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| February 27, 2012 Hi {!firstname_fix} Well, it has been an interesting week. A number of you commented on the forum slowing down or the speed of moderated posts going through. This was a result of my falling and spraining my ankle really badly. It meant that I was working from my bed and ice, LOL, and that meant a lot didn't get done on time. I am getting better, have less pain and more mobility but it certainly was a chastening thing. Of course, this happened the day our rescue puppies arrived so demanded mobilizing a lot of help. David was a trooper with early morning get up and feed time. He took all the little screamers out to do their morning toilette while I made up food. These classes will begin Wednesday, February 29, 2012. Please click on the name of the class and it will take you to the registration page:
These classes will begin Wednesday, March 7, 2012. Please click on the name of the class and it will take you to the registration page:
The class schedule is online. Click here to see what is planned. 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 ** When you pay attention to your body, you are sending it a message that it is valuable. If your body feels valuable, it will talk to you more. ********************************************************************** ** Testimonial of the Week ** Here are some reflections from one community member about the changes experienced since starting the program. I think I've always been depressed. I remember my Mom worrying about it even before I was in first grade. As an adult, I had vicious rages; I was depressed; I was wildly high and outgoing. My mood could swing from manic to depressed within 30 minutes. I never got a diagnosis as bipolar, but DH has, and I am pretty similar to him in many ways. I've taken Prozac for twelve years. When I stop taking the medicine (because I `forget'), I get rapid cycling mood swings. I get absolutely paralyzed and unable to think or act or do anything other than sit and cry and drink and sleep or pass out. I had drug and alcohol problems before I was a teenager. At 21, I stopped taking illegal drugs (I was in the Soviet Union for 2 months and never started up again when I returned.) From then on I just drank and drank and drank. I started SARP in mid-August. Within a week, just by doing breakfast, I felt better -- a lot better. I actually smiled sometimes. I started being almost cheerful at work. I was calmer. I reduced my alcohol consumption. For the two years before SARP, I had been eating adequate protein & lots of veggies, but low carb (Protein Power), and six mini-meals per day, a leftover from my weight-lifting days. So I ate no browns, and artificial sweeteners were OK. I started out by adding refried beans to my breakfast of eggs, meat, and low-carb fruit, and making sure that I had it within the hour. I ventured into a piece of toast, then two. I tried George's shake, and learned that I despise oats. I joined the BF list and listened to suggestions and stayed focused on BF when I was told that I was getting off course. I found what worked and what didn't so far as breakfast foods. I tried to follow directions as best I could. I'd been journaling previously, on the computer. I had to start doing it by hand, and when I used the Your Body Speaks format, I started to make more connections between food and mood than ever before. One newsletter told me not to be a drama puppy. I remember that as a turning point. I started to get over myself, to stop acting up, to just sort of do what I was supposed to be doing and have a sense of humor about me most of the time. Then came the time to start Step 3. I couldn't move alcohol to meals. I was drinking about 10-12 units of alcohol per day before SARP (I blacked out every night), then about 6 units per day after I started having a program breakfast, and 24-30 units per day on the weekends. So I joined the recovery list. I tried to listen and follow directions there, even though I was really mush-brained and spazzing out and generally a mess. Kathleen tried to talk me into detox treatment, then to help me taper, but I blew it, then I just quit cold-turkey and gave Kathleen and Gretel fits for five days. For the first 30 days of not drinking I slept constantly. It was really interfering with life. I felt like s__t, mentally and physically. I was reluctantly going to AA but it sure wasn't working very well. The recovery list was my true meeting and support. I clung to it by my fingernails. I prayed to God and I read the Big Book. I worked Step 3 as best I could. I tried to eat bananas (blech!). I grew attached to having a candy bar at lunch every day. I occasionally binged on sweets in the evening or on the weekends. This was roughly how the month of October went. As soon as I got 30 days sober I fell apart. I had a consult with Kathleen around that time. I took out that lunchtime candy bar and the whole thing unraveled. Who knew that a candy bar could be a lynch pin? I binged. I drank. I didn't journal. I skipped some breakfasts. But the funny thing was that I didn't drink hard like before. I usually had 2-4 drinks and then didn't want any more. Many nights I didn't want to drink at all. And that was basically how November and December went. I was sort of in limbo, neither healing nor returning to the full extent of my addiction to alcohol. On January 3rd I dug my heels in and began to work hard. Since then I have only recorded one food binge and no alcohol. I occasionally have a sweet after a meal, but there's no pattern to it. My step 3 is pretty solid, and if it's in place all day long, I `get' to have 1 oz. of potato. I take the vitamins every day and eat very little whites, so I'm doing well, sort of Steps 3-5 all at once but gradually and mainly focused on Step 3. I feel better emotionally than I ever remember feeling in my whole life. More steady, less mood swings, hardly any violent rages, less vicious depressions. I often feel happy, calm, centered, content, all kinds of nice feelings. SARP has turned me into a miracle poster child for the program. The difference from six months ago is compelling. It is a simple program but it's not easy. It's easier if you go slow and take your time on each step. It's well worth it to cultivate the patience that this requires. I have no idea if I will ever do Step 6. The thought of taking coverts out really makes me nuts. Perhaps that will change in time. I wish my DH could experience this. I wish everyone could experience this. I hope you are experiencing this. ********************************************************************** ** Radiant Ambassadors **  We have had a new person posting on the forum saying that she found RR after researching sugar addiction on the internet. She then checked out the reviews of Potatoes not Prozac on Amazon. On the strength of the wonderful Amazon reviews she bought Potatoes not Prozac from a bookstore on her way home and is now talking about breakfast! So it looks like putting book reviews up on Amazon DOES work after all! Feel free to add your review of Potatoes not Prozac, Sugar Addicts Recovery Program, Your Last Diet and Little Sugar Addicts on Amazon. It's quite straightforward to do and you don't have to write a book. You never know quite who will be googling sugar addiction and finding out about Radiant Recovery next! Selena selenas@blueyonder.co.uk Come join us if you are excited about spreading the news. ********************************************************************** ** How I Found Radiant Recovery ** I am in Castlewood, VA. I am again starting on Step 1 and I found the program after one of my coworkers suggested Potatoes Not Prozac to me. I hope to stay with the program this time by learning more about the resources available and taking some classes. Donna ********************************************************************** ** Radiant Recovery Store ** David manages the Radiant Recovery Store. He is also Kathleen's oldest son.  Here is a heads up for all you new people. Make sure to get a copy of our CD, The Theory and Practice of Radiant Recovery. This set is the complete audio resource for learning about the program. And it has things in it that are not in the book. Get it, put it on your ipod, listen to it in the car, it REALLY makes a difference. Please send questions and suggestions. I love hearing from you and truly want to help you do your program better. ********************************************************************** ** Radiant Kitchen ** I just love green beans, they have to be my favorite vegetable. Hope you enjoy them, too! Sesame Green Beans
For more great program-friendly recipes, check out our cookbook in the store and visit our online Radiant Recipes site. ********************************************************************** ** Radiant YLD ** Last night in the chat, YLD, we were doing book study, and we were looking at this paragraph. (page 35) The key to success with this program in Your Last Diet! is to go slowly. Going slowly is not generally one of the strong suits of the sugar-sensitive personality. You want to do it all and you want to do it now! This is why you have needed a new diet plan every month. But going fast won't work with this plan. For Your Last Diet! to work, you have to create change at the pace that your body can deal with and accept at its cellular level.Reminded me of how much I love YLD. I'd recommend it to anyone - if you have never been an ounce overweight in your life, it's still full of steps info and discussion that is relevant to us all. Anyway, Going slowly is not generally one of the strong suits of the sugar-sensitive personality. I love this acknowledgement.  I always did, and sometimes still do.  I like to approach things at a hundred miles an hour.... this reminder helps me to look at myself, smile, and be a bit more mindful.I remember that in the beginning I was in a hurry to get to step 7. I ticked all the boxes and didn't realise that living and experiencing the steps was powerful healing for me. My experience was that I thought going slow meant I had to sit on step one for ages. I thought it would take too long time wise and I was Impatient! That was not the case though.  Going slow in the end meant I had to learn a thing or two... how not to rush, how to listen ( in many ways), to communicate, be aware, take my time, just experience lots of things and not just the mechanics of ticking that box off as 'Done.'For Your Last Diet! to work, you have to create change at the pace that your body can deal with and accept at its cellular level. I loved that part, made sense to me. I don't think it did in the beginning . I just couldn't get my head round it. My head was off trying to think step 7 things. But it is making sense now about my body catching up with the rest of me.Can you tell I love meeting up at chat? I really wanted to share that paragraph! Mosaic If you would like to join, come find us here ********************************************************************** ** Radiant Conversations ** We have a new portal for the Conversations program. Come check it out here. Of course we will be talking about self esteem at conversations chat. Please make sure you come. I think it will be an amazing conversation this week. If you would like to join us, you can do that below. Join YLD Weight Loss Now: click here - $99 Join Conversations 2011 Now: click here - $99 Join Both YLD and Conversations Now: click here - $149 Current YLD members wish to Upgrade to Both, click here - $49 Current YLD members who wish to Transfer to Conversations 2011 Only can do so for a $14.99 admin fee: click here If you are not a member, come and join us if you want to be a part of the latest and greatest or just have some plain ol' fun! ********************************************************************** ** Our Online Groups ** On our Radiant Fitness group we talk about how doing the food can support our fitness program and vice versa. Some favorite topics are what to eat when doing intensive exercise when all that's out there commercially are sugar filled products. We also talk about what to eat before and after morning workouts, and what to do for those folks whose training program requires a twice a day workout. We have runners walkers, bikers, dancers, aerobicizers, yogis, and many more types of exercise enthusiasts on the list. One of the neat things on the list is people who are recovering from exercise addiction who are learning how to work exercise back in their life in a healthy way. If any of this fits you, well, come on over and join in. **********************************************************************
**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. Thanks for reading! If you know someone who could benefit from this, feel free to forward it to them. Not a subscriber yet? Like what you have read? Sign up to get future issues delivered straight to you: http://www.radiantrecovery.com Until next time!
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. ©2012 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/weeklynewsletter |
Aspergers and Sugar Sensitivity (2 weeks)
