Venus rising on a deep blue night with the words Radiant Recovery superimposed on it

Welcome to Radiant Recovery®
new copies of book on shelf
Sept 29, 2019,
Hi {!firstname_fix},
Here is the picture of our getting ready to send out your books ordered from Bookworks. I am getting nice feedback from the fast readers, Thank you. Seems like you are liking the new material a lot. And I received a comment from a very senior scientist who was appreciating seeing the new bioliography to support what I have been saying all these years.
If you like it, make sure to put up reviews. Amazon, Barnes and Noble, AbeBooks. Your voice will make a difference. People are looking for answers. Their dogs are telling them to just go off of sugar and cut out the carbs. You know better. This is not about selling books, this is about sharing what you. know about a a way of handling sugar addiction.
Call your library, ask them to get it. Call your bookstore, ask them to carry it. You all have the LIVED experience which makes this edition come alive. This is YOUR book. Talk to people about it, It's funny, I have really ever talked much about our promoting the book. But its time has come. There are hundreds of people asking questions about sugar addiction on Quora. YOU have the answers and we have this book
And now we also have an unabridged edition on audio, Look for the one with the cover that matches the book cover. Do not even think of getting the one with the red bottom. It is an unauthorized edition and it is terrible, LOL. We have the official one in the store so we can get it out to you right away.
I did a book signing last week. It was nice. Vancouver was there for the very first event in '98, Ronan was there in "08 and Brody was there this year so we had dog continuity as well.
Come to chats. We will be talking about it more.
Support for Your Program
Kathleen Smiling
COMMUNITY FORUM
Share with others, ask questions, explore everything and anything about your program. Yes, even topics like chocolate and Fritos. This is a great place to get started when you are new.
Share
GROUPS
Work on your steps, get information on what to eat while running a marathon, ask about depression meds, learn how to do life. Groups are free and fun.
Sign Up for Groups
JOIN US ON FACEBOOK
If you prefer talking on Facebook, come over to one of our three groups there. Radiant Recovery®, Radiant Recovery® International or Radiant Recovery® Germany that shares in German.
WORKING WITH KATHLEEN
Coaching is a special offering for people who are serious about enhancing their programs and would like to have ongoing coaching. We will do individual assessments to sort out exactly where you are in the process. You will be guided in making your own individual plan. You can learn about journaling and adjusting your food for your own life needs – what to do when. You will be given tools and shown how to use them.
We are just starting a new group called Return to Radiance Coaching for those who have done the steps in the past and then drifted. Skilled Coaching is for people who are steady on step three and ready to move through four-six. The small groups stay together as they learn skills. And Special Coaching will be geared to people who have special considerations going on. Right now, we are working on moving out of restrictive eating. If you want to sign up for Special, put a note in the notes section so I have context. And if you are brand new and would like coaching, sign up for special and let me know and I will start a special section for you.
Sign up for coaching
Signature Coaching is intensive individual coaching geared to your specific situation. You may want to step out of the craziness of sugar addiction, return to steadiness and clarity after slipping away, slow down and focus on your recovery, or deepen a steady rhythm of recovery.
This is a way to step out of feeling overwhelmed with where to start and what to do. Because it is so individualized, we can work on what is right for you at this point in your journey. People tell me that coaching helps them feel safe and focused. We work with your style, your rhythm. We address your fear and let go of shame.
Ready to Start?
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"Try to write in your journal as you go through the day. Carry your journal with you."
Testimonial of the Week

When I first found RR, I was already doing another program where I had quit eating sugar. 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
David Smiling
Davis is BACK, refreshed and restored.
Come visit our STORE. Call 505-345-3737.
The Audio version!
cover of audio version
This is the full, authorized edition of the new edition of the book. Kathleen personally chose the narrator and is very pleased with this. Please note this will be on our shelves tomorrow afternoon so if you want to reserve one, call 505-345-3737 with your name and phone number and we will get back to you. The price will be $18.09 and will include free shipping.
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Your Last Diet!
Your Last Diet Book Cover

I am leaving this same information up here in the YLD section because if you are not a member yet, I want you to READ it and join :). Things are getting exciting.

I had someone ask me why I don't just tell people what to eat in order to lose weight. It really pushed me to think about what it is we are doing in YLD. The key concept is about LAST - this means the whole point is to get you to realize that diets are not the story. Diets = restriction which is simply one more way of taking away power. YLD is all about *empowerment* which means it is slow, thoughtful and transformative. It can be a little disorienting since it is so different from what you are used to.

Chats, chats, chats. We just keep talking, reflecting, learning. You will learn about fat terror, about the myths of obesity, how dieting fosters *restriction* and what that means for your long term success. We add new science to help you understand why you do what you do.

I’m in my third year of recovery and THIS year is the worst roller coaster of trying to balance my protein/sugar/mood swings. Was at wit’s end, wondering where could I find a doctor who knew addiction recovery AND nutrition when my sis sent me a blurb on your book. Went to bookstore and the words leapt off the cover at me! I KNEW it was more than just blood sugar; I had been doing food combining, protein in the a.m ., etc., for years, even before I quit drinking. You have saved my life and, more important, my peace of mind by filling in the blank spaces in my diet management. All I want is to feel normal after I eat! Even after I had the blood sugar thing down, I was still experiencing weird feelings, and there they were in the book: a column for beta-endorphin and one for serotonin! Thank you so much for giving me direction!! God bless you! I have been telling everyone about your book.

—M. S.

If you would like to join us in YLD, come find us here.
picture of Your Body Speaks

The Tools of Your Journey

Kathleen DesMaisons, PhD

Lets spend a little time talking about the valuable tools of your journey your journal and the lists of your process.

Use that Journal

The value of your journal comes in using it. When you really understand that your journal is the way your body talks with you, everything changes.

If you only see your journal as a 'log' to record how well (or how poorly) you are doing, it will get really old fast. If you work with your journal as a living dialogue with your body, it will truly be a joy. You will want to write in it.

Even more important, you will want to read it and use it to understand what your body needs. You may feel that the steps I have outlined are too simple. You may drift towards counting calories, towards recording grams. You may focus on tracking every little detail, but forget the relationship part.

Remember Relationship

Your body wants to be in relationship with you. It will show you the way by how you feel. If you are feeling better, things are working. If you arent, then you simply need to adjust your process and your food.

But you cant know the adjustments without your journal. If you came to my office for a private session, I would ask you to bring your journal. Here are the things we would look at together:

  • How are you feeling when you wake up? Are you energized? Excited about the day?
  • Do you have a hard time shifting gears into being awake?
  • Do you want to eat breakfast? Are you hungry?

A healthy, rested body wants to get up after sleeping. Even a 'night person' will want to get up albeit more slowly and in increments. When your body is balanced, it lives in a quality of being pleased to have another day. If getting up is really hard for you, simply make a note of this. It will change as the food changes.

  • Are you having breakfast with protein every morning? Is this enjoyable?
  • Have you developed a routine that you like? Is it easy and pleasant?
  • Has breakfast become automatic and simply a part of your morning without a big hassle?

I sit on my porch in the morning and eat breakfast with the birds. Together we watch the light break over the top of the mountain. It is a quiet time that anchors my day. My journal taught me how important this time is. If I skip it and 'get to work' my day is not the same. I am far more scattered and rushed all day. Its these tiny little details that create change.

  • Are you having three meals with protein and your very complex carbs?
  • Are you eating enough? Are you eating too much?
  • Are you enjoying what you are eating?

Your Journal Will Lead you

I was recently working with someone who is a little person. She weighs 118 and wants to weigh 110 (stay with me. I know at first glance you may think you should have such problems but the story is the same for all of us!). She is sugar sensitive and is doing YLD.

She started having 3 cups of veggies at each meal. She felt she didnt lose weight quickly enough (a clue she is still in the numbers game ;-) ), so she added another cup of veggies.

Her body is very smart. It said, 'I dont think so!' She stopped losing weight and started feeling de-energized and off kilter. I blessed her body. It is so smart. It was talking to her! Her body wanted her to listen.

She needed to do her food in a way that suited her body. We sorted it out. Less was better. And the plan started working again.

  • Are you getting the vitamins every day?
  • Are you having that evening carb? Yep, Mr. Spud is important.
  • .What are you doing with caffeine? What about aspartame?

Sometimes, people forget the vitamin part. But the vitamins are directly tied in to the processes that convert tryptophan into serotonin. Skip the vitamins and you are working with only part of the equation.

Yes, Yes, the potato is important

And, I know you know that the potato is important. Or you may not. I am still getting mail from people who ask me, 'Are you sure you really want me to eat this?' 'Its high glycemic!' 'Sugar Busters says that potatoes are BAD!' 'But, you arent supposed to eat before sleeping!' 'Its more calories. I am going to gain weight!'

Remember, we are changing your basic thinking about losing weight. We are up against years and years of conditioning here. Read the Simple Solutions newsletter. Check on the forum. Talk about it with others doing the program. Its important. Have your potato.

Redefining the Focus

I am sure you are connecting with my reasoning. You notice, at no time have I said, 'So how much do you weigh today?' If you are still focused on the scale, you arent focused on the relationship to your body. You will lose weight, I promise. But what I want most is for you to know, and most of all, to love your body.

I want you to come to love that body even while it is still fat, even when it is wrinkly and saggy (my apologies to you who are younger ;-) ), even when it is still learning about exercise. This body has served you diligently.

Through all those years of abuse, being forgotten, living in shame, being hidden, your body has waited and wanted to talk with you. And I guarantee, if you come home to it, it will respond with a degree of cooperation which will shock you.

Your body loves you. Even if you havent loved it it adores you and wants to serve you. Spend time, listen to it. The journal is your bodys voice. Literally, think of that when you write in your journal. Think of that when you read your journal. Your bodys voice. Relationship! Finally.

If You Listen, Your Body Will Speak.

Here is the Annie Lane column that brought so many of you here.

Dear Annie: I read with interest the letter from "Weird, Stupid or Selfish?" – whose husband eats all the decorative candy she puts out. His inability to resist sugar resonated with me, as I have sugar sensitivity and have engaged in exactly the same behaviors. I simply could not resist sugar.

After years of struggling and dieting and sitting in work meetings obsessing about the doughnuts instead of the topic at hand, I discovered the book "Potatoes Not Prozac," by Kathleen DesMaisons. Her theory is that people who are sugar sensitive have brains that respond differently to sugar, alcohol and refined carbs and that what they eat and when they eat it have a huge effect on them. She shows how to rebalance blood sugar levels, serotonin and beta-endorphins through small lifestyle changes and offers the latest research, free online support and seven steps to change your life. It is not about willpower; it’s about biochemistry, which her program can slowly improve, just one tiny step at a time, with amazing results.

I have been sugar-free for six years now, lost 25 pounds and never gained any of it back. I can go to dinner with family and don’t even think twice when someone orders dessert. I don’t have cravings, and sugar is no longer on my radar. I am more focused and more tolerant, and the daily mood swings are gone. The woman who wrote to you could suggest to her husband that he check out http:// radiantrecovery.com to see whether he does have sugar sensitivity. At the very least, she would be better informed about this condition. – Happy Without Sugar

Dear Happy Without Sugar: I hadn’t considered that health issues might explain

her husband’s behavior. In fact, I hadn’t even heard of sugar sensitivity.

Thanks for opening my eyes to the condition! I’d like to encourage all readers to talk to their doctors if they find themselves compulsively eating sugary snacks.

—Email questions to dearannie@creators.com

ANNIE LANE
©2019 Kathleen DesMaisons. All rights reserved. You are free to use or transmit this article to your blog 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 for additional resources on sugar sensitivity and healing addiction.

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