January 3, 2011

Hi {!firstname_fix}

I wish you all a wonderful New Year. I have a good feeling about 2011. I think it will be a year of consolidation and growth. It is a year of completion and I think that so many of us have grown so deeply in 2010 that we will bring this energy to the unfolding process.

The Big Book of AA has an incredible passage on page 25. *The central fact of our lives today is the absolute certainty that our Creator has entered into our hearts and lives in a way which is indeed miraculous.* I honestly believe that this same process happens here in Radiant Recovery. You can substitute any word you prefer for *creator*...but from my vantage point, I see that something, perhaps what I call *grace* is doing something. And when we do the food, do it as written in the steps, something happens. Our lives are touched and changed beyond anything we imagined. This is still true for me.

I know that we have many new people this month, this week. I hope you can embrace the joy and excitement we are all feeling.

I am giving you an extra few days to register for Radiant Ranch and get the early bird special tuition rate. It is pretty significant, so worth getting mobilized and registering. I will close registrations on the end of Monday.

There have been some changes in the first few weeks of class scheduling, so please check to see if they affect any you might have already signed up for.

These classes will begin Wednesday, January 5, 2011. Please click on the name of the class and it will take you to the registration page:

First Steps in Weight Loss (2 weeks) is a class for those of you who want to lose weight and are looking for guidance in getting started with that process. This class shows you how the seven steps get you ready for doing weight loss. It will outline why RR/YLD is so different from anything you have ever done, and why it is so successful.

Getting to Radiant Ranch (2 weeks) is a special class for people who have a limited income and want to have support in sorting out ways to get to ranch. It is a very practical class to help you look at being creative. If you participate and graduate from this class, the cost of the class will be applied to your ranch tuition.

These classes will begin Wednesday, January 12, 2011. 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. Even if you think you have been having a great breakfast for years before you found the program, take this class and find out why what we are doing is so different.

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. Learn nanos. learn planning, share with others and have a LOT of fun.

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 **


Not remembering is significant information - sort of like standing up a date.

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** Testimonial of the Week **


I just want to thank you so much for what you've done for me. 7 years ago I weighed an uncomfortable 83kgs on my 170cm frame. [182 lb. 5'6"] I was always told I was big-boned but managed to lose almost 20kgs with a healthy diet and exercise. Unfortunately I still suffered from bouts of depression and obsessive behaviour. After a friend suggested I buy Potatoes not Prozac and give it a go (and I did!) my life has totally turned around! I now weigh only 55kg [121 lbs] and can eat as much as I like within the guidelines. I'm also in control of my life and my emotions and have never been happier! I even got a big promotion at work!

Thank you, from the bottom of my heart. You've made the most amazing difference to my life.

Sally-Ann

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** Radiant Ambassadors **


I've had another look at Potatoes not Prozac on Amazon UK and noticed that it has received 20 reviews - 17 people have awarded it 5 out of 5 stars - yay!!! That's brilliant news!

The more reviews a book receives, the higher up the ratings it goes, the more notice an author's publisher takes of the book and the more interest Amazon shows in it (to recommend it etc).

I have added a review (along with several other familiar faces LOL!) - does anyone else want to add a review of Kathleen's latest book?

Click here if you want to join in the fun:

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 **


My name is Anna and I am originally from Holland but living in Australia. I used to be a professional ballet dancer and during this extensive training I never realised I was actually addicted to sugar as the vigorous exercise regime that comes with the career of a dancer nicely balanced my intake of sugar and I never suffered side effects. I just thought I had a sweet tooth. :)

I stopped dancing about 15 years ago due to injury and that is when my 'troubles' started as I did not understand the mood swings, the depression, the irrational behaviour.

I was introduced to PnP by a friend and the rest is history, although like Selena points out, having the book did not mean I was mastering anything, just creating awareness of what I was possibly dealing with.

I am happy to have found Radiant Recovery and look forward to becoming my sweet self again.

best wishes
Anna

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** Radiant Recovery® Store **


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

I know a lot of you are traveling at this time of year. Here are three great suggestions:

Get a little travel mixing bottle. We have been getting awesome reports back from the people who have them. You don't need batteries, they really mix well and are very light weight.


And if you are going on a plane, make sure to take pycnogenol. One of the things it is most noted is its protective effect on DVT (deep vein thrombosis - blood clots from sitting in a plane for a long time). This effect has been tested in a number of peer reviewed studies in major journals. Kathleen highly recommends it for that purpose.


You might also want to order some Restore to pack.


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

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** Happenings on Facebook **


Radiant Recovery® International | Promote Your Page Too




Does anyone use Facebook or Twitter?

There's a cool badge that you can add to your profile picture which has Radiant Recovery on it (Tina kindly set it up for us!) It's called a Twibbon. We just upgraded how it looks. If you want to add one, go to Twibbon and search for Radiant Recovery - then just fill in a couple of details and it's added to your pic - voila!

I've just added it to both of my profile pics - feel free to add it yours too!

Spreading the word one person at a time :)

Come find us on Facebook at

http://www.Facebook.com/RadiantRecovery and join the fun!.



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** Radiant Kitchen **


With the weather turning cooler, this recipe caught my eye and I fiddled around with it and took out the sugar and adjusted the apple cider amount and here we have a program friendly and belly warming meal. You can use the yummy wild rice from the store.

Chicken and Apples

  • 12 chicken thighs, bone-in
  • 4 garlic cloves, minced
  • 3 granny smith apples, sliced
  • 1 fennel bulb, sliced
  • 1 large sweet onion, roughly chopped.
  • 2 cups chicken broth
  • 1 cup apple cider
  • 4 springs fresh thyme
  • 4 bay leaves
  • saffron, generous pinch
  • sea salt, to taste
  • ground pepper, to taste
  • 2 cups cooked wild rice
Season chicken thighs with salt and pepper, and brown on skin side only in a hot, large, deep saucepan. Remove and set aside. Sweat* off onion, garlic and fennel in the same pan. Add chicken broth and bring to a boil. Add apple juice and return to a boil. Stir in apples, thyme, bay leaves and saffron. Return chicken to the pan. Simmer, cover and cook until chicken is done - approximately 20 minutes - or alternately bake, covered, in a 350ƒF oven until chicken is done. Season to taste. Serve over rice.

*When I altered this recipe to be program friendly I had no idea what "sweat off" meant. So, I looked it up and here is the definition: sweat, to A technique by which ingredients, particularly vegetables, are cooked in a small amount of fat over low heat. The ingredients are covered directly with a piece of foil or parchment paper, then the pot is tightly covered. With this method, the ingredients soften without browning, and cook in their own juices.

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


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** Radiant Conversations **


This is the year of weight loss. We are starting you off with the Intro class and then we will be doing some of the other weight loss classes over the next couple of months. We will also be doing the Weight Loss in Action class for those of you who are on step 7 and ready. The WLIA list is mature, skilled, funny and rockin'. And we are going to talk about getting ready for all of that in chat. Hope you can join us.

If you are not a YLD member, come and join us. Click here if you want to be a part of the latest and greatest or just have some plain ol' fun!

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** Our Online Groups **


Come check out our local geographic lists, We call them geo groups. These are social lists for getting to know people in your local area.

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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**Doing the Program **
Kathleen DesMaisons, Ph.D.



In the introduction to this newsletter, I quote the Big Book...I have thought a lot about the idea of *absolute certainty* recently. I don't think there are many programs that would make this claim. More often it is *results atypical* in small letters at the bottom of the screen or page. But I know in my heart of hearts, with absolute certainly that Radiant Recovery will change your life.

The key is doing it. Now what does that mean?

It means, following the steps, in order with enough time to be able to assimilate what is built into them. It means paying attention and learning what each steps entails, learning the details and not coming in and saying *I have eaten breakfast for years* or *I know how to log my food, I have done it forever in OA.* It also means moving forward rather than dabbling

We all have heard of those who have been doing step one sort of for 3 years. And they say I have been doing the program for 3 years and I just can't seem to move forward. And they feel guilty and inadequate and ashamed. But they are not connecting with the fact that guilt and inadequacy and shame are biochemical and a function of not doing the program yet.

If you want results, then you need to do it. Wishing it, wanting it, thinking about it, does not create the change. Doing the food heals your biochemistry. Doing the process heals the addiction. And the two together profoundly change everything. Do the steps and you will be in a position to turn to your life and with joy and commitment start taking care of everything else - all the other things you have used to keep the pain away, and the heart healing that needs to happen. And yes, I know that many people feel this is about sugar addiction. It is not. It is about healing.

Jeannie once asked me, *How long, Kathleen?* and I said 6 months. That is sort of a step a month. Less for step 4 and 5, more for step 3. This means if you start today, by summer you will be totally changed if you pay attention, work on it, share, and learn with diligence. If you join the step lists, share, take classes, participate, come to chats, come to ranch, it is way easier. If you think you don't have funds for that, add up what you are spending on your sugar addiction in a week and rethink it.

2011 will be different for all of us. I have this feeling that this is a year of focus. Of going after our healing in a deeper way. We will be restarting the book study process. All the people who provide servant leadership for the community will be stepping up their own programs. I am doing that as well. We are getting clear about what we want and how we can share with you how the program has changed our lives. I invite you to join us in this process.

I am genuinely excited about all of this.


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.
Tina tells us what's happening on Facebook.


©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/