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March 18, 2013


Hi {!firstname_fix}

Ok, now that we are through that first unbearable week of the time change, I am adjusting to late dinner. Man, I have no idea why this year is being so hard with this.

I was sitting outside at dusk and everything was so still. I love this time of year. Afternoon light turns the dogs' coats very gold. My neighbor's daffodils are all up with their faces to the sun. The water is running in the ditches, the fields are plowed and ready for planting.

I have just been reviewing a new book by a woman named Sara Gottfried. It is called The Hormone Cure: Reclaim Balance, Sleep, Sex Drive & Vitality Naturally with The Gottfried Protocol. I think she has some intriguing ideas. So if you are looking at hormonal transition, you might check it out.


This class will begin Wednesday, March 20, 2013. Please click on the name of the class and it will take you to the registration page:

Dopamine (2 weeks) - a look at sugar sensitivity and dopamine. Learn about the fourth leg of the story and see if this is your missing piece. Dopamine is not something I wrote much about in the books, so if you want to understand a little more about the *spark* story, this is the class for you.


These classes will begin Wednesday, March 27, 2013. Please click on the name of the class and it will take you to the registration page:

Using Radiant Resources (1 week) - 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.

Step 2

Step 2: Introduction (2 weeks) - 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.


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 **


Not remembering is significant information - sort of like standing up a date.

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**Testimonial of the Week **


A year ago in March things were pretty bad in my marriage. I had been working the DA program and getting clarity on money stuff for almost a year. Rex was not working DA, but was working with me on the money. The previous December/January we really got a clear picture on where we were financially.

Rex went into a deep depression and I went into fear. I called Rex's son for support for Rex and Rex ended up going to the doctor and going on antidepressants. I continued to work my DA program to the best of my ability. My mother had also just been taken in to the hospice program and my little dog was quickly deteriorating at the same time. It was a hard time.

I was very angry and fearful. I was angry because I felt so alone and abandoned by Rex I was scared because I had no idea what we were going to do and I had no one to take care of me.

I moved into the guest room. It became my sanctuary. I continued to do the DA work and called my sponsor a lot. I did phone meetings every day. At the encouragement of my DA sponsor I also attended Alanon phone meetings. I did the food to the best of my ability. I listened to the Safe Place CD every single night without fail. It helped me to sleep and quieted the fears. I talked on the lists.

A day at a time things changed. Our life today is almost unrecognizable from a year ago. Rex feels much better and finally seems to be on the right amount of medication. We are working together on our finances. All of the finger pointing is gone, we are a team. I moved out of the guest room last September and feel safe.

I still do not know what will happen financially. That part is not steady yet, but it is changing. I have a part-time job that I love and fills me with joy and helps a little with the financial piece. I am still working pretty hard. Money recovery is pretty big for me, it is turning out to be a really core part of who I am and how I am in the world. I still listen to Safe Place every night as I go to sleep. It makes me happy.

Yesterday Rex came home after his eye exam and told me he needed new glasses. I asked him if he ordered them and he said "No, I wanted to talk to you first about when the best time would be financially to do that." Oh my goodness, I could hardly believe it, such a huge thing between us. We are a little tight this month because we are paying for my knee surgery and usually it is me being frugal and cautious, but this time again, it was a team effort. There are more and more of those.

I feel better than I have ever felt in my life, both emotionally and physically. I am pretty surprised how my money pod affected so much of my life and how clean it feels to have such clarity and strength. I am so grateful and I just wanted to share about it because this list is a big part of my money recovery.



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**Radiant Ambassadors **


Selena head shot

What do you do when you come across a book that you are thinking about reading?

Check out online reviews?

Absolutely!

So do I!

Did you know that you can now leave reviews of books on not only Amazon, but Googlebooks and Goodreads too?

No?

Well, nor did I until recently!

So what do you reckon? Do you want to join me in adding reviews of Kathleen's books?

Here are the links for:

Amazon

Googlebooks

Goodreads

You will have to create accounts for all 3 sites in order to review.

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, I am Carol and I live in north central Wisconsin, USA. I have lived here for 19.5 years with my husband and a wide variety of animals. We used to have a small sheep farm and some llamas but now we have 3 dogs and 4 cats and no large animals. Our home and land is up for sale and we are hopeful of moving closer to family and friends on the West side of the state.

I work very part time at the middle school in the after school program which is funded by a grant to serve at-risk kids. We focus on catching up and keeping up with homework as well as learning by enrichment activities. I really like it and it fills a big need for me.

I am also beginning to work on becoming a life coach, which I believe is what I am meant to be doing. It is quite exciting and I am taking nano steps to get there. This year I hope to be in school and to be setting up my own business.

I found RR in 2004 when I was very ill. I found an ad for PnP on a box of Stevia (at least that is how I remember it) because I had a yeast infection and was not eating sugar. I checked the book from the library and had some good success for a few months. But after about 9 months I went back to my old ways. There was no question in my mind as I read that book that I was ss.

After a couple of months back on sugar and whites, I went back to the book, found SARP and decided to get over my technological phobias and joined the online community. That was around Valentine's Day in 2005. I have been here ever since. I started on the forum and then moved to the very fun pet's list and on to depression.

I had a life-long history of depression, ADD and various physical ailments. I was 27 years sober and still incredibly depressed.

Since doing the food, I have gone through the decline and death of my mother, the current decline of my father, a devastating house fire, and the total rebuilding of my life. I have been off antidepressants and ADD meds for a number of years now and have managed to stay steady through all these life challenges.

It is always good for me to do an introduction because my life today is so far from my life before RR that I need to stop and remember what it truly was like back then.

I currently mentor on Transitions, I team on Recovery, I read on Family and Friends. I also work one on one and help others to work one on one with those who need a little close tender care to get back to steady.

I am devoted to service as Radiant Recovery has truly given me a life. I am 60 now and feel my life is just beginning.

Carol


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** Radiant Recovery® Store **


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

This is a long awaited update from Kathleen on what is happening with George's® Original Shake.

First of all, I hope you will accept my sincere apologies for this horrendous delay. We started working with the new vendor in November of 2012. I have more than 100 emails in my file going back and forth to get all the details settled. Some of that was expected. We changed vendors, we changed the supplier for the vitamin/mineral mix, and we changed the type of soy. All of that had to be coordinated. Then we had to change the label which meant updated specs, new art art work and 100 tiny changes by quality control, LOL.

The good news is that the shake is absolutely delicious. I have NEVER tasted any soy shake that has this flavor so I am pleased to have done the work to get the configuration right. The texture is finer, it mixes more easily, and the taste is delicate.

It is certified non GMO protein, yea! I adjusted the vitamin and minerals to make it a wee bit *softer*…I think you are really going to be happy.

The shake has been packed and is sitting in Wisconsin waiting for the final lab certification. They test it after packing to make sure there are no bacteria or things like coliform or salmonella. We have been told the process should be complete around the 19th and will ship to us that day. It generally takes 3 days for the BIG truck to get down here. We will have all your orders in place and set to go out the day the truck arrives (unless they get here after 5 or unless Wisconsin has a big snowstorm, god forbid).

This product is a significant improvement for all of us. I know you will love it. I know that the process has tested my patience beyond what I could have imagined, but we are close, I promise. For all of you who have orders here, we will ship them immediately. If you haven't tried it, put in your order now!!!

[This is a pic of the old shake. We don't have the new one yet to take a picture of]

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 wanted to give you all a little update on what we have been doing in YLD. You may have noticed that we have not posted transcripts a couple of times this month. There have been two reasons for this...

Every once in a while either I or someone else is sharing about something that is deeply personal. it is fine for the people who are there in witness, but it does not seem appropriate to share it with the larger YLD community. So I will hold those transcripts.

Recently, I am presenting some VERY new information that is in process. It is material that I will be writing about in depth over the next few months. I will bring it to chat to get your input and reactions and then will choose not to post it until I have had a chance to think and edit, etc. The joyful part of being a YLD member is that you truly get *preview* status. (smile)...so if you want to be on the most cutting edge of what I am thinking about with weight loss, chat is it.

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.

This week we will do how to discern the difference between addiction and passion. Yea! It's a pretty fascinating topic for all of us. Come have fun.

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 **


On Fitness we talk about how doing the food can support our fitness program and vice versa. Some favorite topics are what to eat when doing intensive exercise when all that's out there commercially are sugar-filled products. We also talk about what to eat before and after morning workouts, and what to do for those folks whose training program requires a twice a day workout. We just had a great thread on the necessity of sports drinks and how doing the food is better.

We have runners, walkers, bikers, dancers, aerobicizers, yogis, and many more types of exercise enthusiasts on the list. One of the neat things is people who are recovering from exercise addiction who are learning how to work exercise back in their life in a healthy way. If any of this fits you, well, come on over and join in


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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**What Are We doing Anyway? **
Kathleen DesMaisons, Ph.D.



There has been a lot of media attention on the evils of sugar in the past few months. Added to the culture of carb phobia, the sugar spotlight seems to have pushed a lot of new people to Google sugar addiction. And there we are, waiting with open arms to talk about the program and breakfast.

Of course, this isn't exactly the reception that everyone wants. "Oh, I am already doing all that." "Been doing it for years.” "I just stopped all sugar, I feel miserable." "Yes, but I will GAIN WEGHT if I have a carb at breakfast!!!" "No, no, you don’t understand..." "Why won’t you let me talk about my problems? I have to get that all settled before I can think about breakfast, for god’s sake!"

We are a dramatic lot, aren’t we? I thought it might be timely to share a little about what it is we are really doing here anyway. What are these step things, why is this program different, why not sugar detox now, why is our weight loss so durable and sustained, and what are we doing anyway?

Those of you who have read the books know that twenty-five years ago I began thinking about the relationship of addiction and diet. These thoughts led to the formulation of the idea that some people are particularly vulnerable to the effect of the drug-like properties of sugar. I name our “clan” sugar sensitive. We are the ones who love sweets, love carbs and fats, and alcohol. We are highly intuitive, feel deeply and can be inclined to gain weight (although not always).

I spent a long time and a lot of energy finding a way to restore balance in our sugar-sensitive brains. I designed seven steps of “Doing the Food” to create a biochemical shift in our brains and reshape our addictive behavior patterns. Those of us who do the steps have discovered a different life of joy and rebuilt dreams. In some ways the payoff is so huge that it is a little hard to talk about. Everything is different.

Restored balance is a big deal.

And the process itself is so simple that it is easy to imagine that you have it already, that you have been there, done that, and if you just add a random potato, you are set. And we are patient. You think we are not listening to the urgency of LOSING WEIGHT. You think we do not understand or that we are somehow dismissing how special your situation is.

Fact is, we know EXACTLY what you are feeling. We have, in fact, been right where you are. And we KNOW that if you do the steps in order, as they are written, one at a time, and take the time to integrate them, that everything will change. You will stop bingeing, your depression will recede, your anxiety will quiet, your humor will return and even, surprise, surprise, you can lose weight and feel terrific.

And, remember the steps are based on some pretty amazing principles.

Every other help program I know encourages you to focus on the problem: What is your weight?
You are getting fatter!
The SUGAR.
Are you bingeing?
Why are you bingeing?
What are your emotional triggers?
and so on

From a neurochemical point of view, this keeps you in the problem loop...your energy is on the your weight, the binge or the sugar or the whatever.

What we are trying to do is get you to STOP giving energy to the problem, and move you into the solution. The solution is the steps...BREAKFAST. If you start putting your energy into the quality of your breakfast and give the bingeing or the sugar or your weight NO energy, like oh ho hum…, your brain is going to be thinking about breakfast.

Now this sounds sort of silly. But...it is based on very serious science to say nothing of all these years of it working.

Just start with Step One. It sounds like it is about breakfast, but really it is about willingness. If you are willing, if you can trust those who have gone before you, something in your brain will shift. You will move from fear and panic and anger into feeling safe that things will heal and you will be all right. We can show you how to love carbs, how to use sugar while you are waiting for detox, how to lose weight, and even how to have fun doing all that.

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


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!
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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.
Steph provides the Your Last Diet column.


©2013 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