April 26, 2010

Hi {!firstname_fix}

I have been roaming around the green hills of Vermont looking at black and white cows.

One can never tell where I might end up on a given weekend. It is a family visit and has been wonderful. Very relaxing.



We have made a change with our support structure. We are changing the name of the folks who work with you on the lists from liaisons to mentors. I recently read an email from someone who was referring to the *monitoring* that we do on the lists. We had been exploring the name change for a while. I realized it is time. So I will be going around the website changing language. But most important is for you to really connect to the power of what it means that all these folks give so generously of their time to support you in healing.

These classes will begin Wednesday, April 28, 2010. Please click on the name of the class you wish to join and it will take you to the registration page:

Radiant Emotional Healing - Group 2 (2 weeks) is a new class designed to give you understanding of the special emotional world of the sugar-sensitive person. We will look at how childhood experiences combine with our special brains to create a unique way of coping. We will learn how disassociation protects and also keeps us from healing. This will be a very structured and safe class.

Radiant Step 2: Introduction (2 weeks) 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.

There will be no classes beginning the week of Wednesday, May 5, 2010.

These classes will begin Wednesday, May 12, 2010. Please click on the name of the class you wish to join and it will take you to the registration page:

Using Radiant Resources (4 weeks) is a free orientation for those of you who are brand new and would like to find your way around town. Come sit on the top of our double-decker bus for a guided tour. And even if you are not brand new, this is a really fun class to reconnect with all the treats of the community.

Radiant Step 4 (2 weeks) is the potato class. Come learn everything you ever wanted to know about the timing, size, frequency of your potato. Learn about the best vitamins and talk all you want about them. This is a nice way to strengthen and refine your step 4.

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

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** Quote From Kathleen **


Learning to recognize the subtlety of what your body has to say may take some time.

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** Testimonial of the Week **


I performed the Act Of Cookery on Sunday. And yes it was a performance:

  1. Do not think you are clever by buying a pre-packaged box of chantenay carrots weighting exactly 500g. They will take you 45 minutes to grate, and you will lose a considerable amount of fingertip skin in the process.

  2. Do not grate the carrot all over the floor like I did.

  3. Use a non-stick pan or yes, your lentils and carrots will stick to the bottom and burn, so you have to transfer the whole lot to a fresh pan.

  4. Do not be mesmerized by the curry paste coming out of the plastic bag 'like a little poo', for so long that you burn the cashews and onions and have to throw some away.

  5. Do not be alarmed if your blender cannot cope with the bulk of liquidising this much food and has a mini strike. Talk to it nicely and it will work again.

  6. Prepare to be amazed that the soup is STILL really yum with liquidized burnt cashew and onion in it.

    Thanks for your support Jenny, just had the last of my creation for lunch. I will probably make it again, as it's really nice and easy to take to work and have with toast.

    x s.thorn

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    ** Radiant Ambassadors **


    I watched a program earlier in the week called "Louis Theroux: America's Medicated Kids," one of whom was a 6-year-old boy on anti-depressants (I think).

    What struck me was that there was absolutely nothing mentioned about their diet, although the only foods visible throughout the entire program were pizza and ice cream.

    Now, I'm not a doctor but I thought it would be good to let the presenter of the program know that there might be an alternative. I have sent a tweet to the presenter and posted on his facebook page. Even if he doesn't read it himself, it may allow others to think about the real connection between food and mood.

    Selena

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

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    ** How I Found Radiant Recovery **


    I had seen the book once in a book club catalog, but I didn't order it. Much later, I was listening to the New Dimensions radio show, and I heard an interview with Candace Pert. She was talking about one of her books, and it sounded interesting. So, I went to the library to look for the book. They didn't have her book, but the catalog showed that she had written the introduction for this book called Potatoes Not Prozac. "Hmm, maybe I'll check it out." The rest is history ;) Jim
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    ** Radiant Kitchen **


    CORN BREAD


    • 1 cup corn flour
    • 1 cup yellow corn meal
    • 3 teaspoons baking powder
    • 1/4 teaspoon salt


    Mix all of the above together.

    Mix together in a separate bowl:

    • 1 egg
    • 1 cup buttermilk (any milk works, cow, oat, soy, almond...)
    • 1/4 c. sour cream or yogurt (or unsweetened applesauce)


    Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix well. Turn into a greased 8 inch square pan or a greased cast iron skillet. Bake at 425 degrees for about 25 minutes.

    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 **


    Well spring has really sprung over on YLD. Everyone is getting enthusiastic and coming alive. Last week at Eurochat we talked about Jenny's commitment to post every day for 90 days and everyone got *EXCITED*, so now we are trying it too, talking about everything from journaling to weight gain and we are having FUN! And the chats, as always, are awesome....remember, every Wednesday we have a chat for our European members as well as a US chat, so no matter which time zone you are in, there's a chat you can join!

    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!

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    ** Radiant Recovery® Store **


    David manages the Radiant Recovery® Store. He is also Kathleen's oldest son.



    Kathleen started to carry Pycnogenol as a support for the people who were taking fish oil. Since then, she has learned about all sorts of other really good things it does. Let me summarize what she thinks might be most important for SS people:

    • Pycnogenol reduces inflammation in many way - asthma, allergies, gut stuff, heart stuff so it is a wonderful add on for the other things you do.

    • It inhibits fat storage

    • It is really, really good to take on long flights or if you sit at a computer all day because it reduces something called DVT, deep vein thrombosis

    • It helps with PMS

    • And it strengthens capillaries, so if you are taking fish oil or other things that thin the blood, it helps to prevent bruising. We know how great the fish oil is, so this is a wonderful companion to it.


    We looked for a long time to find a source that we would feel good about. I am really happy to be carrying this product in the store.

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

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    ** Our Online Groups **


    This radiantdepression group is all about support for the person who is depressed and trying to work Kathleen's 7 step program of recovery from sugar addiction. Many of us have struggled with severe depression for years without any hope of finding an end to it. But through doing the food we have found that hope returning and have found light where before there was only darkness.

    Some of us are taking anti-depressants while doing the food, so we talk about how the two are compatible and we also share about getting through the tough spots together, with support from each other. If you are feeling depressed please come join us. There is hope.

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


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    **Structure as Antidote to Blind Lurching **
    Kathleen DesMaisons, Ph.D.



    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 office 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 sparks 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.


    ©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/