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

When you last heard from me, I was about to leave New England to go to Minnesota to work with the Native American Community at a Summer Alcohol Institute. As it turned out, I had a crisis in the family of a very dear friend that called me home. I am writing the newsletter from somewhere in middle America. Food here is different, LOL. Last night I found a PINK egg in the salad bar. The woman next to me told me it was a pickled egg (with beet juice). I also learned that there were 20 different kinds of jello on the salad bar. Now I am going in to grits country. Grits and barbeque, LOL. I am writing this from Greenfield, IN which is a beautiful little secret just east of Indianapolis. I went exploring to find a *real* place for dinner. The Victorian architecture is breathtaking.

Classified Ad: Gretel and I are planning some changes to the website. We are looking for someone who is a skilled webperson to offer some technical input on some of my creative ideas. This is a volunteer position for someone who loves what we are doing and would like to share in creating some refinements.

Classes that are ongoing will be continuing this week. We will not begin any new ones until next week. Click here to take a look at what is coming up for August and see if anything calls you. And I am planning some new classes for you - one on boundaries and one on IBD/IBS. When they are set, I will announce them here.

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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August 1, 2005
** Quote From Kathleen **

You are not striving for perfection. You are seeking commitment and progress.

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** Testimonial for the Week**


When I first found RR, I was already doing another program where I had quit eating sugar. It was called the Schwarzbein Principle and I felt great. But soon I was in withdrawal and freaking out. So I started looking on the internet for support for a sugar-free lifestyle. That is how I found RR.

Of course I didn't want to go back to eating sugar. I wanted someone to tell me how to stay off sugar without pulling my hair out and feeling like I was going to die without it.

I was told to eat breakfast and work the steps, slowly, in order. Doing each step until it became so natural that I wouldn't dream of not doing it.

I found that the core of RR was not about abstaining from sugar. It was about deep healing and lifestyle changes taking place. The skills of figuring out what to eat at each meal, t! he planning, shopping, cooking and lunch packing, all this took time. It took me a long, long, time to integrate these changes.

In addition my taste buds had to change. I now enjoy plain oatmeal with plain yogurt and cinnamon. I no longer need to drown it in maple syrup. I enjoy the taste of lemon seltzer water. I don't need Coke anymore. I enjoy a handful of almonds for dessert. They don't need to be covered in chocolate. I enjoy the taste of brown rice. I feel nourished by whole grains and beans. I even eat vegetables now. All of this took time.

And it feels so much better to have given up the sugar gradually and without a fight. I feel free.

Karen

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**Recipe of the Week**


Last summer I went cherry picking with my kids and invented this recipe. Hope you like it as much as our family did.

CHERRY BUCKLE

Batter:

Topping:

Mix apple juice, butter and eggs. Stir in dry ingredients. Fold in cherries. Spread batter into a greased 9 inch square pan. Mix topping ingredients together until crumbly. Sprinkle on top of batter, pressing into batter. Bake at 375 for 40-45 minutes.

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


Ok, we are just completing the first class. I posted the actual weight loss food plan and we have been making sure everyone understands it. We will be continuing a working group and weight loss newsletter for class graduates. The newsletter will provide tips and insights that folks are discovering as they work with the food plan.

I am starting a new class early in September, so if you are thinking about joining YLD, now is a good time for it. And don't forget, we will be doing renewals soon for September.

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 thought I'd remind you of the availability of our audio tapes and CDs These are some of the favorites of talks given by Kathleen at Ranch, but check out the whole section in the store for others as well.

Introduction to the Biochemistry of Sugar Sensitivity
Finding a Safe Place
What Else is Embedded in the Steps
Successfully Parenting a Sugar Sensitive Child
The Warrior Spirit: How Your Attitude Shapes Your Program



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**


Hi, I'm Sue, and I'm the volunteer liaison for the Radiant Movement group. The Movement list is for people who are new to moving their body and exercising. I had been struggling for many years to come up with an exercise routine that worked for me. I was out of shape, 100 pounds overweight, and I suffer from chronic pain and injuries. And every time I tried to move, I would hurt myself and have setbacks. I loved the support I got from the others on the list while I struggled to make movement a habit and honor my body and its challenges. But with a lot of patience, I found a way to make movement a big part of my life and my recovery. And I've become enthusiastic about wanting to help others get what they can from movement, and know that even moving for 1 minute a day is a great start!

Right now, many of the regular posters are people who have been working on movement for a long time and are more consistent and can do more. I would love to also hear from more of you who are just starting out so that we can support you in enjoying movement as much as we do!

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** Featured Topic**
Boundaries
Kathleen DesMaisons, Ph.D.

This is the first of a series on boundaries I will be doing. This first topic will reflect on sexual boundaries.

A while ago, I was having a conversation with a member of our community about something I had named ”oozy” boundaries. I asked her if I might share some of what started this discussion.

Looking back at my pattern of relationships I've always jumped right from one relationship to another to another... always had something going, especially with people who are actually unavailable.

Last week I caught myself starting to feel super attracted to someone, in ways that I recognized used to spike me big-time (and I can see that, thanks to The Food). Only this time it really spooked me. It caught me off guard and I felt like I needed to take a hard look at the pattern, in the context of my recovery. I don't want to keep trying for relationships that lead to spikes and crashes, and I don't want to keep hooking up (or trying to) with people who are unavailable. I'm thinking that I used to use this new-relationship behavior to get high (and the crashes could be spectacularly awful). There doesn't even have to be any actual sexual behavior going on, just a remote possibility that it could happen.

Anyway I'm having trouble sorting out just how to work on this but I feel like it's something I need to look at if I'm to be really rigorous about that ol' amoeba. I appreciate your reflecting with me about it.

This pattern sounds very familiar. I think it may be more a part of sugar sensitivity than many of us have realized. I think it is because we often think of sexual stuff as so taboo that we shy from talking about it. We think that our own personal process is a function of our inadequacy rather than a part of our recovery.

I can only share with you what I did.

One day, I simply said I wasn't going to do it any more. I *held* my sexual energy in. I did not flirt, I did not play sexual energy games.

And, to be perfectly honest, it is what created the energy that took me through graduate school and got me writing. In retrospect, I see that the sexual energy is our core energy. I realize now that squandering it on *play* was pretty silly. Yep, something I had to do I guess, but from this perspective, it was part of my addiction amoeba.

So here is the funny part. You started energetically making the commitment to be alone, to be healthy and not be in an unhealthy relationship. Your psyche immediately started *casting*. This is sort of like making a commitment to do the program and craving chocolate the next day.

I think you are onto something. It does not have to be that you are screwed up and that you are once again doing old patterns. You don't need to do a big therapy gig. It is sort of like doing the food. You simply do it. You stick with the commitment.

What does that mean? Just what it means with the food...you don't flirt with overts, you don't flirt with coverts, you read labels and if they contain danger, you set it down.

You can make it really complicated if you want. You can thrash and whine and create drama. You can do what you have always done, or you can do what you have done with the food. You said you wanted to heal and you did what you knew it would take to do that. You trusted those of us who have gone before you and said 'I want what you have'.

Sexual energy is one way we express our life, our power, our flow. But there are many ways as well as sexual. My hunch is that you are feeling the streaming. You have always in the past read it as sexual charge. I am not so sure. This may not be about another person, so much as what is happening in you. Your spirit is waking up. Your energy is streaming. And because in the past you have read this as 'sexual', it may seem like that now. I think it is bigger than that.

I totally trust that your recovery is guiding you. You are asking great questions and looking at these issues with a great deal of integrity. It is very exciting to see your process.

©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.