Well, I am on the road again. This week I am up near Duluth, MN teaching and learning at a week-long institute that the Fond du Lac Tribal council holds each year. I spent last week doing laundry, catching up and shifting gears from Maine to NM. This week is literally half way between. I love this part of the country. In Maine, I learned that the large brand of mosquitoes is not limited to MN. I think they are cousins. UPDATE*****on the Boulder Seminar. As soon as I said we were canceling it you all wrote to say *no, no! we were coming but hadn’t signed up,* LOL. So revise your calendars and come on along. We are going to hold it (smile). Don’t ever say I do not listen. And it's not too late to sign up if you want to now, just click here. We will be just doing one class this week. I have asked a guest team to guide you through the resource center. This is a really fun (and free) class. If you have not taken it, come on over for the Resource Center Tour. I have posted a new class schedule on line. Click here to see what is planned for classes for the rest of the summer. A number of you have asked me how the classes work. Check the class list page for more information on this. The classes are done online with one lesson each day. You do not have to be at your computer at any set time. 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. Please feel free to pass this week's newsletter on to your friends and family. Don't forget to let me know what you like and would like to see me cover. Be sure to visit our Radiant Recovery® website and Community Forum regularly. Warmly, Kathleen **********************************************************************
July 31, 2006 ** Quote From Kathleen **
Learning that you can have positive feelings from a thousand things other than food is a wonderful insight. *********************************************************************
** Testimonial for the Week**
Hi all- It's great to be back. I had an incredible trip! It was a huge adventure. Tons of rain, over 15 miles of hiking in the backcountry, in 3 days. Nothing like busting out my survival skills to reinvigorate my sense of agency and self esteem. I had a great time with my fellow traveller (also my roommate)... we were on the same wavelength all weekend and it felt oh so nice. The food was interesting. I am pleased with how it went. I had to snack much more frequently because it was very very intense. Sometimes two snacks between meals. It was hard to stop hiking when on a roll but as soon as I felt the blood sugar even begin to possibly dip I stopped for a snack. And there weren't any problems! We got some GREAT dehydrated food at the outdoor store near us. They even had dehydrated eggs which turned out to be delicious, esp. with the salsa we brought. Also had dehydrated hummus, beans, and corn. I bought this bread from Whole Foods that was pure rye. It felt so satisfying, and didn't trigger me at all. I am very excited to have found a bread that works for me, in the woods at least! Tuna was also very convenient, as well as trail mix and a few Luna bars. They do have some sugar and I am going to work on creating my own protein bar. I think it will be fun! The trip was a huge success. My body went through a lot, though. Definitely still recovering today. I got hungry for all my meals early - as I figured this out, I went for extra protein because I can feel myself in recovery mode. I may try for some gentle exercise tomorrow (something to work with the stiffness). The ED voice says "Stick to the exercise schedule!" I am going to follow Heather's lead and see how I feel when the time comes. All in all, it's great to be back, and I had a wonderful time away. Today is day 8 of my breakup. I'm doing much better compared to a week ago today! I'm pleased with my attention to self-care, and I've been making a big effort to call and hang out with supportive friends. It makes a huge difference, I haven't felt that alone feeling that I used to experience so often before this solid stage of my recovery. Hugs to everyone. I wish I had time to reply to all the posts! Tina ********************************************************************
**Recipe of the Week**
When I went cherry picking with my kids, I decided to invent a recipe to use up the tart cherries. Hope you like this as much as my kids did. CHERRY BUCKLEBatter:
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**Your Last Diet: More Than What You Think**
As I said last week, we are playing with refinements in YLD. This week I wanted to share a post that Ann Margaret posted on radiantdog (yes, there is a connection, LOL). We were talking about her pup getting a little *prosperous* and what she might do. Here is her reply: Okay Heather and Kathleen, you guys have me laughing now. You know, Mr. Scooter can be quite the little couch potato! Hard to believe, huh? When I left him this morning, he was happily ensconced on my bed, all burrowed into my comforter. I could barely see his little head peeping out, he was so covered in down LOL.OK, so I was laughing and laughing....first of all I love the idea of thinking of YLD as the place for the prosperous. It is a wonderful way to look at what we are doing. Then AM’s note made me laugh because we are so able to care for our dogs and cats, and we struggle so much with ourselves. I think the trick in YLD is helping us regain a sense of humor. You know, diets are so, um, grim. And nasty, LOL. So I want YLD to be a place of laughter and fun. I think this is why I love chats so much. Here we are, a group of wacko people, both fat and thin and in between, getting together once a week to play and learn. Sometimes I can go and work really hard with a new topic and we are very focused and intent on learning something new. Othertimes, we just get goofy. And heaven help us if that coincides with full moon. What I am excited about for fall is creating a structure that really suits the way we best do business. The classes I have been doing for Radiant Recovery taught me that small chunks of info give people a way to really assimilate it. Learning weight-loss skills is hard. There is a lot to it. Way more than just doing a diet thing. I think I underestimated how much there is to learning it. So the new structure will give us a way to get you the material more clearly. This is an exciting challenge. 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. It is not too late to get into the classes if you come right now. ********************************************************* ***********
**David's Corner **
 This will be a quiet week in the store. Our blowout sale was very exciting - makes space for the fall and our new lines. I am going to New Hampshire with Madison for the annual volleyball reunion. My brother and sister will be coming as well as my Dad and his wife. We all go to a campground with a number of other families and play volleyball, volleyball. I look forward to it all year. Kathleen is up in MN so we have recruited a home team in place at the store to serve you. They may not have all the answers right away, but we will all be connected by email. Nothing like a family run business... we take computers to the woods to make sure you are getting what you need. However, we both realized that the art of the business is a little more complex that simply printing out orders and filling boxes. Who else knows the customs rules for the agent in Western Australia, or whether a Z25 or X22 box will work better. Kathleen and I did a debriefing and realized that it is time for us to train a second in the store so in 07 I can leave for 2 weeks instead of 5 days, LOL. In the meantime, be patient and if you have questions this week, email me rather than calling. Please send questions and suggestions. I love hearing from you and truly want to help you do your program better. ********************************************************* ***********
**Our Online Groups**
Hi, my name is Elaine (Elaine in CO) and I am one of the co-liaisons for the radiantrecovery list. When I found the Radiant Recovery program I found hope that I could stop drinking, and miraculously, I actually did stop drinking! I used the support of the people on the radiantrecovery list to help me stop drinking and to stay stopped. My experience is that "Doing the Food" has solved problems big and small, emotional and physical, and opened a door on a new life that is beyond anything I had ever dreamed of. Now it is my absolute pleasure to help others to find the recovery that they seek. Hi I'm Terri Louise (T.L.) volunteer co-liaison for the recovery list. I found the Radiant Recovery program because of depression. I had been treated successfully, but I was always on the lookout for lifestyle modifications I could put in place to keep that downward slide from ever happening again. I never considered drinking to be playing a part in my moods or in the fact my life seemed 'stalled' somehow. Enter RR. I embraced the program and detoxed from all sugars (alcohol=liquid sugar) in February 2001. My life changed dramatically by changing what and when I eat. I slowly embraced the idea that recovery can't happen in isolation. I started posting on the recovery list and I started to face what drinking had meant in my life. Last year I started to attend AA, having been shown by my friends on the recovery list that there is a lot more to recovering from alcoholism than just stopping drinking. The radiantrecovery list was set up as a support for people who have already given up alcohol and/or drugs or who would like to in connection with the Radiant Recovery program. We are a very warm, compassionate and caring group who have known the depths of despair that addiction brings. We are grateful for the understanding Kathleen has provided us, that our addiction is biochemically based, and for the nutritional solution she offers to help us in our recovery. We would love to have you join us. ********************************************************************
**The Broader Role of Serotonin in Healing Sugar Sensitivity** Kathleen DesMaisons, Ph.D. Many of you have found the science of the sugar sensitivity/obesity story uniquely helpful. Learning about serotonin and beta-endorphin has helped to the take the edge off of guilt and self-hatred. This is not about will power or commitment. It is about biochemistry. You know how strongly I feel that if you understand the biochemistry, you can make far more informed choices about what to do to help heal your body. I want to share some more about our friend serotonin. I want to help you better understand what a huge effect it has on us and why. I want you to understand more about the role of exercise in serotonin functioning. We’ll look some more at the science, and we’ll also take a look at some new ideas which are just beginning for me. Serotonin had been implicated in a wide range of physical and emotional problems. Documented studies have shown serotonin to be involved in such things as mood disorders (particularly depression), anxiety disorders, eating disorders, obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), PMS, post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), sleep disorder, sensitivity to pain, migraines and substance abuse. A long list. Sounds familiar, yes? We eat compulsively, we are depressed, we have PMS, we have insomnia, we get anxious, and we act addictively. We know the story. But many of you may not know that these are all linked to serotonin. The serotonin story is everywhere - both literally and figuratively. Not only are the symptomatic manifestations of serotonin imbalance everywhere, serotonin receptor sites are all over our body. They are not just in our brains. They are in our blood, our heart, our lungs, our muscles, our liver, and our kidneys. They are in the placenta and in MAST cells. So you will “feel” low serotonin in very diverse ways. Let’s play with this some. Remember when you have felt depressed. When you feel as if you cannot pick up your arm and move - no energy. When it feels dark throughout your body. Well, serotonin is in the platelets of your blood. Wherever there is blood, there is serotonin. And if it is low you will be affected in many subtle ways. Let’s go through some of these systems and imagine how low levels of serotonin might affect us. Levels in your platelets: Have you ever noticed when you feel depressed that you experience it in your entire body? You feel as if you cannot move your arm, or you simply cannot pick up your leg to go up the stairs? Or you literally feel *dark* all over your body? If serotonin creates a sense of *brightness* in your mood, when you have lower serotonin you will feel darkness. You will feel the darkness where the serotonin is. If it’s in platelets, you will feel dark wherever you have blood. People who have never experienced this simply do not understand when you say *I feel like I cannot move. * The world feels dark. It feels all-pervasive. But think about this - if it’s happening in your blood cells, it IS all pervasive. Your blood cells are dark. Serotonin in your heart: When I started reading about that, I was floored. Think about having a “heavy” heart or feeling as if your heart is dark. Think about grief. When you experience trauma or intense stress, your serotonin levels get depleted. Maybe there is a link here. I certainly can connect to feeling very different heart feelings when my serotonin levels are up. My heart feels light and full. I have always attributed this to something psychological. But I have a hunch that the ole serotonin levels play a part. Serotonin in your lungs: I am struck by the fact that people who have been doing the food plan for a while often say to me, “Kathleen, I feel as if I can catch my breath now.” They do the program; they are rigorous about the protein and the potato in the evening. And the breath changes. We know that meditation increases serotonin levels. Maybe it’s the breathing increasing serotonin levels. Serotonin in your kidneys: We know that serotonin levels are connected to edema. Isn’t that interesting. And serotonin drops before menstruation. And when do we retain water? Why is it when we do the food that we are less bloated? ConnectionsYou know that these are outrageous speculations. But perhaps they really are connections. We don’t “know” this yet from science. But my intuition is that we know it from our sugar sensitive intuition, strong that it is. Connections. This is what this process is about. The connections help me to understand why the change that people experience is so profound.So, hold this idea that serotonin is important. Let’s go back to our basic premise that changing diet can change serotonin levels. Plasma tryptophan (the tryptophan in the blood) is directly related to the amount of protein we eat. The body cannot make its own tryptophan. It comes from protein. Now you know that we have to do some special eating to get the tryptophan from our blood into our brain. The evening potato creates a rise in insulin which takes the other amino acids off to the muscles leaving dear little tryptophan without competition. We have thought of little tryptophan sacrificing himself to the serotonin factory. I usually hold the image of him diving into a vat of some blue liquid and transforming into some sort of gold “stuff” (the serotonin) that gets sent out to the cells. My active imagination seems closer to the process than I thought. There is an enzyme, named tryptophan hydroylase that does the magic of making little tryptophan into serotonin. The enzyme does important work – another key player. Tryptophan hydroylase Now, here is the ringer. This enzyme has an absolute requirement for molecular oxygen. The level of oxygen in the tissues directly influences the rate of serotonin formation. The synthesis rate may be limited by the availability of cofactors such as oxygen…and the tryptophan in the blood. 1. Thats’s the science talking. But it means more oxygen = more serotonin. And how do we get more oxygen? Exercise and breathing. This startling bit of information gives us another clue why exercise helps us feel better. Not only does exercise increase beta-endorphin, it also increases serotonin production. More exercise = more oxygen. More oxygen = more serotonin. Everywhere. Breathe. Exercise.
©Kathleen DesMaisons 2006. Here are the folks who are helping put the newsletter together: Gretel, the liaison for the recovery list and the webmaster puts it all together Naomi, liaison for step 4 gathers the recipes David, who runs the Radiant Recovery® Store talks about what new products we have. 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.htm. ©2006 by 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 and use this attribution: "By Kathleen DesMaisons, Ph.D. of Radiant Recovery®. Please visit Kathleen's website at http://www.radiantrecovery.com for additional resources on sugar sensitivity and healing addiction." Please notify me at kathleen@radiantrecovery.com to let me know where the material will appear. Banner Photograph by Geraint Smith |