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We have a master community email list. It is nice place to get started if you are new to the community or are coming back and are wondering
what to do. Introduce yourself and ask for help. Or just listen. We won't mind. The community is made up of a huge number of introverts which means LISTENING is held in high esteem. We will direct you to the right spot for your questions. It's fine if you know nothing, just stop in and you will be welcomed Join it now.
GROUPS
The groups list is up on the web site. Just sign up for the group you would like to join. Read about the group before you ask to join. If you are starting or returning, join the Step One list. Don't join Step One and Step Two and Step Three all at the same time. If you. have any trouble joining, send me an email at kathleen@radiantrecoverycom and we will get you all set.
CLASSES
I am offering a 28 day rehab class for people who are needing support in crawling out of dopamine depletion mode. This next session will start on June 30th. Totally flexible times, different modes of learning, very affordable and really fun.
You can read about it here:
JOIN US ON FACEBOOK
If you prefer talking on Facebook, come over to our group there. Radiant Recovery®,.
WORKING WITH KATHLEEN
People have been asking for a long time how they might be able to work with me directly. We wanted to set up something that was accessible and affordable so we designed a system of coaching that seems to be working well. If you are serious about enhancing your program and would like to have ongoing coaching, this might be a good option. Support is provided in a small group with people who are looking at similar
concerns. I am in each coaching group. This is not a class but is a process to support your progress.The process includes peer support with my guidance and direction.
I also provide individual one on one intensive coaching called Signature Coaching. I can help you step out of the craziness of sugar addiction, return to steadiness and clarity after slipping away, slow down and focus on your recovery, or deepen a steady rhythm of recovery. This particular option is especially helpful if you did the steps a while ago and then kinda meandered away. Or if you are facing some intense times and would. like skillful
support.
Signature coaching offers several options. Most people do a 3 month process that includes doing an in-depth assessment of where you are in the process, designing an individual plan for you and then talking with me once a week via phone or Zoom to work on your progress. You will learn to do an efficient journal and to identify
your strengths and challenges. Other people chose to do a month long intensive to get a sense of whether the process is suited to their style. And some people continue to work beyond the initial 3 months in special arrangements we work out for their budget and progress. All signature coaching starts with an initial assessment meeting at no charge to you. This time allows us to collaborate on the best
way to work with your food and style.
This is the way to step out of feeling overwhelmed with where to start and what to do. Because it is so individualized, we can work on what is right for you at this point in your journey. People tell me that coaching
helps them feel safe and focused. We work with your style, your rhythm. This is a unique opportunity to release your fear and let go of shame.The guidance can shorten and ease your process so that in 3 months you will do what you might take a year to do on your own. Signature coaching is also an excellent way to tackle any special needs you may have. like wanting to get sober, or dealing with insulin resistance, or integrating doing the
food with special medical concerns.
And in fact, we have developed some creative personalized plans especially suited to where people are in the program and what will work best to support them.You can go here to learn more about it. Call 505-345-3737 if you would like more information.
Sign up for Signature Coaching
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"Once you have experienced a week of radiance, you will always return to it. Your molecules will remember and want it."
Testimonial for the Week
As of tomorrow I will have written in my journal for 30 days..consistently!! Breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks, emotional and physical feelings are all there. It wasn't always perfect and it wasn't always complete but I DID IT! I honestly wasn't' sure if I would be able to do this so this truly is a
milestone. I've drawn smiley faces along the sides of tomorrow's journal page.
I was inconsistent. I kept a journal - with a day here or there. I started getting more consistent in January and even more so in February. I have not tried to analyze the journal or draw conclusions. That just seemed too overwhelming. Now, I think I can begin to do that some. I am still making the shift away from judging what I'm putting in my mouth. This will be a BIG step for me.
Some tips that have worked for me - I try to put the time I feel things, I especially find it helpful to spend time with the journal first thing in the morning and last thing at night - I think it fortifies my commitment. I like the idea of writing in the journal as "dessert" and have tried to do this. Sometimes I forget but always come back to it. I can say that, for me, the novelty of writing in the journal has worn off a bit and I find myself
getting a complacent. And, who knows, I may "forget" my journal at times. It's all learning.
The bottom line for me is that my healing is a top priority at this time. And, journaling is a big component of the healing. So, here I am doing the journal..meal by meal..day by day.
I know the YOU can do it too. We'll help each other along this path.
All the best,
K
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David, my oldest son, runs our store. He makes sure your orders go out quickly and works with you to find the best things suited to where you are in your process.
Please send questions and suggestions. I love hearing from you and truly want to help you do your program better.
GOOD NEWS! We have a good supple of George's® Restore. For those of you who are new, make sure you try this. Everyone tells us it is the best on the market. I KNOW that the alternative you have been using does not compare (ask me how I know that LOL).Learning that you can have positive feelings from a thousand
things other than food is a wonderful insight.
Thank you for your continued support of Radiant Recovery® and the store. If you have any questions, you are welcome to call me at the office.
Come visit our STORE.
Call 505-345-3737.
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$45.99 Regular Cost
$40.99 Subscriber Cost
Your Last Diet: A Surprise Awaiting
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We have continued to hold chats. Each Wed night we get together and talk about the process of body image and how weight loss [or not] fits in. The Chats used to be serious stuff. People were anxious and overwhelmed by being fat. We no longer feel that way. We have a solution that we know works. Our
task has become simply to help people stay focused on the doing.
Here is a quote from a YLD member:
It has been quite a while since I checked in with you folks. It was not because I wasn't following the plan or had lost interest. Life was unusually stressful from early Dec to the present and I have been putting "stress management" at the top of my agenda. I continue to be absolutely in awe of what Kathleen has discovered. I feel
I have found "my home" - a place where I feel at peace with my body. I weighed myself today for the first time in 2 months - I have lost 10-12 pounds since starting on this journey with you. And, more importantly, I feel so good in my body. I've read with interest what some of you have been saying about the loss of emotional energy around weight loss. This feeling of being OK with where I am now - no, not just OK, but radiant - is incredible.
I did post a instruction sheet for how to get to chat. It is in the files at the YLD email list online. We are working on making it simpler and easier to get in. Please call me at 505-345-3737 if you have any trouble with it.
If you are not a YLD member, come and join us. Click here if you are ready to change your life or just plain ole have fun.
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The C57 Story
Kathleen DesMaisons, Ph.D.
Science has a lot to learn about sugar sensitivity. We can't just go to PubMEd, put 'sugar sensitivity' in the search field and find hundreds or thousands of citations telling us all about our unique bodies and behaviors. But the story is there in the science writings, 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 whys of what we are living.
The Power of the Beta Endorphin Story
I continue to be intrigued by beta-endorphin and it's relationship to the story of sugar sensitivity. I began my relationship with beta-endorphin when I learned two intriguing themes. The 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 mice had a far more potent reaction
than their "dry" brothers and sisters, the DBA/2 mice. Because of this intensity of the response, they really go for the booze. C57s are called alcohol-preferring mice and DBAs are called alcohol-avoiding mice.
As an aside, many other studies have shown that not only do the C57s have a high preference for alcohol, they also love sweet things. In fact, some scientists are working with the concept that a preference for sweet may be an indicator of a risk for alcoholism.
Dr. Gianoulakis and her colleagues have worked with these mice for a long time. They discovered that the C57's and the DBA have very different levels of beta-endorphin. The C57's are born with much lower levels of beta endorphin in their brains, so their brains increase the number of receptor sites to try to catch more of the beta
endorphin molecules. This is called upregulation. Because they have more places to catch the beta-endorphin, they get a bigger response to things that evoke beta-endorphin.
At Risk For Alcoholism
Dr. Gianoulakis extended her study to people and examined a whole group of people who are known to be genetically predisposed to alcohol addiction, the children and grandchildren of alcoholics. Children and grandchildren of alcoholics seem to be the human equivalent of the C57 mice. They, like the mice, have lowered levels of beta-endorphin and a heightened response to things that evoke beta-endorphin like alcohol
and sugars.
As Dr. Gianoulakis was publishing her work, a number of other scientists were noticing that that sucrose quieted pain. They discovered that not only does sucrose quiet physical pain, but also it quiets the pain of loss or social isolation. When a group of baby chicks were taken from their mama, they peeped and peeped. When they were given sugar water, they stopped crying for mama
chicken.
Sugar as a Drug
Dr. Elliott Blass, then at Cornell, wanted to understand how this happens. 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. It is called an endogenous opioid or internal
painkiller. Morphine and heroine are opiate drug, which mean they go and sit in the brain's beta-endorphin receptor sides and get the brain to block pain signals. Sucrose acts like an opioid drug such as morphine or heroin. Not as intensely, but on the same beta-endorphin system.
And, if we return to our friends the C57 and the DBA mice, we discover that 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 we begin to see why some body and brain types seek it, love it and get addicted to it. Now the sugar story and the connection to C57's is well researched through out the scientific literature. But no one in the science lab is yet
making this leap from the C57 profile to the sugar sensitivity profile in people. But the "match" is extraordinary.
How We Are Like Those C57 Mice
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 keeping going back when hey are able to just say no.
As we continue this discussion, let's stop for a moment and take one cautionary note about our attitudes towards the different types of mice (or people). Scientists do not look down upon the little C57s. Nor do they laud the DBA. 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.
Getting Rid of the Negative Spin
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. And then TURN US
LOOSE!
Let me list some of the C57 "facts" I have found with my own research. I can then reflect with you on what it might mean for our healing.
- All C57's regardless of their gender like sweet stuff more than DBAs. A C57 male will prefer sweets more than a DBA female will.
- In a situation called defeat-induced learned submission, the DBAs looked for an escape, while the C57's crouched, became immobile and defensive. Defeat-induced learned submission comes from a release of beta-endorphin
- The defeated mice developed tolerance to the beta-endorphin released in response to defeat.
- C57's get hyperactive with morphine. DBAs do not.
- Caffeine antagonized the hyperactivity in C57's caused by morphine, i.e. when the C57's were given caffeine and then morphine they did not become hyperactive.
- When withdrawing from morphine, C57's become lethargic and passive.
Next week we will Apply the Science to Ourselves
"If you are going to be with a person in a dark hole, take a ladder and a lantern." the steps are the ladder and our humor and perspective is the lantern. You are not alone. Grace is unfolding.
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