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December 24, 2012 Hi {!firstname_fix} 
The quiet meditation for solstice was wonderful for me. I feel very connected to this time of transition that allows the light to build. Somehow, the rhythm of light growing, then darkening seems more present than it ever has for me. I love the Holy Night class that we are doing. I love looking at the map with all the candles all over the world. And most of all, I love all the joy dots you all are posting everywhere. Whatever list I go to, I find joy dots tucked away. It makes me smile.
This afternoon, I will go to the pet store and get some presents for my dogs to open on Christmas morning. I miss Josie. She was the champion of ripping open the paper to find the bone. I am making Christmas dinner this year which will be chicken and mashed potatoes and green beans and butternut squash. The squash reminds me of making dinner in a tiny apartment near Boston many years ago. Same recipe, same enjoyment. And I will *french* the beans…I have a little gadget I got that will slice them. I know one of my guests will be happy to have a *job.* Then I will steam them, and sautee them in lemon olive oil, add slivered almonds and put them in my Mother's silver bowl. We are funny about rituals, aren't we? I have written an article this week that is about sweetness and sadness...the themes that seem to be the themes of darkness and light that are woven into this solstice. One last thing for this week. A little heads up about Ranch here in NM for next May. The place where we held it last year is going through some pretty major management changes which has made me increasingly uncomfortable about it being the best place for all of us. Last week we went up to Santa Fe and checked out the Hotel Santa Fe and were REALLY impressed. They really want our business and are working with us to create a package that will be reasonable. I LOVE this hotel and love Santa Fe. We will be putting up a whole thing with logistics on the web for you this next week. I am also going to extend the early bird pricing until 1/15 to give you a chance to work it out on your end. I am looking at the idea of adding a full afternoon on Friday for new people so we can go into more depth about the foundation concepts. This will also allow me to design a much more substantive program for Saturday. I am planning to present the revised and updated weight loss plan that I have been working on with our special task force. You will not need a car in Santa Fe. You can either walk or use the hotel's free shuttle and taxi service. The rooms will be priced from high end to very moderate. And for those of you on budgets, there is a Motel 6 within walking distance. Dogs are allowed at both places. (smile) Look for full details next week. These classes will begin Wednesday, January 2, 2012. Please click on the name of the class and it will take you to the registration page:
The class schedule is online. It needs to be updated and I will do that this week. 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 **********************************************************************
**Quote From Kathleen ** Weave Step 7 into your life a hundred times a day. **********************************************************************
**Testimonial of the Week ** Hi! Thanks for sharing your story - how interesting a lot of the programme stayed with you! And all that you experienced before is not lost...still there.  And
So at step 6 I didn't feel as radiant as all that.At the time someone was doing a post 'revisiting' the steps, and that really helped - it encouraged me to revisit step 1 - finding my beginners mind was a bit elusive at first. I kept all my steps 'in' but went to focus on step one. I had this visual picture of going to sit on the step one step. It was peaceful there.What helped most? Posting every day. That did sharpen my beginner's mind. Planning breakfast, talking about it, sharing ideas. Thinking of different browns, trying new breakfasts. Journaling breakfast. Keeping in touch. There's something about the connection that did it. Kept me tuned in. How do you feel about posting about your breakfast? Here? Step one list? Glad you are back  Mosaic **********************************************************************
**Radiant Ambassadors **  Diane gave us an update on her Ambassadoring - I hope you enjoy her post as much as I did! "There are a lot of folks in my local area that are following the principles of RR, that aren't here in the community. Some adhere closely to the program as outlined in PNP, while some are just more casual and that is OK too. Some of these folks are health-care professionals and/or in other positions to share the program with others regularly, and they do. Last weekend, when I went to pick up some items from a Freecycler, we got to talking and I mentioned Kathleen and PNP. She said, 'Oh! I have been meaning to get that book,' with someone else local having recently recommended it to her. I think sharing one on one and word of mouth is really quite powerful! A while back there was a wonderful discussion here on how to share effectively in various amounts of time. I have had fun with many different types ranging from a 1 1/2 hour Sugar-Sensitivity presentation to a room full of people at a Recovery conference last year which was really exciting! - to the 2 minute offering of info which is actually my favorite as I get to do it most often. It is too fun to listen around to see just how many places mentioning the program can fit in and I just find myself sharing about RR wherever I go. While waiting in line at the grocery check out is a regular thing. Just the other day the cashier and the bagger were discussing their cholesterol, and that was the perfect segue to chime in and offer the profound results I have experienced in lowering mine, and how, and...Dr. Kathleen DesMaisons' wonderful nutritional healing plan...and offering a card. I've actually had people behind me in line overhear the exchanges and ask if they could have a card too! Sometimes I hear someone mention struggling with diabetes or impulse control/dieting, fighting off sugar cravings, their kids being out of control..them being stressed out or life just not working. Since doing the program will heal such a vast array of conditions, there are plenty of opportunities that arise! I am also finding that in sharing my own story and modeling, the info does catch on even if I'm not seeing familiar faces stampeding into the community. For example, I was doing some volunteer work at the local Food Bank and Soup Kitchen a while back, and I got to share nutritional info about protein and whole grains with every client that came through. I was the only one that brought my own lunch, and whenever there were comments about it in any context, I got to share why I eat the way I do and about the healing I have received. I talked a lot about of my own journey with the director of the Soup Kitchen and offered her a copy of PNP. Since then, I found out that they have been offering whole grain alternatives when they have them to work with, and a fresh fruit option with the desserts...now understanding that the *sugar-free* items they have available for diabetics is not necessarily true. They care, but they just didn't know! Little by little, the info is spreading! :)" Diane Wonderful, isn't it?! Selena selenas@blueyonder.co.uk Come join us if you are excited about spreading the news. **********************************************************************
**How I Found Radiant Recovery ** Hello All, My name is Michelle and I'm from Northern VA. I've recently started reading The Sugar Addicts Total Recovery Program (SARP), and am on Step 2. I found Radiant Recovery through mention of it in the book. I was going to Weight Watchers and have gained and lost the same 5 lbs more times than I care to count. Once I realized that counting points wasn't the right path for me, I turned to the groups within Radiant Recovery because I need the support. I posted to the Step Two group for the first time this week and received some encouraging responses. One of them from the author :). I'm excited to learn more about the resources, thanks for offering this class! **********************************************************************
** Radiant Recovery® Store ** David manages the Radiant Recovery® Store. He is also Kathleen's oldest son. I love getting these emails...yah the Cookbook is awesome. Even Madison is using it now. And Kathleen’s baking mix is way better than Bisquick!! Get a cookbook if you don’t have one yet. You won’t be sorry. Please send questions and suggestions. I love hearing from you and truly want to help you do your program better. **********************************************************************
**Radiant Kitchen ** I am going to make this for Christmas morning.
Spread butter over the bottom of a large baking sheet with 1-inch high sides (jelly roll pan). Arrange bread slices on pan, making sure they do not overlap. Combine remaining ingredients in a blender and pour mixture evenly over slices of bread. Turn the slices to coat evenly. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight. In the morning: Preheat oven to 400°F. Place baking sheet in oven and bake for 10 minutes. Turn over slices of bread and continue baking until golden brown, about 5 minutes more. Serve. For more great program-friendly recipes, check out our cookbook in the store and visit our online Radiant Recipes site. **********************************************************************
**Radiant YLD ** Hi, I'm Steph and I'm the mentor for Your Last Diet. At this time of year there's a lot of focus on food. Over on the YLD list we are chatting about all things 'Christmas'. We will be sharing coping strategies, good food, experiences, movement, supporting one another and hopefully have a bit of fun! Come and join us! If you would like to join, come find us here **********************************************************************
**Radiant Conversations ** We have a new portal for the Conversations program. Come check it out here. Last week, we talked about the tragedy in Newtown and how we make sense of things like this. We won't meet this week because I will be out driving the luminaria circuit in the still of Christmas eve. But we have wonderful things planned for the new year. 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! **********************************************************************
**Our Online Groups ** The Brits list was originally set up as a geo list to provide support for those doing the food in Britain. But, over the past few years British involvement in the RR program has grown and grown and we now have a YLD Eurochat on Wednesday nights (UK time) and our very own Euroranch in Salisbury for anyone doing the program in Britain and Europe. As a result of all of this, the Brits list has also grown a lot and is now a wonderfully fun place of support for anyone doing the programme in the UK. We talk about what it means to do the programme here, what different foods we eat, and how to translate American terms into British ones and we also have lots of fun!! It is a great place, a very supportive group, full of wonderful people. We also have quite regular get-togethers, usually twice a year or so, mostly in London. The last couple have been at our favourite restaurant, Leon, where 15-20 of us happily take over their biggest table for several hours. They haven't complained yet, LOL. So if you are a Brit and you are doing this programme, we'd love to have you join us. **********************************************************************
**Another Look at Christmas ** Kathleen DesMaisons, Ph.D.
It is Christmas Eve. For many of us this is a time of anticipation. Certainly for me, Christmas has always been a very holy and sacred time. This is when my city gets very still, the sun goes down, the lights are turned off, and hundreds of thousands of luminarias are lit. The air smells of burning candles and everywhere are tiny paper bags shimmering with light. It doesn’t matter if someone is a millionaire or a single mom with only soup and tortillas for dinner this night. Each small bag and candle gives the same light. This year this time is full of sorrow for the deaths of innocents. I keep thinking about the parents who were sitting with presents bought so joyfully in anticipation of Tuesday morning. Those parents who have now sat with a small casket, weeping with grief so deep that they are simply trying to hold on. Yesterday, I heard a comment about how their killer represented "evil." I heard such venom and darkness as she spit out these words. I know that some people make the unthinkable simple by creating labels like that, but I cannot make it that simple. We have children like this right here in our own community... children, teens whose brains go on tilt, whose brains slip into rage, who have no control, who do scary things. Our children are the same children as the killed and the killer. I have watched what happens as doing the food creates and holds the balance. I cannot write Adam off as a monster or the personification of evil for I do not believe that. I have struggled with this all week. In this deep compassion has been floating up. It comes from having to listen to our mothers tell me "something happened to him, something flipped. His eyes changed, it’s like a different person." These are mothers who love their children, who fiercely protect them, who want to find solutions, to find safety, to make sense out of the complexity of lives switching from sweetness to savage. This profound sorrow has taken me to an unexpected place, a deeper place. Almost as if at the bottom of the well of pain, there is compassion so deep my life has been changed. It makes me think of the birth of Jesus, the death of Jesus, the words of Jesus, “Forgive them father, they know not what they do.” For me, doing the food has taken me to a place where how I look at the world has shifted. As I live into recovery, I no longer see life in the ways I used to. Compassion comes bubbling up in unexpected ways. I connect to stories of forgiveness. I feel sorrow, and awakening because I am not numb or checked out. I have decided to share from my heart in a place where recovery takes me. In the darkest night, the light shines most brightly. I know from this deepest place in my heart than doing the food transforms. This is not about breakfast or sugar it’s about being restored to balance. It’s about healing, that stepping into connection with something bigger than us. Thinking such things as this surprised me. Jesus' words are not usually the source of comfort for me. But this is Christmas. He is here. This is solstice, the lights are here. This has been Hanukkah, the light continues, the miracle is remembered. So this Christmas I feel moved to work for reconciliation, for healing, for finding a different way for bringing what we know to parents who are in pain, whether from loss or from the darkness of not knowing how to deal with these troubled children. I hope that you will stand with me as we commit to following these new ways, to be willing to speak what we know, to help parents find answers. Maybe this is a life experience that is pushing us all to a different way of being in the world. I do wish all of you a sacred and quiet holy night, holy morning and renewal of this season. Thanks for reading! If you know someone who could benefit from this, feel free to forward it to them. Not a subscriber yet? Like what you have read? Sign up to get future issues delivered straight to you: http://www.radiantrecovery.com 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. 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 |
I have the cookbook and it is tattered and dogeared from so much use. There are many great recipes in it that have become part of my standards (Kathleen's lasagna has never been matched, in my opinion), and it is also a very good little reference book. There are also spaces where I have written a few of my own in.
