridging down decreases the impact of the crashes. ©Kathleen DesMaisons 2008. Here are the folks who are helping put the newsletter together: Gretel, our webmaster, puts it all together 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 |
