Hi {!firstname_fix}

Well this has been an exciting week. Many of you are reporting finding Little Sugar Addicts in the stores. Barnes & Noble has it on the front table. Some of you are saying the store doesn't have it. ASK! We are going to start posting comments about it as you get a chance to read. For now, you can go over to amazon.com and read what folks are saying. I am going to be plugging Little Sugar Addicts shamelessly until one million parents have it, use it and love it. So I thought I would warn you (smile). I care about the contents of this book as passionately as anything I have ever done. I KNOW what it does for families. I KNOW it is an answer that works and nothing will stop me from plugging it shamelessly. Even more, I will keep asking you to do the same. Read it, share it and talk with us about it.

Please feel free to pass this week's newsletter on to your friends and family. Don't forget to let me know what you like and would like to see.

A copy of this newsletter may also be found posted on the web at http://www. radiantrecovery.com/weeklynewsletter. If you wish to unsubscribe, use the link at the bottom of the page. Do not email me, do not get mad at me, just click on the link and you will be forever removed.

And be sure to visit our Radiant Recovery® website and Community Forum regularly.

Warmly,
Kathleen

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August2, 2004
** Quote From Kathleen **

The key challenge will be to go slowly. If you make too much change too fast, you will create chaos and resentment...you want to create biochemical stability before you make change.

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** Testimonial for the Week**

My 4 kids have been doing the food with me for years. My youngest, 11 yo girl, has been having increasing difficulty waking up on these cold mornings, (it is winter in Australia, and getting food into her in time to walk to school has gotten more and more difficult ...until I remembered someone saying about bringing breakfast to the child in bed.

Now everything in my "when they obey they can have a treat" background screamed against me doing this "pampering" of a "willful" child. But when I thought about the biochemistry, it became an easy decision. So I take my medication (which must be 1/2 hr before food), get up, go to the kitchen, prepare oatmeal for myself and my daughter stir in some milk powder and take it in to her. A drowsy good morning, and she eats sitting up in bed. I get dressed, then eat my oatmeal while cooking the eggs. Soon she is in the kitchen ready for the egg and bacon I have cooked for her. 20 minutes later she is fully breakfasted and dressed. 30 min from when she was asleep, she is ready to leave home (and so am I). Lunch gets packed as we finish eating.

The older 3 kids all cook their own breakfasts and pack their own lunches...all I have to do is make sure the doings are available...it messes things up if I forget to put the bread out before I go to bed!)

No whinging from anyone. Not the child, or me! No nagging, no dragging, or dawdling...because we have addressed the biochemical reason that she couldn't do the things for herself!!

Kath

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

Hi all, I just want to say how much I like the new format of Monday chat - asking questions about all 7 steps. I find that not only do I have questions but others have questions that I just haven't thought of yet. Patti and Vicki G really know their stuff and I have learned something each week. Even if I don't have a question, just connecting with others in real time is a BE boost.

So this is just to encourage everyone to bring their questions and stop by on Mondays. The group has been kind of small and I need all the learning I can get, so bring all those questions I haven't thought of yet.

Come join us and hear about this success!

http://www.radiantrecovery.com/YLD_signup.htm


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**Radiant Ambassadors**

Your community is being led, not just by me, but by each of you. Those of you who love what we do, those of you who struggle with it. We are learning together. And it is this very process that will bring the news to folks who still suffer. Little Sugar Addicts will give us a new way to do that. Check out the web site at www.littlesugaraddicts.com. Browse the press section for neat stuff. And be sure to go to the store for FREE cards you can give out.

Here is how one of our parents is using them:

Thanks again! I got the cards in the mail today and they look great. Good job! My twins want to pass them out at school to their friends and teachers. They put some in their backpacks today even though school doesn't start for 3 more weeks. Now they're anxious to get the book and read it together as a family. It's fun to watch their excitement.
Come find us among the Online Groups
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**David's Corner **


Some of you have been asking *who is David?* I am sorry that perhaps I have not made it clear. I am Kathleen's oldest son. I moved to Albuquerque to run the store. We have a great time with the *family* business. I LOVE working with all of you, to say nothing of working with Mom. We make a great team. She has the vision, and I love numbers, details and people.

Kathleen recently came back from being on the road for 2 weeks. George's Shake and her little mixer was a god send. She stayed with her brother and sister in law. They don't eat breakfast and were moving to a new house. She went off to the store, got some almond milk and just made breakfast right there.

George's continues to be our flagship product. We LOVE it.

I had someone call today to tell us how much she loves her subscription and where is her shake? I am a little late this month getting the shake out the door - getting ready for a vacation to NH with my daughter, brother and dad. She did NOT want to run out. If you haven't tried the subscription, try it. I will send shake or ProEPA right to you automatically each month. You never have to run out.

And soon enough we will have both a whey and a rice edition (which will be kosher) I will keep you posted.



Please send questions and suggestions for items you might like to see in our store. YOU are building our store. Tell me what you want and we will sort it out.

Thanks
David

And of course, we have something for everybody in our store


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**Featured Topic**
Problem Solving for Sugar Sensitive Dilemmas
by Kathleen DesMaisons, Ph.D.

People often ask me how they can sort something out. You say, “Kathleen, I just can’t figure out what to do.” Often you are desperate and feel that you have to know NOW.

Well, first of all, the haziness, that sort of fog and cloudy sense of not knowing is often induced by what you are eating, or by when you are eating. Skip a meal and get dumb. Have sugar and whites, and get foggy and not be able to make sense of anything. These are the times when you push forward trying to find answers and you feel as if you are pushing into cotton. Nothing comes, even if you wrestle for hours.

The first way out, of course, is doing the steps. I know you thought that doing the food would just deal with cravings and your weight, and maybe mood. But there is a huge payoff...you get clarity as well. The fog lifts. Things make sense. Answers come unbidden without thrashing.

But let’s say you have a problem now. You can’t wait for step 7. You need some practical skills today. So let’s do some of those.

Usually, sugar sensitive people munch – this means you say, "Is it this? Is it that? Is it this? Is it that?" You never find anything, you just fret for hours. The task is to go under what appears to be the question and seek a deep answer. Go under the surface, see what it conceals.

When you start you will often think you are too busy to sit with it. Or if you sit, you just munch so why bother. This is different. You take one issue, and you decide to focus on it. You call a sense of clarity. You basically decide to leave the munch and ask the real question. Let me give you an example. I recently had a discussion with a friend who is trying to figure out some major life choices. Should she go to graduate school, what if she gets the new job she was interviewed for, should she stay with the old job, what if she has to move, how will she have enough money? Sound familiar? So I suggested this technique of going under the munching. I asked her what she wanted in her life in 5 years. I asked her to sit with that in stillness for maybe 30 minutes and let all the “stuff” quiet. This is going under the surface. Not the munching, but the real question.

She did. And she discovered that she really, really wants to be an art therapist. You might imagine that all the munching faded away. Once she was clear, the choices were clear. She didn’t have to wait for step 7. And she realized that she had been munching for weeks and had never stopped to ask what was underneath.

Once she was clear, she focused her energy and in 3 days, all those issues were settled. Concentrated focus is a mighty tool but we rarely use it. We dissipate it with sugar or munching. This is a learned skill. We will talk more about it as we go. Practice the first piece.

Warmly, Kathleen

©Kathleen DesMaisons 2004.