Hi {!firstname_fix}
I wish you all a blessed and happy holiday!
Please feel free to pass this week's newsletter on to your friends and family.
Warmly,
Kathleen
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December 22, 2003
** Quote From Kathleen **
The relationship between your food and your quality of life is powerful
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** Testimonial for the Week**
I can see you are scared of what may become of you if you do not seek some drastic form of change in your life. Please hear me out. You asked if it is normal for Radiant Recovery people to be vehemently opposed to GBS. I can't speak for everyone, but I have PLENTY to say regarding the issue.
I had Vertical Banded Gastroplasty 10 1/2 years ago - April 1993. I was about 100 pounds overweight and had been for most of my adult life. I had never been able to lose weight and keep it off. Lose it sure, probably hundreds of pounds over and over and over again, but never for good. Always I would gain it back plus some. The day before I was scheduled to go in for my surgery, there was a television news magazine article about obesity and I sat in my hospital room and wept because I was so grateful I would never have to go through the pain of all that anymore. I COULDN'T HAVE BEEN MORE WRONG! Because, I never learned to heal the cause of my overeating. What I can tell you is that my surgery set me back 10 years! Please read on!
The surgery, no matter which version of it you have, will not change anything except that you will no longer be able to eat anything that is good for you. My pouch was so small - as it was designed to be - that all I could get down with any good results were very refined carbohydrates. I felt like I was starving all the time, so I began to eat lots and lots of these refined carbs - crackers, cookies, you name it, if it was white and contained sugar, I ate it. And I ate all the time in order to feel satisfied. I'm convinced that as a result of this eating behavior, I have carved years off my life - not my waistline. I did initially lose 75 pounds and kept it off for a second or so. (smile) This weight loss occurred between April and September of 1993. By Christmas of that year, I was putting the weight back on! And I continued to do so until I found the Sugar Addicts Total Recovery Program in July of this year. By that time, I was 15 or 20 pounds heavier than when I went in for surgery! With this surgery, you will no longer be able to eat any kind of raw veggies, whole grains or meats that haven't been slow-cooked for hours and then pureed. Not only is the surgery painful, it is SO BAD FOR YOU. I was so undernourished my incision took weeks to heal. I am normally a very healthy robust person, so this was not business as usual for me - not at all. I had this gaping hole in my stomach for weeks afterwards. No fun.
I'm not trying to scare you. This was my actual experience. And the worst part is, it didn't teach me anything I really needed to know. It didn't fix anything. During the 10 years between my surgery and my finding SARP, my cholesteral and my blood pressure both went up, not down, and I am a fairly active person. You have until February before your surgery. Please do yourself a huge favor and just try this program from now until then and see if it doesn't make a huge difference in your life. It has mine and I have only been doing it for about 4 1/2 or 5 months. It is amazing. You will learn what your body needs. You will learn to listen to, hear and respect what it has to say to you. You will realize your weight and eating habits are not your fault - that you are not weak willed or have no self-discipline. You will begin to see there is a safe healthy and sane way out of your pain. Your friend is right! Please listen to her.
Now if someone had come to me and told me any of this at the point you are at now, I wouldn't have listened. But I know several people who have had this surgery and none - not one - have had good results. I can't believe they are still performing it. In my opinion, the medical industry should be sued for negligence for continuing to perform GBS. Be smarter than I would have been and look at this excellent alternative being offered to you. You are so BLESSED to have this information available to you before you make this awful mistake!
The difference between Kathleen's program (SARP) and the surgery is they are the total opposite of each other. One heals you while the other only prolongs and worsens your present condition. I know you are feeling desperate. Believe me, I was way beyond that when I found this program. I had tried everything, because I'd already had the surgery and realized it didn't work either. I thought I was doomed to the life that was making me miserable and killing me, but I saw no way out of it!
This has gotten long. I hope you have read the whole thing. If you think your experience will be different because your surgery is different than mine, please, please ask yourself what you have to lose trying the SARP plan for say 6 months before having the surgery. If you commit yourself to the plan, you will be feeling like a new person in that amount of time, and I'll bet you your health will have improved dramatically. The other benefits from the program are endless.
Good luck. If you have any questions for me at all or if there is anything that isn't clear please don't hesitate to ask me. I am so willing to be of service to you. Good luck with your decision.
Laurie
If you would like to hear Kathleen's thoughts about gastric bypass surgery, click here.
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** Your Last Diet: More Than What You Think**
We are making some changes here. I am going to be following the newsletter featured item and doing a chat on it in YLD. So if I post an article about clutter here, I will talk about the topic in chat. I think YLD is really fun. We LOVE the real time get togethers to exchange ideas. Way more than weight loss!!!!
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** Featured Product **
Consult with Kathleen
This week's featured product is the one, the only, *me* (smile). A number of people have asked me what we do in a consultation so I thought it might be helpful to give you some context. I have worked with some people who call every week to keep their program on track, with moms who are trying to sort out a food plan with their children, with people in early recovery for alcohlism or for very senior people in the program who want to refine and improve the quality. Basically, a consultation offers you my expertise to see things that you cannot. You fill out an assessment, fax it or email it back, fax four days of your food journal and then call from any where in the world. I am yours for an entire hour.
Consult with Kathleen
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** Science Tip **
A Tale of Oats
by Kathleen DesMaisons, Ph.D.
So, what's the scoop on oats? Why do I encourage you to eat oatmeal? Why did I put oatmeal in George's Shake?
Oats are a slow carbohydrate, the best of the browns. They contain a special kind of fiber called soluble fiber. Apple skins, lentils and oats all contain soluble fiber. But the best of oats comes in its health benefits. Oats have been shown to significantly reduce cholesterol (including the overall level, LDL levels, and the ratio of low to high density by 24%), significantly decrease the glycemic response to breakfast cereal (by 50%) and increase immunity function. We have heard of the cholesterol effect, but immune function?
A recent study took a group of immunosupressed mice and compared their response on the introduction of an infective agent when they were given an oat extract. The mice who did not get the oats showed more severe clinical signs of disease and one half of them died. The oat eaters had "minimal" clinical signs and NO deaths. No deaths! No, we aren't mice, but that is a very interesting outcome. Eat oats, drink oatmilk. They are good for you!
Yun, CH, et al. beta-(1-->3, 1-->4) oat glucan enhances resistance to Eimeria vermiformis infection in immunosuppressed mice. Int. J. Parasitol., 1997 Mar;27(3):329-37.
Behall, KM, et al. Effect of beta-glucan level in oat fiber extracts on blood lipids in men and women. J. Am. Coll. Nutr., 1997 Feb;16(1):46-51.
Tappy, L, et al. Effects of breakfast cereals containing various amounts of beta-glucan fibers on plasma glucose and insulin responses in NIDDM subjects. Diabetes Care, 1996 Aug;19(8):831-4.
You can read any of these articles by going to PubMed.
Do a search by author by putting in the last name and initial like this - Panksepp, J.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/PubMed/********************************************************************
** Featured Topic**
Seasons Greetings from Kathleen
Well, it is that time of year. Days are dark early, morning is dark late. Lots of black sky and going inward.
For many years I have tried to reconcile the growing use of “Happy Holidays” as a way to be inclusive. But I have felt a loss of hearing “Merry Christmas” or “Happy Hanukah. I have resented losing the tie to unique celebrations for this time of year.
This week, Naomi sent me a web link to a little clip about miracles. Hanukah is the celebration of a miracle, of sustained light. Light which endured and grew. And I have always felt that Christmas was not about the “stuff” so much as the generosity of heart and seekers being guided by the light to a promise of something new. So this year, I want to share some thoughts about the miracle of healing, the miracle of a light shining in the darkness of addiction and sugar sensitivity.
Every day I receive letters from people saying, “I have looked for this answer for years and years.” “Are you sure this can be true?” “I feel as if my heart is opened up.” “I felt as if you were reading my life story.”
I come to the lists and I hear you talking about new ways of doing your life. Early struggles with breakfast, midtime struggles and joys with meals, playing with potato dreams, taking the risk of letting go of sugar and all that surrounds it. And then there are the stories of the healing, what happens after a year, two years and now five years.
The other shoe does not drop. It does not go away. Baby steps become habits. Habits become a rock solid foundation. Desperation becomes hope. Flapping becomes humor. Isolation becomes connection. Panic becomes commitment. Over and over and over. It is not an accident, it is not an isolated personal experience, it is what happens when we do the food and we do the process.
Ten years ago, I took everything I had and laid it on the line because of my passionate belief in this program. I felt it was a light of healing risking all of me for. It is. But today I want to share what has become of that light. Here is a little story to show you.
Each morning, before the sun is up, I sit and meditate. I light one little candle that illumines a picture of the one who guides me, and a little image of a rabbit with a bowl with two eggs in it. The rabbit represents me coming with my little offering. It is a very simple ritual. This week was a VERY dark time in my life. A dear friend sent me a little tea candleholder. She didn’t “know” anything about what I was going through. It was a gesture of the season. It holds six candles. Hm, I thought, let’s use this one in the morning. I lit all the candles and the whole room was lit up. I could SEE everything. The rabbit, the eggs, the whole picture. Not just a dim image, but a bright reminder of why I do all this.
One person brings a little light. Six make more. And as we grow from ten to a hundred to a thousand to ten thousand to the thirty thousand who receive this newsletter, we are creating a light of healing. Do not think this is just your story. If you are here, if you are receiving this newsletter, you are linked to something way more than just you.
It is like the candles of Hanukah. One becomes many and keeps burning. And when the lights are burning, we can see in the darkness. So, I would like to invite you to take a little time. Give thanks for your commitment, for the connection that sustains us. Give thanks for the process that guides me to guide you. Give thanks for the lonely, isolated person in Ogden, Utah who found the book in a used book bin and came on line to meet us.
From the bottom of my heart, I give thanks for you all. Your candle is lighting another.
I wish you the deepest blessings of the season.
Kathleen