April 23, 2012


Hi {!firstname_fix}

Now it is the in between time as we move into late spring. Trees are green here. The lilacs have faded. I planted bright-colored petunias on Josie's grave. Mornings are still and soft, afternoons start to be bright with a heat that reminds us summer will come. We have a rabbit that comes to the fence and hops by taunting the dogs. I can tell by which bark they are doing. RABBIT! is different from PEACOCK!

In getting ready for ranch, I remember that people will be streaming into my house as well. Yesterday started spring cleaning in the office. Scary to pull out furniture and discover strange things behind it. But now, everything is sparkling. I asked my housekeeper to come to help. We scrubbed everything. When David stopped by in the evening after practice, I asked him if he noticed anything. *Not really* was his answer. This totally cracked me up.

We have two spots left for Ranch. It will be a killer. If yah wanna come, this is the one to come to.


This class will begin Wednesday, April 25, 2012. Please click on the name of the class and it will take you to the registration page:

Step 3

Radiant Step 3 (2 weeks) - is one of our core classes. This is a skill-based class that will get you started with a powerful step 3 foundation. If you want to learn the baby steps of a successful step 3, come join us. And even if you have taken this class before, it is new and revised. If you want to revisit your step 3, you will love what we are doing. This class is ALWAYS fun.


This class will begin Wednesday, May 2, 2012. Please click on the name of the class and it will take you to the registration page:

Using Radiant Resources (2 weeks) - is a free orientation 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.



The class schedule is online. 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. 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.

Be sure to visit our Radiant Recovery website and Community Forum regularly.

Warmly,
Kathleen


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** Quote From Kathleen **


Remember that sugar-sensitive people tend to be people of extremes. You may feel either totally awash in feelings or totally disconnected.

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** Testimonial of 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!

Gail


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** Radiant Ambassadors **




Wow! You guys are great!

Last week lots of people added their 'likes' to Potatoes not Prozac on Amazon.

Here are the figures at the moment:

20 'likes' on the US Site
16 'likes' on the UK Site and
1 'like' on the Canadian Site (thank you to one eagle-eyed reader for letting me know there was a Canadian Amazon!)

Feel free to add yours too!

Selena
selenas@blueyonder.co.uk

Come join us if you are excited about spreading the news.


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** How I Found Radiant Recovery **




Hi

My name is Lynne, I am currently living just outside San Francisco California, originally I am from UK (Stoke on Trent). I picked up a copy of the sugar addicts book at the library, mostly because my husband is type 1 diabetic and I am always reading around sugar issues.

I read the book and realised that it was applicable to me, I believe I am addicted to sugar. I bought Potatoes not Prozac and a journal and I want to begin the journey of becoming sugar free. I hope this class will help me make the best possible start to the process.


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** Radiant Recovery® Store **


David manages the Radiant Recovery® Store. He is also Kathleen's oldest son.

I think you will love the new, revised Safe Place CD. It has a special introduction, and is licensed to use the Kolbialka Bolero we all love so much. It is timed for 20 minutes so is ideal for your mediation time.

This CD is the the first in a series of meditation tapes. It is the ground for all the work of stilling the mind and opening your heart to healing.

Kathleen has been using this meditation with her clients for more than 25 years. She uses it as the center of her own spiritual practice. Like her food program, it is deceptively simple. Kathleen takes her listeners to a place of safety.

Use this CD over and over to train a response that is immediate and fully relaxed. Teach your deepest self to be quiet and still. Open your heart to the light and your life will change.



$16.95/$15.95



Please send questions and suggestions. I love hearing from you and truly want to help you do your program better.


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** Radiant Kitchen **


Hi Kathleen, Frittatas! Ohh, YUM. :)

I make one where I used thinly-sliced skin-on potatoes on the bottom - I put a little oil and butter in the skillet on top of the stove, put the potatoes in overlapping to make a thin layer and cook it (without moving the potatoes around) until they start turning translucent. Next I scatter some leftover veggies and shredded cheese over the potatoes (whatever I have on hand for both), then pour my beaten eggs over all and stick it in the oven to finish cooking.

The potatoes form a crispy bottom, and it is sooo good.

I haven't tried rice in the bottom before - but will now! :)

Diane

For more great program-friendly recipes, check out our cookbook in the store and visit our online Radiant Recipes site.



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** Radiant YLD **


I just wanted to take a minute to let you know how profound Wed. chat was for me. It felt like you were reading my mind. I was right there with it. Then I realized, "wait a minute, all these other people are experiencing this too!" It was one of those wonder moments for me and I just had to let you know.

Alison
This happens a lot at chat...what we think is most unique is what we most share.

If you would like to join, come find us here


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** Radiant Conversations **


We have a new portal for the Conversations program. Come check it out here.

I think the focusing on joy is the antidote to the flat.

Focusing on the joy creates a steady stream of beta endorphin.

Conversations seems to be the place where we are discovering these truths.

If you would like to join us, you can do that below.

Join YLD Weight Loss Now: click here - $99

Join Conversations 2011 Now: click here - $99

Join Both YLD and Conversations Now: click here - $149

Current YLD members wish to Upgrade to Both, click here - $49

Current YLD members who wish to Transfer to Conversations 2011 Only can do so for a $14.99 admin fee: click here

If you are not a member, come and join us if you want to be a part of the latest and greatest or just have some plain ol' fun!


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** Our Online Groups **


The Radiantdepression group is all about support for the person who is depressed and trying to work the 7-step program of recovery from sugar addiction. Many of us have struggled with severe depression for years without any hope of finding an end to it. But through doing the food we have found that hope returning and have found light where before there was only darkness. Some of us are taking anti-depressants while doing the food, so we talk about how the two are compatible and we also share about getting through the tough spots together, with support from each other. If you are feeling depressed please come join us. There is hope.

Or come to the group page to find the one that will best support your program: http://www.radiantrecovery.com/list_serves.htm


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**Jenny's Joy **
Kathleen DesMaisons, Ph.D.



Hi All,

I posted this on the Brits list yesterday, but thought it was worth sharing here, too. Writing it was a wonderful reminder for me of the power of what we do here. (smile)

Joy: lovely warm sunshine as I walk down the street to my osteopath appointment. It's warm and I feel light and summery. I just love sunny days. :-)

I've been where you are. I often bemoaned my lack of progress and couldn't understand why I kept on trying over and over but never got anywhere. I spent three years going round and round in circles with step three. I kept on restarting, doing quite well for a while, then it would all disintegrate and I would retreat back to breakfast for a while. Whenever anyone asked me, I would say, "Oh, I'm *still* on step three," with a kind of sigh and a groan.

I genuinely thought I would never get past it. That I was different, and it just didn't work for me. I had the same thought about the insanity of doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. And yet, that's what I kept on doing. I would get all enthusiastic, start with a plan to just work on lunch, find it quite easy, and end up trying to do all of step three all at once. I would hold it together for a few weeks, even a couple of months, but eventually, the whole thing would come crashing down around my ears as soon as I hit a snag.

Then I would be back in that dark hole, thinking that I was doomed to failure. It changed last year. Since last January, I have progressed to step six. I haven't eaten junk food or pizza for a year. I've been detoxed since September. All the things that I never thought would happen to me, like detox happening completely naturally, have happened. It's working. I'm steadier, calmer, happier, and full of hope for the future.

If it works for me, it can work for you, too. :-)

There were two things that really turned it around for me. Two simple things - a focus on joy, and doing step three as written in the nano step chart.

The joy came first. That alone was enough to make everything easier. Just looking for little things that make me smile each day, and then writing about them. Nothing major, just little things like daffodils, sunshine, a funny TV show, that kind of thing.

It's really easy. Right now, for example, I can look out my window and see things that make me smile. The neighbour's ginger cat, stretching out along the fence. The beautiful pink of the apple blossom on my little tree. The bright red of holly berries on a neighbour's tree. Inside, I am surrounded by things that bring me joy. Little gifts that have come from Radiant friends in the YLD stocking exchange. My pen pot full of all the lovely colourful pens I use for journaling. My journal. A little Easter card from my parents. A photograph of a stuffed weasel in an apron with the message 'just do the damn food!'

We focus on joy on the depression list every day, and it has been totally life-changing. Even before I changed anything in my food, my outlook started to change. And then, as I started to feel optimistic and hopeful for the first time in my life, I started working on step three again. This time, I let go of the idea that it was impossible. I let go of the urge to try and do it all at once. Instead I picked one small nano step goal - I think I started with one aspect of lunch - and worked on just that for a week. I posted daily as often as I could, and at the end of the week, I reviewed how I had done with my goal. Depending on how that had gone, I either moved on to a new goal, gave the current one another week, or broke it down to a smaller goal. And I posted about my progress. If I got stuck, I asked for help. If I was doing well, posting about it gave me encouragement.

One small step at a time, practised until it feels easy and habitual. That's all it was.

Doing it all online, in the community, really helped. The connection, the daily contact, the advice and support from my fellow list-members, was invaluable. I did all of this here on the depression list, because this is where I feel comfortable and accepted. And, most of all, I know that you all understand the nature and allure of the misery black hole. It's a deceptively simple approach. And I know it sounds slow. But the thing is, doing it like that was actually so much faster. The time whizzed by, and within a couple of months I actually had a rock-solid step three that has not wavered since. Sometimes things can get a little wobbly, but my basic step three has remained solid, instead of collapsing at the first hurdle. That is such a change for me.

The biggest thing was the focus on joy, though. I talk about it all the time, because it has been so powerful. It sounds like such a small thing, and in fact I thought it was a totally ridiculous idea when I first heard it, but it completely changed me. I was a cynical pessimist mired in misery for most of my life. And now I'm becoming a joyful optimist. It's mind-blowing. :-)

I don't know if any of that helps at all. But if you want to try something different, try the joy idea. It might surprise you.

Jenny


Thanks for reading! If you know someone who could benefit from this, feel free to forward it to them.

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Until next time!
Here are the folks who are helping put the newsletter together:

Gretel, our webmaster, puts it all together.
David runs the Radiant Recovery® Store.
Selena provides the weekly Ambassadors column.



©2012 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, use this attribution: "By Kathleen DesMaisons, Ph.D. of Radiant Recovery®", and notify kathleen@radiantrecovery.com of the location. Please visit the Radiant Recovery® website at http://www.radiantrecovery.com for additional resources on sugar sensitivity and healing addiction.

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