********************************************************************** ** Quote From Kathleen ** There is life after addiction, and it is a very good life indeed. ********************************************************************** ** Testimonial of the Week ** I haven't connected with this list for a while - in terms of sharing my progress. So I just wanted to say hello and give an update. :-) Although I have only been doing this program for about 9 1/2 weeks now and I am just tightening up step 2 before moving on to step 3, I have felt some significant progress lately. Between starting an anti-depressant and starting the program, things are looking up! I am beginning to feel back to my old self! :-) And I'm sure by the time I make it through the steps, I will be feeling even better than my old self! This week I had an appointment with my chiropractor (who emphasizes in nutrition) and he announced a significant progress in my health (without knowing about SARP and the medication). He even asked me if I had lost some weight (and I haven't). But then he wanted to start talking about a plan for weight loss. I explained this program to him and told him that I wasn't focusing on weight loss, I was just taking the steps slow and steady and I would eventually lose the weight. He was very impressed that I wasn't trying to accomplish the weight loss so fast like most people do. I am grateful to this program for helping me shift my focus away from the weight loss! This experience confirmed to me that, as we start experiencing little bits of radiance, our countenance changes to the point where people wonder if we have lost weight because we are starting to "radiate", not because we really had lost any weight! I had heard someone talking about this in a post, but didn't realize that I might even experience it 2 1/2 months into the program! Also, a friend of mine who I hadn't seen in a few weeks and who knows I had been struggling, told me yesterday that there was more sparkle in my eyes, that they didn't look so "flat". Wow! Although I was realizing a slow change, it helped me to hear those confirmations from other people, that, yes, I am on the "up and up"! I am seeing how those glimpses of radiance can be felt as we go throughout the steps - and I love it! I can't wait for what is to come! Thanks to you all for your help and encouragement! Now I just need to get myself ready to start step 3! Amy ********************************************************************** ** Radiant Ambassadors ** A couple of weeks ago I was chatting to a blogger on Twitter who was interested in learning more about how I conquered my sugar cravings. After a couple of brief emails, I sent her my story! Such was the impact that she asked if she could use my story on her website (grin). Click here to read the resulting story. If you want to come on over and see what we're up to this week, do feel free, you will be more than welcome! Selena Come join us if you are excited about spreading the news. ********************************************************************** ** Radiant Kitchen ** This week, I want to share what Janie did to alter a hamentashen recipe that was posted some weeks ago. This is what these recipes are all about, make them your own (smile). Here are Janie's comments: "Hi all, I tried making the cookies that Naomi posted in the newsletter and they turned out great. I used slightly different ingredients. Grace can't have wheat so I substituted the wheat. Grace loved them and also incredibly my extremely picky 16 year old did too. Grace has an easter party at her school this Wednesday and all the kids are having cookies and juice so now Grace will have her sugar free cookie and bubbly water. I now have another weapon in my sugar free arsenal, LOLOL! Thanks Naomi!" Janie Janie's Hamentashen Recipe
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease cookie sheets or use parchment paper (I used parchment) Place all ingredients in a large mixer bowl and beat together. Roll into a ball and refrigerate until firm, covering completely in plastic wrap. Divide into four parts. On a well-floured board, roll out each portion to about 1/8 inch thick. Using a round cookie cutter, cut out circles (I used 2 inch cutter). Place 1/2 tsp of apple butter on each circle. To shape into a triangle, lift up the right and left sides and have them meet in the center above the filling. Bring the top flap down to the center to meet the two sides. Pinch edges together. Bake for 20 minutes at 350 degrees. Makes about 6 1/2 dozen cookies For more great program-friendly recipes, check out these great cookbooks in the store.
********************************************************************** ** Your Last Diet - More Than What You Think ** And I am not sure why, but the chats seem to be amazing these days. What are you guys doing, anyway? I cannot believe your level of thoughtfulness, openness and wonder. You know I love chats! 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.  Many of us love tuna. And it is a staple in our diet. I have been reading about mercury tuna. Don't be eating tuna sushi. And if you weigh 150 pounds, you should only have regular white albacore tuna no more than once every ten days. And children and pregnant women shouldn't have regular tuna. But...we have this wonderful, wonderful tuna which has negligible mercury levels. I just bought 5000 cans of it. I think it is one of the best products of the market. Not only is it safe, it is delicious. I have a lot of people on subscription for tuna (smile). And BTW, we now have a subscription data base. This means I can give you even better service. You all are getting so creative that it has been getting harder to keep track of all the little variations in your orders. Mom got the data base expert over to talk. I explained all the gadzillion variables and she never batted an eyelash. She started building it and it's wonderful. Please send questions and suggestions. I love hearing from you and truly want to help you do your program better. ********************************************************************** ** Our Online Groups ** The Radiant Step One 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 have had a lot of people join us this week. Do plan on coming over to the breakfast list to talk with others about what you are learning. **********************************************************************
**The Secret of Self-Esteem ** Kathleen DesMaisons, Ph.D. Optimism and self-confidence result from our body chemistry, not our mental attitude. Sometimes we are ready to take on the world. Other times the bag lady sits at our feet clucking her disapproval of our lives. Enduring and consistent confidence is a thousand times better than those few moments stolen on the back of a sugar high. I have been fascinated with the beta-endorphin story for years. As you may recall from Potatoes Not Prozac, beta-endorphin is the brain chemical that enables us to tolerate pain. So when I first learned that sugar evokes beta-endorphin, it made perfect sense to me. Sugar as a pain-killer seemed to resonate with what my body already knew. But I hadn't thought of sugar as an emotional pain-killer. Reading that first scientific article about sugar reducing "isolation distress" knocked my socks off. When baby mice were given sugar, they didn't cry as much when they were taken away from their mothers. This wasn't about physical pain, this was a whole different story. I wanted to piece it together. We know that children of alcoholics have naturally lower levels of beta-endorphin. What does this mean in real life? Beta-endorphin cuts pain. Therefore, lower levels of beta-endorphin mean we feel pain more deeply. We may be more distressed by going to the dentist. We may hurt more if we get banged up in a backyard game of football. We may cry more at the movies. Because we naturally have less of the brain chemical that protects us from pain, we are naturally more 'sensitive.' Because we are more sensitive, we feel more deeply. I suspect that lower levels of beta-endorphin make us more aware, more tuned in to the subtlety of what we are experiencing, and perhaps more vulnerable emotionally. Beta-endorphin also affects self-esteem. Confidence, optimism, a sense of connection, and a sense of elation all come with high levels of beta-endorphin. The euphoria of the 'runner's high' is very real. That sense of being on top of the world is a byproduct of the beta-endorphin flood. By the same token, low beta-endorphin can have a profoundly negative effect on our feelings. Self-esteem eludes us--even though it seems we should feel terrific, we don't. We are successful, we have enough money, we have love and support in our lives -- but inside we are convinced it all will soon disappear and we will end up as a bag lady. We feel disconnected from those around us. Even though our mind tells us that we have a loving partner, an attentive husband, devoted children, caring parents, or loving friends, we still feel isolated and alone. Sometimes we shake our heads in disbelief. 'How can this be?' we ask. It makes no sense. What is even stranger is that we don't feel this way all of the time. Sometimes we are ready to take on the world. Other times the bag lady sits at our feet clucking her disapproval of our lives. Having our confidence and self-esteem be so elusive, so unpredictable can be crazy-making. It makes no sense until we begin to see our life through the filter of beta-endorphin. When we have naturally low levels of beta-endorphin, our brains try to compensate by increasing the number of beta-endorphin receptors in order to catch as much beta-endorphin as possible. If something (like drugs, alcohol, or a large helping of sugary food) causes a big hit of beta-endorphin (also called a spike), the extra receptor sites will grab it and cause us to have a 'WOW!' reaction, a 'rush.' Let's focus on the sugar effect. We start out with low beta-endorphin, we eat sugar, our beta-endorphin spikes, and we feel really good. We are confident, hopeful, and excited about our lives. We banish the bag lady with a flash of the hand and pronounce our enthusiasm for life and its demands. We feel great! For a little while. But then, in the middle of a conversation, at a board meeting, or on a date, our sense of possibility slips away. Doom descends and we are back to square one. The flood of beta-endorphin has receded and we are left with all those extra receptors sitting empty, forlorn -- and craving for more. So how do we handle this situation? Can we raise our beta-endorphin levels by doing healthy things instead of using sugar and drugs? And what's wrong with that 'rush?' If our beta-endorphin is low, don't we want to do things that get us more? Here's the key: We don't want the rush, because when it recedes we end up feeling terrible. Instead we want a steady stream of beta-endorphin, which keeps us in a steady state of optimism, higher self-esteem, confidence, and connectedness. We want to enhance the natural production of beta-endorphin without the dramatic up and downs that have been a big part of our lives. In some ways, this may be hard to get used to. We may not want to give up the rush that sugar evokes. To use my own words from early recovery, life without the rush may seem 'boring.' It was almost as if I was willing to endure the pain of the down side in order to have the thrill of the up side. This, in a nutshell, is the seduction of addiction. We forget the down side and only remember those few moments of glory. We will seek forever and endure anything to return to the state of WOW! Trust me on this one, though. Many years later, my body, my mind, and my heart all know that a steady state of clarity and self-esteem is so much better than the illusion I carried around so long. Enduring and consistent confidence is a thousand times better than those few moments stolen on the back of a sugar high. I didn't know this until I did the food plan -- and kept doing it over time. But I do now, and there is nothing better in the world than living from this place. 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. ©2009 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. |
