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** Quote From Kathleen ** Resting when you are tired may seem like an outrageous idea, but learning to take care of your body is the focus of your path of recovery. **********************************************************************
** Testimonial of the Week ** Last weekend I went to see my family in Pittsburgh. I have had a troubled relationship with my family for most of my life. On this trip, I felt like I made a breakthrough! I wanted to share it here, because RR has a lot to do with this progress in my life. The last time that I visited my parents, I decided that, at 44 years old, I was not going to stay in their house any more. I finally saw that we all needed that extra space. So this time I stayed in a hotel. That was a real relief! I got to get away from them for a while each day, and get myself grounded and re-centered. In conjunction with not staying at their house anymore, I also got a rental car and that gave me even more freedom to leave when I needed to -- that was so very helpful! My friends had previously told me not to stay at their house, but I hadn't had the courage to do it before. Now I am so glad that I did! I have been doing the food for 4 1/2 years, and I finally got the courage to take this step, LOL... I know it may seem trivial to many of you, but it was a Big Deal for me. The occasion was my parents' 50th wedding anniversary. My parents had asked for no gifts, but months before (maybe over a year before?!?!) I had asked for suggestions on what to do for them, and some very dear people in this community had made a few suggestions. I made a slideshow of pictures that friends and family sent me, and I made a scrapbook of sentiments that they sent me. Neither was really big or fancy or intricate, but they were gifts from the heart. Now, neither of these things are projects that I am particularly inclined to do on my own, I had to stretch a bit in order to do them. After a few weeks of gathering things, it took me the whole weekend prior to the party to actually put them together. Among a long list of tasks, I had to buy scrapbooking supplies -- brand new territory for me! -- and I had to download a program to make the slideshow. But because I have been doing the food, I was able to stretch myself outside of my comfort zone and do what needed to be done. There wasn't a lot of drama about it, I just kept doing the next thing, asking for help when I got stuck. And while I was making these gifts, something just beautiful happened. I got to see my parents in a new light, one that was loving and forgiving. I was finally able to let the past go. I had such an overwhelming feeling of love for them, and for the first time it wasn't tempered by resentment, frustration, regret, or anger. And so throughout the trip I was relaxed. I was able to be funny and loving and present to the moment and to them. They loved the scrapbook and slideshow. The party was wonderful. Nothing was 'perfect', but nothing needed to be 'perfect'. I flubbed the toast -- I stood up, said some words, and sat back down without actually toasting them! But then I just stood up, said, "hey, I forgot to toast them because I don't drink anymore, but here's to Mom and Dad..." It really was perfectly OK just the way that it was. And absolutely NONE of this would have happened had I not been doing the food all this time. Then last night, just before we left, I was gathering food for the plane trip the next day, and my mom (referring to Radiant Recovery) said "Oh Elaine, I wish we had known about this when you were a teenager! Things would have been so different!" Yeah, it's true, it would have been different, but that's not really important, because things are different NOW, and that's what counts. I am so grateful for what RR has done for me! Elaine in CO **********************************************************************
** Radiant Ambassadors ** Kat received a lovely comment about her recent sugar sensitivity article in a local newspaper. How amazing is that? And the beauty of the internet is that the article will be available for all to see for as long as the newspaper chooses to keep it visible. If you want to come along and join in the fun you will be more than welcome :) Selena Come join us if you are excited about spreading the news. **********************************************************************
** Radiant Kitchen ** Scottish Oatcakes
Preheat oven to 190 C /375 F/gas mark 5 and lightly oil two baking sheets. Mix dry ingredients. Melt butter (or oil). Gradually add enough boiling water to make a soft but not sticky dough. Turn out onto lightly-floured surface and knead until dough is firm enough to roll out. You can cut shapes or cut into squares. Bake in the oven for 10-15 mins until golden brown. You can add 3-4 oz (100g) of pecans or try cheese, peanut butter...... I'm sure you can think of other variations.
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** Your Last Diet - More Than What You Think ** I know you have heard me speak of chats a number of times. But chat this week brought something home in a very powerful way. You will read what came out of it in my article. But the power of having all of us actually craft the direction of the program is pretty amazing. This is like doing a focus group magnified by one hundred. YOUR ideas and your reflections are actually shaping how I think. I have always been a *listener*...that is how the whole idea of sugar sensitivity started in the very beginning. But having these vibrant, funny, thoughtful conversations with people doing the program is just mind-boggling to me. In some ways YLD is a misnomer...yes, we do that weight loss part and we do it very well. But something else happens. I think of chats as the heartbeat of the community. And I would love to have you come and join us. Come be on the cutting edge of what we are thinking. Come shape the program with us. And at the very least, come and be totally nutty, forget your being tired, and laugh and laugh with people who so get what sugar-sensitive life is like. If you are not a YLD member, come and join us. Click here if you are ready to change your life or just have some plain ol' fun! **********************************************************************
** Radiant Recovery® Store ** David manages the Radiant Recovery® Store. He is also Kathleen's oldest son.  There has been a LOT of press recently about problems with salmonella contamination of peanut butter. This is an ideal time to stock up on almond butter alternatives. You may not have realized that we now carry little packs of Justin's Almond Butter. Each one is the equivalent protein to a hard boiled egg. You can put the packs in your car, your backpack or in your kids lunch. We have both plain and with honey. And the honey ones are great for your kids - especially ones who get cranky after school. A snack on the bus, or in the car or waiting for practice to start makes a huge difference. I am giving them to the girls on my volleyball team. Try them and you will love them! Also, we are in the process of remodeling the store. If you come visit, make sure to refresh your browser so you see the updated pages. It is not all done yet, but we are going through page by page. And you can get to see the famous shake that Kathleen was trying to get the drop shadow on. Please send questions and suggestions. I love hearing from you and truly want to help you do your program better. **********************************************************************
** Our Online Groups ** The Radiantdepression group is all about support for the person who is depressed and trying to work Kathleen's 7-step program of recovery from sugar addiction. Many of us have struggled with severe depression for years without any hope of finding an end to it. But through doing the food we have found that hope returning and have found light where before there was only darkness. Some of us are taking anti-depressants while doing the food, so we talk about how the two are compatible and we also share about getting through the tough spots together, with support from each other. If you are feeling depressed please come join us. There is hope. **********************************************************************
** The Art of Nano Breakfast ** Kathleen DesMaisons, Ph.D.
A few weeks ago, I wrote an article about *stacking*. It introduced the idea that small things can add up to build or derail your program. This week in chat we talked some more about this idea. We started with the idea of small things building your program - the idea of *baby steps.* We have many baby steps for breakfast. We break step 3 down into many baby steps as well. We have seen that this concept really, really helps. I have been uneasy with parts of this though. Using the words *baby steps* has felt a little strange to me. My sense is that this terminology doesn't really work for guys. And somehow the term *baby* evokes a return to not knowing. I wanted to find a word that conveys the idea of a small task. Maybe micro, nano or tiny. The word nano jumped out at me, partly because I am a techie at heart, partly because I love science and partly because I love the feel of it in my brain. At chat, I introduced the idea of little nano units in each step. We imagined them as nano bricks that you can use to build a foundation. There are many nano bricks for each step. You can choose one at a time. You can gather an armful. You can choose to lay them in a path, make a pattern, build a wall, create some steps. You can gather them before you start. You can rearrange the pattern as you go. You can see that your own style will guide you. Each tiny choice adds to your vision of what you want from your program. At chat we started a list of nano bricks for breakfast. Here is a sample (you can find the rest in the YLD chat): I ate within 60 minutes. I ate within 45 minutes. I ate within 30 minutes. I ate right away. I had some protein. I had some dense protein. I stacked different proteins. I had the right amount of protein for my body. I tried shake. I found the right liquid for my shake. I tried putting banana in my shake. We got pretty excited with our collaborative list. Last night, I came up with 250 nanos for breakfast. Get some 3 x 5 cards (yes! an opportunity to go to the office-supply store). Start writing out your step one nanos. See how many you can come up with. See how many you have mastered. Put a gold star on the nano card of things that are set for you. Your nanos can include things like adding hot cereal to breakfast, or a small problem that needs fixing like your blender doesn't work. Your breakfast nanos can include tiny choices, problems solved, circumstances mastered, barriers solved. Be creative and see what you discover. This makes me smile. As you start this, you will begin to see that doing all seven steps at once is not such a great idea. We are going to gather your ideas, we are going to put this all together to honor the skill, the willingness and commitment each of you has. Here are the folks who are helping put the newsletter together:
Gretel, our webmaster, puts it all together. David runs the Radiant Recovery® Store. Selena provides the weekly Ambassadors column. The banner photograph is by Patti Holden. ©2008 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, use this attribution: "By Kathleen DesMaisons, Ph.D. of Radiant Recovery®", and notify kathleen@radiantrecovery.com of the location. Please visit the Radiant Recovery® website at http://www.radiantrecovery.com for additional resources on sugar sensitivity and healing addiction. 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. |
