Fall often brngs some wonderful changes to the community. This year is no exception. I have been looking for ways to provide you with a greater depth of resources. We have been exploring all sorts of ideas. You will find my musings on what we are doing as the topic of this week’s article. On the home front, we are getting ready for Halloween. I know this can be a hard time for many of you - both because of the sugar and because it may trigger old experiences of not so nice things. I am with you on both. I have found that putting my energy into a tranformational kind of play is helping a lot. Trying to ignore Halloween was hard. So we have planned a dog party. Josie will be the centerpiece with a new, handmade unicorn costume designed by the radiant Recovery theatrical group of Colorado. Pepper will be Princess Leah and Ronan will be Batman. I know I told you something different last week, but I get to change my mind. Ronan didn’t want to be Robin Hood. We will play bobbing for tennis balls and then take them trick or treating. I have told my neighbors to expect the pack so we hope for many doggie treats. Now, Josie is a wee bit sugar sensitive, so we will have to ration her treats for several months. I promise to post pictures of the great event. When you go over to sign up for classes, you will see a change in the pricing. See my notes in the article section. We will be starting these new classes this week (10/16): Step 1: The Art of Breakfast is our foundation class to get you started. Learn all four parts of step 1 in a structured way. Learn how to progress through them with enjoyment. Let us support getting your program off to a fabulous start. Step 2: Journal, an Introduction is a revised class to teach you the basics of journaling. The class will give you step by step instructions in how to record your food and feelings in a way that gets you excited. Using Radiant Resources is for those of you who are brand new and would like to find your way around town. Come sit on the top of our double decker bus for a guided tour. And even if you are not brand new, this is a really fun class to reconnect with all the treats of the community. Everything You Always Wanted to Know About our Products is a free guided tour of the store. David will be leading this class so if you want to get to know the guy that makes it all work, come sign up. This is his first teaching experience, so you can show your support for the work he does to keep you happy. And we will begin these classes the week of 10/23: Step 3: Three Meals a Day is one of our core classes. This is a skill-based class. If you want to learn the baby steps of a successful step 3, come join us. This class is ALWAYS fun. Step 4: More Intriguing Than you Think is the potato class. Come learn everything you ever wanted to know about the timing, size, frequency of your potato. Learn about the best vitamins and talk all you want about them. This is a nice way to strengthen and refine your step 4. Resource Center Tour is another one of our free walking tours through the website. This one takes you through the resource center. Explore all the nooks and crannies and discover things you did not know were there. Doing the Program on a Budget is a special free class for those of you with limited funding who are trying to make do. Come hear some fun ideas to maintain your humor and find tasty and inexpensive solutions. 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 **********************************************************************
October 16, 2006 ** Quote From Kathleen **
The more you are able to just observe and note your food and feelings, the easier it will be for you to make changes in them. *********************************************************************
** Testimonial for the Week**
Last year several of us gathered up a bunch of Halloween ideas. They haven't been put into any order, but I thought I would go ahead and share what was done with all of you. I'll post them in separate posts...there's a bunch of information. Please make additions if you have any! This first post is ideas of what to give out at the door for visiting trick-or-treaters...food items and non-food items. Colette ****************************** Food Treats
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**Recipe of the Week**
This is from the Radiant Recipes Cookbook. BRAISED RED CABBAGE WITH APPLES AND PEARS
Note: If raspberry vinegar is unavailable, substitute with another "fruity" vinegar, such as apple cider, golden, balsamic, sherry, or red wine vinegar. Do not use distilled white vinegar, as the taste will be too acidic. [Naomi's note: never use white vinegar in cooking - but it is great for cleaning your kitchen :-)] ********************************************************************
**Your Last Diet: More Than What You Think**
Well I just cannot tell you how much fun chats were last week. First we had the Eurochat. My goodness, those folks are funny. We are talking about cultural differences in language and self esteem. Then we had our regular Wed chat and we talked about diet skill. I think I surprised everyone with the topic. But it touched some intriguing ideas. And make sure you read the transcript because we had such a good time. Even better, get yourself on over to one of the biggest benefits of your membership. And make note that the new lists are rockin. My oh my is YLD fun these days. 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 **
 As you have been hearing, we are in the process of making some revisions in the store. First steps are clearing out some of our inventory. We just finished taxes and I did a full and complete inventory. Our counting is your bounty. Here are the things in our sale bin. ALL of them will be marked at 50% off. I will give you the discount at the register when I charge your card. So even though the full price shows on your order, I will adjust it. If you love these products, now is the time to order because we will not be carrying them after this sale.
Please send questions and suggestions. I love hearing from you and truly want to help you do your program better. ********************************************************* ***********
**Our Online Groups**
Hello. My name is Stacey. I'm the volunteer liaison for RadiantParents. I have 2 children, girls ages 6 and 3. I have known since I was a teenager that I felt better without sugar and whites and that still didn’t stop me from being the Queen of Dessert. I loved my sugar and couldn’t dream of a life without it. It wasn’t until reading Potatoes Not Prozac in 1998 that I understood why. It took a few more years of battling with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and Fibromyalgia while still dealing with lifelong allergies and mood swings and trying all different diets and ways of eating until I was able to really do the program. I finally picked up Potatoes Not Prozac and Sugar Addicts Total Recovery Program for the 10th time and said “I have to really try this and stick to it.” I am so glad that I did. I was already doing parts of the steps, but I looked at all seven steps with a beginner's mind and gradually reached step 7. My CFS/FM is unbelievably improved as are my allergies. And best of all, I am much calmer, steadier and happier and a better mother and wife. When my older DD was a few years old we realized that she had mood swings, tantrums and night terrors that were all somehow related to when she ate sugar. She was stubborn and I always had to plan extra time in for meltdowns. We started being careful about what she ate and noticed a difference. I had read Little Sugar Addicts and I started to follow this with both of my children too. Wow what a difference it has made. Both DDs are happy with smiles and fewer tantrums. Now they are angels. I have realized how important it is for me to share my experience with others. I love helping sugar sensitive parents and children find what I and so many others have found through doing this program. On the list we discuss ways to get our children to buy in to the program which can be hard and frustrating at times, but it is fun to listen to the other parents and get advice while hearing about what other parents are doing. We also share recipes and success stories. It’s a great list and I feel honored to be a part of such a caring and wonderful group of parents. Come join us! ********************************************************************
**Catching Up** Kathleen DesMaisons, Ph.D. Todays’s article might be called a little chat over tea about how the community and the website are doing. I recently got my 2005 taxes all set and as part of that process did some major review about the financial health of the web work. My accountant gently suggested that perhaps it is time for the site to be self sufficient rather than my subsidizing it (smile)... As most of you know, I have worked hard to maintain *affordability*. And I am now looking at the fact that sometimes things are not always as they appear on the outside. There is also something call good business practice. This means that our work needs to support itself. So I am taking some steps to create that. The first of these will be a change in the pricing of the classes. The second will be setting up a little non-profit that will allow us to raise money to actually expand accessibility for those who need it. This will happen over the next few months and I will be giving you updates as we go. The third will be the pricing structure of some of the things we are doing in the store. We have been losing money on shipping. Costs went up and David did not adjust pricing, LOL. He suffers from the same genetic flaw as I do. As I get shaped up, it will flow down through. The fourth will be how we structure our seminars. I am planning the development of a whole series of regional seminars with different pricing. We will be adding a day long seminar the Saturday at ranch for those of you who would like to make the connection but cannot take 4 days or afford the full tuition. As we go, I will be writing about my own process with money, i.e ., energy, and how we connect to its use. I know that some of you will be thrilled to hear what this change means. We know it will have a huge impact on where the community is going. ©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 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 |