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People are talking, bring your questions and ideas!.It is nice place to get started if you are new to the community or are coming back and are wondering what to do. Introduce yourself and ask for help. We will direct you to the right spot for your questions. Someone asked me this week what BE was. That was an interesting question and it was fun to answer it. Join it now.
GROUPS
The groups list is up on the web site. Just sign up for the group you would like to join. Read about the group before you ask to join. If you are starting or returning, join the Step One list. Don't join Step One and Step Two and Step Three all at the same time.
CLASSES
When a new class is ready, I will post it on the website under the "LEARN" link. I have decided to hold on the Weight Loss Readiness class because I am not convinced that any of us is in a frame of mind to be thinking about weight loss,
lol.
JOIN US ON FACEBOOK
WORKING WITH KATHLEEN
Coaching is a special offering for people who are serious about enhancing their programs and would like to have ongoing coaching. Support is provided in a small group with people who are looking at similar concerns. Kathleen is part of each
coaching group.This is not a class but is a process to support your progress. We have added a special chat for people in coaching. It meets twice a week to accommodate those who are in Greenwich Mean Time and those who are in USA time. If you are just starting, own the Step lists to learn the basics.
Coaching includes several options now: Return to Radiance Coaching for those who have done the steps in the past and then drifted and would like to get back on track. This is a good place to plug in if you have gotten wobbly and would like to restart your program.
Skilled Coaching is for people who are steady on the steps and ready to work on Step 7 life skills.
The fee for these three coaching options is $20 @ week, billed in 2 week intervals. The coaching is done in an email group and assumes active participation by the members. The process includes peer support with guidance and direction by Kathleen.
If you wish to join coaching send an email and say what you are interested in and why.
I also provide individual intensive coaching called Signature
Coaching. I can help you 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 particular option is especially helpful if you did the steps a while ago and then kinda meandered away. Or if you are facing some
intense times and would. like skillful support. But I can tell you that it is a good time to do coaching.
This is a 3 month process that includes doing an in-depth assessment of where you are in the process, designing an individual plan for you and then talking with me once a week via phone or Zoom to work on your progress. You will learn to do an efficient journal and to identify your strengths and challenges.
This is the 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. This is a unique opportunity to release your fear and let go of shame.The guidance can shorten and ease your process so that in 3 months you will do what you might take a year to do on your own. Signature coaching is also an excellent way to tackle any special needs you may have. like wanting to get sober, or dealing with insulin resistance, or integrating doing the food with special medical concerns.
And in fact, we have developed some creative personalized plans especially suited to where people are in the program and what will work best to support them. Call 505-345-3737 if you would like to chat.
Sign up for Signature Coaching
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"There is NO failure in the plan, only more information to help you learn about your body and your self."
When Clara was a baby I knew about sugar sensitivity and wondered if she was or wasn't sugar sensitive. I knew I was, and I knew her older sister Emma was. I hoped that Clara had escaped the wrath of the sugar sensitive biochemistry. As she got older and her diet expanded and included more variety (including sugar), I looked for the signs that I thought I knew: hurt/sensitive feelings, cravings, withdrawals. I didn't
see them...I thought her biochemistry was different! (At the time, I was trying, failing, and trying again to move through the steps myself. Sugar was still in our lives.)
Around the age of 2-1/2, she started waking up in the middle of the night. One of two things would happen. She would either be wide-awake but calm, or she was badly tempered and couldn't be pleased (at ALL). Neither option was fun. If it was the first, I would put her back to bed over and over. Each time, she would come back in my room, wide-awake as could be. I would plead with her to "just go back to sleep!" Some
nights she was awake for hours. If it was the latter, she was inconsolable...she wriggled, she cried, she thought she wanted one thing or another, but never wanted anything at all. It was draining. She would eventually fall back to sleep, exhausted. So would I.
Eventually, she started articulating that she was hungry in the night. I really didn't believe her, quite honestly. (After all, she'd been sleeping for two years through the night without being hungry!) My sugar-fogged brain thought she was manipulating me, just trying to get an extra snack (after all, that's what I would have done when I was a kid). For a long while, I resisted giving her a mid-night snack.
Eventually, I gave in. My offer was always a cheese stick (for the pure beauty of no crumbs in bed)! Pretty soon I discovered that on the nights that she woke up, a cheese stick got her back to sleep in no time. It took less than five minutes to lay down with her while she ate, and then she immediately went back to sleep. That meant that I could go back to sleep myself! Life was good!
But then there were the mornings on which her disposition was utterly horrendous. I remember holding my breath when she came down the stairs in the morning, waiting to see if she had a smile or a scowl on her face. The smile meant we would start the day on a good note. A scowl meant that we were in for a looooooonnngggg, difficult morning (if Clara wasn't happy, NOBODY was happy)!
Over time, it wasn't just the mornings in which Clara's disposition became abominable. There were explosive episodes throughout the day. She could transform from content, playing child to a sour, defiant, stubborn, unreasonable monster. She defied us; she had to have things her way (or not at all), and she was oblivious or irreverent to where she was, who she was with, or whatever the activity was at the moment. It
was a state of being, and when she got this way, it felt impossible to get her back to "normal." It always took a long time.
Of course, she wasn't like this all the time either. She was often funny, silly, sweet. And there was no doubt that she was smart. She was mechanical, always wanting to know how things worked, extraordinarily verbal, and always "seeing" things that seemed beyond her age.
It was like she had two personalities, and the dissonance between them made me extraordinarily uncomfortable. As a parent, I couldn't help asking myself, "what am I doing wrong?" I hadn't connected the dots; I didn't know it was food related. I thought it her personality, and I wondered, "If she's like this now, what will she be like when she's 18? 25? 50?" I fretted about her future. I didn't know what to do.
Feeling rather desperate, I started posting Clara's behavior on the Radiant Parents list. It was the best thing I could have done. Over time, I gained a whole new understanding of what Clara needed. A clear picture emerged from the scattered dots. Keep her FED; don't wait for "empty." Give her a bedtime snack with protein. If "empty" happens, fill her up first; handle the discipline later. Each tip that I learned and
employed helped Clara's coping mechanisms and our family life.
Clara is now four. She wakes up smiling every day. She loves to make people laugh by doing silly little dances, making funny faces, and saying funny things. Her creativity has blossomed through her stories, paintings, coloring, and new inventions. She can concentrate on an activity for hours. She hardly ever scowls.
The secret? I make sure she is fed regularly every day: three meals and three snacks, with protein at each one. Is life perfect? Of course not. Do I mess up? Yep. But now I know how to fix the mistakes. If Clara becomes frustrated, I know "empty" is near. If she wakes up in the night, I know a snack will put her back to sleep. If she decides not to finish her breakfast, I know that an early snack will be in order.
When we go out, I always bring water and a snack. These adjustments are so simple, so manageable, so do-able.
Our journey has been long, it has had its up and downs, but it has been oh-so-worthwhile. I no longer fear my daughter's moods or fret over her future. I am thrilled that the solution was food, just food! It sounds unbelievable, but it is absolutely true.
Jennifer
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Rosie no longer acts like a little feral dog. She is house trained. It happened in a day. We left the front door open and she has learned o use the dog door. She just decided that the other dogs went outside so it made sense for her to as well.
I have o send the breeder pictures tomorrow. I promise I will find a way for you to see them too LOL.
She weighs 30 pounds and looks like a small dog - half the size of Brody and the same color. very sweet face.
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David, my oldest son, runs our store. He makes sure your orders go out quickly and works with you to find the best things suited to where you are in your process.
Please send questions and suggestions. I love hearing from you and truly want to help you do your program better.
Come visit our STORE. Call 505-345-3737.
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This is the best protein powder on the market. The cows live in New Mexico, eat grass, do not get hormones and are very, very happy. We just don't those claims on the label because if we do, we have to pay more, LOL. And yes, it is more expensive that what you can get at Trader Joe's or Walmart, but this is an artisanal product made in small batches which means it is FRESH and you know exactly where the cows live.And
they live in fields of grass and look at New Mexico blue sky. You may not think any of that matter, but taste it and you will understand. And now we do not have sample size packets because they require a run of 50,000 to do that and we simply do not have the cash flow to do it.
Your Last Diet: More Than What You Think
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Every week we gather on Zoom to talk about things related to weight loss.
Come to Chat. It is nice, it is comforting and we like it.
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Little Sugar Addicts
Kathleen DesMaisons, Ph.D.
Little Sugar Addicts has been out for 16 years. I think people are just starting to connect with the power of what it says. We have been exploring how to hidden difficult children (or Grandchildren) on on of the lists. One of the things we are talking about is
the problem of "picky eaters" or kids who cannot wind down for sleep. I got a book called The Out of Sync Child. It is an EXCELLENT resource, but man, it is a little overwhelming. There is so much information, if I were just starting, I would be totally overwhelmed. I picked up LSA and reread it. it made me smile. It is so kind. If you have kids or grandchildren and you are wondering how to approach working with them, get the book. And I am thinking about how we talk about their (and your)
needs better.
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Introduction
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Chapter One:
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Is Your Child Sugar Sensitive?
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Chapter Two:
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It's Not Your Fault, There Is A Solution
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Chapter Three:
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Creating The Solution
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Chapter Four:
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Step One: Breakfast
Step Two: Making Connections
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Chapter Five:
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Step Three: Snacks And Drinks
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Chapter Six:
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Step Four Lunch And Dinner
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Chapter Seven:
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Step Five: Browning Your Family
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Chapter Eight:
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Step Six: Take Out The Sugar
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Chapter Nine:
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Holidays et Al
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Chapter Ten:
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Refining The Program For Special Needs
Obesity, Diabetes, ADD, Etc
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Chapter Eleven:
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Life After Sugar
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Bibliography
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Recipes
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Appendix
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Introduction
Do you have a smart, creative, compassionate child who is also spacey, inattentive, cranky and sometimes obnoxious? Are you coping with constant colds and ear infections in your children? Is your child getting tubby and suffering at school because of it? Has your doctor told you that your child is pre-diabetic? Have you put your son on medication for ADD?
I know that you really care for your child and you know something is not right. The contradictions simply make no sense. Your child can be sweet and loving - or fearful, cranky, out of control, moody, depressed, or destructive. And this same child has moments of being enchanting, funny, gifted, tender, compassionate, loving, and creative. There are moments when he touches you deeply - and times when
you would like to trade him in for a new model! The pain you feel at seeing your gentle and loving child turn willful, frightened, or out of control is beyond words. The rage you feel in the midst of the power struggles terrifies you.
Sometimes it feels as if you are living with a split personality. The changes in behavior simply make no sense. You wonder what is behind it and you simply do not know what to do. You feel as if everyone has something to say. And much of it is aimed at you. If you would just get your child straightened out, things would be ok. You want to be a good parent. You work hard at it, but you are tired down
to your very bones. You cannot imagine struggling with one more fight to get chores done, to finish homework, to not eat junk, to get to school on time.
You don't want to struggle like this. You want your child to be happy and well adjusted. You wonder if drugs are the answer. Maybe you have tried them, and they didn't work, or didn't work for long. You wonder about diet. You have tried making "healthy" meals, but your children refuse to eat them. They announce, "I am not eating that!" and stomp away. You have bargained with them, you have pleaded,
you have prayed - and things have not changed.
I am convinced that what you are experiencing is a function of your child's biochemistry and diet. It is not about your parenting skills or some flaw in your child's character. It is not a psychological disorder. Your child may be sugar sensitive. A biochemical imbalance can cause these problems. This is not your fault. It is not your child's fault. Sugar sensitivity is an inherited biochemical
condition that affects how the brain and body function. Mood swings, erratic behavior, inability to concentrate, low self-esteem, fatigue, crankiness, and overweight are all connected, and can all be driven by the biochemical imbalance of untreated sugar sensitivity. These behaviors are not a result of your parenting skills.
The contradictions you see in your children are driven by what and when they are eating. If a sugar-sensitive child skips meals, eats late, has a lot of sugar, eats refined foods, or doesn't get the right nutrients, he will be erratic, moody, unable to concentrate, chubby, cranky, dramatic, funny, wildly energetic, temperamental, or spacey. This is not about taking him off of sugar or taking out
food additives, this is about designing a food plan that heals the reason for the problems. It is about going right to the cause rather than trying to deal with the symptoms. This is about healing biochemistry by changing the food.
Changing the food has an effect beyond anything you can imagine. The program I will outline for you is based in very specific science and has been tested for many years. It has had an extraordinary impact on thousands and thousands of families.
It's like getting the big-kid equivalent of the 'easy baby'. You know, the one that smiles, sleeps well, plays well, goes everywhere and rarely fusses. Steady food and steady routine brings out the easy kid. Even our high energy, intense kids are closer to their 'easy' selves.
Connie
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