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September 3, 2012 Hi {!firstname_fix} I have been trying to figure out where to post my own joy dots. In Conversations Chat we were discussing how the joy dots seem to connect us to a sense of god, higher power, grace, the divine o r simply the spirit of the universe. I have been putting mine in my journal for many months, and then a couple of days ago thought, "Oh wait, this would be wonderful for my blog." So if you haven't visited the blog, do come have a read, would love to have you share. Thank you all for your generosity in donating to Golden Retriever Rescue. I so sincerely appreciate it. And I wanted to introduce you to our newest guy named Bronco. If you have ever watched those hoarder shows on Animal Planet, you will know what animal hoarder means…this guy was with 53 cats and 4 dogs. Only he and one cat survived. My scout said that he was *old and frail* but had been used as a breeder dog. Well, he is just having a blast here. He thinks the two little mini's are beautiful and would like to make babies with them. I explained to him that this is no longer his job, LOL. He is a joy and I am happy to have him. For those of you who are waiting on the back order of George's® Restore...it has been packaged, we are waiting for the final testing to confirm that it is in good order and then it will be on the truck to NM. I will write a lot more next week about the *new, improved formulation* and the exciting news about Kosher certification! I have posted a new class schedule for the fall and am looking forward to doing fun classes with you. This class will begin Wednesday, September 5, 2012. Please click on the name of the class and it will take you to the registration page:
These classes will begin Wednesday, September 12, 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 ** As you keep your journal you can discover that there is a direct correlation between what you are eating and how you are feeling. **********************************************************************
** Testimonial of the Week ** I haven't connected with this list for a while - in terms of sharing my progress. So I just wanted to say hello and give an update :-) Although I have only been doing this program for about 9 1/2 weeks now and I am just tightening up step 2 before moving on to step 3, I have felt some significant progress lately. Between starting an anti-depressant and starting the program, things are looking up! I am beginning to feel back to my old self! And I'm sure by the time I make it through the steps, I will be feeling even better than my old self! This week I had an appointment with my chiropractor (who emphasizes in nutrition) and he announced a significant progress in my health (without knowing about SARP and the medication). He even asked me if I had lost some weight (and I haven't). But then he wanted to start talking about a plan for weight loss. I explained this program to him and told him that I wasn't focusing on weight loss, I was just taking the steps slow and steady and I would eventually lose the weight. He was very impressed that I wasn't trying to accomplish the weight loss so fast like most people do. I am grateful to this program for helping me shift my focus away from the weight loss! This experience confirmed to me that, as we start experiencing little bits of radiance, our countenance changes to the point where people wonder if we have lost weight because we are starting to "radiate", not because we really had lost any weight! I had heard someone talking about this in a post, but didn't realize that I might even experience it 2 1/2 months into the program! Also, a friend of mine who I hadn't seen in a few weeks and who knows I had been struggling, told me yesterday that there was more sparkle in my eyes, that they didn't look so "flat". Wow! Although I was realizing a slow change, it helped me to hear those confirmations from other people, that, yes, I am on the "up and up"! I am seeing how those glimpses of radiance can be felt as we go throughout the steps - and I love it! I can't wait for what is to come! Thanks to you all for your help and encouragement! Now I just need to get myself ready to start step 3! Amy **********************************************************************
** Radiant Ambassadors **  Have you ever told anyone about Radiant Recovery? Deanne shared several of her successes recently - she has given me permission to share it with you too: "I was at a week-long meditation retreat in July and my roomie, myself and a friend were visiting one evening. My roomie offered a 85% cocoa to our friend. I got out my brown rice crackers. I have been with my roomie for over five years at retreats so she knows I won't eat the chocolate. However, our friend did not know about sugar addiction. As I told her about it she said she thinks she might be also. I was shocked because I have known her for five years and never would have guessed. I had taken a PNP book to the retreat to give away (followed your suggestion to buy used online for giveaways), so I got it and gave it to her. She stayed up that night reading 'til midnight and said the next day she so identified with it, particularly about hiding her stash. It was very satisfying to have shared with her. I love the mystery of the process - taking a book to give away and trusting that there will be someone who "shows up" to receive it. Last week I had coffee with two women from my yoga class and took out my rye crackers when they had a muffin. Talked about SS and one of the women also identified with what I was saying. She asked for the name of the book so I took a card and gave it her. So inspiring to share my journey to wellness with her." How amazing is that?! We'd love to hear your stories of sharing Radiant Recovery too! Selena selenas@blueyonder.co.uk Come join us if you are excited about spreading the news. **********************************************************************
** How I Found Radiant Recovery ** Hello All, My name is Jill and I live in Bath, Maine. I am working on step 3. I would like to feel more comfortable using the online groups for support. Right now I read them and get a lot out of them. I have not posted but once and I posted in the wrong place. I had heard of Potatoes not Prozac some time ago but never read it. I recently was turned on to PNP by a health practitioner when she recognized that my body loves sugar. My comment was, "I know, it is on my list of concerns can you help me? Please???" Her answer was Kathleen's book. I am so excited about this program! **********************************************************************
** Radiant Recovery® Store ** David manages the Radiant Recovery® Store. He is also Kathleen's oldest son. Here is a note that Karen sent from England. For those of you who live overseas, we can help. If you have any questions, just email me. My job is to make you happy. Ranch looks great! The store .... well I wanted to share this. I live in England and realised I was about to run out of protein powder. So I ordered from 3 places on the same day thinking one would arrive shortly. Well, the Restore arrived the same day as the protein powder I ordered by phone from a UK store (5 days including a weekend), and the online order of protein powder from a UK site still hasn't arrived. Plus price wise - including shipping - it worked out to be comparable. A huge thumbs up to the store and David. Please send questions and suggestions. I love hearing from you and truly want to help you do your program better. **********************************************************************
** Radiant Kitchen ** Yam Cakes #1 Cook up your sweet potatoes (yams are so much easier to say, but we don’t get true yams), and mush them up. Add some oil (I use coconut oil), and about the same amount of rolled oats as you have of yams. I’ll use a cup of yams as an example. So you take your cup of yams, cup of oats, blurp of oil, and about 1 tsp cinnamon, 1/2 tsp ginger, shredded coconut, and mix them all together. You want it to hold together, and be nice and sticky, so add water if you need to. I then use a scoop, and make little mounds, but flatten them with a fork. Bake at 400* for about 15 to 20 minutes. I freeze these, and take them out as needed…they are yummy cold and yummy hot, and they don’t crumble, and don’t get mushy, and travel well! Using peanut butter instead of the oil is yummy. And I bet you could experiment and use different spices…for variety. Enjoy! Colette Yam Cakes #2 I bake a bunch of large yams all at once, slip them out of the skins, and freeze in 3 Cup containers. (I use sweet potatoes a lot, LOL — not just for yam cakes!) When I’m ready to make yam cakes I thaw a 3-cup container of sweet potato, add a bit of water and warm slightly in the microwave, then mash them. I use a hand held potato masher, but you could use a food processor or whatever suits you. I add 3 cups of quick-cooking rolled oats, 1 cup of Restore protein powder and 1 cup of PB. I also add some more water, about 1/3-1/2 of a cup (I used a total of 1/2 cup of water), to get a sticky, goopy, but partly pourable consistency. Press into a lightly greased 9 X 13 pan and bake at 350 for 45 minutes. Cool and cut into 32 squares. Store in fridge or freezer. My math showed that 5 squares had about a one cup serving of brown and about 19 grams of protein. Elaine in CO For more great program-friendly recipes, check out our cookbook in the store and visit our online Radiant Recipes site. **********************************************************************
** Radiant YLD ** The Weight Loss in Action class is having a wonderful time getting to the nuts and bolts of designing their individual loss plans. It sure is exciting. 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. We do such interesting topics over in the Conversations chat and list. I am making some of those up right now. Usually we discuss what I have posted in the newsletter the weekend before. But sometimes, we are just spontaneous and talk about an issue that is important to the chat members. 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 |
