Hi {!firstname_fix}

The leaves have turned from bright gold to sort of a dull rusty sort of yellow. Cottonwood leaves are tenacious. They stay late, hold on. It's been full moon, so the nights have been bright, but very, very dark in the morning. I love this time of year. I love the resting, settling in. It is like my heart, my soul. Going in for winter.

My neighbors are song writers. I am helping them with some administrative work for their radio show. This week, I was at their office, copying CDs. Each run took about 7 minutes so I would wait. No wifi, no dogs, no phone. Just the quiet. I often do not have that. It really affected me that quiet. Just sitting and being peaceful. I like that too. It is like November.

I was touched that so many of you wrote me last week. Some of you wondered about the connection between what I wrote and recovery. I will revisit this a bit in a future newsletter. I want you to hear what happens with the quiet, when deep feelings have a chance to sit and grow more. Thank you all for your wilingness to speak your hearts regardless of what your political views might be.


This class will begin Wednesday, November 19, 2008. Please click on the name of the class you wish to join and it will take you to the registration page:

Using Radiant Resources (1 week) is our fun free guided tour of the community. If you are new or returning, get on the top deck of the double decker and hear everything.

Resource Center Tour (1 week) 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.

There will be no classes scheduled for the week beginning Wednesday, November 26, 2008.


If you are on disability or low income (your household income is less that $1000 a month), you may take classes for free if you get certified. I have put the guidelines for certification on the class schedule page.


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 17, 2008
** Quote From Kathleen **


Doing the food creates a steady bowl to hold your life experience. As it fills, the connection deepens inside and outside.

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** Testimonial for the Week**


Holly,

I was feeling the same way about visiting some friends I hadn't seen in twenty pounds. Part of me even considered waiting until I'd lost ten pounds before making the trip. Then I realized that I could wait forever before that happened, and after all, would I think any less of them if they'd gained some weight? They wanted to see me, not inspect me. So I went anyway.

Now what is really, really interesting to me is the Radiant magic. I have visited my health-conscious mother-in-law, and she simply didn't see the excess weight. She tried to give me her clothes to take home! My visit with my friends went wonderfully. They treated me like a rock star, telling me how wonderful I looked and how glad they were to see me.

I had a recent experience with the outspoken mother of a friend of mine who used to make teasing remarks about my body. (She is very, very thin.) I went to see her in the convalescent hospital, and my program has been going really well lately, and she kept going on and on about how wonderful I look. She even had me stand up so she could look at me. What's interesting about this is that my clothes were a little snug from an episode of Seasonal Affective Disorder triggering some cravings a couple of weeks back, and I hadn't released the excess yet. She simply didn't see the weight.

So of course you're going to feel a little self-conscious about the visit, but I have a funny feeling that these people will be really glad to see you, and not looking to find fault. (I'm assuming that these are nice people and you like them, right?) Once you're actually in the situation you'll have a good time and realize that your weigh was a non-issue.

I hope this helps,

Lora K.

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**Radiant Ambassadors**


Did anyone see the recent Ministry of Food programmes by Jamie Oliver? I think he is an amazing guy who is passionate about food and its effect on health. The premise of the programmes were to get an entire town in the UK cooking and eating good food by passing on the recipes and know-how to friends and family who would in turn pass it on to their families and so on.

In a way, this is how a lot of people discover Radiant Recovery. Several people on the Ambassadors and Brits lists have volunteered to write to Jamie Oliver about RR. We will tell him how doing the food has made a difference in our lives and that we too are passing it on from person to person.

I’ll let you know if we get any responses!

Come join us if you are excited about spreading the news.

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**Radiant Kitchen**


Carrot Ginger Soup

Ingredients:

  • 1 TBS olive oil
  • 1 Lb. (about 7 medium) carrots, peeled and cut into 1" chunks
  • 1 1/2 cups onion, cut into 1/2" diced
  • 3 cloves of garlic, minced
  • 4 cups of vegetable or chicken stock
  • 2 cups milk (cow, oat or soy)
  • 1/2 tsp. Salt or to taste
  • 1/4 tsp. pepper
  • 1 1/2 TBS grated fresh gingerroot
  • 1 tsp. Ground ginger powder
  • Sour cream for garnish (optional)


Directions:

  1. Heat oil in a large saucepot over medium high heat. Add carrots, onions and garlic and saute until vegetables are fragrant and translucent, about 3-4 minutes.
  2. Add stock, milk, salt, pepper and ground powdered ginger. Bring soup to boil, reduce heat and let simmer for 20 minutes.
  3. Add grated gingerroot. Turn off heat and cover pot. Let steep for 5 minutes.
  4. . Puree soup in batches in a blender, carefully avoiding burning spills.
  5. .Serve hot or cold, garnished with sour cream if desired.
Serves 4


Radiant Recovery
Cookbook

Naomi's Nutritious and
Delicious Cookbook
Sheila's
Kitchen Recipes


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**Radiant Recovery Store **

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



It's a great time of year to try out new recipes. We carry some really fun cookbooks in the store.

Our Radiant Recovery cookbook is the cookbook Kathleen put together. This has fabulous information for getting started in the program. It is simple to use and must for every program kitchen.
Naomi's cookbook is a wonderful resource for those of you who would like both kosher and really yummy options. Naomi is the queen of translating recipes into program friendly choices.
Sheila's Kitchen Recipes is full of wonderful recipes for weight loss. They are high in potassium, low in sodium and delicious. And many are great fall choices.


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**


Hi again Jenny. Yesterday I finally joined the intro to cooking list and it is really fun. It is designed for total beginners but wow, the informatioin Jaki is putting out there is incredible. I have been cooking for years, but I am loving reading that list.

I actually belong to all three kitchen lists and find all kinds of fun support and great ideas on all three of them:

Introduction to Cooking
Radiant Recipes
Radiant Food on a Budget

I have them set on special notices because I don't need any more lists delivered to my inbox. Then I just read on them as I have time or questions. I love the recipe list because if I want to make something but can't find a program friendly recipe, I can ask on recipes and someone has an idea for me....usually several folks respond.

Maybe one or all of these lists will help you find some enthusiasm.

Carol K

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


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**Structure as Antidote**
Kathleen DesMaisons, Ph.D.


Many people come to Radiant Recovery saying they are already doing most of the steps and just need to add a potato. I often suggest they get a copy of the talk I did at ranch in 2007 about what else is embedded in the steps. That discussion goes through each step and outlines the biochemical changes encoded in each step. But there is another key issue – one I haven’t really talked about. Structure antidotes blind lurching.

When we are in active addiction, it is as if we lose our center and we stop being grounded. We lurch from one thing to another. Maybe from diet to diet, job to job, person to person, place to place or interest to interest. We have 6 knitting and crafts projects going on. We present ourselves as creative and curious, liking to try new things. We collect little things like offices supplies or pens in case we need them. We lurch and resist being pinned down.

We might say that structure ties us down, thwarts our creativity. Structure seems dull and old fashioned. It seems routine and boring and who would want to do that. Nowhere in our brain have we thought of our behavior as lurching. We never really thought that a little of this and a little of that might be saying something about our sugar addiction.

Why is it that we dream big and stay small? Why is it that those sparks of insight and knowing sputter and fade rather than bursting into our passionate flame?

My hunch is that we have avoided the gift of structure. We haven’t considered that structure, doing things in an intentional order might actually shape us. And it might change the lurching to intention. If you do this, you will get this result.

Now think about that. For so many years, we have worked how to forget the consequence of our actions. We forget that if we eat sugar, or skip meals we get cranky and unpleasant. We forget that we lose direction and we lurch. We forget a lot.

So when we have structure, we stop lurching and we do not lose direction. Even early on in the program, when we are still forgetting because of our biochemistry, the structure itself guides us. The steps, those funny steps, lead us into intention. They guide us with if you do this, you will change. If you do these steps, you will have a life you cannot imagine. Everything will shift. And it will shift in ways beyond anything you have considered.

Now, many of you may feel that this is simply talk. It is not. We now have enough people who are doing the steps for a long enough time that it is really, really clear that there is a developmental pattern that emerges very predictably over time. The promises we make happen.

The steps are bigger than the food. Don’t think of changing them. Do them, do them and get the miracle.



©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 Geraint Smith