|
|
|
|
June 27, 2016 Hi {!firstname_fix} Well, I think many of us are still reeling from the Brexit vote in the UK and the continuing politics here in the US. Those of you who have been around for a while know that generally speaking I do not get into the whole issue of politics per se. But I think these events of the last month have rocked us, and remembering how we handle *big* change is part of what our healing is all about. For those of us who are sugar addicts, our way of coping with change at this level was generally to zone out with using comfort foods or things to close down scary feelings. And not that we are committing not to do that, we are challenged into finding other ways. I have spent the last 2 days clearing and cleaning. David and I tackled one of the *sheds* - the one with old half-full cans of paint, supplies that were not put away by workers properly, tarps not folded, cans full of something not marked. The shed had spider webs and unknown other scary things living in it. David pulled stuff out, lifted heavy unknown buckets of things, took old paint cans to the chemical recycle place. I sorted and organized. Some will go to the flea market, some got tossed, some to free cycle, some to Craig's list and some back into the shed, cleaned up and clearly marked. Then I came in and tackled books. I am left with the books I love and use, the books that are the foundation of our classes and our knowledge base. They have all been sorted, dusted and organized by topic. The bookshelves have been cleaned and are joyfully singing about *holding* our knowledge. The rest of the books will be shared, sold or given away. What it has done is make me realize that if you don't know what you have or you don't know where it is, then you are discounting its value. It has been humbling. It has taken several rounds, layers perhaps, to get down to the core of what is important. But I feel really good about it. These classes will begin Wednesday, June 29, 2016. Please Signup and it will take you to the registration page:
This class will begin Wednesday, July 6, 2016. Please Signup and it will take you to the registration page:
Check the class list page for more information on how the classes work. See the the Class Schedule here. Be sure to visit our Radiant Recovery website and Community Forum regularly. Warmly, Kathleen **********************************************************************
**Quote From Kathleen**You will be thrilled and excited when you master the moods that have haunted you for so long. **********************************************************************
**Testimonial of the Week**I've just been to a 3-hour stress "course." The man who led it is very widely read and has read PnP in Danish along with many other books. Knows a lot about kinetic energy and pressure points, among other things. One of the things he talked about was that diet is a factor in being able to or not being able to handle stress. He also did something extremely interesting. He showed a little strength test where he asked a man to hold his arm out from his side at shoulder length and then he (the leader) stood behind him and tried to push the man's arm down with two fingers. Of course, he couldn't do it. Then the man ate two sugar cubes and waited a couple minutes. Then he did the strength test again and he could easily push the man's arm down with two fingers!!!! I went home and tried it on my kids--I didn't feed them sugar cubes, but they have been having a couple of pieces of candy after their meal--they are only on step 1. Sure enough, it worked! They thought that was a great hoot. I figure this is a building block for "the buy-in." The oldest son then ran around the block. When he came back, he was already stronger. Took the dog for a walk, and basically was "strong" again when he came back. The younger son wandered around the house eating carrot sticks and regained his "strength" that way. Interesting stuff! Beth **********************************************************************
**Interesting Bits of Science**I have been reading a number of citations for the Blood Sugar Class and came across something that I thought was pretty intriguing. This was published in 1994 in the Journal of European Pharmacology and observed differences in brain dopamine receptor function in DBA and C57 mouse strains. The C57s showed more receptors in the limbic system (the area of emotions) which suggests that the C57s were producing less dopamine. They refer to *low synaptic dopamine activity* in the brains of the C57s. A second study published earlier in 1990 in Neuroscience Biobehavior talks about the differences in the adaptation of the brain dopamine system to stress. C57s get hypersensitive and then show a *marked decrease of spontaneous-climbing behavior.* What does this suggest for us? Think of us as human C57s - we overreact...we are drama puppies, hypersensitive and then we sits and reads or we opt out. We turn to alcohol (something the mice do) or sugar (don't think that has been studied in the mice). Anyway, this is simply fun to do Sunday Afternoon quarterbacking to explain why we are the way we are, LOL. Eur J Pharmacol. 1994 Nov 15;269(3):349-64. Genotypic differences in brain dopamine receptor function in the DBA/2J and C57BL/6J inbred mouse strains. Ng GY1, O'Dowd BF, George SR. Neurosci Biobehav Rev. 1990 Winter;14(4):523-8. Role of genotype in the adaptation of the brain dopamine system to stress. Puglisi-Allegra S1, Kempf E, Cabib S. **********************************************************************
**Notes from the Forum **In Response To: Gaining weight Hi Manda Loving your outlook on things.  I put on weight steadily till end of step three. Then I steadied. Actually a useful experience, as it was like little body signposts as to why and wherefores for me... so I can use everything I have ever learnt ..... and yes no experience ever wasted as Kathleen says as I have all my life and diet experiences behind me as well  I arrived doing low carb, and in my case I ate too much brown, too much protein and everything else! LOL And the other amazing thing has been learning how much - for me - my beta endorphin ties in with all this and how a little movement helps with that part so much. Looking after my BE means I can listen for satisfied and content. (that last bit was a reminder to myself, btw,  having discussed movement in chat last week LOL)Speaking of which, have you thought of YLD? YLD chat is a great reinforcer to what we learn about ourselves. I do love the YLD book. One of those just written for me things. Mosaic **********************************************************************
**Radiant Recovery® Store**Some exciting news. The Hoof Alive® owner was in town and got us all excited about restocking the product. We decided to carry the smaller size ones that are less expensive and can be carried in your bag or car.
We talked to him about making a doggie product. He is on it, but in the meantime, put Hoof Alive on your dog's pads for great pad health. Please send questions and suggestions. I love hearing from you and truly want to help you do your program better. **********************************************************************
**Radiant Kitchen**
In another bowl mix together oat milk, eggs and butter. Add wet ingredients to dry and cook in waffle iron.
**********************************************************************
**Radiant Your Last Diet**I was reminded of my dieting history, which in its later years turned into a vicious circle of trying to lose weight with a very low-calorie liquid diet. I had forgotten what a miserable and painful existence that was! Now, what I LOVE about Your Last Diet is that it is a process that means you will NEVER diet again. The program heals the reasons why you are overweight. It walks you through the process to lose weight permanently and totally stop the pattern of yo-yo dieting. My goodness, what a joy. Eating real food, I love to eat and still lose weight.....and feel amazing in the process, I couldn’t be happier! Steph x If you would like to join us in YLD, come find us here **********************************************************************
**Radiant Living**I think since it is summer we need to be talking about play again (smile)...a summer play list is in the works. Bring your ideas. If you would like to join us in Radiant Living, come find us here **********************************************************************
**Finding The Program**Kathleen DesMaisons, Ph.D.
When I was looking for answers to why my food program worked so well, I started asking questions. Lots and lots of questions. Yes, there were striking patterns in the stories. And then I went to the scientific literature. I looked in many different places: alcoholism, nutrition, pharmacology, psychology, endocrinology and psychiatry. I didn't have a “field” to describe what I was thinking, so I poked around in everyone else's. I turned up some intriguing findings. There seemed to be three core issues which fit what I was seeing in the clients: volatile blood sugar reactions (known as carbohydrate sensitivity), low levels of the brain chemical serotonin, and low levels of the brain chemical beta-endorphin. When I laid out the symptoms and behaviors associated with these, I was floored at how closely they matched the patterns I saw in my clients and myself. I imagine a three-legged stool with blood sugar (BS), serotonin (5HT) and beta-endorphin (BE) acting as each leg. If there were a deficit in any or all of the Legs, the stool would be off balance and wouldn't work well. Sugar sensitivity is the name I picked for the top of the stool. Each person seemed to have different deficits in each leg of the stool. Sugar-sensitive people with low levels of serotonin would be depressed and impulsive, those with deficits in blood sugar would be volatile and moody, and people with low beta-endorphin would have low self esteem, feel socially isolated and have a very low tolerance for painful situations. People with deficits in more than one area would take on those expanded symptoms. There were powerful correlates with dietary habits as well. The BS's would tend to skip meals, forget breakfast and eat erratically. They would fall off the cliff and grab anything in desperation. The 5HT's would be drawn to bread and pasta, comfort foods. They tended to be binge eaters or compulsive eaters and often struggled with their weight. The BE's were hard-line sugar and alcohol lovers. These were the ones who played with the edge, flirting with danger and squeaking by. They were the miracle workers who pushed deadlines and squeaked by. And there were thousands and thousands who were all three. My own clients were an incredible mix of all three. Highly complex, dramatic, creative, smart, intuitive, sensitive, warm and caring. And underneath, always in huge pain because they felt powerless to “just say no.” I created a nutritional intervention to treat sugar sensitivity. We called it a food plan. It was simple, very straightforward and easy to understand. Eat regularly, have protein with every meal. Eat brown things instead of white things, go off of sugar and have a potato before bed. Very simple, yet profoundly elegant and scientifically intentional. The food plan could smooth out the volatility of the blood sugar response, raise the serotonin levels, and stop the beta-endorphin priming and enhance beta-endorphin functioning. The same simple program covered all the sugar sensitive bases. And because the program was individually tailored, it reinforced positive behavioral changes. As people started to talk with one another, we discovered that the very same themes were indeed constant for almost everyone. While sugar sensitivity seems to be a reasonable explanation for why we behave the way we do, we can't just go to PubMed, put in “sugar sensitivity” and find hundreds or thousands of citations telling us all about our unique bodies and behaviors. But the story is there, encoded in unexpected places and in unexpected ways. If we listen and watch our own stories, we can go back to the literature and better understand the why of what we are living. The beta-endorphin story first came from the work of Dr. Christine Gianoulakis at McGill University. She noticed that two different strains of mice responded to the effects of alcohol in very different ways. The C57GL/6 strain of mice had a far more potent reaction to drinking than their “dry” brothers and sisters, the DBA/2 mice. Dr. Gianoulakis and her colleagues had worked with these mice for a long time in many studies. They discovered that the C57's and the DBA's have very different levels of beta-endorphin. The C57's are born with much lower levels of BE. To compensate for this, their brains increase the number of BE receptor sites, called upregulation, which caused a bigger response to things which evoke beta-endorphin. Alcohol and sugar both evoke a beta-endorphin response. The C57's can be thought of as mice waiting to be alcoholic. I would call them sugar-sensitive mice. Dr. Gianoulakis extended her study to people and discovered a whole group of people who were genetically predisposed to alcohol addiction. The children and grandchildren of alcoholics seem to be the human equivalent of the C57 mice. They were predisposed to abusing alcohol and becoming addicted to it. I have found that this same group tends to be very drawn to the addictive use of sugars and white flour products. As Dr. Gianoulakis was publishing her work, a number of other scientists were noticing that the C57's also preferred the taste of sweet things far more than their buds, the DBAs. Some of them found that sucrose quieted pain. Others discovered that not only does sucrose quiet physical pain, but also it quiets the pain of loss or social isolation. The C57's (the sugar-sensitive mice) and the DBA (the normal mice) had very different responses to sugars and alcohol. Dr. Elliott Blass, then at Cornell, wanted to understand how this happened. How could sugar act like a drug. He did some experiments and showed that sucrose cut physical and emotional pain by evoking the brain's own beta-endorphin. Beta-endorphin is the body's natural painkiller. Sucrose acts like an opioid drug such as morphine or heroin. Not as intensely, but on the same beta-endorphin system. The C57s have a 35 times more powerful reaction to morphine than do the DBAs. Think of that. Insert sugar in the place of morphine, and you will begin to see why some body and brain types seek it, love it and get addicted to it. The little C57 mice give us a lot of ideas about why we behave the way we do. The scientists have not started thinking of the C57's as sugar sensitive, but those of us who are doing this program can suggest this leap from the C57 profile to the people profile. The “match” is extraordinary. If we start thinking of ourselves as little C57 mice, we can have LOTS of clues about why we act the way we do. And we can start understanding why our DBA friends cannot in any way understand why we keep going back when they are able to just say no. As we continue this discussion, let's stop for a moment and take one cautionary note. Scientists do not trash the little C57's. Nor do they laud the DBA's. They simply know that they are two very distinct strains with different body chemistries. If they wish to look at the effect of a given intervention and want to see the differences in different body types, they order both kinds of mice. Their “dispassion” about types of mice can comfort us in our journey to healing. So, we can work on taking the negative judgment and shame off of the C57 way of life. Our first step is understanding. As we get how this works, we can start making choices for healing. **********************************************************************
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. Mosaic contributes to the Notes from the Forum column. ©2016 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://radiantrecovery.com/learn/newsletter/ |
