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February 8, 2010 Hi {!firstname_fix} You will see that this week's article is about Ranch. I thought it would be helpful for you to have some context about why we do ranch and what this year will be about. I think that the last few months have been a time a great change. We have been experiencing a lot of pain, jostling, changes, things opening up, old things moving out. It is easy to just think this is simply personal. I don't think it is. I think we are in the middle of a huge world shift that is acting out in our lives. And because we have committed to recovery, our hearts are getting carved out. This is painful. But it makes space for the flow of grace to move through us. Ranch is connected to this. it really isn't about learning *stuff*, it is about moving into a life of recovery. And if you are new at it, you get to come and hang with the folks who have experience and welcome your being there. And if you have experience, you get to come and be filled up. And no matter what, you get to come and hear what new things I am working on. That is always fun! And if you are not able to come this year, consider the possibility of making a donation to the scholarship fund. I think many of you know Kath from many of the lists. She lives in Perth, Australia and has been the full-time caretaker for her disabled husband for the last couple of years. We would like to find a way to make it possible for her to come to Ranch. I figure if we can raise money for Mr. Franklin, we can do it for Kath. I probably will set up 2 new classes for the key themes I am going to present at Ranch. I am very excited about this material...it is coming out of what I am writing for the book. First I will do the Addiction Amoeba. These classes will begin Wednesday, February 10, 2010. Please click on the name of the class you wish to join and it will take you to the registration page: Radiant Store Tour (1 week) 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 so you can show your support for the work he does to keep you happy. 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! This class will begin Wednesday, February 17, 2010. Please click on the name of the class you wish to join and it will take you to the registration page: The Addiction Amoeba (2 weeks) is completely revised, updated, energized and exciting. Come learn how this really works and how to use your healing energy to transform your life rather than lurching from one new thing to another. The class schedule is online. Click here to see what is planned. Please wait to sign up for classes until a week or two before, and 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 ** Learning to recognize the subtlety of what your body has to say may take some time. **********************************************************************
** Testimonial of the Week ** I have the perfect day to finish up final preparations. It's snowing outside and we have just about an inch on the ground. Snow doesn't happen all that often here, so it's a fun little treat. :) The only problem is that DD is home begging to go out in it and it's still a bit chilly at 9:15 to get out there! She'll have to wait and then we'll get out and play. I can't deny her a snowman. :) I am putting the finishing touches on our meals today, which is what I always do the day before we travel. Last night we had roast sticky chicken and mashed potatoes with broccoli, so I took the leftover chicken and packaged it up for the trip. I mixed the leftover mashed pots with salmon and a couple of eggs and seasonings and we're having fish cakes and leftover broccoli for lunch, so that's sorted. Dinner tonight is beef stew with drop biscuits left over from a beef roast I made earlier in the week. Easy and not much clean up the night before we travel, so that's nice! And for the trip...I have the usual raw veg chopped and ready to go. A few boiled eggs will make an egg salad for me to eat on oatcakes for second breakfast tomorrow morning. Cheese, pistachios, pecans and ryvita and oatcakes make up our snacks, along with some apple. Then there's the chicken, and I'll pack a baggie of frozen rice to keep everything nicely cool until lunch time (and it's still ok for dinner as well), and the kids can have peanut butter and banana sandwiches and whatever is good out of the airline meals. Writing it out here it sure sounds like a lot of food, but we end up traveling for about 17 hours door-to-door, so between the three of us and DH sneaking veggies, it's usually about gone, LOL! While we're gone we're staying at MIL's and a friend's house and they are ok with me using the kitchen, so I'm just planning to do what I need to do to keep all of us fed and they can join us if they want to. Plus, we have some ordering in we'd like to do to get some our faves while we're there, so that will help as well. :) I'm keeping it really easy because I know I'll be worn out, but it's SO worth it to have good food on hand! And, I have return meals fixed as well. There's chili and pasta sauce in the freezer, and the fixings for a few other easy meals on hand. Yay! So, I feel well prepared food wise...now I just need to get my introvert self ready for all of the extrovert activity, LOL! :) Heidi **********************************************************************
** Radiant Ambassadors ** Can you remember that surge of hope the first time you found Potatoes Not Prozac? Did you, like me, think that Kathleen must really *know* me? Well, it seems I'm not alone in this LOL! The ambassador's list came across the following blog entry which details someone's first tentative steps into *doing the food*: http://shawniespikes.wordpress.com/2010/01/30/reassuring-first-steps-to-ending-sugar-addiction How exciting is that! And she's blogging about it and using Twitter too :) If you come across anything similar mentioning sugar sensitivity or Potatoes Not Prozac, why not add your own comment to it? Or better still, come on over to the ambassadors list and share it with us! Selena Come join us if you are excited about spreading the news. **********************************************************************
** Radiant Kitchen **
Note: if you are a big one, you can eat this in addition to some other protein source or you could add some George Restore to the eggs to make up your 42 grams of protein! For more great program-friendly recipes, check out these great cookbooks in the store. **********************************************************************
** Your Last Diet - More Than What You Think ** I have been observing thoughts about my weight since beginning the RR program in January. It seems each month brings new shifts as I heal. I had plenty of panicky thoughts and fretting in the beginning because I was still shoveling food in my mouth at an alarming rate, and still bingeing, which was new to my repertoire anyway. But just from doing breakfast, I began to feel calmer, and hopeful, and happier. Step two opened the door to having a relationship with my body that could be real, instead of the weird one I had that was permeated with thoughts of self-loathing and non-reality. I started to listen to her, and became willing to hear what she had to say. I took the Obesity Myth class and was concerned I might think obesity was *okay* once it was over. It was a very moving class and one that forced all of us to dig deep into our shame, secrets and thinking about weight issues. It began another level of healing for me. Step three offered a multitude of gifts that were a-m-a-z-i-n-g. I really started to feel really steady, I lost that impulsivity, and my emotions seemed more lifelike and less sugar sensitive. I began to really understand the things that were *me* and the things that were SS, and the old Katherine (or the new one?) started to emerge. The bingeing stopped. Self-loathing slipped away and I became less concerned with how I looked or how much I weighed. Somewhere along the way, it was replaced with total trust. I had the commitment, but I became strong as I could stand on my own two legs now. I could feel the healing, and the support and love that swirls around this community. I have been moving my body more and more consistently. It is yet another frontier where I am healing and learning. My newest revelation is how I am really okay with how I am right now. I know I am overweight, but I don't want to fix it today. I want to make sure I am steady on these steps, that I am not hurrying or pushing, so that I can one day reach my goals. I am positive I will reach my goals, and that includes all goals, not just weight loss (to that end, I accomplished things this week I have been trying to do for years. I am clear and steady enough that I can do those things to take care of myself, such as see a dermatologist and hire an attorney). In relation to food and weight, it is an amazing feeling to not be hurried, to not feel I have to count calories, to not even watch what I eat. I have been enjoying eating so much more since I gave myself *permission* to eat whatever I wanted. I'm not eating it to punish myself, or because I am weak or have no willpower. I am doing it because it represents a freedom to me. Freedom from the prison from which I lived, whether it was restricting what I ate, how much I ate, compared myself to others every moment of the day, or how I spoke to myself internally every step of the way. So it occurs to me today that yeah, maybe this really IS my last diet. And yes, of course I doubted you LOL, but not in a while. Time here heals. Steps, the food, heals. Your kindness heals. Love, Kat 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.  In keeping with the theme that Kathleen is writing about in this edition, let's talk about Ranch...remember that I will have shake, mixers, and everything you need. And if I don't have it, just email me and let me know what you need when you arrive. If you want a special kind of Almond milk, or some bananas, just tell me. You don't have to bring your stuff, we can give it to you. And I will be providing a way to buy shake by the scoop so you don't have to bring the baggie in the suitcase. So think about what you want, and how I can help. Please send questions and suggestions. I love hearing from you and truly want to help you do your program better. **********************************************************************
** Our Online Groups ** Radiant Diabetes is a special group. We have a number of old timers who are getting really excited about change. The energy is cracklin'. Come on over and learn what is special about doing the food as a diabetic! **********************************************************************
**How Ranch Leads Us ** Kathleen DesMaisons, Ph.D.
I just got back from the Karen Pryor Clicker Training conference and it got me thinking about Ranch. I thought it would be helpful to give you some history and some update on the plans for this year. Ranch started 11 years ago up in Abiqui, NM, when Georgia O'Keefe painted. We met at Ghost Ranch which is a spectacular place. Our first ranch we had 20 people and it was designed to provide support and training to leadership. We loved it. And we loved Ghost Ranch. Then they changed management and were no longer willing to work with us on the food. So we came down to Albuquerque. Our first ranch was at Los Poblanos. It was gorgeous. We loved it, but realized that the food would not work. We kept working on the venue and eventually settled on the Hotel Albuquerque and we all love it. Ranch is a funny combination of the joy of gathering...people who have only connected online get the chance to meet the people behind the emails. This in itself is pretty exciting. The content has been pretty consistent...we provide material for beginners, and I go into some material in depth so people get a chance to learn things that I have not written about yet. Ranch gives birth to some pretty remarkable themes....like what is embedded in the steps, how eating disorders interweave with sugar sensitivity, how step 7 emerges, plus many, many other themes. Newcomers love to be around the oldtimers and see how they navigate eating out, traveling, planning. Old timers never get bored with coming, not ever. And we have learned to pace the meetings with down time. One year we did a spontaneous consultation with the introverts and Ranch has never been the same. In fact, that dialogue has shaped all of what we do throughout the community. And perhaps that word *dialogue* is the essence of Ranch. This year, I am going to share some of the material I am working on in the new book. I want you to hear it, work with it and give me your sense of its value. One piece will be looking at the addiction amoeba. I have been talking about this idea for a number of years. But in the last few months have discovered the biochemistry of *why* it is so seductive. Following the thread of it has been mind boggling for me. I love what has emerged. We will be starting the conversation in the new class, and then take it to maturity at Ranch. And secondly, I will be talking about the emotional impact of being sugar sensitive - why we feel so deeply, why we are so affected by hard stuff in our childhoods, how the food affects our healing, and why just the food is not enough. If you want the rest of the story, ranch will be the place to get the preview. And I am going to do the same package both here in NM and in the UK. I learned this from clicker expo...one presentation in the great expanse before the mauve mountains, and one in the 14th century hotel in downtown Salisbury - the two kinda speak to how different we all are. We try to make Ranch open, welcoming and easy for you to attend. Let me know if you have ideas or questions. 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. ©2010 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/ |
