Newsletter

October 19, 2009

Hi {!firstname_fix}

We are moving into Fall here in NM. This means the sky is so clear, so brilliant blue. In the morning, I go out on the porch facing the mountains just before the sun is up and everything is totally still and just clear, crystalline clear. It is very different from New England.

It has been a week of many things. The energy of the Revitalizing Your Program class is wonderful and fills me. The joy that comes from your exploration is just fantastic! Thank you.

I wanted to let you know of a special residential seminar I will be doing in South Carolina the first week in December. Here is the description:

Radiant Recovery and The 12 Steps

This is a special retreat for people who work with those in recovery or who themselves are in recovery from food, alcohol, or drug addictions who would like to take their process deeper and who are already working a 12-Step program. It will focus on combining the Radiant Recovery Program with the 12 Steps of Recovery. Those who are working a program yet continue to deal with moodiness, irritability, depression or physical cravings will benefit from this retreat. We will explore the biochemistry of the addictive brain and how it can be positively affected by what, how, and when a person eats. If you would like to register, please go directly to the retreat center website. There is very limited registration, so if you are interested, get on it (smile).

I am making a change in the certification for free class program that I started this past year. I will be discontinuing it. I have learned a lot. Diane and I will be doing a report on what we learned so that you can understand it more in depth. As we all know, a lot of being sugar sensitive and being unbalanced is that we are like those C57 mice who crouch in the corner feeling *I can't, I can't.* The antidote to crouching is doing the food. Support for doing the food costs nothing in this community. So we are going to stick with that for now.

These classes will begin Wednesday, October 21, 2009. Please click on the name of the class you wish to join and it will take you to the registration page:

Radiant Step 1 (1 week) is our foundation class to get you started. Learn all four parts of step 1 in a structured way. Learn how to progress through them with enjoyment. Let us support getting your program off to a fabulous start.

Radiant Store Tour (1week) is a free guided tour of the store. David will be leading this class so if you want to get to know the guy that makes it all work, come sign up and show your support for the work he does to keep you happy.

These classes will begin Wednesday, October 28, 2009. Please click on the name of the class you wish to join and it will take you to the registration page:

Radiant Step 2: Introduction (1 week) will teach you the basics of journaling. The class will give you step-by-step instructions in how to record your food and feelings in a way that gets you excited.

Brain Chemistry: Beta Endorphin (2 weeks) is one of our most popular classes. It will teach you the core of the science behind the program. This is the outline for a critical part of sugar sensitivity, why you act the way you do and what you can do to change it. I love this class and so do all the people who have taken it. Somehow BE rocks!

The class schedule is online. 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. 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.

Be sure to visit our Radiant Recovery website and Community Forum regularly.

Warmly,
Kathleen

**********************************************************************

** Quote From Kathleen **

The power of your radiance will affect all those around you. In both big and subtle ways, everything will change.

**********************************************************************

** Testimonial of the Week **

This week we received notification that our application for a gov't. subsidy for solar power panels has been approved. The very next day(!!!) I got a call from the solar panel installation company saying they would come to install them for us.

So this morning, we have had thumpings and bangings and lots of men walking on our roof, and now the little wheels on the electricity meter are going backwards (it is a very clear sunny day here in Perth) the power is feeding back into the grid. This makes me feel oh so good.

With solar panels on the roof, a solar hot water system, rain water tanks ready to water my vegetable garden (when I get to planting it!!) and giving me clean rain water to drink, and to use in the washing machine, and my worm farm turning kitchen scraps into compost...I feel more settled about a lot of things on many different fronts.

Our granddaughter has gone to live with her mum and her other grandparents for a while, so we are getting undisturbed sleep at night again...and the sun is shining, the birds are singing. We've had our lovely, but all too brief spring, suddenly daylight savings over east, and warmer days here...summer is on the doorstep.

I picked Mulberries a few days ago, and am cooking them with apple and nothing else, and will freeze them for use later. I just love having sugar- free products of my own kitchen to use when I want something...it is like having my very own line of frozen foods available in my private supermarket (the deep freeze in the laundry). I am grinning!!

Kath

**********************************************************************

** Radiant Ambassadors **

It sounds as though more and more people are talking about Potatoes Not Prozac nowadays! It's appearing on Twitter and there are numerous bloggers who are trying the program out for themselves and reporting back to the world!

Here's a link to a blogger's site who appears to be really happy with what he's discovered so far:

http://thelardarms.typepad.com/the_lard_arms/2009/09/potatoes-not-prozac-step-1.html

Are you a blogger? Do you have any hints and tips about blogging? I'd love to learn how to do it properly!

Selena

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

**********************************************************************

** Radiant Kitchen **

Here are some fun quick meals/snacks:

Tuna/Avocado Spread

For lunch today I had a can of tuna and an avocado mashed up with a fork, and added some lemon juice. I put that on top of some ryvitas (Swedish rye crisp bread, but any bread would be fine! ) Had sliced tomatoes and cabbage on the side.

Aliza's Fast Meals

Wholegrain bread, spread with pesto, then topped with sliced tomato and mozzarella cheese. Bake or broil.
Scramble two eggs and stir in some chevre and chopped green onions just before the eggs have totally set.
Cut up tomatoes, green onions and cucumber and mix with cottage cheese and ground fresh pepper.
Split a whole wheat pita and do an openfaced sandwich on it. I put sliced salad onions and green peppers on the thin slices of pita, then cheese, and I bake or broil it.
Dress leftover steamed veggies with salad dressing, and add some canned beans.
Heat a can of black beans, adding some ground cumin, squeezed garlic and some hot red pepper flakes. Mash the beans until thickened and like a lumpy refried beans dish. Top with cheese, slide into the oven. Meanwhile, either heat some cooked rice or get out some whole wheat tortillas, or corn chips if you can eat them. Chop some dark green lettuce, tomatoes, and salad onion. Make haystacks or burritos, or just eat it all with rice in any configuration you like. You can add salsa and sour cream or plain yogurt, too. This is the meal my son and I eat most frequently together on the nights when his father is working late and doesn't have dinner with us.

Allison's Fast Meals

Tuna salad with dill, salmon salad with Patak's garlic relish, or egg salad with curry powder on ryvita or WASA or Ezekiel bread, with cut up celery, carrots and cucumbers on the side.
Today, for lunch, I'm having tuna salad on ryvita, half a can of Progresso hearty black bean soup, and a salad made of a little of this and a little of that - basically just cut up what I had in the fridge and put some dressing on it.
I do use a few canned soups, to supplement protein, and for cold days when I just want something warm (and it's cold and damp here today - I worked out just to get warm!)

Karla's Tuna

Get your self some canned black beans (the carribean are my favorite), smash about 2 to 4 tablespoons full with a fork in your bowl add a can of tuna and some mayo, mix well. I got that from a Nigerian friend. I usually eat it alone but that would be excellent with some crackers.

Linda's Quick Tomato

Core a large tomato. Cut into a blossom. Fill with cottage cheese or tuna salad or chicken salad, whichever you have on hand.

Place baby carrots and green pepper slices around the tomato. Add a few Triscuits.

Grab your bottle of water and enjoy.

It's quick, easy, and appealing.

For more great program-friendly recipes, check out these great cookbooks in the store.

Radiant Recovery
Cookbook

Naomi's Nutritious and
Delicious Cookbook

Sheila's
Kitchen Recipes

**********************************************************************

** Your Last Diet - More Than What You Think **

We have started having chats be a little more structured. Going back to topics will be fun for all of us. I am so stoked.

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.

Well, since Kathleen put those recipes in for TUNA, I figure I should include our King of The Sea Tuna this week. We carry this product because it contains less methyl mercury than leading brands (http://www.kingoftheseatuna.com/factsheetchart.html), along with no soy fillers, no MSG and no added chemicals – while offering the benefits of Omega-3 Fatty Acids. Plus a 7 oz. can yields 15% more tuna than the typical 6 oz. can of tuna! In fact, many manufacturers reduced the size of their cans to 5 oz. I really like this tuna. We send it all over the country...and many people have a subscription which means it arrives without your having to place a new order.

Please send questions and suggestions. I love hearing from you and truly want to help you do your program better.

**********************************************************************

** Our Online Groups **

The radiantrecovery group was set up as a support for people who are in recovery for alcohol and/or drugs and would like to add the Radiant Recovery nutritional piece to their healing. We talk about how doing the food can enhance 12-step work.. The folks on the list are warm, compassionate, caring and straightforward. We also hold a special chat for people who are on this list. We would love to have you come join us.

Or come to the group page to find the one that will best support your program: http://www.radiantrecovery.com/list_serves.htm

**********************************************************************

**Seduction of Busyness **

Kathleen DesMaisons, Ph.D.

I have been hearing about “busy” a lot in the last few weeks.

I tried calling my daughter a number of times, she always cut it short. ”I am really busy right now, Mom, let me call you back.” But she didn’t.

I have a friend who hasn’t called or emailed for a while…I wrote and said, “Hey, how are you?” and her reply was, “Oh, man, I am so busy, I just haven’t been able to make space to do anything!”

I was at euroranch listening to, “ Whew, I am so tired. I am so busy, my days are so packed, I have no space for anything.”

I hear, “I love listening on the list, but I am not making time for it.”

Or, “I have two small children and spend my day running from one thing to the next.”

I, too, have found myself being called by the rush of “important” things. The push, the seduction. When I connected with the rush, I thought, "whoa, baby, what a sweet little pod of the addiction amoeba is pushing his little head out here…no, no, no.

First I called my daughter. She started with the litany…not now, not sure when, can’t really say. I said, “Now, for five minutes…listen up. I am your mom, put me on the list.” And we talked and she could hear it. And I called my friend, and I said, “ Let’s have some tea” and would not take no for an answer.

I stopped working while having dinner. I sat in the back without a task or a list. I got up from the computer before it was all done. I left the dishes and made some personal phone calls.

I sat with my lists and I said, “Nope, that won’t get done this week, this MONTH.”

I went back to meditating. I slowed everything down. I read a novel. I bought a magazine and savored it. I brushed the dogs outside at dusk while the light was going down into golden. I got out a cookbook and read and then made something new. I started texting my daughter so she wouldn’t feel pressured but could feel the connection.

Colette wrote this on the step seven list. I cut and pasted it in my journal.

For me, I was thinking about the buzz. Busy has such a frantic feel about it, and I know that over working, or being overly busy, can be a pod. If I think in terms of recovery, stepping out of that for me is being aware and responsible. There is a difference for me between a swirl of activity and a deep, rich full enjoyable life.

It's a balance. I have responsibilities, because I am a mother, a wife, but I also know how important it is, and how much more available I can be to others if I take care of myself, and have activities...have a life that fills me. Some dreams are on hold now, because I do have other responsibilities. Rating my activities help, and I'm trying to figure out the *5*'s in my life, instead of just randomly filling. It is a juggling act, and something that I do need to return to again and again.

I read a book ages ago, that is a great visual reminder for me. Life was compared to the margins in a book, and without margins, a book would be quite busy and a bit difficult to read...quite a jumble. And if I allow my life to have *margin*, I am also available to listen to the *whispers* in life, and be available for *surprises* or emergencies that life can bring. So for me, I really like to make sure I throw in *margin*, and not have a full page.

Maybe this little article is a plea for the margins…for quiet time in the morning to center, for quiet time in the evening to make sense of the day. As I get older, I totally and absolutely know that most of what I thought was crucial was not. What matters is very different from the stuff that creates “busy.” Let’s think about this one.

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.