Hi {!firstname_fix}

You are subscribed to Simple Solutions the monthly newsletter from Radiant Recovery®. To unsubscribe, find instructions at the end of this email.

Well I have left my time by the sea and now will be working my way back to the Southwest by way of The Great Lakes.

Classes that are ongoing will be continuing this week. Because I will be traveling again we will not begin any new ones. Click here to take a look at what is coming up for August and see if anything calls you. If you get excited about the Step 3 material posted in the article this week, plan on joining the Step 3 class starting on August 15.

A number of you have asked me about how the classes work. Check the class list page for more information on this.

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.

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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July 25, 2005
** Quote From Kathleen **

One of the markers for your own progress is the respect you command from those around you about your food habits.

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** Testimonial for the Week**


I got the check up email from Kathleen the other day, and it really got me thinking about how my program is going.

I'm on step 4 and it's going well. Every now and then I think that I really can't tell a lot of difference being on the program though because I'm still eating sugar (although not white flour products) with my meals, sometimes a lot of it. Like last night when I went to the grocery store before I had dinner (BIG mistake), and ate 6 pieces of california roll and fruit, then added pork roast and brown rice, so there'd be enough protein and brown, and finished up with 3 fruit and cream ice cream bars. Of course that's because I broke my rule about shopping when I'm tired and hungry, and didn't plan my dinner.

Then I realized that I've been able to get my bank statements together and posted... AND balanced! And I've started walking with a friend 3 mornings a week. I went to the flea market all by myself (something my fears and insecurity would never have let me do before). AND with drs. consent, I've been able to wean off both the prozac and trazadone I had been taking (for years) for the pain and fatigue of fibromyalgia. I simply don't need them anymore. And tonight I actually went to the pool at my condo and swam. In my bathing suit. Of course, I got lucky, because no one else was there - but still - I WENT!!!!

So for all the times I think I "should" be doing better with the program, I can call up all these improvements in my LIFE - and really, that's what I feel the purpose is, anyway - to have a better life.

I know there still is a long way to go - I have 3 more steps to work on and I have about 50 pounds I'd like to lose, but I feel like I'm getting there. And that is SUCH a relief!

Kay

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**Recipe of the Week**


SPINACH BEAN SPROUT SALAD

Place bean sprouts in a colander and pour boiling water over them. Drain well. Place the sprouts in a medium bowl. Mix the vinegar, oil, salt, pepper, soy sauce and garlic and then pour over the warm bean sprouts. Marinate for at least 6 hours, stirring occasionally. Tear spinach into bite sized pieces. Combine with water chestnuts, sesame seeds and paprika. Add bean sprout mixture and gently toss to coat the spinach. Serve immediately.

Note: To toast sesame seeds, toast them in a dry frying pan over high heat until golden brown, stirring often.

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


It's been so wonderful to work with you in the class. Nice to be winding down and shifting gears into using all the information you have assimilated so beautifully. Our next class will be starting up soon. I will send out an email to the YLD list. So if you have not signed up for the main list, do that now.

Please plan on coming to chat this week. I am going to talk about pharmacology for sugar sensitives - what to say in the ER, how to make choices, drug interactions, etc. How to come off of drugs, or go on, LOL. Bring your questions.

I am also thinking of doing a little weight loss newsletter and will be looking for your ideas and testimonials. Write me what you think. You know I LOVE your input.

For those of you who are not yet YLD members, Click here if you are ready to change your life or just plain ole have fun.
 


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**David's Corner **





     


I suspect you may have thought our journals would NEVER get here. I am so excited. I have been working with our local printer doing specs and getting everything in place. We have made some fun changes. We will be producing 2 types of journal - the plain black and the blue cover one you are used to. I decided to put a white coil (not that plastic comb thingie) on the blue cover one and a black coil on the other.

We decided to make the paper heavier so it will stand up to your using colored markers and all. Kathleen has been reporting the kinds of things you all do in your journals, LOL

They will be here shortly. Those of you who have been waiting will be pleased to know the mailers are waiting with labels and set to go out the day we get them. If the rest of you have been waiting, now is time to see the new and improved version. I am stoked!

Click here to place your order now.

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

Thanks
David

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


 
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**Our Online Groups**


Elaine wants you to know the importance of breakfast and the benefits of joining the RadiantBreakfast group:

Most of us underestimate the importance of breakfast and try to do all the steps in the first week. When that doesn't work, we begin again. We concentrate on Step 1, breakfast, and find our lives begin to change.

The RadiantBreakfast list is a great place to learn the nuances of breakfast, build a strong foundation for the rest of the Steps, and find how helpful it is to share our journey with others. It is great for new people and those who have been on the program a long time. Sharing helps everyone.

The awesome thing is we all, Step 1 or Step 7, eat breakfast every single day. How cool is that?

We'd love it for you to Sign up: We love new members!



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** Featured Topic**
Step 3 Transition Plan
Kathleen DesMaisons, Ph.D.

I know that many of you are moving towards Step 3.I thought it would be helpful to repost Martha's famous transition plan.

Here's what we came up with, a 10-step transitional plan:

1. Thinking about starting step three -- your breakfast is strong and solid, enough protein and consistently within an hour of waking up. It's important to have a carb, too, but don't worry about whether it's brown or white at this point.

2. You have started journaling. You may not be perfect at it, but you are making a solid effort and starting to collect a good number of pages of information (and NO information is just as important as complete information, if you get the drift).

3. Start working on getting a really solid lunch. Come up with several lunch options that work well for you, and have enough protein in them (don't worry yet about snacking, grazing, or any other eating during the day).

4. After doing a good solid lunch for awhile, try a few days of not snacking between breakfast and lunch. The important part is that breakfast is now solid. And lunch is solid. You are simply moving the snacks to one of those two meals. At first, you may want to try a shorter time period in between, say 4 hours. Just to give your body the idea that it is going to be waiting. Then, after that gets easier, slide it to 5 hours. The ideal is 5-6 hours, but for now you are simply working on transitioning toward the ideal.

4a. This one could fit in just about anywhere. One way to shift from grazing to 3 distinct meals is to establish a planned snack at specific times between b'fast and lunch and then between lunch and dinner. A planned protein/carb snack helps move you away from grazing mode. Eventually, you can work on going without the snack, but this is an excellent interim step.

5. Keep doing b-fast - lunch, with no snack, and now start focusing on dinner. What's for dinner?! Don't worry about when it is or if you are eating sugar. Just make sure you have some kind of dinner meal, with good food... protein, some veggies, and whatever else you like to have... No worries about the "whites" or "sugars" you are eating. You are just getting steady, not working on detox yet!

6. Now start to think about having dinner at a regular time. If you have been erratic, eating at 7 one night, 9 the next night, 6 the next... it will be a little hard, but try for a certain window. Such as somewhere between 5-8. Make sure you stick to that window until it gets to feeling natural... and then narrow the window a little, for example, 5-7. I went for a pretty long period of time working at this, and basically ended up with a goal of eating dinner by no later than 7 pm every night. Sometimes it took juggling, almost always it took planning, but it has become a natural part of my lifestyle. Another way to do this is to start wherever you are and step it backwards. So, for example, if you are eating at 9, try shooting for 8:30, and then when that is comfortable, step it back to 8:00, etc., until you get to that spot where dinner is about 5-6 hours after your (wonderful & solid) lunch. A big part of this will be adjusting your life to your food plan. And sometimes that means telling people, "Hey, I need to stop working (or whatever) and eat my dinner." This is called TAKING GOOD CARE OF YOURSELF (or, as we like to say, putting the oxygen mask on yourself before assisting others around you... ) This is a huge part of the recovery process. :-)

7. Now that you are having a solid breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and you are no longer snacking between b'fast and lunch, try to move to the next level -- working toward no afternoon snack. If you are an afternoon muncher, perhaps one step in this direction is to limit the snack to one time, rather than "ongoing." So, pick a time, say 3 pm, and tell yourself that this is your afternoon snacktime. Get into a rhythm with this for awhile (all the while, still doing that b'fast, lunch, and well-timed dinner!).

8. Okay, time to test the waters of getting from lunch to dinner with no snacking. Just like before, try to get your dinnertime set at the earlier end of the spectrum, especially during this transitional time. When I did this transition, I was eating dinner at 4:30 some days! But eventually, I was able to make it until 6 pm. I was just giving my body some time to adjust.

9. With all of these mini-steps, you are starting the process of moving your sugar to mealtimes (rather than eating sugar all by itself). If you must, absolutely, must have sugar in between (because you haven't detoxed yet and you will still crave sugar... this is perfectly natural), make sure you have some protein along with it. Yes, candy and cheese, or a hunk of meat leftover from a previous meal, nuts, or whatever you can find. It will at least help slow down the "hit" of sugar.

10. Keep working on these steps, one at a time, honing and honing, and then one day you will notice that you didn't even think about a snack! And that you just habitually eat meals on time. (And your family even starts saying, "hey, isn't it time for you to have lunch now?" You can train them as well. LOL) And that you can look at a plate of food and know by sight whether it's "enough" protein for you. At this point, you are solid on Step Three!

You will find that you create your own variation of these baby steps, but hopefully this guideline will help. It sure did help both Vicki and me!

Martha



©Kathleen DesMaisons 2005.

Here are the folks who are helping put the newsletter together:

Gretel, the liaison for the recovery list and the webmaster puts it all together
Naomi gathers the recipes
JoAnna, the liaison for Rolling Hills gathers the testimonials
Terri, the liaison for Ambassadors sends over the ambassadors quote
Marie, the liaison for diabetes gathers the info on the online lists
David, who runs the Radiant Recovery® Store talks about what new products we have.