Mornings are starting to feel like fall. I love this time of year. Every year I plant tomatoes, and every year the dogs find a way to eat them. I have one small fenced place left. Josie sits beside it and cries for them. She is so pathetic that I usually give in to her. Cesar Millan would chastise me, I know, but Josie thinks I am wonderful. And then, I go over to the farmer's market and get wonderful tomatoes that smell like tomatoes, taste like tomatoes and I do not tell the dogs.. Last Saturday, I had freshly brewed decaf, listened to folk music and got special plants for the garden and then got 20 ripe tomatoes. I got fresh basil as well. Tonight I will make pesto and put it on brown rice pasta. Yum! We will be starting these new classes this week: What Else is Embedded in the Steps is our NEW class. Some of you have the CD of the talk I did at ranch and wanted to know if it is worthwhile spending the money for the class. Will there be anything new? This made me smile because any of you who have been around for a while know that there is always some thing new and interesting each time we do it. I have one talk I do for newbies and it is NEVER the same. This is so I do not get bored myself, LOL. This particular class is going to be fun because I have learned so much in listening to you. I thought the steps were about the food. Was I ever wrong. There is this whole other process that happens. This is why we say, in order, slowly. Come learn for yourself. Step 2: Journal Skillful Use is the class that will teach you how to interpret your journal. This class assumes you have been journaling and know the basics. We will share how to make sense of all that great data. Back to Basics 1 is our friendly, caring support class for the fallen ones, LOL. If you have been on step 7 and got into trouble, come on over and get connected. We are funny, we are loving and we are practical. I have posted a new class schedule on line. Click here to see what is planned. 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 ******************************************************************August 28, 2006
** Quote From Kathleen ** One of the real markers for your recovery is to begin to think about your food needs before you get into trouble. *********************************************************************
** Testimonial for the Week**
Lovely to read all your comments! This is a state that was just not possible to imagine before the steps! Another little puzzle solved was about how I used to get such holiday blues on my return from abroad. I have some clever strategies in place right now! Kathleen's advice just edges its way into every corner of life, I still get surprised! Mosaic ********************************************************************
**Recipe of the Week**
The ultimate comfort food straight from the Radiant Recipes cookbook. Macaroni and Cheese Pie
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**Your Last Diet: More Than What You Think**
Those of you who checked the link in last week’s newsletter know that I am thinking of YLD as Your Laughing Diet. I honestly think diets are grim. Who wants that. So we are building a place that is fun and supportive. The skills are huge and the fall classes will be incredible. I have spent the summer revising, fine tuning and beefing up the info for you. You will be able to know why we approach weight loss the way we do. You will understand the theory and then have step by step coaching for every phase. This is the best part, your process will be with others who are in the same place. But you will not only have that level of support, you will also be in a general support group with everyone, so you can hear brand new people and people with eight years of skill talking together. And best of all, you can hear the laughter all over the world. It’s funny, the TV Show is called The Biggest Loser. I think we should call ours The Winners. And if you are not sure what I am talking about, come join us and you will soon. Everything we do is to heal the idea that your life should be defined by what you weigh. If you wanna lose weight, we can do that with you well. But my hope is you will go for something more and discover something you could not have imagined. And don't forget these classes will be starting the week of September 25. Come to chat this week to find out what they will cover, then we will have them up on the classes page for sign up after that: Weight Loss Readiness (2 weeks) Emotional Aspects of Weight Loss ( 1 week) Weight Loss in Action (2 weeks) Stubborn Weight Loss 1 (1 week)(you can read what that means on the YLD list, LOL) 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. ********************************************************* ***********
**David's Corner **
 Well, we are all over in the class being given on the products in the store. What fun is that! I have been learning lots too. I always love to hear the in-depth explanations for why Kathleen has chosen certain items. One thing I really value about the store is our thinking about about what is working for you. Sometimes we try something and you just do not like it so we stop carrying it. And sometimes we try something and you just LOVE it. Right now, I cannot keep copies of the CDs in the store fast enough. My supplier laughs when I call her twice in a week. And I thought I was ordering lots! Here are the best sellers:
Please send questions and suggestions. I love hearing from you and truly want to help you do your program better. ********************************************************* ***********
**Our Online Groups**
The Radiant Journal list is a source of helpful information and support with journaling. On this list we talk about how to get started with the journal, how to start listening to our body and why giving it a voice is so important. We also discuss how to use the journal for detective work in our program and, of course, how to make journaling fun! Right now the list is rockin' with people supporting each other and making big discoveries with their journal. So whether you are just starting out or are looking for a recharge in your journaling, come on over and join in the fun! ********************************************************************
**Doing the Food** Kathleen DesMaisons, Ph.D. I have been seeing an interesting theme in the community over the past few weeks. A number of people have been asking how they can raise beta endorphin, raise serotonin, activate dopamine. Some of these folks are fairly new to the program and some are old timers who are on step seven and thinking about deepening. For those of you early in the program, the trick is not to think about BE, serotonin and DA, but to think about the FOOD. If you try to tweek what you do for a given effect, you will derail yourself. It is like going back to taking this for that, and something else for another symptom. All of what we are trying to go is move you away from fixing into healing. The miracle is very simple. Your body will adjust and balance things if it has what it needs to do that. Your body has a cellular memory of things being balanced and if you help it with what you eat, it will go, “oh, yes!!!“ And move it into change. Honestly, your body is smarter than you have thought. Your body has really worked to serve you in spite of your meanderings and addiction. Given half a chance, it will be your ally and guide. Your task is to do the food. Doing the food is our code for doing the steps, carefully and with attention. It means breakfast on time with enough protein for your body, a complex carbohydrate. Lunch on time with the right foods. Dinner on time with the right foods. It means eating salad and vegetables and whole grains. It means going off of sugar. It means journaling. The amazing part is that the core program works on healing. You do the food, and things change. It gets interesting when step 7 people say, 'OK, now I am ready to raise BE or to stop spiking DA.' And they try to start “doing” all sorts of extras. And then they feel flat and out of sorts. Some of that comes post detox. Life without sugar takes some getting used to. So the ole addict brain says, 'OK, I need to take something, I need to do something.' But…they don’t remember that they forgot to journal every day, or that they are eating “program” food but having cheese with every meal, and skin-off French fries twice a day as a brown. They don’t remember that lunch is late and dinner is later. The food is OK, so they think they are “doing the food” so it must be BE or dopamine. And it sounds so boring, so stubborn if I say go back with a beginner’s mind. Refine your food, work with your journal. And when that is all steady, exercise every day in a consistent manner. NO spiking, no big bursts of exercise and then collapse. Just every day, consistent. And learn to sit quietly, I would call this meditation, just sitting quietly for 20 minutes morning and night. Do not worry about BE and dopamine. Just do life. But here is the kicker. If you do this, when you do this, some miracle continues. It is not dramatic and all at once, but one day you turn around and realize that NOTHING of your old life is the same. You haven’t had to fix it all. It just happened. Now, I totally get it that this idea seems outrageous. It seems way too simple. But I have been listening. I have read maybe 500,000 postings, that would be a half a million comments. And you know what, the miracle comes. It comes in the same way, over and over and over again. It doesn’t matter if you have a PhD or have not graduated from high school. It doesn’t matter how old you are, or what sex you are or whether you are a Christian or not, or a Jew or not. It doesn’t matter whether you are happily married, have a gay or lesbian relationship, live alone, love dogs, or cats or birds. It doesn’t matter where you live or what you do. If you do the food, and exercise and meditate, you get the same miracle. So this is an invitation to fuss less about your brain and more about your journal. We can do the brain stuff for fun (and I love it as much as you do), but the brain stuff is not the program. Breakfast is. ©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 Food and Cooking 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 |
