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I thought I was coming to write a book. I am learning that I came for grace to work her wonders in my heart. My original disorientation has shifted to settling in. Time in quiet and solitude is growing things. Snowflakes are hexagonal because of the shape of the bonds of the water molecule. I feel as if the same kind of magic is happening in my heart. The new book is out in stores, and at amazon. We are trying to see if we can bump sales up for a week. Jeannie wrote a fun description of that endeavor down below. I LOVE the new book. And don't throw your old one away. It still has some things that the new one doesn't. But the new one has LOTS that you have not heard before. They actually moved it from the *revision* track to the *new* track at Simon and Schuster. These classes will begin the week of January 9, 2008. Please click on the name of the class you wish to join and it will take you to the registration page: Brain Chemistry: Serotonin is the other of our most popular classes. It helps you make sense of why the potato works, why you have a problem in the winter and how Post Traumatic Stress Disorder can play into this. If you munch in your mind, if you are depressed or edgy or feel sad, this is the class for you. Radiant Store Tour 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. YLDweightlossreadiness is the new getting started class for YLD members. We are really excited to do this new format. Come learn how Phase One of your program sets the foundation for your entire weight loss plan. I only run this class once a quarter, so if you are a YLD member, come sign up now! These classes will begin the week of January 16, 2008. Please click on the name of the class you wish to join and it will take you to the registration page: Step 2 Journal: An Introduction will 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. Step 3: Three Meals is one of our core classes. This is a skilled based class. If you want to learn the baby steps of a successful step 3, come join us. This class is ALWAYS fun. 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. The class schedule is on line. Click here to see what is planned. Please do not sign up for classes that are not yet scheduled. 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 and you do not have to be at your computer at any set time. It does not matter whether you are in the US, Europe, the Far East or Australia, you simply respond on your own time. And although I advertise that the classes are one or two weeks, sometimes we are a little flexible and they may run longer. 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 **********************************************************************
January 7, 2007 ** Quote From Kathleen **
Think of your food journal as your body's book. Your body needs a place to tell its own story. *********************************************************************
** Testimonial for the Week**
The 2nd edition of Potatoes Not Prozac is being officially released on January 7. Now, I already have one (actually two LOL) from Amazon, which shipped early. But if we purchase it next week, the actual release week, those are the numbers that they count to see how well it's selling. And those numbers are very important in how seriously publishers take the book and the author. So next week would be a great time to buy it if you are considering making it a part of your library, which I urge you to do. It has been extensively rewritten and expanded. There is a step six chapter (yes!) and some great posts from this very list! Some great new stuff on step seven, too. And one of the Eurochats is included (smile). Lots of comments from people you will know from the community. Make sure you get the 2nd edition, January 2008. They are both still up there. And when you get it, review it. That also has a big impact on sales. I don't know why my own early review hasn't appeared yet--maybe because it was before the release date. I'm going to try again. Jeannie ********************************************************************
Here is a great post from Liz. I am a big fan of oatmeal! I always put a scoop of protein powder in it and that gives me a complete breakfast...protein and slow carb. Then I dress it up with all sorts of things...walnuts, cinnamon, nutmeg, chopped apple (makes it sweet tasting without sugar) butter, sometimes flax oil for a nutty taste, and of course frozen berries now and then. I don't add milk though, just don't like it in oatmeal, so that is why I add the protein powder. One of my very, very favorite breakfasts is one fromKathleen's cookbook. You might want to get it! It is the Easy Egg and Oat One Pan Breakfast. It is basically oats and eggs and milk and spices scrambled up together in a frying pan. I could eat this three times a day! It reminds me of eating apple crisp! My other secret weapon is the freezer. I make little quiche muffins and freeze them ahead. Basically I make a quiche mixture and pour it into muffin tins without the crust and bake 'em and freeze 'em. Just nuke a couple for 30 seconds and you are good to go. And my latest kick is protein muffins. I invented some muffin recipes using protein powder, and some are non-wheat. I was thinking about posting them on the website in the recipe section if anyone wanted to try them. I freeze them ahead, too. They are one-hit wonders because you have the slow-carb of good grains and the protein from the powder. My DH does something similar with waffles. He loads them with ingredients like oat flour, buckwheat flour, almond meal, corn meal, soy flour, etc. He adds a scoop of protein powder and cooks up several batches at a time for the freezer. Pop one in the toaster and serve with berry butter...something I think I invented 'cause I've never seen it anywhere. Nuke some frozen berries with a large pat of butter and then mush it up. It makes a wonderful buttery "syrup" and pours over the waffles just like the sweet syrups which will remain nameless. :-) The butter is key to making the waffles taste like "normal" without "real" syrup. Cottage cheese is my other ally. I make something I call Cottage Cheese Surprise....I take cottage cheese and surprise myself! Whatever good things I can find in the fridge, pantry, freezer, or spice rack might end up in it. I have come up with some doozies...some worth repeating and others quite forgettable. Sometimes it is a contest with my DH and me to see what we are going to create. We plop some cottage cheese in a bowl, doctor it up, compare each other's and of course I always think mine is the best! He goes for the spicy things like curry and black pepper and eats that for breakfast...I go more for the fruity things, nuts, crumbled muffins, apple pie spices, etc. An interesting combination with beaten eggs made for a light omelet, but he said I should be disqualified because I cooked it. Sore loser. And finally, one of the best stand-ays for running out the door late and in a panic is a Gala apple (my favorite kind!) two cheese sticks, and a handful of almonds. This holds me until I can get a good early lunch. You wouldn't believe how many times this has saved the day! Of course I also do the traditional bacon, egg, sausage, etc stuff too when I have time. Hope this gives you some ideas! liz ********************************************************************
**Your Last Diet: More Than What You Think**
YLDonline is a membership program run directly by Kathleen DesMaisons herself. YLD calms all that diethead energy of the new year. It will get you focused, relaxed and into a whole developmental program that will take you through learning skills, exploring the things that get in the way of making change, and it will give you a huge amount of ongoing support as you go. You get access to special membership classes that include Readiness, Emotions, The Obesity Myth and Weight Loss in Action. You get guidance in planning an exercise plan to go with your food plan. And all along the way, you get support 24/7 at no additional charge. We are just in the process of totally revamping our promotional materials to reflect the updated power and individual refinement of the program. The Quarterly weight loss readiness class is beginning on Wed, so if you have been thinking of joining, this is a great time to do 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. ********************************************************* ***********
**Radiant Recovery Store **
David manages the Radiant Recovery Store. He is also Kathleen’s oldest son. It's a great time of year to try out new recipes. We carry some really fun cookbooks in the store, and Jeannie has a wonderful way of talking about them.
I love all three cookbooks and wouldn't be without them. Jeannie Please send questions and suggestions. I love hearing from you and truly want to help you do your program better. ********************************************************* ***********
**Our Online Groups**
We are doing some updating on the Journal list to make it fun and exciting for you in the new year. If you are thinking of taking the class, come join the list as well. As for all you old timers, who have gotten a little casual, come join us and remember how much fun it can be. ********************************************************************
**Feature Article**
Your Last Diet Kathleen DesMaisons, Ph.D. We have had a lot of new people join the online Your Last Diet Program since the beginning of the year. This new group has reminded me that some of our materials need updating. I have started doing this and as I did, I began to wonder what is it that really differentiates YLD from any other program. Why do people love it so much? So I made a list of things that I thought were important. Then I went over to the Weight Watchers website and started reading. I got the page that says, "How are we Unique". This was fascinating. Here is what it said: We offer an integrated approach regarding good eating choices, healthy habits, a supportive environment and exercise We offer a plan that allows you to eat what you like We offer a sensible plan to lose weight at a healthy rate and keep it off for good It is a time-tested approach informed by analyzing years of scientific studies We offer flexible food plans The chart then contrasted these principles to other diets that focus on food and ignore exercise, promise rapid weight loss without consideration of keeping it off in the long haul, and make little consideration for individual differences. Weight Watchers outlines 4 pillars of success - food, behavior, exercise and support and goes on to provide a special questionnaire that tells you your weight loss readiness. You start by identifying your BMI and what is considered a *healthy weight" for your height. The questionnaire asks if you have thought about your eating habits and whether you have accepted that you need to make permanent, not temporary changes to be successful. Weight Watchers sounds wonderful. It is thoughtful, sensible, supportive and individually tailored to your needs. But for sugar sensitive people, it is flawed. It does not address the biochemical reasons you gained weight in the first place. It does not factor in the impact of sugar sensitivity and sugar addiction. And, most important, it is defining success still in terms of how much weight you lose. So underneath all this very caring and sensible discussion of a process, it is still reinforcing the ongoing belief that pounds define "success". Yes, they are saying slow and steady. They are saying food and exercise. They are saying support. They are saying all the "right" things….but they are still in the myth that what you weigh will define who you are. And if you are fat, you are not okay. I think success is way bigger than the scale, even a scale that is defined as slow and steady. I want you to experience recovery, freedom from compulsion and despair about your weight. I want you to discover what it feels like to BE steady and not just have steady weight loss. I want you to regain your birthright, to be joyous, funny, focused, empowered and laughing way before you have finished the task of redefining your body. I want you to understand why diets haven't stuck. I want you to understand why ice cream calls you, why you feel so inadequate even though your life says you are successful. I want you to step out of the shame that drives your entire life, even if you keep it hidden. I want you to have energy, health and radiance - even before all the pounds are gone. I want you to have maintenance skills before you even start the weight loss part of your program. I want you to heal the emotional baggage you bring to the weight loss table. I want you to love the idea of movement and exercise and do it. I want you to feel the incredible support of skilled and loving experts who know a kind of success that you cannot yet even imagine. And of course, I want you to lose all the weight you want to. Now, my problem is that I am not good at sound bites. How do I convey to you what we are doing? How do I explain the magic that happens in chat? How do I take something that has no tricks, no gimmicks, no media people and say, "this is good, this is very good?" This week I had someone send me a scathing email about my moral disgrace in taking people's money for a weight loss program and being OBESE. Yes I do get such emails. And all week I have thought about how can we possibly explain what happens in recovery. How can I explain how much I love my grandmother body. I love my strength, my health and that the fat part really does not have a charge. How could I explain an integrity that says I am willing to live my life from my own values and that THAT is perhaps the point of what we are doing. I, like many of you, thought I was fat from the time I was 16. I thought I was fat in college. I recently looked at my prom pictures and I was knock dead gorgeous. Now how sad is that. So all those years from 16 till I did YLD, let's see that would be 40 years, I defined myself in terms of my weight. Not in terms of being a single parent and going to school full time, working full time, graduating from college, getting a master's degree, running a mental health center, running a state wide nutrition program or stating a treatment center with the most cutting edge treatment in the country. Or even going back to school for a Ph.D. and writing 4 books. Nope, underneath it all was a fat girl acting as if she was ok. I think we all know that story. And then along came YLD. As I wrote it, I started healing. As I designed the class on the obesity myth, that healing seeped way in to my deepest corners. Each class resonated on the outside what had happened on the inside. Your voices mirrored my own experience. This was not a personal journey. This is our collective story. Now, over the next few months, we will put this story into writing so you can start to understand what YLD really is. And you can understand why we talk about chats that way. The chats are the conversations into healing that we do. Something happens when people in recovery start sharing. We all know that. ©Kathleen DesMaisons 2007. Here are the folks who are helping put the newsletter together: Gretel, our 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. ©2007 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 Patti Holden, Step 7 |
