 Hi {!firstname_fix} I hired a college student to take the dogs out. Pepper, the fleet, runs for 30 minutes. The student comes back flushed and panting, Pepper comes back smiling and wagging her tail. Who knew about my little triathlete! My decluttering process has moved to another level. Now I am inside file cabinets, down to material from 10 years ago. I have thrown out 2 huge barrels full of papers. It is making space for what is coming. I am gather up writings that have been stashed in different places for a while. And the *space* being cleared will allow me to put it together for all of us. It is actually very exciting. July has always been a time for clearing for me. This particular July feels like more than clearing the clear, maybe clearing 15 years or so. It feels like I am setting the time of my maturity to be free for putting it all together. Hard to explain yet, because the new is not quite here yet. We are having fun with summer classes. Feels as you all have a little more space to reflect. These classes will begin Wednesday, July 2, 2008. Please click on the name of the class you wish to join and it will take you to the registration page: Brain Chemistry: Beta Endorphin (2 weeks) is one of our most popular classes. It will teach you the core of the science behind the program. This is the outline for a critical part of sugar sensitivity, why you act the way you do and what you can do to change it. I love this class and so do all the people who have taken it. Somehow BE rocks! Back to Basics 1 (1 week) 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. These classes will begin Wednesday, July 9, 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 (1 week) 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. YLD Weight Loss Readiness (2 weeks) is the new 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. > We only do this once a quarter. So if you are ready for renewal, hop on board. ***Ok, and I have made a 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 30, 2008 ** Quote From Kathleen **
The more that you are able to just observe and note your food and feelings, the easier it will be for you to make changes in them. *********************************************************************
** Testimonial for the Week**
Having just listened to the Ranch CD - Kathleen had some great things to say about journaling. Step 2 is about learning to do something you've never done before. We addicts like to be a master of everything all the time. We start out not knowing at all how to do it, and over time, with practice, we learn the skills. If you've ever taken a foreign language, you know you start out having no clue what those words mean (take Latin for instance) but you start learning simple nouns/vocab. Not exciting, but you learn it. You repeat those first words over and over and over until they finally mean something. Gradually you add a verb here or there and soon you are making very simple sentences. From what Kathleen said, I'm getting that this is what beginning to journal is like. We don't have to know what everything means, we just have to do it. I find myself looking at the front of the My Body Speaks journal for lists of feelings and see if those fit what I'm feeling. I'm trying really hard not to stress because right now I can't do anything but just keep learning the basic words. With time, I'm hoping to add more complex words in. I'm hoping all this will begin to mean something someday, but I've just got to trust that those who know more than me will help me figure things out. Good luck and blessings to you! Susan ********************************************************************
**Radiant Ambassadors** I've just discovered "Google Alerts". You input a search category such as *sugar addiction* and Google checks everything that is posted on a daily basis with sugar addiction in it. I've already been sent several stories that are in the current press about sugar addiction and a handful of blogs too. I've also set up a search for *Potatoes not Prozac*. You can access the site at Google.com/Alerts. If anyone wants to set up a search for Radiant Recovery feel free - or anything else you can think of! I'm going to go have a look at the news items and blogs that I've been sent today. It looks like a good way to stay on top of what's happening out there! Selena Come join us if you are excited about spreading the news. ********************************************************************
**Radiant Kitchen**
I am a bit of a throw it together kinda cook, so this is a collaboration for an actual recipe. :) Here are the ingredients for replicating traditional New England style baked beans.
And from Kathleen: Here is what I did. I put 2 cans of pinto beans (salt free) in the crock pot. I sauteed the bacon and one half of a vadalia onion in some olive oil. I mixed the apple butter into the beans and added the mustard. I probably used 1 tbs. I added the bacon and onion to the beans when they were not quite crisp. I cooked it for about 4 hours in the crock pot. And it was incredibly good.
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**Your Last Diet: More Than What You Think**
YLDonline is a membership program run directly by Kathleen DesMaisons herself. As you can see from the class schedule, I will be doing the Weight Loss Readiness Class shortly. This is a perfect time to get started with a fabulous weight loss program. This is the ideal introduction to get you out of diet head and into something that genuinely works. 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. Casey wrote this on the forum and I asked her if we could post it here. I think she has totally got what works! David 
 I have horrible allergies. I have an allergy for every season. Mold is my worst. I've found that taking the correct amount of fish oil has made this soooo much better. I barely struggle any more. My symptoms only showed up when I realized I hadn't been taking my afternoon fish oil for several days. Hmmmm! I usually suffer while cottonwood is flying and this year it didn't phase me. I know that some of this is the food as well! Now, on to pycnogenol. I just feel different. My skin is amazing. I didn't break out this month when I started my cycle. (Miracle!) I sprained my wrist and had a deep bruise (down to the bone) but my skin itself barely discolored. I normally bruise horribly and easily. NOT anymore! I heal quickly as well. My Asthma has improved and I have a lot more energy! My body is starting to look like it did pre baby. (Meaning, my workouts are more efficient in less time. My body responds better to resistence.) If you are wondering about taking either of these, I would highly recommend it. I used to take tons of supplements. But now I only take my multi (which has the C and B and Zinc I need), Fish Oil and Pycnogenol. Saves me lots of money and I feel great. This program is a blessing. I love the steadiness of doing the food. Is anyone else taking Pycnogenol? What have you noticed about it? Casey kclivi5@verizon.net Please send questions and suggestions. I love hearing from you and truly want to help you do your program better. ********************************************************* ***********
**Our Online Groups**
On Radiant BigOnes, we've been chatting about the movie 'Kung Fu Panda'. You see, radiance is everywhere, even in a 'silly' movie about a panda with a big belly who loves martial arts. The movie inspired me and changed the way I think of myself as a fat person. It reminded me that we have all the power we need inside of us, that all we need do is allow ourselves to believe that we can be the heroes of our own stories. A 'BigOne' is a person who is 100 or more pounds overweight. The list is unique in that we don't just focus on program challenges -- although getting enough grams of protein at a meal can certainly be a challenge! We share information and support for issues that non-BigOnes may not even realize are a part of day-to-day life for many of us. You'll love the interaction on this list; everyone is so supportive, and we learn so much from each other. We have people on the list who are in various stages of the 7 Steps, so if you're a BigOne, you'll fit right in! Join us on Radiant BigOnes, and help us change the fat story one post at a time. ********************************************************************
**Take Some Time With Your Program**
Kathleen DesMaisons, Ph.D. Let your program settle in some. Now, think about where you are in the process. Have you been rigorous, detailed and persistent? Have you dallied, played or poked with the steps? Are you weighing yourself all the time? Are you being attentive to how you feel? Have you kept a journal? As you go through this process, notice how you criticize or judge yourself. Do you ascribe "good" to rigor and "bad" to dabbling? Listen to your inner judge carefully and discover if she or he is an ally or a saboteur. Work with the inner voices. They are crucial to your long-term success. This process may not work the way you might expect. Sometimes diligence is less useful than dalliance. For many, many years you have demanded that you be self-disciplined. You have pushed yourself and felt guilty when you couldn't do what you demanded of yourself. Perhaps there is a different way of doing this work. Perhaps we can change your relationship to your body and your way of making change. When I first started doing my own plan, I thought that "getting" the program meant doing it fully, being diligent, following the instructions and not "poking around." I still held the belief that being disciplined and focused were the only ways to go. Now, I am not so sure that these are the criteria for succeeding with the program. Now, I am convinced that something else is operating, something a little more subtle and unexpected. I believe that showing up and being in relationship to your body will help you more than being tough on yourself. Let me outline how I got to thinking this way. I used to lead a ten-week guided imagery series called Finding Healing From Within. Each week, we would do a guided meditation. After the meditation, the participants would draw what they experienced and the group would share their feelings. Sometimes a group member would sleep through every single meditation and "make up" a drawing because they had no memory of anything in the meditation. This made me really uncomfortable. Was I failing these people? Were they failing the group? Were they in denial? How could they sleep through my wonderful imagery? At the end of ten weeks, we reviewed the progress of everyone in the group. How had they changed? How did they feel? Surprisingly, time and time again, the "sleepers" would have as remarkable a change as the "doers." Not once, not twice, but every single time. Ten weeks of sleeping through and they would report a profound sense of inner healing. They didn't "work it." They slept through the meditations on a conscious level. But they were there. They showed up and they drew the pictures and they talked about their process. This experience taught me something. The act of showing up creates change. It creates powerful change even if on the outside it may not seem so. Making a commitment to healing starts a process - a chain of events that is much deeper than we may think. When you say, "I will get better," when you begin to hold the idea of "Whatever it takes" something starts to shift. Given this, I looked again at the effect dalliance and diligence might have on the 7 steps of healing sugar sensitivity. I started looking at my own process of doing the steps. What was happening when I was playing around? Could those times be like the sleeping times in my guided imagery class? Could change be happening in spite of what seemed to be inattention? I looked in my journal. I discovered something astounding. When I was there attending to the steps, listening to my body, writing in my journal, even if I wasn't doing it perfectly, change was happening. I was making progress even when I was being kinda sloppy. Think of the sleepers. The sleepers were there in the room with the group. Every week. They woke up, colored with the group, and talked about sleeping. So when I showed up and kept the journal and wrote about sleeping through my food plan, I was still engaged with my body and working the steps. I was talking with myself about what was happening. I was not criticizing myself for food sleeping, I was simply watching. And I kept coming back to the journal. I kept coming back to my body and my healing. The nature of the sugar sensitive person is to give up when things get difficult. Like the C57 mice, you crouch in the corner and think you can't stick to your plan. Your biochemistry supports learned helplessness. You feel inadequate, overwhelmed and unable to follow through the way you hoped. A thousand failed diets from the past reinforced these feelings. As soon as you "sleep", you say "Yah, see you did it again!" So you run away from the program, run away from yourself. This time it will be different, because knowing your are sugar sensitive lets you finally, finally understand the nature of who you are. Knowing you are sugar sensitive lets you shift the perspective from worrying about a thousand "failed" diets to being open to a solution. Think of that. You are tenacious. You keep going, you search and continue. You may be impulsive and impatient, but you can be and are committed to finding a solution. This program helps you use your tenacity in a new way. Because you now finally understand why other diets haven't worked, you can start to make choices. You can change the voices that say, "I know this won't really work" into "hmmmm, let's sort this out." "Why am I bored?" "Why don't I like the journal?" "Why do I sabotage my efforts?" These questions become a part of our healing. They are not the old tapes of inadequacy. They may be the same questions, but they are asked from a different perspective. Say to yourself, "I will do whatever it takes to heal this. I will give it time, money, energy, whatever it takes. Taking care of my food will be at the TOP of my list. Not after my job, or after my family or maybe when I get to it. But every day." You have made these affirmations a thousand times. But generally, you make them in your head. You "think" about your affirmations. But mostly you do not actually put the affirmations into practice. What would it mean, really mean to "do whatever it takes?" ©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 |
