Hi {!firstname_fix}

Ok, this issue is a quiet one of just enjoying summer. My tomatoes have little green balls and are safe from the dogs chomping them. I built a little fence around them this year, yah!

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.

A copy of this newsletter may also be found posted on the web at http://www.radiantrecovery.com/weeklynewsletter. If you wish to unsubscribe, use the link at the bottom of the page. Do not email me, do not get mad at me, just click on the link and you will be forever removed.

And be sure to visit our Radiant Recovery® website and Community Forum regularly.

Warmly,
Kathleen

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June 28, 2004
** Quote From Kathleen **

When you eat according to your food plan, you will have a solid sense of self esteem that comes from biochemical balance, clarity and well-being.


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** Testimonial for the Week**

I now have my father asking me permission before he will offer my daughters anything. Tonite Kayla had a band concert. My parents came along. My father wanted to feed Lindsey lifesavers - first he asked me can I offer her a lifesaver, and before I could answer my Mom said *no*. I reminded him Lindsey doesn't do peppermint so it wasn't an issue. After the concert I could feel the let's go for ice cream vibe - but the words were not spoken. Isn't it weird how I heard them though. Sure enough my father called later to say, "you know I would have taken everyone for ice cream but I know you don't want your children eating that!" I had to reassure him that his attending the concert was a big treat - we didn't need ice cream also!

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**Your Last Diet: More Than What You Think**

I have reading the archives of our old chats. I came across one on laughter. We talked about how it changes your brain and raises beta endorphin. Makes me want to go get some science on that one. I think it would be mighty fun. I get the science and then come back to chat with it. This is what we do in YLD, way more than weight loss.

Come join us and hear about this success!

http://www.radiantrecovery.com/YLD_signup.htm


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** Bulimia and the Program **

Reduced serotonin activity related to low tryptophan intake may lead to bulimia nervosa.

In a recently published article, researchers found that recovering bulimics are very vulnerable to the effects of low serotonin. "These findings suggest that lowered brain serotonin function can trigger some of the clinical features of bulimia nervosa in individuals vulnerable to the disorder," the authors commented.

Dieting makes low serotonin levels worse. If you are sugar sensitive, you are likely to have both low levels of serotonin and low levels of beta endoprhion. The low serotonin levels can be made worse by dieting. This means you have even less impulse control than you started with.

You may feel stressed, overwhelmed and inadequate (a function of low beta-endorphin) and one day try some sort of bulimic behavior such as throwing up, using laxatives or doing compulsive exercise. These all evoke beta-endorphin. Your continuing low self-esteem, trigger events, or stress still demand the need to "feel better." DO SOMETHING your brain yells, and you choose the most effective tool for feeling more in control.

Low serotonin levels mean low impulse control. If you have been dieting, your serotonin levels are depleted and your impulse control goes out the window. Even though rationally you know that throwing up is not a good solution, you will feel more confident and safer when you do. Even if you tell yourself to stop, you are not able to control the impulse.

The brain chemistry impact of the Radiant RecoveryŽ plan is VERY real. The plan can have a huge effect on helping resolve an eating disorder such as bulimia.

Radiant RecoveryŽ helps you get back on track. Here is how: regular, consistent meals with protein increase tryptophan levels in the blood. The spud before bed gets tryptophan into your brain to raise serotonin levels.

The vitamins help the conversion of tryptophan into serotonin. Going off sugars stops the beta-endophin priming which creates craving. Exercise, meditation, prayer, Mozart, relational sex, raise beta-endorphin levels naturally to create confidence and a sense of well being.

Do the steps and come join us on our radiantED list. We are here to help.

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** David's Corner **

As many of you know, I answer the phone at Radiant RecoveryŽ.

Many of you have been asking about our ProEpa and DHA Kids formula. I thought you might like visiting Nordic Naturals web site to see why we get our products from them. We love this company and are really happy to offer you their products. Check it out.

We have a new product to announce. We can now offer Kosher oil. Let me know if you like it.


Please send questions and suggestions for items you might like to see in our store. YOU are building our store. Tell me what you want and we will sort it out.

Thanks
David

And of course, we have something for everybody in our store


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** Featured Topic**
Following the Rules
by Kathleen DesMaisons, Ph.D.

Hi folks, you know I sent out a letter asking for your input. One interesting thing came up. I got some inquiries from folks who said they have been doing everything *perfectly* and were disenchanted with the program because they hadn't lost weight. So I want to talk about this.

Sometimes I get a sense of people following the rules and doing it perfectly. Everything. But it doesn't include the listening to your body, the mucking around that makes the program become your own. You see there isn't a *perfectly* in this program. There is simply a committed, not a perfect way.

Committed means you show up when you are discouraged. You show up when you are still fat and you think you have tried everything. Your show up with a beginner's mind and you say, what does my body say here? What needs to change? What have I tried? Why did it work for a while? What changed?

Committed means you ask the people you trust to help you see things you can't because you are in the middle of it. This is a big one. SS people are not team players. We think we know better. We know how to beat the diets. We ask for *advice*. But not for counsel. And then we ignore it.

Or we fail to ask the ultimate authority - our own body. We say, *Still fat!!! You slug....* and go off and do Atkins. I can't tell you how many letters I have gotten about knowing that Atkins will work and then I will be back.

So what *is* this program anyway? It is accepting on faith something that is so radical, so different from anything we have ever done. Trusting the voices of those who have done it longer. Not done it perfectly, not finished, not all fixed, but those who have hung in there, who are open and willing and are connected. Those who give back. Those who have learned that the heart of the program comes in service. Sitting with one more frightened tired newbie in despair. Or sitting with an old timer who crashed and burned and wants to bail with every molecule of who she is. Or being patient with the one in the middle who is bored and disenchanted.

Rules don't work for that. Heart does. Honesty and tenacity does.

Now here is the bottom line. For some folks the losing weight part is easy. It comes, it works and life is changed. For others, it is a bear. You will go though everything I have written and found you are not losing weight. And then, you decide whether you pitch it because *it* doesn't work or you stay in there as we find out. We don't have all the answers by a long shot. We are living the solutions. And the edge of our story is pushed out by those of you who are stubborn losers way more than by the success stories.

I don't know if this is making sense. Maybe I am just moved by all those letters you wrote me. But what I CAN tell you - Kathleen is in for the long haul. There are some things I do not know, actually LOTS of things I have not a clue about. I don't know why some of you get stuck. It may be that you haven't done the package, it may be that this package is not the one for your body. It may be that your leptin is inadequate or your delta 5 desaturase in under active. But I do know, if you stick with it, you will be able to hang in there and keep pluggin away and having fun along the way.

I am going to. So I hope you don't follow the rules, but you find the program.

ŠKathleen DesMaisons 2004.