Carbs ruling my life

I have been researching fatty liver disease and its causes and ways to improve symptoms for almost 4 years. In that time I have written many blogs with new ideas and concepts that catch my interest. I don’t want to discount the concepts of Low Glycemic eating, or lots of fruits and veggies, but I have learned that it is best for those with Fatty Liver Disease to limit grains and fruit.

2 weeks ago I would have told you that it was good for the liver to eat brown rice, brown rice pasta, spelt bread and steel oats. I would have told you to enjoy your fruit and a bowl of steel oats with a side of berries with a glass of lemon water would have been a perfect breakfast. Then I saw the videos on Youtube from Merritt Wellness and a lightbulb went off. Every Carbohydrate we eat is converted to a sugar. This has been just on the edge of my mind poking me to pay attention and I have ignored it knowing how drastically it would change my thinking.

http://www.merrittwellness.com/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1RE4cXeX7Po

So if every 4 carbohydrate = 1 teaspoon of sugar then reducing carbs makes a lot of sense!

But looking at my life with my daughter this will be a huge shift in our eating.

She eats rye toast with peanut butter for breakfast

She eats a wrap filled with lean meat and veggies for lunch.

We eat brown rice, brown pasta or potatoes with dinner every night. Lean Meat and veggies to balance the plate.

Snacks are organic or gluten free.

She is allergic to Egg  – eliminates many breakfast choices

Fruit needs to be limited due to the sugar content.

No grain for breakfast . Wow what is left that she will actually eat!

She doesn’t like breakfast as a rule due to her limitations.  When we want it to be special I will make Spelt pancakes with organic maple syrup. Maybe some peameal bacon or fruit on the side. This is clearly a disaster even though I thought I was doing a good thing for her!

Lunch I guess she will need to stick with salads or veggie soups.  with a side of protein. This will not be easy for her!

Dinner Protein and Veggies and forgo the rice , pasta or potatoes. This will take some doing!

Snacks need to be unsalted nuts, veggies and a few fruits trying to limit fructose to 15g a day even from natural sources.

How do I explain this requirement to my 15 year old who takes comfort in the carbs. Gluten free cookies have been her saving grace.

For me I know it will also be a challenge but explaining this to her in reference to helping her health and reducing her weight is going to be my biggest challenge here!

Reminder to those with programs that can help, I am single mom with limited income and it would be almost impossible for me to invest in a program for Megan and I right now.

I need natural ideas that will allow a small level of  healthy carbs in the daily plan and 15g of  natural source fructose.  Sodium also needs to be reduced to protect her liver. So ideas please and thanks!!

 

Making Megan Smile with a Simple Plan #jlcreviewer @jlc

Reblogged from Behindhersmile's Blog:

Megan is 15 years old and has been sick for the last 3 years. That has meant she is home schooled and she deals with doctors more than any other type of person. We moved to London Ontario in July 2011 hoping that a fresh start for Megan would build her strength and her immunity and that has not happened. Megan has Non Alcoholic Fatty Liver disease and this disease causes her to have on average 3 hours sleep per night. This in turn makes her exhausted and vulnerable to all colds and flus that are found in a …

Making Megan Smile with a Simple Plan #jlcreviewer @jlc

Megan is 15 years old and has been sick for the last 3 years. That has meant she is home schooled and she deals with doctors more than any other type of person. We moved to London Ontario in July 2011 hoping that a fresh start for Megan would build her strength and her immunity and that has not happened.

Megan has Non Alcoholic Fatty Liver disease and this disease causes her to have on average 3 hours sleep per night. This in turn makes her exhausted and vulnerable to all colds and flus that are found in a school environment. Megan has extreme bleeding as part of an unpredictable constant menstrual cycle that leaves her anemic at times and always feeling dirty.

Making Megan smile is not easy. She is in the house 90% of the time. She has no friends in London Ontario because she has not been to school and because it is not easy for Megan to be social. I have been in touch with Big Brother and Big Sister of London and hope to find her an older mentor who will spend social time with her and hopefully build up her confidence. This could take up to 8 months and in the meantime i am hoping to give her other reasons to smile.

She would love to try musical theatre class, but that would cost 300 that i do not have for her. She would love to get to a musical in Toronto and I have bought tickets to Stratford in April to bring her to 42nd street. She loves Glee and every Tuesday night she squeals with joy when it starts. She loves alternative music and she loves classic movies. All time Low is one of her favorite bands and she loves Marianas new CD playing it over and over in her room. She loves Simple Plan and she has loved them for years.

She heard an ad on the radio for the concert Wednesday night and she sighed how badly she wanted to go to the concert. I told her to start listening to radio stations and see who might be giving tickets away to the concert at the JLC February 20, 2012. So far no one is, I assured her in February radio stations should start having contests.

Then Thursday night I remembered my experience as the #JLCREVIEWER for the Kings of Leon concert at the John Labbat Centre and how incredible that made me feel. I want more than anything to give my daughter Megan that experience for Simple Plan. John Labatt Centre has a great promotion where they choose 1 or 2 local citizens who have made efforts and gathered support from other citizens to attend the concert for free and to in return blog and review the concert for them.

I commit to blogging about the concert and getting my 15 year old to write a review as well. My blog will be about the excitement on her face and the her singing along to every song. If you could be so kind and to help my daughter get this experience it would mean everything to me!

All you need to do is follow me on Twitter Michelleclermon! Then tweet your support with hashtag #JLCREVIEWER to make megan smile with a simple plan @jlc.

Thank you for helping me make Megan Smile!

NAFLD Hints and Tips for dealing with Liver Disease

You were just diagnosed with NAFLD or NASH and now you are being told to eat healthy and exercise with no direction and a pat on the head. You search the internet and you find so much mixed information but your doctor told you not to worry about it too much.

 

There is something bothering you, you sense that there might be more to this since you are struggling with exhaustion and stomach aches.

 

Your liver is one of the hardest working organs in your body. I want you to think of it as a powerful sponge that is absorbing all the food you eat, all the beverages you drink, all the air you breathe,all the drugs or supplements you use, all the products you put on your skin, and everything you touch.

 

Your liver is an investigator. It will break down everything that it absorbs. It will take the vitamins and minerals that are in your liver and send them to other organs to make them work better. It will take all the toxins and chemicals and send them to the dump to be rejected from your body.

 

If you are are not overwhelming your liver with too many toxins your liver can do its job and your body will be happy!

Sadly our environment, drug, supplement, skin care, cosmetic manfacturers are generally about making profits and your health is a secondary concern if it is even on their radar.

 

There is very good news for your liver though. Your liver is the only organ in the body that has its own regeneration factory. Your liver is constantly trying to fix itself. Its like a busy body that can’t take a break no matter how much you warn it that its a workaholic

When its not trying to break down toxins it is replanting a cell, watering it, giving it nutrients and care. The cell needs to be nurtered in order to grow. This is the livers part time job and its a careful balance. Its priority is to break down toxins and nutrients that are being absorbed.

 

Your fulltime job as someone with liver disease is to support that balance and be kind to your liver.

 

My job is to share what I have learned that will help you help your liver!

 

 

1. Review the drugs and supplements you are taking. Determine which have warnings that they should not be used if you have liver disease and talk to your doctor about coming off them.

2. Do not buy over the counter medications, Tylenol, Advil, Motrin, Cough Medicines, Stomach medicines. They all have to be broken down by the liver and most are proven to have a negative impact on liver.

3. Read supplement labels and make sure ingredients are from nature. They should be top quality and tested scientifically.

4. Use natural cosmetics, natural skin care products.

5. Use natural products to clean house and clothes.

6. Exercise daily – start with walking and build up to include aerobic exercise that you enjoy.

7. Avoid all added sugars and high fructose corn syrup! Fructose is showing itself scientifically as being the main precursor creating this disease.

8. Do not lose weight quickly this can further damage your liver! No more than 2lbs per week!

9. Avoid Genetically modified products. They are not natural and our bodies consider them a foreign toxin for liver to deal with.

 

Supplements:

 

You can consider using the following basic supplements daily to improve your immunity and help your liver.

 

Millk Thistle

Vitamin B complex

Vitamin C

Vitamin E

Quality Pro Biotic

Vitamin D3 1000 mg

Essential Fatty Acids – Omega 3

 

If you are on Statins you need to supplement with CoQ10

 

Once a week to boost fat metabolism and energy:

L-Carnitine

Chromium

 

 

Food and Beverages:

 

1. Fresh organic vegetables and a few organic fruits. Fruit has lots of natural sugars and if your liver is compromised your intake of fruit should be limited. Lots of Lemon and dark green leafy vegetables.

2. Processed foods should be avoided as a rule. Read labels and look for products that have ingredient lists that you understand.

3. Nuts – Almonds, Walnuts, pecans, brazil nuts all have nutrients and fats that are healthy for live.r peanut butter should be organic try almond butter!. Use Raw organic unsalted nuts!

4. Grains limited – spelt, rye, sprouted grain, Brown rice, brown rice pasta, steel cut oats, air popped popcorn

5. Dairy- Organic greek yogurt, skim milk, organic cheese.

6. Seeds – pumpkin,sunflower.

7. Legumes – chickpeas, beans -not sweetened! Soy not genetically modified!

8. Protein- Lean Chicken,Turkey, Beef, Pork. Nothing with nitrites! Fish – avoid high mercury in Shark, Marlin,Orange Roughy, swordfish, tilefish, Ahi Tuna. Be careful and limit intake of canned albacore or yellowfin tuna, sea bass, grouper and bluefish.

 

Juicing is a great way to get the raw nutrients that your liver craves.

Low Glycemic Index foods are important to keep balance in your body.

Organic and Gluten free products tend to be natural always read labels.

 

 

Try to keep your insulin levels balanced and help your liver as well!

 

Avoid the following ingredients:

Aspartame

acesulfame-k

Artifical colour or flavour

Brominated Vegetable oil (BVO)

Corn Syrup

Dextrose

Fructose

Heptyl Paraben

invert sugar

corn sugar

fructose-glucose

lactitol

maltitol

mannitol

olestra

partially hydrogenated vegetable oil

Monosodium Glutumate

mycoprotein

lactose

hydrolyzed vegetable protein.

gums for thickening

guarana

casein, sodium caseinate

caffeine

benzoic acid

polydextrose

potassium bromate

propyl gallate

qunine

rebiana

salatrim

Sodium Chloride

sodium bezoate

sodium nitrite

sorbitol

sucrose

tagatose

trans fat

xylitol

My first presentation on Fatty Liver Disease!

November 30, 2011 I walked into Aeolian Hall in London Ontario with my daughter Megan. I was nervous and hoping I could make an impact on an audience of over 100 local residents that are interested in hearing people speak about things they are passionate about. To say that I am passionate about Fatty Liver disease and raising awareness is an understatement.

 

My own  15 year old daughter has this disease and her life is essentially run by the symptoms.

I run a support group of approximately 200 people on Facebook, an incredible group of members that fight this disease , share their stories, share their successes and challenges on a daily basis. They look to me to be their leader to raise awareness and keep an eye on research. This is not always easy when you are a single working mother with a sick child.

When I first heard about Ignite London I emailed the coordinators with an idea to raise awareness about this epidemic. I wasn’t sure this qualified as an idea to improve London so I was surprised when I received the email that they were interested in my topic and wanted me to present.

Pulling together a presentation that would provide details in 5 minutes with such a large topic was not easy. I created 20 slides with what I felt were the most important messages that people needed to understand about this disease. I submitted the slides and then started thinking about how dry and boring this information would be to deliver. I knew that I needed to make an impact and started talking to friends about how I could deliver a presentation that people would not forget.

The first idea was to get products from the grocery store that actually have fructose in them. Fructose is now proven to cause NAFLD. http://www.foodconsumer.org/newsite/Non-food/Disease/obesity_0819111234.html

I found so many products with fructose-glucose in them that suprised me. I found baby formula, toddler biscuits, Vegetable juice, Vegetable soup, Healthy yogurt, Bran Cereal, granola bars, snack crackers, the list was endless. My daughter and I worked hard to cover all brand labels to ensure that I could not be sued for telling the truth!

Some facebook friends helped me decide that using a sponge would be a good analogy for a liver.  I went to the dollar store and got 3 sponges. I used wall paint to coat 1/4 of one sponge, I soaked another sponge entirely in paint and left one sponge clean. They represented the 3 primary stages of liver disease.

1st no damage and a healthy sponge – 70% of North Americans have this liver and their livers are working hard to remove toxins from the body effectively.

2nd sponge was 1/4 damaged. – 20% of North Americans have this liver and the liver is working overtime and starting to fail at removing toxins from the body.

3rd Sponge was fully damaged – Swollen, Not able to handle toxins. – 10% of North Americans get to this level and this level is the most dangerous for survival.

I took all my props and looked at my slides and realized I really couldn’t match them up and keep the presentation to 5 minutes.

I decided not to use the slides and to just let them run in the background while I talked to the props.

The result is posted below:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DvT9NXgsNX0&sns=em

I see so many little problems and I will be cleaning this up and creating new slides that fit the props for the next time I do this one!

My next presentation in London will be on being kind to your liver. After that I want to do one to get people thinking about donating healthy foods to the Food Bank!

 

Onward and Upward I go! Spread this video and help me to raise awareness of this disease!

 

Michelle

Fatty Liver Disease Doesn’t Affect Survival! BULLSHIT!

http://www.marshfieldnewsherald.com/article/20111212/MNH04/112120347/Fatty-liver-disease-doesn-t-affect-survival

Very few research studies have upset me as much as this one telling doctors and researchers that if you have fatty liver disease there is NO risk to your survival! After finding out that 2 members in my Fatty liver disease support group died in December in their 30′s I am livid! My deepest sympathies to the families of these men, there was no reason for them to die and my heart is broken for them and you. 

“The researchers analyzed data from more than 11,000 Americans, aged 20 to 74, who were followed for up to 18 years as part of the Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey.”

What is missing is the 18 year period of this study. Did the study start in 1968? 1978? That is the only way I can take it seriously.

I have a group on Facebook with 185 members in it. They live with the disease daily, they come in and share the struggles and the emotions related to coping with this disease. They range in ages from 20 – 60. I personally have a 15 year old with the disease but she does not feel comfortable sharing in the group. This group was created 3 years ago when I was trying to find explanations for my daughters disease, hoping that others would join me in the group and help me understand my daughter.

In that 3 year period I have been aware of 7 deaths!

 

 In the last 6 months the following deaths attributed to NAFLD.

1. Margie – in her 40′s and not diagnosed until the disease was in its late stages.

2. Joanie’s friend – On his deathbed he told her he has NAFLD and was to embarassed to tell anyone.

3. Matt – 30 years old – Thought he was winning the battle and was being analyzed for his suitability for a transplant

4. Wayne 37 years old.- Wayne died this week, He was fighting hard to try to lose enough weight to be considered for a transplant when his battle was lost.

If within my SMALL circle of friends I can tell you 4 stories in the last 6 months PLEASE tell me how this study is TRUE!.

Wayne and Matt lost their battle with this disease in their 30′s. This terrifies me for my 15 year old daughter, is she destined to live a short life?

This is scaring everyone in my group. I am begging everyone in there to please eliminate any White Bread, Any white rice, any white pasta! Do not eat products with fructose or artificial sugars, do not eat products with added sugars! Do not eat fatty meats, Do not eat fish contaminated by the pollution in our water ways! Do not eat products with large amounts of sodium! This is your wake up call! They are deadly!

Eat Gluten Free when possible. If you must eat bread make it sprouted organic breads, If you must eat pasta brown rice pasta , or at the minimum whole wheat pasta! If you must eat yogurt make it Greek organic! Add your own fruit!  If you must drink a sweet drink, use a juicer and juice your oranges, apples, berries and make your own! If you must use a sweetener use stevia or pure maple syrup. If you must eat meat, make it organic if possible and make it white chicken, lean porks, Leanest beef. No sausages, no hotdogs, no packaged sandwich meat. If you must eat Bacon , then make it turkey or chicken bacon. If you need sandwich meat cook a roast and slice it up for the week! Eat tons of Vegetables , eat them raw if you can! Dip them in Greek yogurt!  If you need snacks, consider Air popped popcorn! consider unsalted nuts! consider organic or gluten free cookies or crackers, if you need chips try making Kale chips, or sweet potato chips. 

I know its not easy and that its scary, I know its a ton of change and no one likes change. BUT if a liver will give out within 30 years!! Don’t you think its time you give this critical organ some serious attention!

Please donate to your local Liver Foundation! Please if you donate to food banks donate gluten free, donate some of the healthy products I listed above!

This DISEASE KILLS! Don’t you doubt this for a second! When your doctor pats you on the head and says you will be fine, please do not believe them! Take your health into your own hands and make smart choices. My group is available to anyone who has this disease and is lost or confused, or just wants to understand it better!

I am going to be yelling this from the rooftops as loud as I can! Your LIVER needs my help!

 

Thanks

 

Michelle

 

 

Food banks need more than processed foods!

Last night I was watching the local news in London Ontario and one of the top stories is that the Food Bank serviced more than 3500 families last month and that is a new record. The demand for these services is increasing due to the 9.8% current level of unemployment in my city. My daughter and I watched a high school proudly showcase enough kraft dinner boxes to fill their gymnasium as dominoes. We looked at each other and rolled our eyes as they were packing them into boxes to give to the food bank and yes it should be a feel good story. Well lets look at the ingredients in Kraft Dinner.

PASTA (FROM WHEAT), CHEESE SAUCE [CHEESE (MILK, BACTERIAL CULTURE, SALT, CREAM, LIPASE, MICROBIAL ENZYMES, CALCIUM CHLORIDE, COLOUR), MODIFIED MILK INGREDIENTS, SALT, SODIUM PHOSPHATES, COLOUR (CONTAINS TARTRAZINE), FLAVOUR, CITRIC ACID]. (M001J)

This product will is processed by your liver like all foods and beverages are… Your liver does not accept manufactured ingredients, or chemicals as good things. Your liver sees them as a poison and will do its best to destroy them and expel them from your body. Every time you eat a processed food you are forcing your liver to work in overdrive to deal with the chemicals you have ingested.

So this makes me feel sick to my stomach when I see these stories. I KNOW and I Understand that the processed foods are easier to store and that many food banks do not even have refrigerated sections to hold fruits and veggies! 

As the next story showed the London Food banks and the cameras scanned the boxes full of soups, and crackers, and juice boxes and peanut butter I shuddered.

The huge number of people that are relying on the food banks are growing every month, but what if I told you that if these families are relying on these products to provide nutrition to their families they are very sadly mistaken.

The chemicals in these foods especially high fructose corn syrup are now proven to cause liver damage. There are lots of studies that prove that if you search through my blogs I point to them and you can search on google for Fatty liver disease and the impact of HFCS.

Fatty liver disease or NAFLD is now an epidemic, 6 million children and 30% of North Americans have fatty livers. These are the numbers that we KNOW ABOUT. My guess is its closer to 50% and in lower income families regardless of weight or obesity its probably closer to 75%.

Why should you care? There is NO CURE for NAFLD, once your liver is compromised it can take a long time for you to become aware of it. Initial symptoms of the disease are stomach aches and exhaustion. Those symptoms are too generic and can be mistaken for laziness. If you do not stop eating processed foods your long term outlook is needing a liver transplant or dying of liver disease.

My own 15 year old daughter is dealing with this disease and her quality of life is extremely poor. She is too exhausted and vulnerable to colds and flus to attend school and due to that she is home schooled. She has no friends in London, Ontario because its hard to make friends when you are not in the school system.

We eat fresh meals  90% of the time. Its not easy on a single mothers income to constantly buy organic. I do have to buy the vegetables that are covered in pesticides and wash them knowing I am not doing her liver a favour but there is only so much I can do with a limited income.

I have a reasonable job, I can get overtime, She has been diagnosed, I KNOW the impacts, and I do NOT rely on the food bank and EVEN I find it difficult to avoid hurting her liver.

So for families that are forced to use the food bank I am scared. I want to warn you and jump up and down and say PLEASE find a way to add fruits and vegetables.

COMPANIES IN LONDON I challenge you to find ways to donate refrigerated trucks to food banks, Grocery Stores I challenge you to donate MORE fruits and vegetables! If you are going to BUY packaged foods PLEASE look for organic products and products that do not contain chemicals you can’t pronounce or that you know are unhealthy.

PEOPLE WHO DONATE to FOOD BANK I challenge you to Avoid MSG, SODIUM in LARGE quantities, Artificial sugars, Fructose, Dextrose, Aspartame, trans fats, all of these things are hard on your liver and I know we don’t want to be poisoning the lower class and increasing the number of children and adults who are being diagnosed with this disease with no medical cures?

Organic peanut butters, gluten free products, organic Chicken broth low sodium are some products that you can find in every grocery store. Next time you are considering what to donate to the food bank please chose them!
 

 

Why Jian Ghomeshi needs to choose NAFLD as his charity!

 

There is a huge drive to get Jian Ghomoeshi to come to Ontario Cities and do a live show from those locations. My city London Ontario is the city that started this drive and the efforts by twitter citizens has inspired me to an idea!

There are offers to provide Web sites, Videos , and funding to whatever charity Jian chooses. Non Alcoholic Fatty Liver disease is the disease I believe he truly needs to support.

You ask why?

1. When people think about Liver Disease they think of Alcohol, Drug addictions, Unsafe Sex and Tattooes

2. Because Drug Companies cannot generally resolve issues in the Liver they do not get behind this charity to raise funds or awareness. If you look at Cancer, MS, AIDS, Heart and Stroke Foundation and even Mental Health you will find that they run lotteries, they run HUGE fundraisers that make millions of dollars. That is directly related to an investment in research into Drugs that these companies make millions of dollars from.

3. NAFLD is an Epidemic that almost NO one is aware of! I mention it to people and they say whats that?

4. 30% of North American have this liver disease and its related to food we buy in grocery stores!

5. 6 Million Children have this disease from ages 2 – 18.

6. There is NO cure in drugs!

 7. This is PROVEN caused by High Fructose Corn Syrup! A number of studies support that!

8. Food Manufacturers will never stop using that as they rename it and create studies to claim its harmless.

9. I Find it in Baby Formula, Baby biscuits, Tomato soup, Bran Cereals, Yogurt, Granola, Vegetable cocktail. Its in soda, and juices and  tons of products that you would not expect it to be in!

10. The only choices to resolving this problem is to eat Healthy organic foods and drink lots of water and juice fruits and veggies to get the best nutrients. The liver is the only organ in the body that can be regenerate cells and repair itself. If you do not deal with this disease when its in early stages this can result in a need for transplant or death.

I need to get the word out via the Canadian Liver Foundation. I have to warn parents about what they are trusting from corporations that are actually poisoning livers! I have to make sure people have yearly blood tests to watch for any increase in AST/ALT numbers that show that toxins are being leaked into the blood stream from the liver. I need to make sure parents know NOT to ignore the stomach aches and exhaustion that makes your child seem lazy! It COULD be their liver!

If Jian can help me to get the word out via a Website, via awareness talks and via videos then I know I will make a critical difference and be informing the world of what they can do to avoid this terrible disease and its nasty impacts on life!

 

Please Jian, Come to London Ontario and help me get this started right!

 

Michelle Clermont

Fatty Liver Disease Advocate

Mother of 15 year old that is suffering.

Facebook Support group for those living with the disease

Twitter – Michelleclermon

 

Canadian’s take Democracy for Granted

 My 15 year old has missed a ton of school since she got sick in 2008. This was written for her Grade 10 Civics teacher this week and I am very impressed with her work. Would you be able to guess that this writer has missed most of her education due to illness?

 Megan Clermont

Canada was formed in 1867 and at that time was made a Constitutional Monarchy a form of democratic government. Now nearly one hundred and fifty years later many Canadians take our democratic system for granted. With our new world with new technologies it is easy to forget where we started and how easy we have it in comparison to some countries.

 Most of us have our own problems whether they are financial, health or family related. We go about our lives and don’t think of the problems other humans have and we could have. In communist countries such as North Korea the people are told what to do from what to read to what their jobs will be. In countries such as Libya that recently fought a long civil war to remove their leader Muammar Gaddafi leaving many civilians dead in their fight for freedom.

 Us Canadians will likely never have to experience either situation if our government does something we do not agree with we elect a new one, though even our ability to vote can be taken for granted. For example last month Ontario held a provincial election and we had an incredibly low voter turnout of 49%. Less than half of our population voted yet some citizens of Libya were willing to die for the opportunity to vote. Even though so little of our population voted the majority will still complain about our government whether it is about the debt or the lack of jobs. Those who did not vote do take our system for granted especially when they criticize our government who they took no steps to improve

 Currently around the world there are “Occupy the World” protests going on these protests point out the corporate power over the governments of the world. Protests are taking place in nearly every province in Canada. It could be said that these people are taking our system for granted after all they are only able to protest because we live in a democratic society. It could also be argued that these people are merely pointing out the cracks in our democracy that allowed the corporate world to gain so much power.

 My personal opinion on the issue is that we do take our system for granted we use our right to free speech nearly every day whether to protest, watch what we like on television or write comments on the internet. We have the ability to attend government meetings and ask question to our leaders but rarely will the majority of us go. Our world has fought for what we currently have for years yet we still complain about our government. Overall we don’t think about the privileges we have been rewarded that many countries haven’t seen and may not for years to come.

 We take our free health care for granted as well we go to a hospital and complain about the long emergency room wait times even though we can have our lives saved for free. Many people around the world including the United States avoid going to hospitals no matter how severe there issue is because of the cost. When you think about people potentially dying because they can’t afford their countries health care it seems silly to complain about wait times.

 Personally I have experienced the health care system many times in Canada in my life and have had to wait 6 hours in the Hospital for Sick Kids emergency room in Toronto, but in the end I got the care I needed without my single mother worrying about the costs. I know very well if I had lived in another country I would not have had the privilege of that and would’ve had to go without care. 

Canadian also take for granted the funds the government gives out to help certain citizens whether the unemployed, the sick, a parent or a student. Our government is willing to help us survive if we qualify. Though some of the people receiving these benefits claim it is not enough. In other countries they do not help their citizens but take the money for themselves. For example in Libya the former leader Muammar Gaddafi is thought to have been one of the richest people alive.

 Our government having been around for 150 years has developed into something we all take for granted, whether it is free speech health care or the right to access our own government. While we forget about how good we have it people fight around the world just for an opportunity to have what we have.

New Kennel Cough in London Ontario EVEN if VACCINATED! , #LDNONT

Poor little Toby is my 6 month old labradoodle. He was immunized and protected from Kennel Cough so when an opportunity arose for my rambunctious puppy to spend 3 days a week with 20 other dogs on a farm playing I jumped at it! He has so much more energy than my daughter or I, spending the day on the farm provided us with a very sleepy puppy in the evening and a relief from his trying to get at anything that interests him in the house!

He has been going to the farm for 3 weeks and doing very well. We were getting a really muddy puppy home somedays and other days his fur filled with burdocks. We had laughs trying to get all the dirt and burdocks out of his fur but never regrets!

He had started eating regularily and eating all his food when he got his meals. He is now 44 lbs!

So Sunday night while I was trying to sleep I was really concerned when I heard Toby hacking like he was trying to get something out of his throat. It happened at least a dozen times and by the time I woke up Monday I knew I had to take him to vet. I worried he might have swallowed something that he could not clear from his airway. I went directly to my facebook and posted the symptom to ask if anyone had dealt with this before. I got clear advice to contact vet, and that it could be Kennel Cough or Bortadella. I was pretty certain Toby had been immunized against this, so why would he get it?

What I didn’t know was that Kennel Cough/Bortadella vaccine is just like the human flu vaccine. It can protect you from known strings of the virus but new unknown ones are not part of the vaccine.

So Toby had to sit in the car watching all the other dogs go in and out of the Vets office. They waited until there were no dogs in waiting room and a clear examination room that they could take him directly into.

Toby was excited and happy to see the vet and wanted to play as the vet did the examination. What we didn’t know was that there is a new strand of kennel cough in London and clinics are seeing 4 – 5 cases a day.

The vet gave him 11 days worth of antibiotic and coddeine for pain. During the day yesterday I pondered if i was overreacting, Toby had barely coughed during the day. By last night there was no doubt in my mind that this puppy is really sick. He coughed through the night , he would try to get comfortable to fall asleep and wake up hacking and throwing up a little bit of saliva. It was heartbreaking to listen to him, he so wanted to be close to me and he plopped down on me multiple times to try to sleep and had to jump off the bed and cough and find somewhere else to try to sleep. This went on through the whole night.

This morning he was lethargic and just watched me get ready for work from my bed. My daughter is home sick today and has been cleaning up spit spots all day. I so pray he gets some relief soon and the antibiotics start to help him.

If you live in London Ontario I highly suggest not taking dogs to off leash parks, daycares, training classes for now. This is highly contagious and if clinics are seeing 4-5 cases a day that will only increase!

I hope no one else has to go through this!!!