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** Quote From Kathleen ** When your food is steady, your life is steady, when your food is wobbly, your life is wobbly. **********************************************************************
** Testimonial of the Week ** Kath is responding here to a parent who asked about what to do with the fact that her family just wants *white* stuff. I can hear that you love to cook, It sounds as if your family are accepting of the program-friendly food you make for meals. Is that right? But when you make program alterations to baked products, your children do not get the same BE lift that they have become accustomed to getting from the highly-skilled version that you make with white flours and sugar to give to other people. That is certainly understandable! The BE hit from patisserie and other fancy products is significant, and wholemeal baking sometimes feels a poor country cousin by comparison with the refined city cooking. I found that it was not possible to make acceptable alterations to items I had previously baked and my family had grown to love. The fact was that they were quite different, the substitutions were not OK, the texture and mouthfeel, the flavour and everything about it including the appearance were not the same. There was no competition, and that was before we consider that their bodies 'knew' what eating those confections was like, and wholemeal, lower fat, lower sugar alternatives simply did not give the same BE hit (which of course is a significant part of why we made the changes, but it is unsatisfactory to the senses anticipating "that" treat, and just does not seem acceptable). I am gently smiling. *You Are* a good Mom, and a fantastic cook. Sugar is not love. Baking does not achieve being a good Mom! Of course a taste of the confections that are made with refined ingredients will give their bodies a big BE hit and their upregulated cells will shrill for more. What worked for us was to stop making the things which would sabotage my own healing, and that of my kids. I made things that were entirely different from what I had made previously. I consciously moved our food from the city-based, refined approach of smooth textures, delicate flavours, to the country, the rustic, the fresh and robust, the chunky and flavoursome. I made wholemeal bread: plain to slice, but also with grains I had soaked, or nuts and seeds. I made it in the breadmaker, or I mixed and rose the dough, then shaped it into buns and little loaved, plaits with surprises tucked into the folds (little pieces of cheese, olives, herbs, meaty bits, all sorts worked well, often with a pizza-style theme). These we called "pull apart" bread, and they were very popular both as a Saturday lunch after the morning baking them together. And later during the week, the individual buns with surprises made a wonderful simple-to-pack lunch or snack. The more I added, the less the bread felt like it was a poor copy of what my kids called "shop bread". For things that need a square, smooth-sliced bread with a tiny close texture, we still buy the commercial wholemeal bread, but I consider the shop version a poor relation to my own baking now. I would not make white bread at home because there is no nutritional advantage. It was about then that I discovered pizzas, and quiches in very different ways than I had ever seen them before. Pizza had been a bready base, with a few flavouring ingredients, and cheese melted on top. It was white, fatty, salty, refined, and did not satisfy. The pizzas that my children and their friends fell in love with have a wholemeal base rolled thin, and an abundance of nutrition-packed, flavourful ingredients. They have lots of fun in the making too! My quiches were smooth, subtle. The crusts and custard pale, and delicately- flavoured with a few other ingredients. Now the eggs do the holding together still, but many ingredients might be added to the basic structural glue. It might not seem fit for a fine dining restaurant, but it feeds my family much better, and with a lot less stress on my part. I made chunky-cheese wholemeal scones with rough tops, pieces of the coarsely grated cheese visible in the baked scone. Split apart while hot, and each half topped with a slice of fresh tomato and freshly ground black pepper, it is delicious, and a wonderful way to welcome hungry kids home from school. I often cut up a platter of fresh vegetables, and put a hummus dip in the centre. Finger-sized sticks of carrot, celery, red and green pepper, and wholemeal crackers made good things to eat the dip with. (I can buy some wholemeal rice crackers made by Sakata, and some wholemeal wheat-based ones made by Vitawheat, but I don't know if those brands are available outside Australia.) Children who came after school to play thought we had made a party for them. They don't get to see and eat vegetables much except after they are cooked. Desserts became less and less important as the main dish became more nutritious, sastisfying our needs more completely. Sometimes the main meal might be light on browns, having mainly meat and vegetables, and on those days I might make a brown rice pudding or simply creamed rice. Peach and pear slices, which I have preserved in water, served dusted with a little nutmeg and a dollop of fresh whipped cream (no flavouring needed) make for a light dessert at the end of a special meal sometimes, but it is rare. More often there will be cut slices of fresh fruit...putting cut pieces of several different fruits together in the centre of the table makes each fruit seem more appealing than any one on their own. Our tastes have changed as we have done the food for longer. We eat a lot less bread and flour-based products now that we have enough protein. There is not the same need to fill up on something else. The key for me was to be clear in my own mind about what was important (nutrition, adequate protein, browns, on time, often enough to meet the needs and avoid blood sugar crashes) and unambivalent about what would achieve those required outcomes. My creativity used to gain me accolades. And I liked that acclaim. I made cakes, biscuits, confectionary, I raised a LOT of money on church and school cake stalls by baking. I decorated cakes and made very lifelike miniature fruits from marzipan. People put in orders for the things I made. But those things did not serve our healing. I have had to grieve that little death and open myself up to different ways of achieving the same core goals. I want my children to know I love them, and in the past, cooking for their enjoyment has been one of the ways I have said I love you. Food is not love, but good food is nurturing, and there is nothing wrong with cooking for their enjoyment as long as I don't forget what it is not. (smile) Love is love, and spending time with each other and making healthy food together is a great way of sharing love, so I involve whomever is in the kitchen before I start cooking, in the choices of what we will have for meals, and in the preparation as much as their studies allow too. I want to feel that my creativity is not at odds with the healthy worldview that I espouse, so I stopped making the things which were a contradiction. Now people know me for the wholemeal banana muffins which have no sugar except what comes from the bananas, they know my sauces and chutneys contain only the plums or tomatoes, onions, spices and vinegar, but not the sugar, colouring, and flavourings of commercial varieties. The longer we do the food, and the more stable we become, the more glad I am for the clear, clean ways that our food serves us now instead of being the code for our emotions. Now food is food, the natural flavours do not need enhancement for pallates which do not get spiked by intermittent BE hits. I hope this helps, and wish you well Kath **********************************************************************
** Radiant Ambassadors ** Kath has had an article published in her member of Parliament's newsletter. I thought you might enjoy reading it as much as I did: A Happy and Healthy New Year Local resident Kath Moller is a nutritionist specialising in Sugar Sensitivity. With the New Year now well underway, she offers some tips for staying healthy in 2009. Wavering on your New Year's resolutions to change how you eat and exercise? You may not lack will power. Your body and brain may be sugar sensitive. If so, sweets hook you biochemically. Dieting and exercising don't help. For sugar sensitive people, less food and more exercise will not equal weight loss. Sugar is a drug. In sugar sensitive brains it acts like heroin or morphine. It seems comforting, but there is a physical attachment. "Just say No" doesn't work. There is an answer. If you gradually change what and when you eat, one step at a time, you can rewire your brain and stop cravings. - Start with a real breakfast. Have some protein and wholemeal carbohydrate every day as soon as you get up. - Then add a good lunch and dinner. Move your sweets to meals. - Switch to wholemeal carbohydrates. - After this groundwork, slowly reduce the sweets. - If you heal your brain first, then work on taking out the sugar, you'll do much better. This new information helps thousands of people. All Year around! Come join us if you are excited about spreading the news. **********************************************************************
** Radiant Kitchen ** BROCCOLI AND TOFU WITH PEANUT SAUCEIngredients:
Process:
Yield: 4 servings Note: You can cut preparation time by purchasing pre-baked, marinated tofu—just be sure to read labels and purchase a brand without sugar added. PEANUT SAUCEIngredients:
Process:
Yield: 4 servings Note: ½ tsp. crushed red pepper flakes on 1 finely minced serrano pepper can be substituted for the chili oil. Cook in step 1 along with the garlic. For more great program-friendly recipes, check out these great cookbooks in the store.
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** Your Last Diet - More Than What You Think ** I have been reading the chats of the last few weeks and laughing. I am thinking we should be publishing these things as a whole new support to doing and refining your program. The concepts are fun, but your input and reflections are mind-boggling to me. I simply cannot tell you how much I learn from your ideas. This is how we grow the community. Thank you! 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.
Please send questions and suggestions. I love hearing from you and truly want to help you do your program better. **********************************************************************
** Our Online Groups ** On our Radiant Fitness group we talk about how doing the food can support our fitness program and vice versa. Some favorite topics are what to eat when doing intensive exercise when all that's out there commercially are sugar filled products. We also talk about what to eat before and after morning workouts, and what to do for those folks whose training program requires a twice-a-day workout. We have runners walkers, bikers, dancers, aerobicizers, yogis, and many more types of exercise enthusiasts on the list. One of the neat things on the list is people who are recovering from exercise addiction who are learning how to work exercise back into their life in a healthy way. If any of this fits you, well, come on over and join in. **********************************************************************
** Reorganizing Your Life ** Kathleen DesMaisons, Ph.D.
We have been talking in chat and here about a number of ideas over the last few weeks. We have talked about making small steps, nano changes. And then these nanos accumulate and create transformation. As I have been reading the forum and the lists and talking with you all in classes, I realize that many, many people are experiencing huge changes in their lives. It feels like there is a lot of loosening, a lot of destabilization. These periods of destabilization mean that the life you had is no longer operating. It is more than just making some changes with your food. The way you used to live no longer works for you. And you are not quite to the reorganization where things fall into place and you know, you know how it should be. The in-between time is hard. It feels disorienting and maybe not so exciting. You intellectually have no doubt that you want to do the program, that you want radiance, but somehow you may not have been prepared for the in-between time. The key question is what to do while waiting for the new to form itself. Your addict self wants instant change, wants answers now. Your addict self finds it hard to be uncomfortable. You have a low tolerance for it. This is partly why you have turned to your *stuff* in the past. Recovery was supposed to be an improvement, yes? But things are improving. You have made huge change already. Just showing up, just learning how to wade through all that is here, how to post on yahoo, how to come to a chat, how to do a class, how to make a shake. And more than anything, that commitment you made started this process. The commitment said, *I want something different* and things started to shift. Remember you are CHOOSING this...you are choosing recovery. Stay focused on what it is you want. Remember the call of recovery is now informing your life. You upped the ante. And the in-between time is ok. You can wait a bit. Just be patient. Things will reform in a bit. You WANT this destabilization. It means that the old patterns are loosening up. Destabilization means that the way your brain was locked into a pattern to addiction is no longer operating. Destabilization offers the potential of something you cannot yet dream of. The waiting time is pure potential. If you hold onto the idea that this is a good thing, you can relax. You don't have to fight it. You can think of it simply as a developmental phase that you pass through. And from my perspective, it is very, very exciting. This is way bigger than any one of us individually. Something is happening. Something wonderful, something miraculous. You will see. Copy this little article and put it in your journal. And let's give it six months. 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. |
