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** Quote From Kathleen ** You don't have to work through your self-esteem and take care of feelings your whole life. You just do the food and the feelings will take care of themselves. **********************************************************************
** Testimonial of the Week ** Truly was a miracle for me, the breakfast step! I began last summer very sick and clung to the hope that RR would help me physically. I was already journaling in detail and added the RR components. I struggled to be able physically to get out the blender, put all the ingredients beside it, remember what order to put them in, and make the shake without a big mess. Between the stroke affecting both the coordination and memory, I did have some times which were funny later - though perhaps not to my caregiver who cleaned up. I was determined to make one meal a day. Now I can do lunch as well. I stayed on step 1 'til after Christmas, went on step 2 a month even though I was already doing it for months, and spent more time on 3 than all other together 'til I got to 6. Now I am staying on it 6 months even though I detoxed from sugar years ago. I am using it to cut off caffeine, aspartame, and any other substance that's needed. I want to fly into the radiance of step 7 drug free! Yesterday I watered plants in the back yard, then swam. Total time for 2 activities: one hour. And no one had to watch me! Sue **********************************************************************
** Radiant Ambassadors ** I have set up several Google Alerts which tell me when different phrases appear on Google such as "sugar addict" or "sugar cravings". While going through them the other day I came across this report by someone in the community: http://www.experienceproject.com/stories/Am-A-Sugar-Addict/639627 It got me thinking. I remember that crazy feeling of scrabbling around going from diet to diet and doctor to doctor trying to find out what was wrong with me. I can't believe the solution was as simple as just doing the food! So what if we all started to share our stories in the way that we felt most comfortable? I'm going to add a report on the Experience Project like Yvonne did. But it doesn't have to be that grand, a few words here or there will be just as helpful to someone who is struggling. And come share about it on the ambassadors list - we love to talk! Selena Come join us if you are excited about spreading the news. **********************************************************************
** Radiant Kitchen ** I had posted a regular recipe this week, but then I learned to make mayonnaise. I thought I would share a little about this. I am staying with my sister-in -law. She is French and an amazing cook. She has a whole different experience with cooking and eating than most Americans. She makes salad by taking lettuce from the garden and bringing it in, washing it, spin drying it and the letting it rest on the counter. She gets a deep bowl and makes a vinaigrette in the bottom of the bowl. Oil, vinegar, salt, pepper and a few other things. She tosses the lettuce, and that is it. I cannot describe the flavor. It was exquisite. While I am here I have been determined to learn a few of these things. Tonight's task was to learn to make mayonnaise. First of all, it is essential for the egg to be at room temperature. This means we have to think about making mayonnaise at lunch time.. So we had. The egg was room temperature. Now, task one is to get the yolk into the bowl without any white in it. Master that, get out an electric mixer and start to mix the oil into the egg yolk very, very slowly. I think we would call it a drizzle. Danielle says the most important ingredient in mayonnaise is patience. Go too fast and it breaks apart. A tiny bit at a time and you get a miracle - sort of like the steps. The mayonnaise was good. I will do it again. 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 ** Someone asked me what you get when you join YLD.
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.   This weekend, many newspapers are stuffed with ads for going back to school. We need office supplies, backpacks, containers, pens, paper. I figure it is just a great time to get your journals. Don't forget we have both the beautiful blue and the subtle all black. The journal is such a tool. Just the right size. If you need to write more, add in some of the special Moleskine note books that are perfect to tuck behind. Enjoy the quotes and know that the style is actually designed to support you in journaling. Please send questions and suggestions. I love hearing from you and truly want to help you do your program better. **********************************************************************
** Our Online Groups ** RadiantPets is tons of fun for all of us critters that live with sugar sensitive humans! We have lots of fun talking about how beta endorphin affects our humans and how we can help give them more BEs with our antics. It is mainly us pawed critters, but we do have the occasional feathered, finned, hoofed, or scaled critter that chime in. We also get to learn new antics to try from our friends on the list. Since we love to make new friends feel free to join in on our fun! **********************************************************************
** The Gift of a Different Way ** Kathleen DesMaisons, Ph.D.
I write a lot of articles for the newsletter. This one happens to be one of my personal favorites. I read it over and over and over. 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 spark 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 led 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. 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. |
