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November 14, 2016 Hi {!firstname_fix} I got back to Boston on Nov. 8 after Euroranch. It has been a very hard week for me. I have spent it being quiet simply because I have no words to capture the depth of the feelings I have been experiencing. I was thinking about the nasty mail I got after that newsletter when I simply said that I truly admired Michele Obama. And how many people flounced out of the community because I was speaking about *politics* rather than food. I have been thinking about what to say in this newsletter. I think we are living in a time of profound change, change that is way bigger than an election. I believe it is like a rumble in West Side Story where the forces of light and the forces of fear are rattling their swords. And what I absolutely know is that if I am in addiction, I will be in fear. My brain will not be able to hold to my center, my faith and my commitment to show up on the side of transformation. And for me, at this point in my recovery, I know this means paying attention to my food in a very careful way. I need to have enough, on time. I need to have food that nourishes and holds me. Snacks aren't going to cut it. And yes, I will make fruit cobbler so the house smells like roasting pork chops and warm dessert. In my cognitive brain, making warm Sunday dinner seems like a tiny little thing in the face of all the feelings. But I am stacking things that give me comfort. I cleaned the refrigerator. I vacuumed. I sat with the dogs on the bed and worked on my book. I went to a meeting and connected with people I deeply care about. In an hour or so, we will winterize the pump for the well, finishing up an eight year project to bring water to my land. Each act soothes my spirit. And the accumulation of them helps me stay centered on the fact that grace is unfolding and we are not alone. These classes will begin Wednesday, November 16, 2016. Please Signup and it will take you to the registration page:
This class will begin Wednesday, November 25, 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**Your cells will ALWAYS remember your touch of radiance. It is not like you have to find it. It is already there. You came in with it. Your food covered it. But it is waiting. **********************************************************************
**Testimonial of the Week**That's funny (in the strange way, not the haha way) I felt RR would make me less free when I first started. That was a big part of my resistance. But guess what? I *gained* freedom instead. No more fighting the urge to binge or giving in and feeling awful. No more hating myself for being fat or crabby. No more hiding half a sheet cake in my closet and *having* to pick at it all day or buying something at the store and scarfing it down in the back of the parking lot - praying no one would drive by and see me. No more ordering two sodas at McDonalds and throwing one away so the person waiting on me wouldn't know it was all for me. No more going out with friends or to a gathering and concentrating on the sweets instead of enjoying the fun. No more depression. No more mood swings. No more feeling as if something is missing - and never finding out what it is. No more hating myself. Breakfast is the first step to that freedom. And we can move slowly so we don't have to be afraid of what lies ahead. Carrie **********************************************************************
**Notes from the Forum **For a person who does not like changes, I am getting a proper change workout. Think Maddie is going to choose to come home after uni in June, she will either seek work or is also thinking of an MSC... to be decided!! That's pretty exciting, three years went by jolly quick. My first thought was my dinner at 6 pm and if she is working my dinners will be upset LOL... will LOVE having her at home but what a change it will be ... for all of us, and such a wrench for M disbanding her student house ;( Having a retired DH has gone so much better than I imagined. Last year, if I am honest, went by in so much of a daze - it was all organising something or clearing or deciding. Seems more leisurely now. I realise we are both very introverted which is to our advantage. I go off to work, he likes a 'to do' list which gets me out of doing the washing, and we bumble about doing our own individual things till tea time when we are pleased to see each other again. The kitchen finished with the installation of a door yesterday, which involved new Man-tools and saws and a new screwdriver that I can hardly lift which has a spotlight (DH is happy). Now we can think of the dining room but we are waiting till after next hols to start. I have been making a birthday cake for Maddie. Ironic as I won't eat it and she hates icing and so does everyone else in my family. But she wanted one for her 21st for her friends/bd party and so I made her childhood teddy bears tea party as requested. It really woke something up in me. NOT sugar paste, don't worry! But I really want to do something with clay, throw a pot or something. I found the modelling soothing. I think I have a small artistic talent that I would like to play at finding. I'm going to look for some night school pottery or something. I thought, for less than a second, "Oh, no, 21st birthday cake or champagne or anything." Then I thought, "Daft so and so, didn't at Charlie's either! And I won't miss it." We go to see her on her actual birthday Tues and she is taking us round town and then in the evening to Giraffe (great restaurant for me). I commissioned a cushion from my cousin for her birthday. She has a small business making cushions and craft whatnots. Its made of my grandmother's embroideries, tatting, crochet and bits all appliqued on... it arrived today and I haven't seen it yet, I only know its got orange in it as it's her fave colour. So excited for M to unwrap it! We saw a small ray of sunshine today. That made me feel bright. I have a renewed faith in my exercises lately. I am pleased to say my weight is steady for a year now - well I go up and down the same 4 lb that I think is my maintenance range.... am going to do my exercise more now - which will mean me having to have some stamina the amount of walking we have planned. Am very ready for the break, if not a rest :) mosaic **********************************************************************
**Radiant Recovery® Store**I thought it would help you to understand more about why we carry the products we have in the store. As many of you know, George’s® Restore is our flagship product. In 1998 just when Potatoes not Prozac was being published I read a small book by a Dr. Michael Colgan called The Right Protein for Muscle and Strength. It was the clearest description of how protein works in creating muscle I had every read. I still go back to this as a reference tool. One of the things Colgan shared is a table of the Biological Value (BV) of common proteins. I found it fascinating.
Now, as you decide what products to use, often times you will go with what seems to be the least expensive. What you may not realize is that most protein powder products are actually mostly whey concentrates or caseins because they are way cheaper. When I was trying to find a good protein powder, I was extremely frustrated because so many of the products are full of sugars, sweeteners and lower-grade proteins. It started me on a journey of finding the optimism mix for taste, maximum BV and health. George's® Restore is the result of years of my own exploration to make the best product on the market. Those of you who have had it know how great it tastes, but I suspect you haven't really known the effect is has on your body. Please send questions and suggestions. I love hearing from you and truly want to help you do your program better. **********************************************************************
**Radiant Kitchen**There’s a fruit cobbler recipe I have made for years that I made sugar-free tonight for the first time. It’s great! I used apples and strawberries, but you can use anything, really. If you’re using something like canned peaches (in natural fruit juice of course), you can use it as is. Tonight I sautéed apple slices in a bit of butter and cinnamon and nutmeg until they were a bit soft. Then added a handful of strawberries, sliced. Put fruit in the bottom of a glass pie dish. In a bowl, cream 1/2 cup butter and about 2/3 cup apple butter. Add 1 egg, 1 cup Kathleen's Baking Mix and mix well. Glop this on top of the fruit in several places and spread to cover. Bake at 350 degrees fahrenheit for about a half an hour. Delicious with whipped cream. Kathleen's Baking Mix
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**Radiant Your Last Diet**I have been thinking a lot about YLD. I realize that YLD is no longer just about weight loss. It has become our *cutting edge*. It’s funny. We started with all these people desperate not to be fat. And we have ended up with this group of funny, loving, committed folks who are losing weight but no longer fret about it. They are so excited to be thinking about radiance and living in awareness of the big Alpha Endorphin, diets seems sort of silly. What an amazing transition. I wish every single one of you could hear what is happening. Click here if you are ready to change your life or just plain ole have fun. And remember that I haven’t gotten around to changing the signup page. It still sounds like weight loss, LOL.I don’t know yet how to describe this. Feel fat? Want to transform? Want to get funny and happy and motivated? Oh yah, and lose weight too. I mean, what kind of marketing is that! If you would like to join us in YLD, come find us here **********************************************************************
**Radiant Living**Radiant living…what is radiant living. I think the short answer is how we choose to live in the light, how not to get sucked into darkness or fear or despair. I imagine we will be having some conversations of comfort. If you would like to join us in Radiant Living, come find us here **********************************************************************
*Why You Are Having a Hard Time **Kathleen DesMaisons, Ph.D.
I wrote this article quite a while ago - after the tsunami. I just read that there was an earthquake and tsunami in New Zealand. So the earth is trembling as well. I think this past week has been an emotional tsunami for many of us. Things as they were are simply not going to be the same. And I am not referring to an election, but to a way of being in the world. This time of not having answers, not knowing how to reconcile what seem to be irreconcilable differences. I come back to doing the food. It is my anchor. We have this and we can work with it. The past couple of weeks have been difficult. I went out to Florida for a family crisis. Big depression clobbered someone I love very much. I came back and found that a whole number of folks on my leadership team were having a really hard time. At first blush it seemed as if it were simply coincidental... timing maybe, post Christmas stress, or winter fatigue or something like that. But as I sat and thought about it, I realized that this is way deeper than personal stumbling. I began to hear the same story, spoken in different ways, and the more I listened the more I began to sense that something bigger is happening. The tsunami was caused by an earthquake. But really it was a huge shift in the surface of the earth - a planetary shift that actually changed the earth's axis. This was a monumental event. The energy flooded, literally, and wiped away everything that had been. You held on for dear life or you were swept away. Now, it is funny, but this is the same theme I have been hearing over and over. Nothing that was makes sense. It all feels pointless. Everything I counted on no longer fits. I don't know who I am, I don't know where I belong, I cannot find my center. Too much, too fast and I feel like I am being sucked into a dark hole. Now a medical model will diagnose these feelings as clinical depression. And that same model will prescribe medication. It will identify the situations that precipitated these feelings of darkness. Of course there will be "situations" - a lost job, a move, a promotion, stress at work, no sleep from a new baby, the death of a mother, a son at war, an abusive husband, a lost relationship or all of the above. But we have all had these things all our lives. Why are we stumbling so now? I think the energy shift of the world discombobulated us on a cellular level. Things as they were actually do not exist any longer. Literally, our 'magnetic north" changed and we can't get our bearings. And if we stumble and then our food gets off, we cannot sort it out. It feels so personal. We do not experience it as a major spiritual crisis, it just feels horrible and we feel lost. In last week's chat, I talked about this. I talked about this as a time of awakening. When things no longer fit, we have an opportunity to clear out that stuff, to throw away the stuff that does not fit and to make room for something new. We don't know what that will be yet, it has not emerged. So we have to endure this time of "in between" where the old is gone and the new has not emerged. However can we make sense of this? At the first level, comfort comes with doing the food, doing the program. Not just taking out sugar, that is a tiny part of it. But following instructions, being connected, being patient, rebuilding a solid foundation that cannot be swept away are all part of creating a way to hold what is emerging. This is the time to go back to basics. Literally. Rather than getting caught in how horrible it is, ask for help. Get connected. Trust that this is not just a personal stumble, but that you are part of a great shift. You got thrown off kilter and you can get steady. Get back on track with your food and program. Don't beat yourself up. Last week, I said "If you are going to be with a person in a dark hole, take a ladder and a lantern." (Smile)..the steps are the ladder and our humor and perspective is the lantern. You are not alone. Grace is unfolding. **********************************************************************
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/ |
This is a special class for all you newcomers who want to move on ahead quickly or for those of you who came to the program *already doing everything.* Find out what else is in the steps besides the food. You do not have to second guess anymore!! This particular class is one of our more special classes. If you haven't taken this class, it is one that you will want to catch. Come and find the real treasure of the steps.
This is a class that I generally start mid December. I am thinking it would be a good time to do some reflection on bringing light into the darkness. If you are struggling with the times, or if you are afraid, come join us in this process. It is very healing. There is no charge for this class.
I am starting this class the day after Thanksgiving because I KNOW this is the time of year that *fat terror* raises its powerful little voice. Most often we have just given up this time of year and figured we would do our diet thing on January First. I am thinking that right now is a very good time to reflect on the feelings, and get a head start.
