September 20, 2010

Hi {!firstname_fix}

After that wonderful chat about play, I have been seeing if I can do something *fun* every day. This morning I was watching my dog, Pepper, play with a stuffed fox that has no stuffing in it. She was throwing it in the air and catching it. Just entertaining herself. She is a good role model for me. They nap a lot too, LOL. So I have been napping. Its's been a nice week.

Euroranch is upon us. We do have 2 slots left if anyone is interested. I am closing registration on Tuesday.

These classes will begin Wednesday, September 22, 2010. Please click on the name of the class and it will take you to the registration page:

Radiant Step 1 (2 weeks) 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 Step 3 (2 weeks) is one of our core classes. This is a skill-based class. If you want to learn the baby steps of a successful step 3, come join us. This class is ALWAYS fun.

There will be no classes the week of Wednesday, September 29, 2010.

These classes will begin Wednesday, October 6, 2010. Please click on the name of the class and it will take you to the registration page:

Radiant Weight Loss Emotions (2 weeks) is the class for those of you who are ready, are on step seven and want to clear out a little of the being fat baggage. You don’t need therapy, a two week class will give you wonderful, wonderful tools to get you on your way.

Radiant Depression (2 weeks) is a key class for the Potatoes Not Prozac crowd. Learn in-depth information on the kinds of depression, why drugs will or will not work, how they work and how Doing the Food can help.

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 **


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

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** Testimonial of the Week **


My joy nut really got activated today!! There was an incident at work where a woman (a "not all there" woman, btw) started calling me names, such as I heard in my childhood, abusive names..lucky for me, I don't hear well and didn't hear her. A supervisor did and called the store manager. He came up there and told the customer she wasn't welcome in the store!! I was on break and didn't see this. The manager came back and told me how unacceptable that was and that wasn't going to happen to any of his employees. I said, "Well, hopefully she'll want to come back and shop here." He said,"I hope not." He NEVER says stuff like this!!!

I can't tell you what a warm feeling I got from all this advocacy. It healed a lot of the relentless bullying I endured as a fat child. Made me remember it, how no one saw it then and this left scars. And it warms my joy nut to work for a company who respects their employees to go to bat for them in this way!!

Happy Jennifer joy nut tonight!!

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** Radiant Ambassadors **


I have a quick question for you this week…

Which one of Kathleen’s books is your favourite and why?

Selena
Selenas@blueyonder.co.uk

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

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** How I Found Radiant Recovery **


I first found PNP about a year ago, read it, and thought it was going to change my life. I tried to take several steps at once, never got established, and then forgot about it for six months.

I’ve always has a propensity to use food (and then later alcohol) for emotional comfort, but it wasn’t until my marriage of ten years started to fail, compounded by the aftermath of Katrina, that I started to really abuse it. My weight has been increasing steadily by about 10 pounds a year, and I cannot accept the condition that I am in. It feels like I am living someone else’s life in someone else’s body. I used to not understand how people could let themselves “go” and become obese, but I have been forced to realize that it is really as simple in many cases as not providing adequate self care. I have made myself a promise that I will have this under control before I turn 40.

When I first read the book it rang so true about what I already know about myself and my body that I was convinced this process is the answer for me, so here I am. I just started step 1.

Nice to meet you all.
P

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** Help Wanted **


Thank you all for coming over to the step one list!! Yah!!

Our next list that we are recruiting is for BigOnes If you are on step 3 or more, we would love to have you join us and share your experience, strength and hope. Then email me and I will let you know the next steps.

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** Radiant Kitchen **


Banana Oat Bars
I have a recipe we were playing with a while back, but I can’t decipher my notes. I will try again soon and let you know. I can share my banana oat bars recipe though. We call them 3 Bears Bars because we took a while to get it just right.

Ingredients:
  • 1 ripe banana (about 4 oz) mushed
  • ½ C applesauce
  • 2 eggs
  • ¼ C vanilla oat milk ¼ C oil
  • 1-2 tsp vanilla
  • ¾ C quick oats*
  • ¾ C old fashioned rolled oats* ¼ C oat flour*
  • 2 level scoops of Restore (about 50g – this was with the old scoops – I haven’t recalculated with the new, but I could always weigh)
  • ½ tsp baking powder
  • ¼ tsp salt
  • 1 ½ t sp cinnamon
Mix wet ingredients well with whisk or hand mixer. Whisk dry ingredients together. Then combine. Pour into 8x8 greased pan and bake at 350 for about 23-30 minutes.

*I’m told in UK you don’t have all of these. Heidi takes her rolled oats and pulses them a bit for the quick oats and then more for the oat flour. Basically we needed some of the oats broken down a bit so they weren’t so chewy.

Oh, we also tried adding ½ C unsweetened carob chips to this – that was too much, but it was a nice addition. I think next time I’d just do ¼ - 1/3 C and see how that is and if you can do nuts that would be good too.

Emily

For more great program-friendly recipes, check out our cookbook in the store.


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** Radiant Conversations **


As I think you realize, we have been talking about fear/joy in chats. So we have done 3 weeks on this topic, 6 chats. This afternoon, I printed them all and read them in sequence. Holy Moley, Batman, was that incredible. You guys are absolutely astounding. Your comments are fabulous and really push me to think out on the edge. It is so much fun to be doing this kind of discovery with you. I never, ever expected we could have so much fun.

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.

Here is a note from Jo who lives in the UK...

I have ordered George's Restore from the US (it is the best PP I have found), it comes in a big plastic tub (about a kg in weight I guess), it arrives within a few days of ordering. I also add some of the flavourings to my order, the cherry is my fav with butterscotch a close 2nd.

Jo P

We send Restore all over the world (except Australia - they won't let us). Everyone says it is the best tasting protein powder that have every tasted. I agree.

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 **


A lot of new people have come over to radiantparents and are talking about how to do new behaviors with their kids. We are talking not just about food, but about new patterns of recovery in your family. If you are looking for great support for toddlers to teens, come join us. The problem solving is such a comfort and I love seeing the more experienced parents give so much help to new people.

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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**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.


©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/